THE DOORS - Morrison Hotel

The next-to-last Doors album, recorded prior to Jim Morrison's still mystery-shrouded death in a Parisian bathtub, eschewed much of the band's previous penchant for baroque musical, poetic, and philosophical pretensions (this was, after all, the back-to-roots era of the Beatles' Let It Be, the Stones' Let It Bleed, and Dylan's Nashville Skyline). Instead, the Doors circa 1970 wisely seeped themselves in a bluesy, no-frills approach that might have hinted at creative exhaustion in a lesser band. Instead, the Doors of "Roadhouse Blues" and "Peace Frog" reinvented themselves into arguably one of the greatest bar bands ever, with Morrison's well-documented demons frolicking in a welcome new ambience. "Waiting for the Sun" and "Ship of Fools" may hearken back to the band's cabalistic and Kurt Weill leanings, respectively, but framed in an edgier, more effective way.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:NM (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:Plastic sleeve
Label & Pressing:Elektra
Price:SOLD

LED ZEPPELIN III

Led Zeppelin III is the third album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded between January and July 1970 and was released on 5 October 1970 by Atlantic Records. Composed largely at a remote cottage in Wales known as Bron-Yr-Aur, this work represented a maturing of the band's music towards a greater emphasis on folk and acoustic sounds. This surprised many fans and critics, and upon its release the album received rather indifferent reviews. Although it is not one of the highest sellers in Led Zeppelin's catalogue, Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised, and acknowledged as representing an important milestone in the band's history.

As noted above, Led Zeppelin III marked a change in focus for the band from late 1960s hard rock to a more folk rock or electric folk and acoustic inspired sound. These styles had been present to a lesser degree in the band's first two releases, but here it was the main emphasis—and one that would remain prominent in some of the group's later albums. This development endeared the band to many progressive rock fans who would never have listened to Led Zeppelin's established blues and rock repertoire. With Led Zeppelin III the group's songwriting dynamic also changed, from Page's domination of the first two albums towards a more democratic affair in which all four group members contributed their own compositions and ideas. 

It's a remarkable piece to have.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:NM (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:
Label & Pressing:1977 Atlantic/USA
Price:SOLD

*There's a 0.5cm crack on the vinyl rim, losing some seconds on the first track of each side.

  The rest plays really good.

PINK FLOYD - The WALL 1979 UK Harvest

Pink Floyd's the Wall is arguably one of the most intriguing and imaginative albums in the history of rock music. Since its release in 1979, and the subsequent movie of 1982, the Wall has become synonymous with, if not the very definition of, the term "concept album." Aureally explosive on record and visually explosive on the screen, the Wall traces the life of the fictional protagoinst, Pink Floyd, from his boyhood days in war-torn England to his self-imposed isolation as a world-renownedrock star, leading to a climax that is as questionably cathartic as it is destructive. 

From the outset, Pink's life revolves around an abyss of loss and isolation. Born to a war-ravaged nation that takes his father's life in the name of "duty," and an overprotective mother who lavishes equal measures of her love and phobias onto her son, Pink chooses to build a mental wall between himself and the rest of the world so that he can live in a constant, alienated equilibrium free from life's physical and emotional troubles. Every incident that causes Pink pain is yet another brick in his ever-growing wall: a fatherless childhood, a domineering mother, a country whose king signs his father's death certificate with a rubber stamp, the superficiality of stardom, an estranged marriage, even the very drugs he turns to in order to find release. As his wall nears completion, each brick further closing him off from the rest of the world, Pink spirals into a void of insanity, cementing in place the final brick in the wall. Yet the minute it is complete, Pink begins to realize the adverse effects of total mental isolation, helplessly watching as his fragmented psyche coalesces into the very dictatorial persona that antagonized the world during World War II, scarred his nation, killed his father, and thereby defiled his own life from birth. Culminating in a mental trial as theatrically rich as the greatest stage shows, the story ends with a message that is as enigmatic and circular as the rest of Pink's life. Whether it is ultimately viewed as a cynical story about the futility of life, or a hopeful journey of metaphorical death and rebirth, the Wall is certainly a musical milestone worthy of the title "art."

*It's hard to find a very nice condition of this album around. This is one flawless piece.

Condition:Used/Original/2 LPs
Cover:NM (Gatefold)
Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:Card board jacket sleeve
Label & Pressing:1979 Harvest/UK
Price:SOLD

LORD SUTCH & HEAVY FRIENDS (Rare)

If you ignore the poor voice and puerile lyrics this piece turns into an unexpected pleasure. Fans of the greats should give this a listen, then like me you won't stop playing it, worse still,you won't stop bragging to all your friends about how you've got half of Led Zep., a ton of Beck and Redding,plus the late great Nicky Hopkins. All on an album that NONE of your friends would ever have heard of. 

The soon to be superstars all seem to be having good clean fun, honing their skills for the future. Other members of the band --although unheard of (to any great extent)-- nonetheless do more than adequate work, All together a very nice surprise. Top notch. Fully recomended. 

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG

Vinyl Disc:VG
Insert:Original paper sleeve
Label & Pressing:Cotillion/USA
Price:MYR90

LED ZEPPELIN - In Through The Out Door

Though the band likely didn't know it at the time, this would prove to be the last studio record by one of the most famous rock & roll bands in the world. Drummer John Bonham died shortly after its release. Although nothing compares to early Led Zeppelin--and they lost many longtime fans in the late 1970s--this LP is nothing to be embarrassed by. They were quick to embrace and experiment with synthesizers, and while it wears a little thin by record's end (the synth-bloated "Carouselambra" and the slick AOR hit "All My Love"), it adds a certain majestic tone to the heavy-hitting opener, "In the Evening," and gives a rollicking good-time feel to "South Bound Suarez." Plant's howl and Page's bluesy guitars are in fine form on "I'm Gonna Crawl" and the lilting "Fool in the Rain" recalls the pretty numbers from their early career.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG-

Vinyl Disc:VG+
Insert:Picture jacket sleeve
Label & Pressing:1979 Swan Song/USA
Price:MYR45

PINK FLOYD - Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here is a song cycle dedicated to Pink Floyd's original frontman, Syd Barrett, who'd flamed out years before: two grimly funny songs about the evils of the music business ("By the way, which one's Pink?"), and two long, touching ones about the band's vanished friend. The real star of the show, though, is the production: sparkling, convoluted, designed to sound deeply oh-wow under the influence--and pretty great sober too--with David Gilmour getting lots of space for his most lyrical guitar playing ever. And, though the album is big and ambitious, even bombastic, it somehow dodges being pretentious--the Barrett tributes are honest and heartfelt, beneath all the grand gestures and stereophonic trickery.

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG+

Vinyl Disc:VG
Insert:Picture/Lyrics jacket
Label & Pressing:Harvest/Holland
Price:SOLD

LED ZEPPELIN - IV

Known as the "rune" album or Zoso because of the medieval symbols adorning the inner sleeve, Led Zeppelin's fourth album, released in 1971, turned them from mere superstars into giant behemoths of the rock world. On tracks like "Black Dog," "Misty Mountain Hop," and "Rock and Roll," the combination of Robert Plant's banshee wails and Jimmy Page's frenetic guitar playing forever altered the stylistic bent of hard rock music. And the foreboding "When the Levee Breaks" demonstrated that Zeppelin could indeed play the blues fairly straight if they so desired. Still, everything here ultimately took a back seat to the album's (and, ultimately, the band's) magnum opus--the expertly constructed and deftly executed classic, "Stairway to Heaven."

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:VG (Gatefold)

Vinyl Disc:VG+
Insert:Original Brown Sleeve/Lyrics
Label & Pressing:1971 Atlantic/US
Price:SOLD

THE DOORS - LA Woman

The last official Doors studio album, L.A. Woman was still high on the charts when, like the 

"actor out on loan" of its closing track, "Riders on the Storm," Jim Morrison died in a Paris 

bathtub in the summer of 1971. Via such tracks as "The Changeling," "Crawling King Snake," and the frothy, rollicking title track, the collection leaned heavily toward the blues--in particular, Morrison's boastful "Lizard King" brand of it. It also holds another entry in the band's ever-adventurous tone poems in the ever-underrated mythical tale of American music and culture, "WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)."

Condition:Used/Original
Cover:NM

Vinyl Disc:NM
Insert:White paper sleeve
Label & Pressing:Elektra/US
Price:SOLD

Pink Floyd -Atom Heart Mother

In the grand, color-bending tradition of psychedelic experimentalism, Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother Kinks-ish rambler from Richard Wright, then more moody folk (this time from Gilmour) on "Fat Old Sun," and, to close, the spirited melodic runaround of "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast." There's a range of emotion here, from doleful to crazed to humorous (especially the dramatized comments on macrobiotics in the closer). Atom Heart Mother was a spotlight ahead for Pink Floyd, showing the extensions of form the band would engage in so successfully on Dark Side of the Moon just a few short years later.

Condition:Used/Original

Cover:VG+ (Gatefold)

Vinyl Disc:NM

Insert:Original White paper

Label & Pressing:Harvest/SKAO 382 US

Price:MYR135.00