Recent Vinyl Acquisitions #1
Altered Images - Happy Birthday (Dance Mix) 12” Single
RIP Martin Rushent! Pretty standard dance mix treatment of one of the best birthday songs ever—an extended version with extra drum breaks. I doubt any amount of remixing could lessen or heighten my enjoyment of this song. It’s a keeper for the refrain alone: Clare Grogan’s unique Scottish brogue mangling birthday into “butt-day” never gets old. Flipside offers two tunes, one of which is an awful/great cover of T Rex’s “Jeepster”:
2. Eddie Murphy - Party All the Time
One spin and it’s easy to see why PATT outshines Eddie’s other contribution to the top forty, “Put Your Mouth On Me”. The synth bass is somehow less grating here (which, if you’ve never heard the latter, should give you an idea of how truly terrible it is), it has a better MJ vibe, and it boasts Rick James on vocals. In fact, you can catch Rick James air drumming his little heart out in the control room before donning an Explorer bass with leopard print strap and joining Eddie at the mic in this video! (The fuck is going on at 2:26, by the way?)
3. Cream Puff War #2 Flexi
Cream Puff War was a folk-rock/garage/psych zine published in the early 90s. It only lasted two issues, the second of which was bundled with this sky blue flexi disc featuring three 60s pop groups. The A-side, a rare live recording of Syndicate of Sound doing “Louie, Louie,” is what caused me to nab this at Academy Annex on one of my recent trips to Brooklyn. It’s pretty good, and the feel (and chords) reminds me a lot of the Rats’ “Rat’s Revenge” (Parts I and II, which inspired me to christen my other blog Part III) off the Back From the Grave Vol 1 comp. I casually collect various renditions of “Louie, Louie,” meaning I don’t bother doing much research to find new versions, nor do I spend time cataloging what I find. Why not? Some dude on the internet is already doing both, duh. Side B of this freebie features Purple Earthquake (who later became Earth Quake, formed Berserkely Records, and acted as backing band for Jonathan Richman on his 1974 recording of “Roadrunner”) and Powder, whose Byrd-brained contribution “Gladly” is posted below.
Total Spent: $2.50
