This post is the start of a new series of blogs in which we at RIDE Music look over the vinyl records we’ve most recently bought, tell you a bit about them and choose our favourite tracks. Today we’ve got the likes of Eminem, The Who, The Smiths and Cigarettes After Sex. Enjoy! – Johnathan Ramsay, Matthew Thomas and Aaron Skinner
‘Released:’ refers to the original release and the year in brackets refers to our version of the record.
Johnathan’s Buys:
12″
Morrissey – Your Arsenal [2014 Reissue]
Morrissey’s third solo LP since the break-up of The Smiths, Your Arsenal is largely overlooked when considering the best of Moz’s large back catalogue – but it shouldn’t be. The album is much more guitar focused than the two LP’s that came before, Viva Hate and Kill Uncle, meaning it feels much pacier and less melancholy, whilst still encompassing that ‘happy sad’ sound that Morrissey does best. Your Arsenal also features some of Morrissey’s most controversial songs, most notably “The National Front Disco”.
Favourite Tracks: The National Front Disco, We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful, You’re The One For Me Fatty, Tomorrow*
*US Single Mix
Released: July 27th, 1992
Produced by: Mick Ronson
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP [2000]
With all the negative reviews Eminem is garnering off the back off his new album [Revival], we can all look back to 2000 and The Marshall Mathers LP, and agree this was Eminem in his prime. The MMLP is introspective yet fun, aggressive yet measured; it’s a perfect example of the range of styles and subject matter that Eminem can turn his hand to. If the year 2000 is counted, then The Marshall Mathers LP is the bestselling album of the 21st century – enough said.
Favourite Tracks: Kill You, Stan, The Way I Am, The Real Slim Shady, I’m Back, Under The Influence
Released: May 23rd, 2000
Produced by: Dr.Dre, Eminem, Jeff & Mark Bass, Mel Man, The 45 King
David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars [1980 Reissue]
Widely known as simply ‘The Ziggy Stardust Album’, this is Bowie’s fifth studio album and arguably his most ionic. Bowie described the LP as a loose concept album, that follows his alter ego Ziggy Stardust – an androgynous rock star who also acts as a messenger for extra-terrestrials. This album defines what David Bowie was all about – pushing boundaries, innovating and caring less about what the rest of the world thought of him.
Favourite Tracks: Starman, Lady Stardust, Star, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City
Released: June 16th, 1972
Produced by: David Bowie and Ken Scott
7″ Singles
The Smiths – How Soon Is Now? [1985]
This song is without a doubt one of The Smiths’ most popular and still remains an indie club playlist staple to this day. Unfortunately, the 7-inch single version of “How Soon Is Now?” is cut from seven minutes down to just under four – still, it’s just under four minutes of pure angst-filled delight.
Released: January 28th, 1985
Produced by: John Porter
From the album: Hatful of Hollow
Morrissey – Interesting Drug [1989]
Despite not being featured on any of Morrissey’s main studio albums, “Interesting Drug” brought the former Smiths frontman top 10 chart success, reaching number 9 in the UK. Common of Morrissey’s MO, this melodic and catchy tune isn’t without substance, with the “bad people on the rise” referred to in the song thought to be Thatcher’s Tory government.
Released: April 17th, 1989
Produced by: Tim Young
From the album: Bona Drag
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams [1977]
Released in the UK as the third single from the band’s triumphant 11th studio album Rumours, “Dreams” secured Fleetwood Mac’s first and only number-one single in the US – selling over a million copies.
Released: June 1997 (UK), March 24th, 1977 (US)
Produced by: Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut, Fleetwood Mac
From the album: Rumours
Matthew’s Buys:
12″
SMASHING PUMPKINS – MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS [1995]
Frontman Billy Corgan demanded that his band’s third record be a triple LP, featuring an unprecedented six sides. The decision turned out to be a masterstroke, as it became the last great alternative rock record of the 90’s.
It’s one of the most varied, diverse rock records of the last 30 years, moving from gentle lullabies to heavy metal epics via electronic pop and razor-edged alt rock. The success of the record lies in the album’s entire concept. Two halves of the record represent night and day, with the first sides filled with the usual Pumpkins sonic assault. Whereas further into the record, the sound diversifies as the band explore musical capabilities. Just as night and day, the final track resolves into the piano melody that opens the album.
Favourite Tracks: Zero,Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 1979, Galapogos, Tonight Tonight, Where Boys Fear To Tread, X.Y.U
Released: October 23rd, 1995
Produced by: Alan Moulder, Flood & Billy Corgan
CIGARETTES AFTER SEX – CIGARETTES AFTER SEX [2017]
In what seems to have occurred overnight, Cigarettes After Sex have went from floating around the peripheral edges of the internet to an online sensation. The band, currently based in Brooklyn NY, have managed to create one of the greatest shoe-gaze records in recent memory.
Led by frontman Greg Gonzalez, who writes modern love songs set to downbeat dream pop, the band have incorporated minimalistic and hallucinogenic synths to perfection. Sonically, the band utilises usual chord progressions, but the way that each track is produced and mixed creates a lasting, unshakeable ambience that many groups search for the entirety of their careers. That sense of fulfilment is felt in abundance with this debut ,which slowly releases like the most sorrowful of romantic movies: immersive, cohesive and dimensional.
Favourite Tracks: Fuck it, the entire thing.
Released: June 9th, 2017
Produced by: Greg Gonzalez
SONIC YOUTH – DAYDREAM NATION [2014 Reissue]
Regularly noted as one of the finest LPs to emerge from the 80s underground scene, the colossal 1988 double album Daydream Nation still remains a exhilarating, deeply influential listen 27 years later.
The band spends this double album managing to inhabit and accommodate every major strain of the underground, collecting and referencing what each facet of “new youth culture” looks like. The default setting for the record is situated in the place most rock bands try to work their way up to: guitar players veering off into neck-strangling improvisational blurs, singers dropping away from the melody and impulsive impassioned shouts. These songs start there and just stay nestled.
Favourite Tracks: Teenage Riot, Silver Rocket, The Sprawl, Eric’s Trip, Hey Joni, Providence, B) Hypersation
Released: October 18th, 1988
Produced by: Nick Sansano and Sonic Youth
Aaron’s Buys:
12″
The Who – Live at Leeds [1970]
In 1970, The Who were looking for a way to top their iconic rock opera: Tommy. Pete Townshend believed the best way would be to capture the band’s infamous on stage energy, and so Live at Leeds was born. The album was called “the best live rock album ever made” by the New York Times upon its release and has become one of the most iconic records of all time. The cardboard paper sleeve is reminiscent of the concert bootleg culture in the 1960s. The charm of Live At Leeds is something that not many live releases can achieve, with the recording feeling just as charismatic nearly 50 years later.
Favourite Tracks: My Generation, Substitute
Released: May 16th, 1970
Produced by: Jon Astley and Kit Lambert
7″ Singles
Morrissey – Everyday Is Like Sunday [2010 Remaster]
Morrissey’s iconic debut album Viva Hate would be rather incomplete without his melancholic masterpiece: “Everyday is like Sunday”. Debuting in 1988, the single helped kickstart the ex-Smiths’ frontman’s solo career. Morrissey’s signature songwriting is prevalent as the song goes against the grain, revealing the truth behind the facade of a British seaside town. The depressing imagery of a rain drenched costal promenade warrants the destruction of the town: “come, nuclear bomb”. “Everyday is like Sunday” represents the best of Morrissey, with the 2010 remaster allowing those iconic lyrics and grand instrumental to shine brighter than the sun over Britain’s rain soaked coastline.
Released: May 31st, 1988
Produced by: Stephen Street
Remastered by: Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch
From the album: Viva Hate
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