Hi friends, as I wind down for the week, I thought I’d share some of the records I’m playing over a few much-needed beers!
Listening to a few classic Friday Night Vinyl discs is just the best way to unwind after a big week and I have a good friend and vinyl lover here with me, plus a few beers to help ease into the weekend. Having done this so many times over the years, I thought: why not share some of the joy of playing records, comparing pressings and talking about music in a semi-regular segment?
I’ll try to make this Friday Night Vinyl something I come back to over time, so let’s call this Friday Night Vinyl #2. I probably should have started this series 20 years ago, but hey, it’s never too late. Check out Friday Night Vinyl #1 too, if interested. I’ll list these classics in the order played and maybe add a little commentary as needed. Let’s go!
My Arms, Your Hearse, by Opeth. This one is the 140-gram white and purple swirl re-release. It’s a great album from a phenomenal Pink Floyd-level band so have a listen if you aren’t afraid of heavy music, and you shouldn’t be. Explicit – wooooo, be careful!Very pretty, but dished, unfortunately. It doesn’t bother me too much with nearly 3 kg worth of stainless steel records clamps at my disposal, but it’s a shame to buy a brand new record that isn’t nice and flat. This sweet-looking 140-gram double vinyl is a killer record though, if you haven’t heard it. If you ever get a chance to see Opeth live, you should.At 6.2%, the four or five of these tasty Gage Roads Little Dove IPA cans I’ve consumed as I write this have had a significant impact and some bearing on the error rate… If you see mistakes, this is why!
I have three copies of this classic album, they all sound OK, but there’s some mud in the recording, despite the pretty vinyl. I reckon this clear 180-gram version sounds better:
My Arms, Your Hearse, by Opeth, 180 gram and Nuclear Blast from memory..? This one sounds better.New Traditionalists by DEVO is an absolute freakin classic. One of the best album covers of time..? This edition is pressed on the clearest, most transparent vinyl I’ve EVER seen!No kidding, how clear is this vinyl?! It’s like glass, flat as glass too and sounds as good as it looks.Want to hear a killer pressing? This RTI 180-gram reissue of Van Halen’s 1984, from the analog source material, is amazing. This pressing is d-e-a-d f-l-a-t and you just have to hear the title track 1984, played on an Oberheim OB-8, by the late, great Eddie Van Halen. I’m telling you, get a copy if you love Van Halen, or if you just love great sound 😉Sweet, sweet sounds of Van Halen, my Ortofon MC-A90, FR RS-121 and Luxman PD-350. You should hear this, you can if you ask me and are a customer!Yep, another Van Halen classic – Van Halen, from 1978, and another RTI 180-gram masterpiece. These heavy, flat, concentric RTI pressings are some of my best, really rich, warm and phat sounding.This is my friend Tim’s Dutch pressing of Metallica’s classic …And Justice For All is meant to be one of the best pressings of this record you can find. I can confirm this one is laser flat, the thinnest record I’ve ever held, maybe 100 – 110 grams and sounds decent. It’s just not up to the best of the other stuff here.Now, do you want to hear an unbelievably great record with amazing tracks played by great musos who can really play? Have a listen to Avalon, by Roxy Music. I have an Abbey Road half-speed remastered version on the way, but this original Aussie pressing sounds so good, it’s hard to believe!Yes, Remain In Light, it’s hard to describe how industrially, groovily, and rhythmically insane this record is, but have a listen if you haven’t caught it yet, for some bizarre reason!OK, now if you haven’t heard Gary Numan’s absolute classic Replicas, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! Furthermore, this is one of the warmest, fattest records I own and the one that solid my Krell KSA-150 on first listen. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Gary Numan live, here in Perth. All I can say is what a freakin show, my friends….!
Try not to enjoy this and note the amazingly talented Billy Curie, from Ultravox, on synth.Aus-music fans will know what a great record this is. Models The Pleasure Of Your Company is an offbeat, art-rock classic that needs to be heard! I have a purple copy coming, but this is my original 1984 copy. Have a listen to I Hear Motion, the first track, and try NOT to move. Rock on, friends.
Here’s another of my all-time favourite Aussie bands, The Church. I can’t say they are underrated or underappreciated, because fans know how good these guys are. If you love melody, great songwriting, earworm riffs and great playing, The Church’s The Blurred Crusade is an absolute must-have for indie guitar rock lovers everywhere.Here’s another absolute classic for Aus-music and FM rock lovers, from 1981. This slickly recorded, impeccably played gem, Chemistry, by Mondo Rock, takes me back to listening to 96FM as a kid, Steve Gordon the great 96FM DJ and customer of mine, and many other fantastic childhood memories. As a muso, I love this record and you will too if you play. Even if you don’t, I think you’ll dig it, have a listen!
Fantastic post Mike! I’m gonna get me that Blurred Crusade soonest as I currently only have, like most us Yanks probably, Starfish. On the other hand this was just the kind of post I didn’t need to see… at all… as the one thing that stops me from saving up enough cash to buy a Yamaha GT 2000 is my habitual buying of more records! LOL!!
Hey Mike! I could not find the correct past post for this comment so’s I’ll just leave it here. Hope you’re doing well sir! I finally got my own copy of Black Coffee with Peggy Lee. It’s a reissue by the Jasmine lable but it sounds pretty fine to me. I always liked Peggy’s music but you’re the one who focused me on this title. Thanks so much for that. It’s getting it’s 3rd spin in my den as I type this. Also, I have a recommendation for any of your customers who are seeking some good sounding & affordable newly manufactured vacuum tube rolling options for their pre-amps. I’m very pleased with the JJ tube brand “long plate” versions of 12AX7 & 12AU7. I like them better than all I’ve tried so far which is a small range cuz I’m a tube noob & financially challenged LOL! Still, I’d say for vinyl pre-amping they beat new Chinese manufactured Mullards & Gold Lions & even the regular JJ short plated versions. I hope this is useful information for someone in your network & thanks again for all the schooling you pass on to us vintage audio geeks!
Hi Tim, great work getting a copy of Black Coffee, you’re very welcome and what an album! Thanks for the JJ long plate tube recommendation, I’ve used and recommend JJ tubes as a general good value tube option in most cases. There are so many tube variants out there that a few good leads are always helpful so hopefully a few people see this. Enjoy that system and Black Coffee!
I shall do my best sir & thank you again! Also I wish to issue an error correction for my previous post. Modern production Mullards & Genelec Gold Lions are made in Russia, not China! Part of my brain knew this but the part that controlled my typing fingers did not recently perhaps due to too much 80 proof white rum & 100 proof vodka, neither of which came from Russia, as I tend to spend most of my expendable income on hi-fi & records & not spirits. To quote one of my favorite US hard rock legendary bands – “The cheapest stuff is uh all I need”. Cheers mate! As you cool Aussies might tend to say!!
What a fun read – thanks Mike!
Sounds like the neighbours might have enjoyed some of that music as well?!? Hope Saturday morning is going ok too…
Not sure whether I’ll prioritise finding that beer or some of the music…
On this side of the continent (Melbourne), I closed the laptop lid at 5:30pm, gave my Sansui AU-4900 a few minutes to warm up, loaded The Who’s “Then And Now” compilation into my Marantz CD-63SE and gave my Yamaha NS-670 speakers a good shakeout. Such a basic set of preloved toys but they and the music certainly have me a lift at the end of the week…. I was about to load up Gil Evans Plays The Music of Jimi Hendrix (especially the fab version of Crosstown Traffic that should get any dedicated rock fan reconsidering big-band jazz in a more positive light) when My Dearly Beloved announced she wanted to watch the TV news, and could the music take a break please … Ah, well, she’s the one who got me back into The Who via a fabulous live stage version in Melbourne earlier this year, so I can’t complain!
Best wishes, Rob
Ha ha! Let me suggest 6 of these beers as a starting point, plus a couple of the records if you have a good local record store. That’s a great little system you’ve got there and sounds like you played some killer albums too.
Fantastic post Mike! I’m gonna get me that Blurred Crusade soonest as I currently only have, like most us Yanks probably, Starfish. On the other hand this was just the kind of post I didn’t need to see… at all… as the one thing that stops me from saving up enough cash to buy a Yamaha GT 2000 is my habitual buying of more records! LOL!!
That’s great Tim, you’ll love it, killer record!
Hey Mike! I could not find the correct past post for this comment so’s I’ll just leave it here. Hope you’re doing well sir! I finally got my own copy of Black Coffee with Peggy Lee. It’s a reissue by the Jasmine lable but it sounds pretty fine to me. I always liked Peggy’s music but you’re the one who focused me on this title. Thanks so much for that. It’s getting it’s 3rd spin in my den as I type this. Also, I have a recommendation for any of your customers who are seeking some good sounding & affordable newly manufactured vacuum tube rolling options for their pre-amps. I’m very pleased with the JJ tube brand “long plate” versions of 12AX7 & 12AU7. I like them better than all I’ve tried so far which is a small range cuz I’m a tube noob & financially challenged LOL! Still, I’d say for vinyl pre-amping they beat new Chinese manufactured Mullards & Gold Lions & even the regular JJ short plated versions. I hope this is useful information for someone in your network & thanks again for all the schooling you pass on to us vintage audio geeks!
Hi Tim, great work getting a copy of Black Coffee, you’re very welcome and what an album! Thanks for the JJ long plate tube recommendation, I’ve used and recommend JJ tubes as a general good value tube option in most cases. There are so many tube variants out there that a few good leads are always helpful so hopefully a few people see this. Enjoy that system and Black Coffee!
I shall do my best sir & thank you again! Also I wish to issue an error correction for my previous post. Modern production Mullards & Genelec Gold Lions are made in Russia, not China! Part of my brain knew this but the part that controlled my typing fingers did not recently perhaps due to too much 80 proof white rum & 100 proof vodka, neither of which came from Russia, as I tend to spend most of my expendable income on hi-fi & records & not spirits. To quote one of my favorite US hard rock legendary bands – “The cheapest stuff is uh all I need”. Cheers mate! As you cool Aussies might tend to say!!
Ha ha, that’s a classic Tim and don’t worry, I’ve done it myself!
Certainly worse ways to spend an evening. Hi fi plus good company = gold. Taking heads – stop making sense also great
Agreed!
Yeah Mikey, this Friday night kick back is gonna lead to some extra weekend expenses for us methinks, haha..
Good idea Frank, one can never have enough records!
What a fun read – thanks Mike!
Sounds like the neighbours might have enjoyed some of that music as well?!? Hope Saturday morning is going ok too…
Not sure whether I’ll prioritise finding that beer or some of the music…
On this side of the continent (Melbourne), I closed the laptop lid at 5:30pm, gave my Sansui AU-4900 a few minutes to warm up, loaded The Who’s “Then And Now” compilation into my Marantz CD-63SE and gave my Yamaha NS-670 speakers a good shakeout. Such a basic set of preloved toys but they and the music certainly have me a lift at the end of the week…. I was about to load up Gil Evans Plays The Music of Jimi Hendrix (especially the fab version of Crosstown Traffic that should get any dedicated rock fan reconsidering big-band jazz in a more positive light) when My Dearly Beloved announced she wanted to watch the TV news, and could the music take a break please … Ah, well, she’s the one who got me back into The Who via a fabulous live stage version in Melbourne earlier this year, so I can’t complain!
Best wishes, Rob
Ha ha! Let me suggest 6 of these beers as a starting point, plus a couple of the records if you have a good local record store. That’s a great little system you’ve got there and sounds like you played some killer albums too.