May 16, 2008

Today's Hotness: Lilys, Robert Pollard, Camper Van Beethoven

Lilys -- In The Presence Of Nothing
>> [UPDATED AGAIN] What you are looking at above is the Holy Grail. More precisely, it is a picture of a vinyl version of Lilys' 1992 masterwork In The Presence Of Nothing. We think you can tell it is the vinyl version because the cover art is different from the CD. In fact, 1992 being 16 years ago, we can't definitively say whether we've ever actually seen this cover art before now (even the official Slumberland Records discography only shows the art with which we are exceedingly familiar). Needless to say, this record is rare, having only been issued in an edition of 500 copies on vinyl (although the Slumberland site makes an ambiguous reference to a later vinyl edition from Spin Art that had "a normal LP picture sleeve;" according to Discogs.com this may have been a 1998 vinyl reissue -- did that actually happen?). And needless to say we are torn about whether we should bid on this or not. This may be our only chance to ever aquire this record, for which EBayer Mr--Morgan currently stands to reap USD$61, plus $4 for shipping. And currently, we twiddle our thumbs and watch and wait. Here's a marvelous track from the set below; you can download the amazing track "Claire Hates Me" at the Slumberland page here. [UPDATE: This ended up selling for USD$76 plus at least $4 shipping. Dang...][According to commenter Mike -- perhaps it is even Slumberland Mike? -- this cover above was from the 1998 reissue, so that must have been what the chap was selling. The original 1992 issue was a numbered edition of 500. And if anyone has one in good condition to sell us, you know where to reach us].

Lilys -- "Elizabeth Colour Wheel" -- In The Presence Of Nothing
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[out of print. perhaps you can get a copy at MusicStack here?]

>> Seriously, how many hooks are in the newish Robert Pollard jam "Weatherman And Skin Goddess"? Every line is a hook. It's ridiculous. We were (obviously) taken with "Gratification To Concrete," which we posted last weekend. But "Weatherman And Skin Goddess" is like a five-and-a-half-minute-long concept record. It was initially issued on the eponymous EP as the first release of Mr. Pollard's newly minted Guided By Voices Records, but we didn't hear the track until digging into the promo of the forthcoming full-length Robert Pollard Is Off To Business on Thursday night. That full-length will be issued June 3. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. We uploaded "Weatherman And Skin Goddess" to our sadly neglected Imeem profile, so you can click here to catch a stream of the song. For those of you in the mood to download, RobertPollard.net has a whole sack of MP3s, including the very good "Supernatural Car Lover" from last years solid release Normal Happiness. If you missed it the first time around, check it out now.

Robert Pollard -- "Supernatural Car Lover" -- Normal Happiness
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[buy Robert Pollard releases from Rockathon right here]

>> Legendary "college rock" band Camper Van Beethoven is marking a quarter century of existence by releasing a hits collection called Popular Songs June 24. The set includes original and re-recorded versions of classics including "Take The Skinheads Bowling," "All Her Favorite Fruit" and "When I Win The Lottery," among others. Five songs originally released on the Virgin-issued sets Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Key Lime Pie were re-recorded because Virgin refused to allow them to be included in the set, which will be issued by Cooking Vinyl. We sure wish some agreement could be reached regarding those Virgin titles, because if any two albums (well, besides the two My Bloody Valentine sets that will be reissued next month) were screaming to be reissued, it is those two. We promise we'll buy them, Mr. Branson. Here's our favorite CVB jam as offered by Archive.org's Live Music Archive.

Camper Van Beethoven -- "All Her Favorite Fruit (Live)" -- Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA, July 20, 1989
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[get the whole set from the Live Music Archive here]

5 comments:

kidfrostbite said...

re: Lilys LP on vinyl. That pic is of the 1998 repress, no idea how many of those were repressed. The original edition of 500 came in numbered, hand-screened sleeves.

Anonymous said...

Wow...that's gorgeous. The original vinyl had a white cover with hand-screened multi-colored butterflies (?) on it. I saw a picture once online in my years of attempting to learn every single factoid about the production, writing, and history of this album, which, is needless to say, still as mysterious as it was before I started. Great choice posting "Elizabeth Colour Wheel" as that's one of my faves on the album. How come this thing isn't more well known. God damn, it's so great.

Anonymous said...

The original silkscreen were gorgeous. Yeah in 1998 spinART reissued the album on CD and LP, both with artwork that was just slightly different from the 1992 spinART/Slumberland CD co-release. Slumberland was pretty much (temporarily) dead at that point, so spinART handled the reissue. Now, spinART is dead and Slumberland is back in business, and, of course, the album is out of print. Go figure.

pixelife said...

The 98 Spinart reissue was a hideous seeming rescan of the original artwork from the CD and weirdly cropped. I have the original CD and vinyl (which I got from a friends older sister who worked at a college radio station). Yes, it's a hand screened white label cover with butterflys, limited to 500. Supposedly screened on Archie Moore's porch, but that might be heresay. Not the best vinyl master, but I never play it and it's an important gem.

Unknown said...

Pixelife -- any chance you can send along a digital photo of the original vinyl art? I am also looking for the vinyl-only track (I think it is called "Glissando"?)from A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns, in case you got it.