Gary Young - Hospital LP

Big Cat (1994)

I have something of a long term goal to eventually replace every CD I own with its vinyl companion.  (Well, maybe not replace as I feel like I'm probably not going to get rid of the CD version, but regardless, I want the vinyl).  In some instances this won't be possible as there is no vinyl version (I'm looking at you Alligator Gun and Him Kerosene), but where it is, let's get a record on the shelf.

This Gary Young LP is a prime example of this.  I bought the CD of this in 94 or 95 at the latest when I was still finding my way through the world of punk and indie rock.  I really liked Beck and Pavement and through that family tree my friend Joe and I discovered this Gary Young album.  I loved it.

Now, I'm not going to try to convince you that this is a good record.  It's really not.  In fact, it's actually pretty bad in a lot of places.  But what it does have going for it is that it's weird and fun and feels like it just rambled its way out of someones brain and ended up being released by a label.  That's what a lot of the 90s was, I think, particularly the lofi scene.

So in 2021, does it hold up? No, it doesn't.  But the nostalgia factor is absolutely huge for me.  I can't help but smile during "Plant Man" or "Birds In Traffic" or the insanely depressing "Warren."  The only problem I have with the vinyl version is that it's missing the two bonus tracks that came on the CD, the latter of which was a redone version of the song "Foothill Blvd" that is about a thousand times better than the one in the normal album sequence.  With those bonus tracks the entire CD is only 37 minutes long, so there's no real reason not to have included those on the vinyl (Another reason why I'll need to hang on to the CD version as well).

Even though it's unlikely I will be listening to this album all that often, I'm really glad to have it in my collection.  It was around during a key time in my musical education and frankly just deserves to be on the vinyl shelf with the other 90s gems.  Also, big thanks to my pal Scott for grabbing this album for me from a UK based seller.  I never see this for sale in America and the postage to ship a 1 off LP across the ocean sure is escalating...

Gary Young - Hospital:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m3p87S_RdbYXMLGLCXM4beRnZSu0i6KDQ