Shoplifters - Second Nature LP - Orange Vinyl (/250)

PopKid / Brassneck / Rad Girlfriend / Waterslide (2023) 

It’s been four years since PopKid records has had a release.  That’s a long time and I’m sure that it is obvious that the label isn’t something we’re able to make a huge focal point of our lives at this stage.  It’s expensive to do a record label and we don’t often sell too many records through a combination of many factors.  A key one is probably that we tend to want to work with bands from other lands.  Bands that often don’t have the ability to come to America to show the locals just how good they really are.  But this is where my heart is when it comes to music. 

It’s easy to look at the unsold records I have hanging around from past releases and not be enthusiastic about adding more to the pile.  But then a band like Shoplifters comes around. Shoplifters inspire me to get back in the game.  So here we are, PKE030 – Second Nature.  This is the third Shoplifters release on PopKid, following up on the Forgiver 7” and 2019’s Secret Free World LP.  Everything that made me love and get involved with those two prior records is still here.  This is a band that has somehow found the exact strain of melodic punk rock that I want to listen to. 

If you’ve read anything I’ve written about Shoplifters before, you’ll see I’m always mentioning Bob Mould, Snuff, Big Drill Car, Leatherface and the clearest comparison to me, China Drum.  It’s like they went into a lab to try to create the exact band that would appeal directly to me.  Second Nature is such a great album, and the band has really put together an incredible group of songs.  “Hungry Lions” has that perfect chugging guitar during the verse that makes the payoff in the chorus even more triumphant.  It’s probably my favorite song on the album, but there is some stiff competition. 

The vocal melody throughout the entirety of “The Ones” is so strong and catchy, it kind of makes the entire song feel like one big chorus.  The guitar work on “Braced for Fall” reminds me so much of The Last era Leatherface, with an ethereal vocal hook.  Then there’s the piano punctuated pop of “Do What You Want” with a singalong chorus that has been stuck in my head for months now.  Every song on the album is like this for me, they're just a perfect band.

Today is the album’s official release date and the entire thing is available to listen to on Bandcamp now. Please check it out and pick up a copy if you enjoy. 

Purchase the record from our webstore here: 

https://popkid.limitedrun.com/products/748603-shoplifters-second-nature-lp

Purchase a specially priced bundle Shoplifters bundle that includes the Second Nature LP, the Secret Free World LP and the Forgiver 7": 

https://popkid.limitedrun.com/products/748709-shoplifters-vinyl-extravaganza 

Buy the vinyl, bundle or digital version on our Bandcamp page here (and get instant mp3s): https://popkid.bandcamp.com/album/second-nature

Otis Redding - Tell The Truth LP (From Otis Forever: The Albums and Singles 1968 - 1970 Box Set)

Rhino / ATCO (2023) 

For the next few weeks, on Mondays, I'm writing about individual albums in the Otis Forever: The Albums and Singles 1968 - 1970 box set. This is the second Otis Redding box set I have, but this one focuses on his posthumous albums. Otis has been a long time favorite of mine, and the opportunity to finally pick up nice copies of the albums released after he passed was one I was not going to pass up.

Tell The Truth is an album that I'm really not familiar with at all.  It's never been in my collection in any format and while I know a couple of the songs, this is like a new Otis Redding releases for me.  By the time we get to Tell The Truth, the fourth posthumous Otis Redding album, it's starting to become clear that they were digging a little deeper into the the vaults at this point.

That's not to say that this is a bad or even a lackluster record, but it is missing some of that uniformity that made the others sound like full albums.  Tell The Truth just sounds like a collection of songs, without the same type of cohesion from track to track taking you through the record.  That's not to say there aren't some incredible songs on here.  Otis had an incredible knack for composition and that man was a hit machine.  Not sure it would even be possible for him to write a bad song.

While this might not be the classic Otis record that some of his others may be, it's still a damn good record and finally having a nice sounding, pristine copy on vinyl is all I could really ask for.  We'll close up this box set review next Monday, with the double LP main event that is probably the main selling point of the whole box for me.

Otis Redding - Tell The Truth:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=XN5eXZPsAeM&list=OLAK5uy_nG_wJwEHjrObCjeV7X88WQ3JK98evvSGQ

Boogie Down Productions - Live Hardcore Worldwide 2xLP

Jive (2004, Reissue) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I wrote about the original pressing of this album at length a few months ago.  You can go here to see what I wrote in full: https://www.ibuywaytoomanyrecords.com/2023/04/boogie-down-productions-live-hardcore.html. In a nutshell, while live albums are not typically something that I drawn too, this is one of the few out there that has always been special to me, particularly because it was the only way for me to hear any of the songs from Criminal Minded for a few years.  But the CD was long and in order to make is fit on vinyl, they cut songs from the tracklist as opposed to making it a double LP.

I'm not sure what prompted it exactly, but in 2004, Jive corrected this issue (mostly) and rereleased the album as a double LP, finally including every song from the CD on vinyl.  Why they did this as a white sleeve DJ copy instead of a fancier reissue, I'll never know.  But at least I finally have all of the songs on vinyl.  Plus, I do have the artwork from the original pressing that I wrote about before, so I have everything that there is, it's just split across two releases.

Would I buy it a third time if a proper double LP reissue with full artwork was released?  I'd like to be fiscally responsible and say no, I wouldn't need to pick up yet another version of this.  But I think anyone reading this knows me well enough to know what the real answer would be...

Boogie Down Productions - Live Hardcore Worldwide: 

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kwQhGQIdTAdPhjxad_3RyDAFzNm-xe0KQ

Otis Redding - Love Man LP (From Otis Forever: The Albums and Singles 1968 - 1970 Box Set)

Rhino / ATCO (2023)

For the next few weeks, on Mondays, I'm writing about individual albums in the Otis Forever: The Albums and Singles 1968 - 1970 box set. This is the second Otis Redding box set I have, but this one focuses on his posthumous albums.  Otis has been a long time favorite of mine, and the opportunity to finally pick up nice copies of the albums released after he passed was one I was not going to pass up.

The third of Otis Redding's posthumous albums is Love Man.  You would think that after mining two LPs worth of unreleased material already, the vaults might start to run dry.  Especially considering that Otis' career was tragically brief.  But somehow, this album is still a revelation.

Maybe it's not quite as strong as the prior two, and maybe there isn't an epic, classic, signature song like "Dock of the Bay" (Though "Love Man" really isn't too far off, in my opinion), but the quality and consistency of the songs Otis recorded at the end of his career are so impressive.  Equally impressive is that this isn't a collection of cover songs.  Of the twelve songs on the album, only three weren't written, at least in part, by Otis himself.

As an album, this and next week's Tell The Truth are the ones that I was least familiar with coming into this box set.  But the wave of familiarity washed over me as I listened to Love Man.  There is something so timeless and perfect about Otis Redding and there really isn't ever a time where his music doesn't put a smile on my face.

Otis Redding - Love Man:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hdFjGVBtx0w&list=OLAK5uy_m-4BurZK-qVjlAp5NuErHhByb5CFkPous

Shoplifters - Second Nature LP - Test Pressing

PopKid / Brassneck / Rad Girlfirend / Waterslide (2023)

I have mentioned a few times this year that I hadn't bought as many new records as I have in the past and that I've had a hard time finding those albums that I really connect with.  So I decided to do something about it.  PopKid Records is back for 2023 and we teamed up with friends far and wide to release the new Shoplifter album.  

We're putting up the album for preorder today (don't worry, I have them in hand and the release date is in two reeks on October 20th) and to celebrate that I'm writing a little bit about the record, though just a bit to start.

The picture you see above isn't the actual artwork, this is the alternate cover for the test pressing that the labels and bands got.  It's very cool, but the actual artwork looks even better.  I've never been a huge test pressing guy, but of course the PopKid ones are very near and dear to my heart.

The record is really wonderful.  Tight, catchy, melodic punk rock that makes me smile every time I listen to it.  I'm going to take a picture of the actual record and write a bit more about it in two weeks, but I wanted to put up a little something special in honor of the preorder kicking off today.

Please check it out and I hope you love it as much as I do.  Or at least like it enough to buy a copy.  Also, it's Bandcamp Friday, so there really isn't a better day to buy it from me if Bandcamp is your scene.

Purchase the record from the PopKid webstore here:
https://popkid.limitedrun.com/products/748603-shoplifters-second-nature-lp

Purchase a specially priced bundle Shoplifters bundle that includes the Second Nature LP, the Secret Free World LP and the Forgiver 7":

https://popkid.limitedrun.com/products/748709-shoplifters-vinyl-extravaganza

Buy the digital version (and/or the vinyl) on the PopKid Bandcamp page here: 
https://popkid.bandcamp.com/album/second-nature

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday 30th Anniversary 2xLP - Brown Vinyl (/1993)

Get On Down / Columbia (2022, Reissue) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I couldn't help myself and I bought this fancy version of Cypress Hill's second album from 1993, Black Sunday.  I did have a perfectly serviceable copy of this on vinyl already, but the inclusion of some extra bonus tracks and the deluxe version and all piqued my interest enough that I couldn't help but double dip.

Is it worth it? I don't really know.  Bonus track wise, maybe not.  There are three bonus tracks in total.  First is an extended version of "Insane In The Brain" that is exactly as advertised.  It's longer.  That's really it and not something I would say is super important.  Then we have "Scooby Doo," originally released as a B side on the Lick A Shot single.  It's not the most exciting song in their catalog and I wish it had drums that hit harder.  That would improve it in my eyes.  Lastly is the T-Ray remix of "Hits From The Bong."  This one is quite excellent and while not quite on the level as the original version, it is still some pretty stellar Cypress Hill-ing.

The main album sounds great, I'm not sure it's any better or worse than the other version that I have, but it gets the job done.  The artwork really is lovely as a nice gatefold with shiny metallic print job.  It definitely looks the business.  So, is it worth it?  If you don't have the album, this is absolutely the one to get.  If you have it already, it's probably not that important to pick up unless you're a sucker for fancy reissues (guilty).  I'll probably end up selling my other copy though, there's no reason to have two of these.

Otis Redding - The Immortal Otis Redding LP (From Otis Forever: The Albums and Singles 1968 - 1970 Box Set)

Rhino / ATCO (2023) 

Sorry, change of plans.  I didn't really think before I started writing about these records on Friday.  I have some other things planned for a couple of Fridays in the next few weeks, so I'm going to shift Otis around and we're going to talk about each of the individual albums in the Otis Forever: The Albums and Singles 1968 - 1970 box set over the next few Mondays. As I mentioned on Friday, this is the second Otis Redding box set I have, but this one focuses on his posthumous albums.

The Immortal Otis Redding came out in 1968 and features songs that he recorded just prior to his death in December of 1967. Of all of his posthumous releases, this one seems the closest to an actual planned album to me.  The songs feel purposefully sequenced together, it's just not cleaning out odds and ends.  And boy oh boy, the songs on this record.

We've got hall of fame worthy classics like "The Happy Song," "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and "Hard To Handle."  And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  Every song on here is great, not a single piece of filler in the bunch.  It's difficult to think about what this album could have meant to his career if he had not passed and was able to release it as the next album in his career.

I'm really happy to finally have a good, clean version of this album on vinyl.  It was definitely the co-main event of this box set for me and is quite simply a classic album that I will never tire of listening to.

Otis Redding - The Immortal Otis Redding:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3mW7KfVrv-o&list=OLAK5uy_mZZlUxmBFoQhgyRR9S_ltNa_rW1l772lM