issue #02 pdf - Razorcake

Hey there, turtletits, welcome
back to the second round of
Razorcake. I trust that our premiere
issue has left you with a nice, thick,
aggravated gash deep within the
gums of your front teeth. Feels
good, don't it? As brother Stiv once
said awhile back, "Ain't it fun?"
Get those yappers ready to be
skewered once more, greedy lovers
of the 'cake, 'cause here's your second
helping.
In my last installment, I somewhat
touched on the slick trickery
of subliminal advertising. I'm hoping
that some of you who had found
that part of my last column of any
interest to make an effort to find out
about Professor Wilson Bryan
Key's books he has done on this
phenomenon that has been going
on for years on end. Even if you are
skeptical to this practice of manipulation
in all forms of the media
(television, print ads, etc.), you will
likely find his studies, at the very
least, a most interesting read.
As for the "hidden evils" in
music I touched on, I REALLY
hope that some of you who had
read that part can point me in the
direction of obtaining some VHS
copies of those old '80s programs
that the Chri$tian networks used to
run on their stations. I wanna say
one of 'em was called something
like, "Satan In Our House/In Our
Music," or some jive. Regardless of
what they were called, I'd appreciate
anyone with vid copies of these
to contact me through my email at
the bottom or get a hold of me
through Razorcake, 'cause I'd
LOVE to laugh my ass of at these
old programs filled with attempts to
sucker in "unaware" parents of
what lurks in their children's
records. I'm chuckling in between
keystrokes as I'm typing away right
now. Heh. And if you happen to be
one of those bible-thumping types
that likes to try & blow this kind of
smoke up people's asses, including
mine, then right now I'm laughing
at YOU, like Nelson Muntz of The
Simpsons, "Haw, haw!" I'm also
holding up an extended hand - pick
a finger, motherfucker.
This time around,
20
I'd like to talk about
,
I’m I’m Against Against It
It
It's one thing to purchase one CD to get the bonus tracks, but to get raped into buying a whole box set
for another one or two songs? Suck a dick.
some of the music box sets that are
floating around out there and what
some artists/labels are doing to get
people to purchase these boxes of
listening pleasure. Used to be, a
long while back, that box sets were
usually imports that were ridiculously
overpriced or sets of bootleg
vinyl, usually live concert material,
with an oversized, makeshift label
on the box that looked as good as
an eight grader's first photography
assignment. And these were always
as expensive as the imported sets,
even more. As compact discs
became the norm later on, many
artists were getting savvy to the fact
that a lot of their listeners loved the
idea of the convenience and sound
quality that CDs offered, yet a
whole lot of the listeners were
becoming increasingly pissed to the
fact that they had to start buying all
of their favorite music again on yet
ANOTHER format.
You have to keep in mind that a
lot of people thought they had
slayed the inevitable dragon by repurchasing
everything on cassette
that they had been recently spinning
on vinyl for years. Just when
everyone's cassette collection was
almost complete, along came CDs
to start the vicious buying circle all
over once again. Some of these
people, including yours truly, were
even recording their previously
owned vinyl to cassette, their own
way of telling the record industry to
go fuck themselves. But once compact
discs became commonplace in
the home and everywhere else, cassettes
took a backseat just as vinyl
did, although some bands to this
day still insist on releasing vinyl
versions. As complete, or near
complete, catalogs of artists'
recordings started pumping out in
CD format, a number of artists
wanted to include never-beforeheard
cuts or alternate/demo takes
of songs on the CD versions that
were never included on the original
vinyl or cassette versions. These
rare lil' gems were practically never
available for the public to listen to,
let alone own. As more and more
artists started to add these jibs to
their CD re-releases, the demand
for unreleased cuts became increas-
ingly high, not only among the
rabid fans, but also the record executives
who saw the lucrative potential
in adding one or two cuts to a
re-release that would do nothing
but boost the reissue sales even further.
The shit end of the stick to this
ideology is these executives know
that fans will buy a second or even
third version of an album just to get
the few unreleased treats. Happens
constantly. The same reason I
believe box sets came into play is
because a ton of artists had, and
continue to have, a hefty amount of
unreleased tuneage within the studio
tape reels sitting on the shelves
of their "vaults" collecting dust.
Some box sets include what the
artists or labels consider their best
work (usually greatest hits, which
isn't always their best work) as well
as unheard cuts, early demo versions
of songs and/or live tracks
that never made it to the pressing
plant or have become near impossible
to find because of extreme
scarcity, like the Misfits box set, for
example - filled to the brim with
hard-to-find 7" goodness as well as
their complete recorded works.
Even the included book has an
overflowing wealth of knowledge
of the recordings, pressings, and all
the lyrics (even if they did fuck up
and forget to put the lyrics to
"Queen Wasp" in there - can't have
it all, huh?).
Other box sets, like "The Rolling
Stones Singles Collection," boasts
all of the Stones 7 inchers up to the
"Sympathy For The Devil" single
(man, what I'd give to own a complete
set of these singles on their
original 7" vinyl!) The big ol' monster
of a book with this set has got a
ton of pics (Brian Jones fans
rejoice!) as well as intricate info on
each single included in the set.
Great party box set.
One of my fave box sets, "Back
to Mono," is a retrospect of producer
Phil Spector's greatest triumphs
with tracks from The Ronettes, The
Crystals, Darlene Love, Ike & Tina
Turner, and loads more, including
Spector's kick-ass yuletide record,
"A Christmas Gift for You from
Phil Spector." The book in this box
set is wonderfully illustrated with
photos of Phil at work in the studio
with the different artists he worked
with as well as "The Wrecking
Crew," Phil's ever-ready studio
musicians and sound guys. Even
included is a "Back to Mono" pin!
HIGHLY recommended for Spector
fans.
Box sets like the "Cowabunga"
box is a must for anyone who is
head over heels for surf music or
who wants to duck-dive straight
into the origins of the almighty surf
guitar. All the cuts on this set are
chronologically set up on four
discs, the early on material consisting
mostly of 7" singles, some of
which are the only available tunes
ever recorded by some of these
artists. Real primal stuff, but in a
hell of a good way. The book itself
is a frickin' wonder with dates and
locations of recording info for all
the bands and artists within, as well
as pics of the early surf/surf music
scene, including a shot of the infamous
(but long gone) Huntington
Beach (So. Cal.) hangout, The
Golden Bear, in the background,
which later on became a place for
the punks to get their rock on at live
gigs.
Some box sets, like the recent
"Bonfire" box, a tribute to original
AC/DC vocal frontman Bon Scott,
includes a gaggle of goodies like an
AC/DC guitar pick, an AC/DC tattoo,
a poster of the cover of the box
set, sticker, and a steel keychain
bottle opener that has the AC/DC
logo adorning it in black and silver.
Besides all the cool toys, the discs
in this set contain different variations
of some of their early studio
work as well as some rare-as-allhell
live electricity. Way cool shit
here.
A set that I was lucky to covet
some years back was a Ramones
box called "End of the Decade" that
contained six 12" singles spanning
from '84-'87, a shirt, poster, and
three postcards. Because the production
of this box was limited to
2500, people won't hesitate to shell
out a pretty penny for it, if and
when, it does go up for sale.
Another cool box like this one is
the one Rick Bain (Hostage