It’s been a little over a year since I finally secured a turntable after several years without, as a friend of mine once called the device, a vinyl-spinner. It was absolutely wonderful to track through the remainder of my record collection, often playing things that I figured (somewhat erroneously, as it turns out) were essentially entirely unattainable these days. Turns out, though, that the main appeal of having a turntable again is being able to shop for records again. I’m not referring to the new culture of 180 gram vinyl rapturous collecting (though my household does occasionally succumb to that … Continue reading One for Friday: The Balancing Act, “A TV Guide in the Olduvai Gorge”

I could be retroactively ascribing insight to my band of college radio cohorts, but I do believe there were times when we knew–really knew–a band was going to be amount to little more than one great song. The Liverpudlian band the Farm had other successes besides “Groovy Train,” especially in their native land. Hell, the follow-up single, “All Together Now,” actually charted higher everywhere, including on the stateside Modern Rock lists. But even now I hear that track and I’m struck by the weary idle of its gleaming pop, like it was pulled together by a compromise committee in order … Continue reading One for Friday: The Farm, “Groovy Train”