Analog Adventures: Old Crow Medicine Show, MF DOOM, David Rawlings, and more of the best recent vinyl

Welcome to Analog Adventures, where we run down the latest stacks of wax to hit our mailbox. Reissues, new releases, and more are all on the turntable as we spin these records.

Old Crow Medicine Show
O.C.M.S.
(Acony Records)

It took 20 years, but Old Crow Medicine Show’s debut studio recording finally saw a vinyl pressing. Featuring perennial favorite, biggest hit, and bane of bartenders the world over “Wagon Wheel,” O.C.M.S. set the stage for the band’s future successes with a rock-sold collection of traditional string band tunes like album opener “Tell It To Me” and a cover of Ma Rainey’s “CC Rider” alongside originals by frontman Ketch Secor and bandmates Willie Watson and Critter Fuqua.

While having to wait two decades for one of your favorite albums to make it to vinyl is a stretch these days, the release is totally worth the weight. It’s a solid pressing, mastered for vinyl by producer and music legend David Rawlings, bringing out sounds you’ve likely never heard up to this point. It’s astonishingly vibrant, and the gatefold sleeve shows everything off really well.

Going back and listening to this in its entirety will make you fall in love with Old Crow Medicine Show all over again. And, yes, hearing “Wagon Wheel” in context of the whole album — especially as part of the rather more sad second side — might make you remember why you’d sing along whenever it came on as pre-show music.

MF Doom
MM..Food
(Rhymesayers)

While MF Doom’s MM..Food has had a variety of pressings over the years, none has been quite as deluxe as this 20th anniversary repress from Rhymesayers. The three-color “Sweetart” marble vinyl, housed inside a case wrapped, tip-on gatefold jacket makes the album feel as though it’s designed to stand the test of time, and why wouldn’t it be?

If you’ve never sat down and really listened to MF Doom’s fifth studio album, instead opting to skip ahead to “Deep Fried Frenz,” “Rapp Snitch Knishes,” or the Madvillian cut, “One Beer,” you need to get this double LP and do so, immediately. It’s a wild ride from start to finish, but hearing it as a whole piece lets you get into the weird, off-kilter vibes in a way throwing its singles into your Spotify queue just won’t do.

The new artwork by artist Sam Rodriguez is a detailed joy of Easter eggs and in-jokes best appreciated with the gatefold spread in your lap, poring over each and every inch as you let MM..Food spin on the turntable and come out your speakers. Throw in a bonus QR code which lets you digitally dig into the diner experience, and this might be as immersive as it gets.

David Grisman
Dawg ’90 (Deluxe Edition)
(ORG Music)

Among many things, multi-instrumentalist David Grisman played on the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty, has been inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, and his song “Dawggy Mountain Breakdown” was the theme for long-running NPR comedy/advice show Car Talk, and that’s just a brief gloss of his musical achievements. The debut release on Grisman’s Acoustic Disc label, Dawg ’90 was originally released in 1990 on cassette and CD and was nominated for a Grammy in the Country Instrumental category.

On Record Store Day Black Friday, ORG Music brought the acclaimed album to vinyl for the first time as a double LP featuring four bonus cuts — “Telluride,” “Blue Midnight,” “Opus 38,” and “EMD” — not found on the original release. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl in a gatefold sleeve, the songs run the gamut from bluegrass to Django Reinhardt guitar jazz to Americana folk, sometimes all within the same song.

It’s as loose and freewheeling as a Winfield jam session, while rooted in the chops of its players, with no wasted notes or unnecessary noodling. The tracks are catchy, and the final bonus cuts provide a studio version of how the David Grisman Quintet could stretch out, go for a walk, and bring it all back, seemingly effortlessly.

The Undisputed Truth
The Undisputed Truth
(Elemental Music)

Created in 1970 by Motown producer Norman Whitfield, the Undisputed Truth basically took the sounds being explored by the Temptations in their psychedelic soul era and applied them to some already classic songs recorded by Motown artists and others, courtesy of the harmonies of Billie Calvin and Brenda Evans paired with the sonorous delivery of Joe Harris.

Tackling the likes of the Temptations’ own “Ball of Confusion,” “Save My Love for a Rainy Day,” and “Smiling Faces Sometimes” alongside the likes of “Aquarius,” “Like A Rolling Stone,” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” makes for a journey through the late ’60s via some excellent interpretations, anchored by the Undisputed Truth’s nearly 11-minute journey through “Ball of Confusion” right in the middle of the album.

Pressed to 140-gram vinyl in a jacket that reproduces the original, this is a very necessary addition to your Motown collection, and perhaps the highlight thus far of Elemental Music’s Motown reissue campaign. Thanks to Whitfield’s production and his hand in putting the whole thing together, it’s very much a studio project, but what a project it is.

Slinky Vagabond
The Eternal Return
(Self-released)

This sophomore album from collaborators Keanan Duffty and Fabio Fabbri features guest spots from “David Bowie alums Ava Cherry and Mike Garson (David Bowie’s pianist), along with Percy Jones (bassist for Kate Bush, Suzanne Vega, Brian Eno), Dom Beken (Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets, The Orb), Christian Dryden (The Ritualists), and co-write credits from Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) and Earl Slick (David Bowie, John Lennon).”

It’s a massive stew of glam, punk, and post-punk influences, and were it not for the precise production involved, one would think this is a lost gem from the early ’80s. One almost wishes that this was a little more murky and dirty, as the cleanness on cuts such as “Icarus Falls” introduces an element of sterility that undermines the gloomy lyrical atmosphere. That said, the soaring guitar work on “I Can Fly” or the jaunty power pop of “Earthman Go Home” manages to overwhelm the production values and sing true as fantastic works of Beatles-inspired, psych-tinged rock ‘n’ roll.

The transparent red vinyl comes in a fairly standard jacket with a printed inner sleeve loaded with who contributed to which track. It’s mastered well with a fabulous low end.

Joe Bataan
Riot!
(Fania)

The best-selling Latin release of 1968, Joe Bataan’s Riot! sees the bandleader and the Latin Swingers craft nine songs which might’ve been in response to the political unrest at the end of the ’60s, but still sound timely and necessary over 50 years on. The opening track, “It’s a Good Feeling (Riot),” begins what will become a soul-laden, danceable journey, alternating big mambos with intensely passionate ballads.

Salsas salsa classics “Muñeca” and “Pa’ Monte” or the electrifying “Mambo De Bataan” hit a little harder than the slow-swaying “For Your Love” and “Ordinary Guy,” but as a whole, Bataan’s Riot! is a marvelously crafted collection.

The reissue was mastered from the original analog tapes by Clint Holley and Dave Polster at Well Made Music and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl in a limited edition of 2100 copies for Record Store Day Black Friday.

Angelo Badalamenti
Music for Film and Television
(Varese Sarabande)

Originally released in 2010, this collection of the composer’s themes and music for a variety of television and movie scores includes material from Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Wild At Heart, and let’s be fair, most of this is stuff he did for David Lynch. There’s also a cut from Badalamenti’s score for the Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet fantasy film, The City of Lost Children, and Paul Schrader’s psychological thriller, The Comfort of Strangers.

Performed here by Brussels Philharmonic — The Orchestra of Flanders, and produced for the Ghent International Film Festival, following the composer’s reception of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Soundtrack Awards in 2008. This LP features nine tracks, as opposed to the 14 found on the original compact disc release, omitting such cuts as the theme for Inside the Actor’s Studio and “Snapshot from Prague,” along with the theme for the Barcelona Olympics.

That actually tightens this compilation up and focuses it primarily on Badalamenti’s work with Lynch, making this a greatest hit, of sorts. Starting the a-side with the theme from Blue Velvet and the b-side with “Laura Palmer’s Theme” Twin Peaks puts the composer’s most familiar works front and center and sets the tone well.

There’s new cover art for the LP debut of this compilation, done by Brianna Ashby, and reminds me a bit of the Sleepaway Camp II & III 12-inch we reviewed a while back, loaded as it is with nods to the shows and films in which the music has appeared. The transparent red vinyl looks lovely and sounds great, although outside of a brief note from the composer on the back of the jacket, we’re sadly lacking in liner notes which might put this music in context. It would’ve been fantastic to get a sentence or two from Badalamenti regarding each piece.

Counterparts
Heaven Let Them Die
(Pure Noise)

Surprise-dropped the day after the election, the latest from Canadian hardcore band Counterparts isn’t necessarily a reaction to what happened, but it certainly can’t help but come across that way. Described by frontman Brendan Murphy as “honest, harsh and without restraint,” from the moment you drop the needle on cinematic album opener “A Martyr Left Alive,” Heaven Let Them Die hits you repeatedly.

Even the open spaces lack peace, coming across as more ominous than anything else. Counterparts have crafted a suffocating onslaught of mournful anger here, and listening to the album, one wonders if the record will cause your stereo to explode, so forceful are these tracks.

There’s a wide swathe of pressings, with all single-sided 12-inch records featuring a screenprint of praying hands on the b-side. Our copy is on “Evil Greed” black ice with white splatter vinyl, limited to 400 copies, but there are quite a few others from which to choose. The jacket and printed inner sleeve drive home the religious imagery reflected in the lyrics.

The Eradicats
Best In Show
(Self-released)

Six songs from Rx Ghost frontman Josh Thomas, in conjunction with his partner Kristi Who, which are a lot more rocking and fun than what you might expect from that band’s output. This is Who’s first-ever band, having never picked up an instrument prior to her and Thomas starting the Eradicats, but her bouncy work on the ska-tinged “Frank and the Lighthouse” belies any sense of amateurism one might’ve otherwise expected.

The songs fall somewhere between Superchunk’s poppy indie punk and Guided By Voices’ deadpan wobbliness, with the band positing the question, “What if Pixies were funny?” and ably answering it with verve and joy. Best of all, Best In Show’s track listing takes you from “Serious Medical Condition” and its simple three-chord punk to the keyboard-laden hooks of “Dave Griffin,” making the EP feel like a journey from inception to full-realized concept over the course of a quick six songs.

If you want to get your hands on one of these 7-inches, best of luck. They’re not available to purchase online, and as a lathe-cut record, it takes just as long to make a record as it does to listen to it. That means each copy is a little over eleven minutes on the machine, making them a true labor of love. The band also only played a couple of shows, so… best of luck.

The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown
RepurposE Purpose – Vol. 1
(ORG Music)

During the Covid pandemic, producer John Heintz put together a brilliant idea. He took a drum loop from a previous Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown track, “All Together Now,” recorded by Red Hot Chili Peppers/Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, sent it to a bunch of bassists, had them write a bass part. Heintz then picked the next instrument, sent out the bass and drums, had them write a guitar part or whatever, etc., until the track felt finished.

The end result is seven tracks all based on the same foundation, but wildly different in their execution. It’s funky as all hell, as one might guess from the project’s name, but rocks equally as hard. Despite the brief number of tracks and its description as an EP, RepurposE Purpose – Vol. 1 feels like a full album. Beginning with the original track and then stretching out from there, the instrumental tracks are the strongest, but the vocal version of “Spirit Stain” with Fishbone’s Angelo Moore is the most well-realized version of the original concept.

The packaging is wildy appropriate to the music itself. Replete with mandalas everywhere you look, it’s pressed as limited run of 1000 on purple/blue splatter vinyl in a double gatefold jacket, along with two stickers and a limited edition, double-sided matching turntable slipmat.

The Kearns Family
Together and Alone
(Self-released)

Per the band, Together and Alone, the debut album from The Kearns Family, was recorded at Goat Mountain, which is Pat and Susan Kearns’ “off grid, solar powered recording studio in the Mojave Desert,” with all songs were recorded live as they were played in the studio. The songs are just Pat on guitar and vocals (“with a bit of harmonica accompaniment”) and Susan on upright bass, yet are so much bigger than what one might expect from an acoustic country folk duo.

The nine songs on Together and Alone are big. You can hear the desert openness in each and every track, and the way in which every track allows the instruments time to ring out and let their sounds decay gives the record a sense of openness that implores you to come closer and listen well. At least one uptempo song would’ve been nice, but on the real slow one, when Pat’s voice becomes a Tom Waits-like raspy growl, all is forgiven.

Packaged in a gatefold sleeve with an inner spread featuring an original painting by Susan and lyrics to all the songs, the vinyl pressing is robust, and thanks to Cole Coonce’s engineering, it manages to sound intimate without being amateurish.