Discographies

Willie Luncheonette | Jan 08, 2022 | 31 comments

Punk rock is a subgenre of rock and roll with roots in garage rock, but it's generally faster and more aggressive than garage. Punk was a rebellion against the hippie culture's idealism and appearance. The flower children’s righteous idea of making the world a better place was met with the stark reality of the punks' world in disarray. New York, the birthplace of punk, was almost bankrupt in the early 70's and when the Sex Pistols appeared in England, unemployment was severe with well over a million people out of work. Crime and drugs were rampant in NYC; parks were littered with used syringes. England incurred inflation, oil shortages and strikes. So bell bottoms were out, replaced by tight pants and those beautiful long locks were gone, replaced by hair cut short, and even cut off as skinhead culture emerged.

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This is the part one of a multi-part exploration

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At least I think there's humor here!

Gene Clark simply didn’t fit in. While

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(Photo shows American distributed UK pressed

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Discographies Features

The Peaceful Glitch Pop of Sketch Show Malachi Lui | Nov 09, 2021 | 12 comments

Earlier this year, I wrote a four-part series about Yellow Magic Orchestra, the seminal synthpop trio of Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Of course, that’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg; between solo records, collaborations, other bands, productions for others, and session credits, hundreds of wildly varying releases encompass the YMO-centered extended discography.

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Discographies Features

Yellow Magic Orchestra: Explorations, Part 2 (1983-Present) Malachi Lui | Aug 20, 2021 | 0 comments

Concluding our multi-part exploration into pioneering Japanese synthpop group Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), this week we’ll analyze the trio’s work from 1983’s Naughty Boys to the present day. We’ll only focus on the core catalog albums; as good as non-album tracks like “Chaos Panic” and “M-16” are, coverage of those would interest only maniacal completists. Those who aren’t yet caught up can view the series’ previous features below:

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Discographies Features

Yellow Magic Orchestra: Intermission, 1980-1982 (Solo LPs & Side Projects) Malachi Lui | Aug 13, 2021 | 5 comments

Continuing our multi-part exploration of Japanese synthpop group Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), this week we’ll analyze Yukihiro Takahashi, Haruomi Hosono, and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s solo LPs and side projects from 1980-1982. For brevity’s sake, we’ll exclude the artists’ production work for other acts, focusing only on Takahashi, Hosono, Sakamoto, and Hideki Matsutake-led projects (apologies to fans of Kenji Omura’s Spring Is Nearly Here). In addition, releases only reviewed digitally here won’t feature sound scores. Below are links to this series’ previous features:

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Discographies Features

Yellow Magic Orchestra: Explorations, Part 1 (1978-1981) Malachi Lui | Aug 06, 2021 | 4 comments

Introduction

of Japanese synthpop pioneer Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) previewed in the recent “Yellow Magic Orchestra: Prologue”. This week, I’m dissecting the group’s albums from the 1978 self-titled debut through November 1981’s Technodelic. While I did as much research as possible, in the English-speaking world little verifiable information about YMO exists. Earlier this year, Ryuichi Sakamoto associate Eiichi Yoshimura published YMO 1978-2043: Definitive Story Of Yellow Magic Orchestra, but no English translation exists (and I’ve not yet learned Japanese). Much of what’s on Wikipedia has no traceable citation; to avoid inaccuracies any info from there will be mentioned as “supposed” or “presumed”.

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Discographies Features

Yellow Magic Orchestra: Prologue Malachi Lui | Aug 01, 2021 | 11 comments

This week, AnalogPlanet begins a multi-part exploration of Japanese synthpop pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). Through reviews of their core releases and YMO-era side projects, we’ll dissect how, by incorporating elements of exotica, video game music, musique concrete, and more, the trio of Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto transformed electronic music. They gained massive success in Japan but are also credited for influencing hip-hop and Detroit techno. First, however, we’ll explore the individual members’ pre-YMO work.

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Discographies

Jon Hassell—An Incomplete Discography Dan Schwartz | Jul 05, 2021 | 3 comments

Dan Schwartz provides a brief look at some of Jon Hassell's records:

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Discographies

68 Weird and Unusual Records In My Collection Michael Fremer | Apr 13, 2021 | 35 comments

The first AnalogPlanet video in months is an hour plus worth of weird and unusual records in the editor's large collection. What makes an album "weird" or "unusual"? A wide variety of possibilities as you'll see in this amusing and entertaining video in which the website's editor literally lets his hair down.

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AAA Vinyl Discographies Features Record Buying Tips

100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning Michael Fremer | Apr 03, 2019 | 81 comments

Here's 100 recommended all-analog LP reissues worth owning. The video runs two hours so unless you are masochistic, you might want to watch in shorter segments but covering 100 LPs took time! Plus there are the usual fun stories interspersed throughout. Okay, I got wrong the The Who's "Tommy"'s original issue date (I said November '68, was May '69) otherwise all of the information should be correct. Yes, too many superlatives, but that’s video!

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Discographies

Remembering Gene Clark Michael Fremer | Mar 31, 2012 | 1 comments

This updated feature originally ran in Listener magazine and was re-published here in 2004. We brought it back to accompany Sundazed's reissue of Gene Clark—ed. a member of The New Christy Minstrels during the early ‘60s, the young mid-westerner heard “She Loves You” on a jukebox and realized his place wasn’t in a folksploitation group. He quit and headed West where he joined up with McGuinn and later Crosby at Doug Weston’s famed Santa Monica Blvd. folk club, The Troubador.

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Discographies

Round and Round: The Sound of The Rolling Stones Part 1 Michael Fremer | Oct 31, 2010 | 2 comments

This Rolling Stones discography written for issue 4 of The Tracking Angle, may have gathered some moss, but it still has some valuable information for Stones LP collectors
FFRR edition of Out of Our Heads)

Discographies

Round and Round: The Sound of The Rolling Stones Part 2

Michael Fremer | Oct 31, 2010 | 0 comments

This Rolling Stones discography written for issue 4 of The Tracking Angle, may have gathered some moss, but it still has some valuable information for Stones LP collectors (Photo shows Decca UK FFSS Their Satanic Majesties Request

Discographies

Round and Round: The Sound of The Rolling Stones Part 3

Michael Fremer | Oct 31, 2010 | 1 comments