You're the Inspiration - The One Album at the Heart of My Vinyl Collection

Was there an album that you just HAD TO HAVE on vinyl?  That album that in spired you to build a vinyl collection in the first place?  For me there most certinly was, and that album was Monster Magnet's 1998 monster of an album - Powertrip.

Powertrip sold more than 500,000 copies in the United States alone on its way to gold status and was the top selling rock and and roll album in '98.  In addition to top five hit single Space Lord it spawned several other radio friendly tunes, including See You in Hell, Temple of Your Dreams, the title track and there were those adventurous DJs who played some deep cuts who would ocassionly throw on Crop Circles or even Tractor.

I thrilled to that album, end to end, not a bad track on it.  I've identified with many different bands through my life, ranging from The Power Station, Anthrax, Nirvana, Pantera, Foo Fighters, but there has been one constant since my youth, and that was Motorhead.  The other constant since 1995 has been Monster Magnet, and I regret not getting in five years earlier on the ground floor when thier self-titled EP was making some noise in Germany on the Glitterhouse label.

When Powertrip broke I researched this band; I had already discovered they had been on A&M for a while, and had already released two albums on the label, 1993's Superjudge and 1995's Dopes to Infinity. Superjudge I found pretty quickly on CD, but I already had a copy of Dopes.  As it turned out, those in the know, read the stoners in the area, had already snatched up all the copies of Dopes to Infinity in the region a couple years earlier and record stores had never bothered to restock.  I just happened to have liked the cover and the title and bought a copy myself.

Anyhow, I eventually picked up Spine of God, and Tab, and then followed Monster Magnet's career through its ups and downs right up until this very day and the band's current trippy release, Cobras and Fire a Re-imagining of Mastermind -- a brilliant fucking album end to end if I do say so.

Anyhow, what has all this got to do with me and my vinyl collection? Well, I didn't rush out and start a vinyl collection in 1998 when Powertrip came out, but I should have.  No, I waited until another band that is sometimes cast into the same stoner genre as Monster Magnet produced a new album in late 2012 on its own Weathermaker label before I made my first vinyl purchase since I was a teenager - I pre-ordered a copy of Clutch's Earth Rocker.  I didn't even own a record player at the time.

I was supposed to get a Crosley that had belonged to my mother-in-law, but thankfully, my brother-in-law tore that thing up and I never inherited it and discovered what a piece of shit it was before I ever had to deal with it.  Anyhow, time went by and I again pre-ordered a record I wanted in January of 2016, this time thrash kings Anthrax' new release For All Kings on translucent blue vinyl.

Okay, it came in February  I was unimpressed.  The blue came out in huge blobs.  In places it was this beautiful translucent light blue and in others you had this massive cells of opaque blue mess.  I don't know if this is what Anthrax wanted or not.  But, I wasn't discouraged.  I saw the potential of what colored vinyl had to offer and I knew I wanted my favorite band(s) in the format.  I began researching players and in mid-March I placed the first in what became a series of entirely TOO MANY VINYL ONLINE ORDERS!

Powertrip was among those albums ordered in the first wave.  My initial copy was supposed to be on orange vinyl.  I had to send that pressing back to the seller when he sent standard black by mistake.  I first focused on collecting Monster Magnet records, getting the black and white splatter vinyl of Cobras and Fire, the Cosmic Bronze version of Last Patrol, the purple marbled version of Superjudge, and the yellow and red-orange splatter vinyl of Mastermind.  From there, though I decided to move on to bands that I liked that influenced Monster Magnet - early Black Sabbath, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Amon Duul II, Pink Floyd (notably my favorite period, the first four albums) early Skullflower, Hawkwind, Branticket, Pink Fairies, etc.

The collection then expanded to feature my other two favorite bands, Motorhead and Clutch, Record Store Day 2016 rolled around and I picked up four releases - the Clutch etched 12" single, the gorgeous Iron Maiden Empire of the Clouds 12" picture disc, the Anthrax 7" red vinyl honoring those lost in the Paris attacks and the vulgar Rob Zombie, Well, Everybody's Fucking in a U.F.O.

Now I moved on to other psychedelic bands I liked such as The Doors, more stoner rock like The Atomic Bitchwax, and well, that brings me full circle, because I just laid my hands on another Monster Magnet album that nearly completes my collection of that band's vinyl production to date.  I lack just a few RARE official releases, plus, Monolithic Baby!, and a couple of bootlegs I'm trying to pin down that I'd like to have. (That's the subject of a whole other column for certain.)

In the meantime, my turntable and set up should arrive tomorrow and Thursday so hopefully by Friday I'll actually be spinning some vinyl.

The Atomic Bitchwax - The Bitchin'est of the Bitchwax

If you follow this page for any length of time you're going to quickly discover I'm a HUGE Monster Magnet fan, have been ever since I first heard that opening riff to "Negasonic Teenage Warhead" for the first time way back when in 1995.  So, no, I wasn't there at the beginning for "The Magnet," but I've damn sure been there every step of the way since then.

I've gone back and collected everything they've ever produced on MP3, CD, cassette (except those rare demo tapes), and since I began collecting vinyl a few months months ago, I'm ONLY a copy of Monolithic Baby! (and two or three really rare pieces) away from completing the record collection.

Now, what the heck has all that got to do with The Atomic Bitchwax?  Well, quite a lot actually.  As it presently stands, two-thirds of The Atomic Bitchwax are actually members of Monster Magnet (TAB founder, lead singer and bassist Chris Koznik and drummer/upright piano player Bob Pantella each pull double duty in the two stoner rock titans).  And, when Monster Magnet was in need of a guitarist after the departure of co-founder John McBain back in 1993, it turned to the Bitchwax then for assistance as well and found guitar golden god Ed Mundell, who went on to play with Monster Magnet for twenty years before departing first TAB, then Monster Magnet, to start up a third band, The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic with Rick Ferrante (of Sasquatch) and Collyn McCoy (of OTEP).

Now, I'm busy, collecting vinyl for TAB as well, and let me tell you, it's not easy to find some of thier stuff.  Hell, TAB 3 isn't even available on vinyl, nor is Boxriff, and you're going to shell out some serious dough for 1, 2 and Spit Blood.  In the meantime, I have the most recent three TAB discs to spin, and I can always turn to my MP3s if I must  Here's a  comprehensive list of TAB's bitchin'est tunes, IMHO, anyhow.

From The Atomic Bitchwax 1 (1999)
Stork Theme
Birth to the Earth
Hey Alright
Kiss the Sun
Gettin Old
Last of the V8 Interceptors
Shit Kicker
The Formula

Hell, pretty much the whole damned album, which is why it goes for more than $100 online these days on LP.

From The Atomic Bitchwax 2 (2000)
Ice Pick Freek
Forty-Five
Cast Aside Your Masks
The Cloning Chamber
Marching on the Skulls of the Dead
Dishing Out a Heavy Dose of Tough Love
Solid
Liquor Queen

Bonus Points if you track down a copy of the Aerosmith Tribute Album from 2000, Right in the Nuts, which features a rare track where TAB covers Combination.

From The Atomic Bitchwax Spit Blood EP (2002)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Cold Day in Hell
Black Trans-Am
U Want I Should

From The Atomic Bitchwax 3 (2005)
The Destroyer
Maybe I'm a Leo
Force Field
The Passenger
If I Had a Gun
Half As Much

From The Atomic Bitchwax Boxriff (2006)
STD

From The Atomic Bitchwax 4 (2008)
Astrononmy Domine
Sometime Wednesday
Giant
Wreck You
Super Computer

From The Atomic Bitchwax The Local Fuzz (2011)
The Local Fuzz

From The Atomic Bitchwax Gravitron (2015)
Sexecutioner
No Way Man
It's Alright
War Claw
Coming In Hot
Fuckface
Proto World
Down With the Swirl
Ice Age "Hey Baby"

Lost in Translation

I recently picked up four of the first five Amon Duul II albums after learning they were great influences upon Dave Wyndorf of Monster Magnet.  The Magnet is my favorite ACTIVE band, meaning they are tops among groups still touring and producing bodies of work. Heck, Monster Magnet very nearly tops my list of INACTIVE bands too.  There are not many bands I like better than Monster Magnet readers of this site will soon learn. 

When I received these in the mail I did what I always used to do when I got a new album, I tore through the exterior packing and dove straight into the linear notes.  I wanted to see if I recognized any band members names, learn the song lyrics, read what the band had to say, but in this case I was disappointed to discover the bulk of the notes were in German.

Well, not to be thwarted, I steered my internet browser to Google translate, keyed in the German text and eagerly hit the translate button, rubbing my hands together like a mad scientist for the couple seconds it took to do its work.  And behold, the translated text:

""Come to Hauf in the catacombs of Canaan (3.56). Who has seen them in those violet hour through the keyhole, the priests on stilts, flown as an attraction for intergalactic monster show. "Thus spoke the CHILDREN MORDER" (6.00) illustrious inventor of the Trumpet Fair of Tibet, when he ascended the caravan Cart Geier of Golgotha , everyone is a composer, if he finds the intersection of two parallels in the infinite. "Unexpectedly entered Lucifer GHILOM (8.02) the magic circle around which the polka and Landler drehn, and the ears of those assembled bowed from the east. he came with electronic swing of the valley of Angels einbalsameinrten where in Wahrsagersom Gregorian vision spider HENRIETTE KROTENENSCHWANZ (1'59) complain Apgehoben of the runway with hyphnotischen knives in their hands:. PHALLUS DEI "(20'45).

* THE GOOD, CONSERVE, PROTECT""

Hmmmm.  Clearly, something's been lost in the translation, right?

Double Clutch

Today I have a double dose of those Earth Rockers, the road dogs that they are, Clutch.  The discs featured are copies of Clutch's latest effort, 2015's brilliant Psychic Warfare, one in standard black and the other a Newbury Comics exclusive, limited to just 500 pressed copies done in  a gorgeous translucent red.  Now, I actively sought out the red copy of this disc, and after two months of searching and passing over opened copies, high priced copies and reasonably priced copies offered simultaneously with that one other disc that I JUST HAD TO HAVE RIGHT THAT MOMENT OR I MIGHT HAVE DIED, I finally found a copy under $30 still sealed and not so far away from me that I was going to have to donate a kidney to cover shipping, so I FINALLY scored a red Newbury edition for my collection before they were all snatched up and got it at a respectable price for such an awesome piece of wax.

Now, the story behind the black version is just as boring, but a little bit more odd.  I was unaware that Clutch had partnered up with the Susan Komen group and 15 other bands, to assemble a number of special albums to promote awareness of breast cancer some time after 2012 while also raising money to help support breast cancer research.  The product of that partnership was the pink vinyl album promoting eight of Clutch's tracks featuring strong female characters - La Curandera, with album art by a strong female no less, Becky Cloonan, who's claim to fame at DC Comics was that she was the first woman to draw The Bat - yes the vigilante himself, Batman.

Now, I won an auction on eBay for a sealed copy of La Curandera, and ONLY, that singular sealed copy of La Curandera.  I made certain after the fact, going back and reading all of the fine print, etc., to see if I missed something and make certain I had not screwed up and underpaid the seller or something.  Anyhow, a week after the auction my regular mail carrier dutifully pulls to my back door and I meet her at my back porch steps and accept this package containing La Curandera that I have been tracking for a few days.  I open it open and greedily grab up my pink vinyl album, tear through the plastic and prepare to unsheath the vinyl for the first time when my 11-year-old daughter calls my attention to the discarded box, "Dad is there supposed to be another record in there?"  Me, "No, dear, why?"

Her, "Well, you better come look..."

I have messaged this seller three different ways on at least seven different occasions since I obtained the package and I have yet to receive a response from him.  At this point I'm calling the album "officially MINE!"

Hawkwind celebrated 45 years with this special RSD release in 2015

Today's feature is the debut album from psychedelic space rockers Hawkwind.

This disc features the tune "Be Yourself," which Monster Magnet frontman Dave Wyndorf identified as one of the 10 greatest Hawkwind songs ever.

This particular version of the LP comes from the 2015 Record Store Day event and is pressed in translucent Orange, limited to just 5,800 total copies.  I snagged this copy, unopened at the time, for under a saw buck.  Of course, my collection is not intended to sit around and draw dust, I'm gonna play this sucker so I opened it up.

Check out that crazy gatefold.