Adele 25 Vinyl Record Records in Guelph

Adele 25 by Adele 

Her new record! 

on vinyl

@ 

Royal Cat Records in Guelph!

25 Holiday Records: 11: Christmas Songs by Bad Religion

We're counting down to Christmas Day with a list of 25 records we have in the shop at Royal Cat Records! Why? Because vinyl rules!

Our next record is a modern punk rock Xmas tribute!

#11

Christmas Songs
by Bad Religion
Epitaph

Kudos to this band for tackling some VERY traditional yuletide carols on this record. We never really thought about it before, but the whole punk thing seems kind of at odds with tradition and history in a way. At least, that's how punk situated itself back in the 70s and early 80s. By the time Bad Religion got around to recording this, punk had become pretty mainstream, more of an "alternative lifestyle" than a transgressive art movement or DIY challenge to the status quo of the music industry. Formed in 1980, Bad Religion were part of that first wave of U.S. west coast punk, so nowadays they are something like the elder statesmen of the music. Their music hasn't changed much in all that time and they sort of represent to us what Jello Biafra once called the "fonzie punks" --those frozen in time punks who think the music should look and sound the same way, always.

That's not to say we can't appreciate what Bad Religion does. At Royal Cat we like to bob our heads along and slam dance to "traditional" punk just as much as the next old geezer. And why shouldn't practitioners of this lifestyle have holiday music to share with their kids while they wait for the tattooed and pierced Punk Santa Claus to shred down the chimney on his skateboard? So it only makes sense that even crusty old punkers should have an xmas record like this for themselves. For many years, most of the punkers we knew were so anti-establishment that they wouldn't even admit to liking the holidays one little bit. If you pressed them, they would maybe admit that The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" or Miles Davis' "Blue Xmas" or The Fall's "No Xmas for John Keys" or some other songs about drunks and junkies and capitalism were the only Christmas songs they liked. Now we have this, which is just as bland and background-y as most other offerings of the genre.

So why did this get made? No big deal, the band was just nostalgic for Christmas and thought they could sell some units. According to The Village Voice, lead singer Greg Graffin is a former choirboy: "I remember fun singing events," Graffin says of his childhood performances. "It wasn't about a religious feeling or celebrating a sacred time. It was just really fun performing these songs."

It's a pretty boring record. Inoffensive. All the songs sound the same. Most of them are actually religious. Two have angels in the title and several mention Jesus. They sound very earnest! The presentation is pretty straight-ahead super-fast punk. The band just blows through these, like a cartoonish marching band on speed. But the whole thing is kind of awkward. The machine-gun drums only make sense on "Little Drummer Boy," for instance. The boys do some nice "ah"-ing backing vocals on "What Child is This" and a couple of others. There are some lame guitar solos. Mostly by-the-numbers, highly-polished run throughs (the band is tight). The only standout is the band's original composition, "American Jesus," which is kind of a political, anti-consumerist rant.

Track List:

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
O Come All Ye Faithful
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
White Christmas
Little Drummer Boy
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
What Child Is This?
Angels We Have Heard On High
American Jesus (Andy Wallace Mix)

We've got it on vinyl in the shop!


Check it out:


 

New Records for Christmas Week

Happy Soulful Holidays! A partial list of new arrivals:

13th Floor Elevators, s/t “The Psychedelic Sounds of…” 
Adele, 19 
Adele, 21
Adele, 25 
Alan Parsons Project, I Robot 
Alan Parsons Project, Single Edits (RSDII 2015) 
Amy Winehouse, Back to Black 
Arcade Fire, Funeral (180g) 
Arctic Monkeys, Suck it and See 
Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say 
Ariel Pink / Blood Orange, Heaven Knows What pink ninja star vinyl (RSD2) 
B-52s, s/t 
Bad Religion, Christmas Songs 
Band, Last Waltz 
Band, Northern Lights Southern Cross 
Banks, The Remixes Part 2 (RSD2 2015) 
Baroness, Purple 
BB King, King of the Blues 
Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique 
Beatles, Abbey Road (180g) 
Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s (180g) 
Beatles, White Album 
Belle and Sebastian, Tigermilk 
Bessie Smith, At the Christmas Ball (red vinyl) 7-inch 
Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin 
Black Keys, El Camino (180g/with cd ) 
Black Keys, El Camino (180g + cd)
Black Keys, Turn Blue 
Blondie, Parallel Lines 
Bob Marley, Legend 
Bob Marley, Rastaman Vibrations 
Bob Marley, Rasta Revolutions 
Bob Marley, Soul Rebels 
Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA 
Buddy Guy / Junior Wells, Chicago Blues Festival 1964 (180g) 
Buddy Holly, Greatest Hits (180g) 
Calexico, Edge of the Sun 
Cat Stevens, Teaser and the Firecat 
Charley Patton, Vol 1 
Charlie Parker, Bird on 52nd Street 
Chromeo, White Women 
Cocteau Twins, Stars and Topsoil (1982-1990)
Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head
Coldplay, Ghost Stories 
Coldplay, Parachutes 
Cyndi Lauper, She’s So Unusual 14
Darondo, Didn’t I 7-inch 
Darondo, Listen to My Song
David Bowie, Life on Mars 7-inch (picture disc) 
Dead Kennedys, Frankenchrist 
Dead Weather, Dodge and Burn 
Deep Purple, Machine Head
Dinosaur Jr, Bug 
Dr. Dre, Compton 
Etta James, Best of (180g) 
Father John Misty, Fear Fun 
Feist, The Reminder 
Fela Kuti, Roforofo Fight 
FKA Twigs, LP1 
FKA Twigs, M3LL155X 
Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues (2lp)  
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours 
Florence and the Machine, Ceremonials 
Flying Lotus, You’re Dead 
Future Islands, Singles 
Get Up Kids, Red Letter Day (RSD marble vinyl 10-inch) 
Godspeed You Black Emperor, Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada 
Grandmaster Flash, The Message (coloured vinyl) 
Grateful dead, History of the GD vol 1 
Green Day, Dookie
Green Day, Nimrod
Howlin Wolf, Killing Floor
Howlin Wolf, The Real Folk Blues
James Brown, A Soulful Christmas 
James Brown, I Can’t Stand Myself When You Touch Me 
 James Brown, Reality 
Janis Joplin, Live at Winterland 1968 (RSD 2015) 
Jesus and Mary Chain, Barbed Wire Kisses 
Jimi Hendrix, Axis Bold as Love (180g) 
Joanna Newsom, The Milk-Eyed Mender 
Joel Plaskett, Scrappy Happiness 
John Lee Hooker, Blues on Fire 
Johnny Cash, The Fabulous 
Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart 7-inch (clear vinyl) 
Kate Bush, Hounds of Love 
Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid MAAD City (Deluxe Ed) 
Kinks, Dedicated Kinks 7-inch (RSD)
Kinks, Greatest Hits
Kurt Cobain, And I Love Her/Sappy 7-inch 
LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver 
LCD Soundsystem, YR City’s a Sucker 12-inch 
Led Zeppelin, I 
Led Zeppelin, II 
Led Zeppelin, Physical Grafffiti 
Libertines, Anthems for Doomed Youth 
Mac Demarco, 2 
Mac Demarco, Another One 
Megadeth, Rust in Peace (180g)
MF Doom and Madlib, Madvillain 
MF Doom / Madlib, Madvillainy 2: The Remixes 
Miles Davis, Bitches Brew (Legacy 180g) 
Miles Davis, Blue Xmas 7-inch (blue vinyl) 
Mississippi Sheiks, Vol 1 
Motorhead, Ace of Spades (180g) 
Nas, Illmatic 
Nathaniel Ratelief, And the Night Sweats 
Neil Young, A Letter Home 
Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine
Nirvana, Bleach 
Nirvana, Nevermind 
NWA, 100 Miles and Runnin’ (hologram cover)
NWA, Straight Outta Compton 
Offspring, Smash 
Otis Redding, Lonely and Blue (blue vinyl) 
Parliament, Mothership Connection (colour vinyl) 
Parliament, Trombipulation 
Pavement, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain 
Pearl Jam, Ten (2lp/180g) 
Pearl Jam, VS 
Pink Floyd, DArk Side of the Moon (180g)
Pink Floyd, London 1966/1967 
Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here (180g) 
Pixies, Bossanova 
Pixies, Surfer Rosa 
Pixies, Wave of Mutilation 
Pogues, If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Pogues, Rum Sodomy and the Lash
Queen, A Night at the Odeon 
Queen, News of the World 
Queen, The Game 
R.E.M., Live at CKRW Santa Monica 1991 (180g) 
Radiohead, In Rainbows 
Radiohead, The Bends 
Rage Against the Machine, s/t (Legacy 180g) 
Raincoats, s/t 
Rancid, And Out Come the Wolves (180g) 
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magic 
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication (180g) 
Rolling Stones, Beggar’s Banquet (180g) 
Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed (clear vinyl/180g) 
Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers (180g) 
Run the Jewels, Meow the Jewels 
Rush, Live in St. Louis 1980 
Ryan Adams, 1989 (2lp) 
Sam Cooke, For Always 
Smiths, Hatful of Hollow 
Snoop Dogg, Da Game Is To Be Sold (2lp) 
Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle 
Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger 
Stevie Wonder, Someday at Christmas 
Stone Temple Pilots, Purple 
Strokes, Is This It 
Sufjan Stevens, Carrie and Lowell 
Sun Ra, Strange Worlds In My Mind 
Sun Ra, The Sub-Dwellers 
Swans, Love of Life 
Swans, White Light From the Mouth of Infinity 
Talib Kweli / Madlib, Liberation 
Tame Impala, Currents 
Tame Impala, Innerspeaker 
Tame Impala, Lonerism (2lp) 
Taylor Swift, 1989 
Three Dog Night, Joy to the World: Greatest Hits 
Tragically Hip, Fully Completely 
Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders 
Tribe Called Quest, People’s Instinctive Travels (20th Anniv) 
Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory (2lp) 
Various, A Phil Spector Christmas 
Various, Birth of Dancehall Black Solidarity 1976-79 
Various, Nightmare Before Christmas (picture disc) 
Various, Rocksteady Fever 
Velvet Underground, VU and Nico (peeling banana) 
Velvet Underground, White Light/White Heat 
Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas (green vinyl) 
Violent Femmes, s/t 
Weeknd, House of Balloons 
White Stripes, De Stijl 
Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) 
Zombies, BBC Radio Sessions (RSD 2015) 

25 Holiday Records: 12: The Jackson 5 Christmas Album

We're counting down to Christmas Day with a list of 25 records we have in the shop at Royal Cat Records! Why? Because vinyl rules!

All wrapped up with a pretty bow, this collection of infectiously funky poppy songs is perhaps one of the most durable modern takes on the Xmas album.

#12

The Jackson 5 Christmas Album
by The Jackson Five
Motown Records 635 250
1970

We have heard songs from this a lot this year, not just in our store but also in the car, in restaurants, everywhere! It really goes over easy. The Jackson 5 doesn't seem to have the same baggage that Michael Jackson's later career has. Fake Thriller nostalgia gets us mad but these 70s records are from a more innocent time. The Jackson 5 Christmas Album is pretty joyous. I know it was a cynical cash grab created by a bunch of grumpy men at Motown, and that the brothers were mercilessly rehearsed and kept under a close watch by their family, but it all comes together on the side of universal peace, brotherhood, and sweetness. Maybe we can't listen to these songs around the clock, but when you haven't heard them for a year, and then hear them a few times over the holidays, it's a great pick-me-up.

This was the fourth record the Jacksons put out in the same year. They were really on a roll. It's hard to pick out a favourite here, but we like "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and maybe "Up on the Rooftop" the best. They all have something to recommend them.

Tracklist

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 5:10
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town 2:25
The Christmas Song 2:45
Up On The Housetop 3:11
Frosty The Snowman 2:30
The Little Drummer Boy 3:06
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 2:30
Christmas Won't Be The Same This Year 2:30
Give Love On Christmas Day 2:58
Someday At Christmas 2:38
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus 2:59