vinyl archeology

/ 17 August 2018

The concept album that is Aretha's Gold follows the chronology of Aretha Franklin's hits, all released in 1967 and 1968, apex years of the decade not just in terms of numbers but also as an apogee of its cultural and political zeitgeist.

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The Classic Shanghai Divas and the Unintended Exoticism of the Taiwanese Bootleg

Andrew S. Guthrie

/ 10 January 2018

What does the record collector collect when the desired product is too expensive? Perhaps a bootlegged version shunned by the fussy connoisseur.

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On Discovering the In-your-face Glory of the Slits’ Album, ‘Cut’

Andrew S. Guthrie

/ 21 September 2017

The iconic cover plus hybrid punky-reggae establishes the Slits' Cut as a significant variation on the British late '70s DIY ethos.

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Dancing the Tango Through Mao’s Cultural Revolution With Argentinian Pancho and His Orchestra

Andrew S. Guthrie

/ 15 August 2017

On Shanghai dance halls of the late '30s and a vinyl tango artifact that survived Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

Culture/Featured: Top of Home Page/Music

The Teddy Charles/Teddy Cohen Jazz Map of Random Finds and Significant Directions

Andrew S. Guthrie

/ 25 July 2017

I take a chance on the unknown used records of Shenzhen and Los Angeles and unwittingly connect the dots, opening up the wide but previously obscured vistas of post-bebop history.

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Mind Blowing: Leroy Smart in the Heady Days of 1977

Andrew S. Guthrie

/ 15 June 2017

In 1977, reggae music burst out of its Caribbean confines and found its way to a record store in Cambridge, Massachusetts. That's the first time I met "The Don", Leroy Smart.