***The history of new age music from south of the Mason-Dixon line is largely a secret one. But the south is where we fi nd one of the genre’s most important distributors—New Leaf, in Kentucky, some of its most accomplished synthesists—Don Robertson, Geoffrey Newhall, William Linton, amongst others, and acoustic musicians like PC Davidoff and George Tortorelli. It is the home of countless spiritual retreats, intentional communities, and other signifiers of alternative spiritual life. But until now, there have never been any particular regional characteristics that can be assigned to southern new age music. Until now, there has never been any crossover between country and new age. And so—all of the sounds heard on this album were made with a 1967 Emmons Push/Pull pedal steel guitar in Nashville, Tennessee. This recording, which can justifi ably be described as “new age” in the most essential sense, represents a radical new approach to the versatile and cosmic instrument of the steel guitar. The closest antecedents may be sculptural sounds of Francesco’s Cosmic Beam, or Constance Demby’s Sonic Steel Space Bass. But unlike these invented instruments, the pedal steel is steeped in tradition. This is something new under the sun, a total reinvention of an iconic instrument. Quite literally, there has never been anything else quite like it. But more than a mere piece of invention — Altar Of Harmony is extraordinarily cinematic, an epic musical devotional to higher realms — booming music of the spheres. Regardless of its origins, the expression unmistakable....
LP $18.75
08/11/2020
***Pick any genre—rap, rock, pop, folk, country, whatever you like. Can you think of an artist from that genre that was inducted into its hall of fame without any recordings released? And if one were to exist, what would that say about the artist’s impact, influence and importance? Is this scenario even possible? Born 1929 in San Antonio, TX, MARTIN HURON SOLIS, JR. and his family came to Michigan in 1942 as migrant farmworkers and soon settled in the Detroit area. The Solis family was part of a wave of migration during the 1940s that brought thousands of Texas-born Mexican-Americans, along with their culture, north. Though he played guitar from an early age, Solis eventually fell in love with conjunto music, a South Texas style defined by the combination of accordion and bajo sexto, a Mexican twelve-string bass guitar. He taught himself to play the bajo sexto and joined up with accordionist Manuel Rivera, playing for tips in bars around Southwest Detroit, the heart of Detroit’s Mexican-American community. In the late-1950s, he and his cousin WILLY HURON, a saxophonist, formed CONJUNTO LOS PRIMOS (“The Cousins”), at the time one of only a handful of conjuntos in the Midwest. Solis became a favorite in Detroit based on a vast repertoire of songs he compiled by following the latest hits coming up from Texas. Their musical style was more complex than the conjunto label suggests. The inclusion of Solis’s cousin Willy on saxophone blurs the line between working class conjunto music and...
LP $18.75
08/11/2020
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Received an 8.5 Best New Reissue rating from Pitchfork. Originally conceived as a solo album from that dog. frontwoman Anna Waronker, the third studio LP from the band arrived polished, constructed and aerodynamic for the late 90’s post-grunge haze it emerged from. While gems like “Hawthorne” quaintly imagine punk rock shows in car garages and “Minneapolis” recalls the “I only saw her for one second” ephemeral beauty of Citizen Kane, The album itself traverses a myriad of emotions and counts among its fans both Pat Smear of the Germs and the Vivian Girls. Touring in support for Retreat had that dog sharing stages with the likes of Counting Crows, The Wallflowers and Blur. A deep interview by Matt Pinfield on MTV’s 120 Minutes provided prime underground exposure. Boosted by a glossy music video, “Never Say Never” even found its way onto the Billboard Modern Rock charts. While a picture disc version of alternate mixes was self-released by the band 2017, this is the first-ever vinyl release of this album.
LP $26.45
08/11/2020
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Received an 8.3 Best New Reissue rating from Pitchfork. Conceived as a loosely-based concept album around the idea of crushes and young love, that dog’s sophomore album Totally Crushed Out! is a touchstone underrated classic in line with of-the-era releases like the Breeders Last Splash and Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville. From the Sweet Valley High reminiscent illustrated album cover, to the A minus rating given by the dean Robert Christgau, to the Jenni Konner songwriting credit (long before she was the showrunner for HBO’s Girls) this album is quirky, smart, well-written and most of all—enjoyable. that dog’s touring behind Totally Crushed Out! found them sharing stages with Foo Fighters, Weezer and Teenage Fanclub, their songs being covered live by Pearl Jam, collaborating with Beck, and the vid for “He’s Kissing Christian” achieving sub-Buzz Bin status on MTV. This 25th anniversary reissue marks the first EVER vinyl appearance for this album. Showing their attention to detail, Third Man Records sleuths got their hands on the original oil painting used for the front cover art and worked directly from that for all relevant artwork needs.
LP $26.45
08/11/2020
***Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger formed The Fiery Furnaces in New York City in 2000. Their debut album Gallowsbird’s Bark (Rough Trade Records) was released to critical acclaim in 2003. In the following seven years, they released eight more albums and toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. The band’s last performance was nearly a decade ago at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. In the meantime Eleanor and Matthew have released eight solo albums, collectively. Eleanor: Someone comes up to me at every show and asks: “How’s Matt? What’s happening with The Fiery Furnaces?” And I say, “He’s fine” and “Nothing at the moment.” I’m so happy to finally have some news. Matthew: For the last three and a quarter years I’ve been listening to Fiery Furnaces records every day. I think I finally get it.
7" $7.50
08/11/2020
***NOW AVAILABLE!!! The thirtieth studio album from the legendary WANDA JACKSON. Features covers of songs by artists including Amy Winehouse, Kitty Wells, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Cash, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and Bob Dylan.
LP $18.75
08/11/2020
***Slaying the scene and making it look easy, Jacuzzi Boys are back at it with a new garageglam-punker 7” and the team at Third Man couldn’t be more excited to work with Miami’s favorite sons once again. You’ve caught them touring the world, playing shows and festivals far and wide, and steadily winning hearts and earning their place as fixtures of the American garage rock scene. You’ve seen singer and guitarist Gabriel Alcala’s illustrations on the pages of the New York Times, It’s Nice That, Pitchfork, The FADER and more. Now Jacuzzi Boys lay out two brand new songs on the table, pressed to wax and ready for your listening pleasure. The songs? They’re tight. They’re balanced. They’re right on the money. The A-side “The Pits” is a phenomenally fuzzed glittery rocker complete with breathy Bolanesque interludes, swooping bass and energetic percussion. Meanwhile, “Offended” is a blistering 1-minute garage rock whirlwind for anyone who has dipped their toes into the rank cesspool of online comments sections.
7" $7.50
08/11/2020
***NOW AVAILABLE!!! This 2004 album paired the legendary LORETTA LYNN with JACK WHITE at the production helm and was met with overwhelmingly glowing praise (the average rating via Metacritic is 97 out of a 100, tying it with Brian Wilson's Smile as their highest-rated, non-reissue album of all time). With all songs penned solely by Lynn, the vibe here is both raw and heartfelt. Van Lear Rose won the 2005 Grammy for Best Country Album and the lead single "Portland, Oregon" won that same year for Best Country Collaboration with vocals.
LP $21.50
08/11/2020
***The MCDONALD brothers are joined by drummer BRIAN REITZELL, guitarist EDDIE KURDZIEL (R.I.P.) and keyboardist GERE FENNELLY on 1993’s Phaseshifter. REDD KROSS leaves the ‘60s and ‘70s pop culture references at the door (well, most of them) and brings their strong melodies, dreamy harmonies, psychedelic punk/bubblegum metal to the front, tearing through 12 new Redd Kross tunes. Every track is a full-on Redd Kross gem, with standouts like "Crazy World," "Dumb Angel," "Pay For Love" and "After School Special."
LP $26.45
08/11/2020
***Phaseshifter line-up intact (GERE FENNELLY would soon move on, but plays all the keyboards on the recording), REDD KROSS came back at us with amps turned up and smiles on their faces on 1997’s Show World. The album starts off with a spot on cover of The Quick’s L.A. power pop classic, "Pretty Please Me," and sets the tone for yet another killer album by the thinking person’s good time band. Like all RK albums before and since, this one is all killer, no filler, with special highlights "Stoned," "Vanity Mirror," "One Chord Progression" and the absolutely sublime "Follow The Leader."
LP $26.45
08/11/2020
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Reissue of Boris' 2003 Akum No Uta album—recognized as one of the top 200 releases from the 2000s by Pitchfork and one of Boris’ most commercially successful releases of their full-length discography. Akuma No Uta is a journey through wild drop tunings and fuzz. The introduction to the album slowly builds into noise, settling like the aftermath of an avalanche as it comes to a close. Although mixing many different genres, from drone metal to shoegaze to punk, Akuma No Uta maintains a strong cohesive experiential undercurrent. "Naki Kyoku" begins with sentimental shoegaze riffage leading into a whirlwind of drones and fuzz-heavy enough to tear a whole in space. "Ibitsu" is a thrash punk track at its core, speeding through powerful punchy vocals and layer-upon-layer of screaming guitar. Title track "Akuma No Uta" is an amalgam of tender melodic guitar and heavy noise tracks showing the concussive power and tenacious diversity that Boris does better than any player in the game.
LP $26.95
06/19/2020
***BACK IN STOCK!!! The first-ever official release of The White Stripes Peel Sessions on 2 stuffed-to-the-brim discs. Capturing Jack and Meg at the precipice of international renown in the hubbub of White Blood Cells, their two live sessions with famed BBC DJ John Peel are arguably the best document of the White Stripes at that time.
CD $13.85
06/19/2020
2XLP $26.95
06/19/2020
***The third solo album from Jack White sees him expanding his musical palate with perhaps his most ambitious work thus far, a collection of songs that are simultaneously timeless and modern. Written and conceived while holed up in a spartan apartment with no outside distractions, Jack replicated the identical environment and used the same gear as when he was a 15 year old (a quarter-inch four-track tape recorder, a simple mixer, and the most basic of instrumentation) to pen sketches of the album’s songs. The album explores a remarkable range of sonic terrain—crunching rock 'n' roll, electro and hard funk, proto punk, hip hop, gospel blues, and even country—all remapped and born anew to fit White's matchless vision and sense of restless experimentation.
LP $26.95
06/19/2020
***The Black Lips brought the party to Third Man. Recorded live to analog tape on 06/11/12.
LP $14.00
06/19/2020
***There’s no better way to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of your best record than playing it in full, twenty-nine nights in a row. Hailing from Tokyo, beloved psych-doom shredders Boris performed their critically acclaimed album PINK in full, live in the Blue Room at Third Man Records. They recorded it direct to 8 track, 2” tape, providing an incredibly high fidelity document of an unforgettable night.
LP $17.00
06/19/2020
***Bill Callahan, fka Smog, is simultaneously a staple of strange American country, lo-fi, folk and independent music. His lyricism comes across as challenging and deeply autobiographical, equal parts “poetry leaning on true-to-life darkness” and “three chords and the truth.” So, it is fitting that Callahan’s live set would command the same sense of friendliness-with-difficulty that the recorded songs do. With brief, candid, and charming interludes between older and newer material, an outsider can hear that this performance was obviously a full-bodied (and multi-era) engagement, no space left for distraction.
LP $17.00
06/19/2020
***The Blue Room at Third Man shook with the sludge-drone majesty of Olympia, Washington’s Earth. Anchored by duo Adrienne Davies and Dylan Carlson, this band has an integral spot in American music by bringing a low-frequency uproar and six-string extremism to the forefront of the experimental, punk metal underground. More concisely, they are widely considered the pioneers of drone metal.
LP $14.00
06/19/2020
Recorded at a house party in a converted store front, the band captured here is at the height of its powers. Featuring covers of classics by the likes of John Lee Hooker, the Stooges and Willie Dixon, as well as a bevy of their oft-imitated originals.
LP $18.75
06/19/2020
***Guitar Wolf! They are the keepers of all blasted, hard, spazzed out songs, building a whole life on the bedrock of hyperactive RNR exhilaration. This Japanese power-group has been stupefying audiences at home and on the road since the late ‘80s and finally are back to unveil their capital-L loud jams. Third Man is fortunate to be releasing their lucky 13th full-length album LOVE&JETT and to have a hand in supporting Guitar Wolf’s noisy and canonical rise to their rightful place in underground music's highest hall of fame.
LP $21.95
06/19/2020
***By the time the Laughing Hyenas went back into the studio, Kevin Strickland and Jim Kimball had left to form Mule and had left John and Larissa without a rhythm section. Many people thought this marked the end of the band. Not the case. Todd Swalla (founding member of Necros) stepped in on drums and Kevin Ries on bass. Todd is a much more subtle timekeeper than Jim and Ries had no problem locking in with him, but stayed in the background a little more than Strickland leaving Larissa to take up a little more of the slack. She rises to the occasion, her leads a bit more melodic than before, although still blanketed in a sheet of noise. Brannon’s anguished vocals will still peel the paint of the walls and over the new slightly toned down direction, somehow seem even more extreme. Crawl is notably the only of the Hyenas records recorded in Detroit at White Room Studios.
2XLP $24.95
06/19/2020
***With their roots firmly planted in Detroit’s Cass Corridor punk rock and hardcore scene of the early 80s, John Brannon (Negative Approach) and Larissa Strickland (L-Seven), along with the locked in rhythm section of Kevin Strickland and Jim Kimball, the Laughing Hyenas took it to a completely different plane. Taking pointers from The Birthday Party and Funhouse era Stooges as well as early blues and jazz artists, the Laughing Hyenas were a fierce, sulfuric blast of noise. While their style didn’t change much over the course of their first three albums, they kept improving on the formula and on Life Of Crime, they reached their peak! Kevin’s thick and agile basslines and Jim’s bone-breaking drumming make a rhythm section that is incomparable. Larissa’s blistering guitar somehow builds haunting melodies out of the sonic chaos. Brannon is a punk rock whirlwind with the conviction of an old bluesman, his relentless howl make this one of his finest vocal performances to date and make this a truly disturbing and terrifying listen. This is the last record of the “Butch Vig Trilogy” — a beautiful, creative partnership that resulted in three untouchable records and helped point bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth in Butch Vig’s direction.
LP $21.35
06/19/2020
***The Hyenas travelled to Smart Studios in Wisconsin to record Merry Go Round, marking the start of a creative partnership with producer/engineer Butch Vig that would result in three of the most groundbreaking, game changing and scariest records to ever come out of Detroit...or anywhere.
2XLP $24.95
06/19/2020
***With their roots firmly planted in Detroit’s Cass Corridor punk rock and hardcore scene of the early 80s, John Brannon (Negative Approach) and Larissa Strickland (L-Seven), along with the locked in rhythm section of Kevin Strickland and Jim Kimball, the Laughing Hyenas took it to a completely different plane. Taking pointers from The Birthday Party and Funhouse era Stooges as well as early blues and jazz artists, the Laughing Hyenas were a fierce, sulfuric blast of noise. Taking the name from a Mark Twain line, the Laughing Hyenas went back into Smart Studios with Butch Vig to record their debut full-length You Can’t Pray A Lie. The Hyenas further elaborated on the template that Merry Go Round set. Kevin, Jim and Larissa lay down deceptively simple hillbilly voodoo blues that at the same time is so rhythmically complex you’re never quite sure what’s going on. Brannon’s vocals are as frenzied and intense as ever. With the balance and everything just right on YCPAL, our dear Hyenas recorded and released one of the milestone/cornerstone albums of the 1980s American underground music scene.
LP $21.35
06/19/2020
***Signed to Atlantic Records in the hubbub after Nirvana’s Nevermind exploded, the Melvins’ fifth album Houdini was a conscious attempt by the band to make a record that wouldn’t alienate their fans but that the band members themselves would also enjoy. Their best-selling release by a country-mile, this album crested at number 29 on on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. Houdini would be most folks introduction to the band and songs like “Honeybucket” received MTV airplay. Includes the vinyl-only bonus track “Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)” originally by the MC5.
LP $26.95
06/19/2020
***The final album in the Melvins major label span, Stag finds the band fully spreading their wings (and budget) to create what is arguably their most wide-ranging and diverse album among the nearly two-dozen full-length studio albums the band has released since 1987.
2XLP $35.50
06/19/2020
***While much of Tuareg music has become more distorted, faster and bombastic as of late, Mdou Moctar's soundscapes are more traditionally sparse, polyrhythmic and deeply psychedelic, with lyrics sung in the style of Tuareg nomadic poets. His show on the Blue Stage at Third Man Records Cass Corridor was proof of how special all of this feels, especially in front of a Western audience, most of whom were seeing Mdou live for the first time. When Mdou took the stage with guitarist Ahmoudou Madassane and drummer Mahmoud Ahmed Jabra—only their faces exposed in their tunics and turbans—and began to play, there was a meditative intrigue that loomed heavy and thick in the room. Though hard to see clearly Mdou’s precise and rapid-fire fingerwork on his Fender, the audience was quickly and thoroughly transfixed by his left-handed virtuosity. By the end of the psychedelic-guitar-rock-groove-explosion that was their set, it was clear that this was a show that would be talked about for a very long time.
LP $17.00
06/19/2020
***BACK IN STOCK!!! The Monks—a strange, rare group with a story that sounds like a drunk friend’s generous hyperbole. A group of American G.I.s stationed in Germany on the precipice of Western cultural revolution starts playing music loosely connected to the rock n’ roll craze, contrastingly incorporating a critical and often offensive avant-garde edge. Nothing was off limits—screeching vocals, dark aesthetics, staccato-strummed banjo, sardonic lyricism, critiques of the Vietnam War and full monk costuming down to the tonsure. When viewed on the whole, it seems like an art school student’s senior thesis on what the craze means and its future possibilities. Due in large part to original Polydor vinyl collectability and years in the word-of-mouth hype machine, their legend and cult status has steadily blossomed since their last shows in 1967. Fast forward to 2017, the crew at Third Man, already huge fans, are presented with an honest-to-God treasure trove of original Monks photos, newspaper clippings, business cards, letterhead, contracts, postcards and, yes, analog tapes, containing trailblazing, wild compositions completely unheard by public ears. “I’m Watching You” would have been recorded on February 28th, 1967 at the same sessions that would produce the Monks’ final single “Love Can Tame the Wild” b/w “He Went Down to the Sea.” The remaining four songs were recorded after hours in the Top Ten Club later that year, just prior to the break-up of the band.
LP $13.50
06/19/2020
***As a continuing collaboration with Chess Records/Universal Records and the estate of Muddy Waters, Third Man Records is proud to reissue Muddy Waters' fifth studio album Electric Mud. Electric Mud, which Chess originally released in 1968 has not seen a legitimate domestic vinyl release since 2002, despite its enormous influence on generations of blues rockers. It features members of Rotary Connection as Muddy's backing band and was very controversial upon its release for its fusion of electric blues with psychedelic elements.
LP $21.95
06/19/2020
***Long Way From Home collects 18 tracks recorded by Dave Benders for a 1972 radio session at Buffalo, NY’s WBFO at the University of Buffalo. The compilation—comprising typically distinctive Leon Redbone renditions of Tin Pan Alley and ragtime favorites—marks the first ever official release of these important early recordings, a milestone in the enigmatic singer-guitarist’s idiosyncratic creative development.
2XLP $21.35
06/19/2020
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Leagues Beneath is the first release immediately following Sleep’s long-prophesied, critically-acclaimed opus The Sciences. Recorded as a part of a series of songs for Adult Swim. The song is a testament to what has made The Sciences such a success: bottomless tone, spacetime-melting riffs and a unparalleled aural experience from start to finish. “Leagues Beneath," features the full 17-minute hadal plunge on the A-side, with a tentacled aquanaut nightmare etching on the B-side.
12" $12.00
06/19/2020
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Sleep's first full-length album of new recordings since 1998. Years after the release of Volume One in 1991, Sleep's Holy Mountain in 1992 and Dopesmoker in 2003, the sonic titans reaffirm their place at the top of the riff pyramid with this brand-new double album, The Sciences.
2XLP $30.95
06/19/2020
***While many rocking bands in San Francisco and beyond claim to be 'garage' bands'—Kelley Stoltz has actually recorded his LP Double Exposure in the garage behind his house. And while the car oil stained floors are covered by oriental rugs and there are no snow shovels laying around—there is a collection of vintage synths, 17 guitars, tape echos, mellotrons, a '50s jukebox, a Teardrop Explodes poster, a tape machine used by The Residents, an amp used by Stooge James Williamson, and a myriad other noise making devices which rear their heads on this record.
LP $18.75
06/19/2020
***Caetano Veloso’s self-titled debut solo album is one of the most important and influential Brazilian (and, dare we say, South American) albums of all time. With the release of this seminal album, Veloso would become the leading voice of Tropicália. The songs on this album immediately connected with people. "Alegria, Algeria" was his breakout hit that gained traction as a hymn for liberty advocates, juxtaposing images of Coca Cola, guerrilla groups, bombs and Brigitte Bardot as part of the everyday experience. The album’s first song "Tropicália" was an anthem for the whole movement; it’s a fragmented allegory, a structure borrowed from friends.
LP $24.95
06/19/2020
***There are certain bands in this supersaturated, hyper-fragmented, temperamental internet era that rise above ephemeral popularity because they deserve it. Woods is one of those bands, and their wheelhouse is a decidedly mellow blend of "campfire folk," psych, soul, and funk that's wise beyond its years in timbre and lyric and takes influence from many a surprising source. Woods brings songs into the world that are at once comforting and challenging, and the band's members take their job as music makers seriously, pumping out nine full-length studio records in the past 10 years and running their own label Woodsist out of Brooklyn. The journey we all took with Woods at the helm on May 2nd, 2016 has been immortalized now as part of Third Man Records' Live LP series, and it's a journey we highly recommend taking in the comfort of your own home — with a glass of your favorite beverage in hand, fire roaring, and mind malleable.
LP $15.00
06/19/2020
***The formation of the PATHETX began in 1980 with singer, MARK LEAVITT and guitarist GREG KUTCHER. They had been playing together in their basements for a while and were looking to get out on stage in the punk clubs in and around Detroit. They assembled the rest of the group, drummer TED MEEK, guitarist happy TOM MCHENRY and 16 year old bass player MICK NASTY, through newspaper ads, local “punk walls” and music stores. The Pathetx took their inspiration from the West Coast punk scene that was happening at the time, bands like The Germs, Black Flag and Dead Kennedys, as opposed to most of the other punk bands that were kicking around Detroit who were looking to The Stooges and MC5 to show them the way. Nunzio’s was the band’s unofficial home away from home but they played every legendary punk club in the area: Bookies Club 870, Freezer Theater, Red Carpet, Windsor’s Coronation Tavern... you name it, The Pathetx played it. They shared the stage with Detroit’s first wave punk bands as well as the superstars of this new hardcore thing that was happening. They played the legendary Endless Summer Skatepark show with Necros, Negative Approach and Meatmen. Their live shows were filled with beer, blood and pogos. Third Man Records is proud to announce the first-ever release of The Pathetx - 1981. Clocking in at 18:16 minutes at 45rpm.
LP $18.75
03/13/2020
***FRANCE GALL was a prolific French vocalist and performer, remembered as one of the central figures of the 1960s yé-yé pop movement. Aligning catchy, spirited rhythms with lighthearted lyrics and drawing from the beat music a la early Beatles and Hollies, the yé-yé artists promoted a sort of new freedom of expression and breaking down of social barriers in post-WWII France. Third Man Records is beyond honored to bring this music to a larger audience by issuing the first authorized North American vinyl pressings of these titles, some of the most brilliant highlights from Gall’s catalog. Without a doubt this is the weirdest France Gall record. 1968 dives further into the psychedelia that she was hinting at on Baby Pop. Even with addition of sitars and echoes of The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks and Pet Sounds era Beach Boys all over this record it is still 100% French and could only have been made by France Gall. The addition of English expat producer/arranger, David Whitaker, brought a new and welcome airiness to the mix that was lacking on Gall’s earlier recordings. The album contains 2 of Serge Gainsbourg’s strangest and most out there arrangements, “Nefertiti” and “Teenie Weenie Boppie” about an LSD trip gone horribly wrong. 1968 is an absolutely essential addition to any record collection. 180-gram vinyl pressing in direct-to-board jackets.
LP $26.45
03/06/2020
***FRANCE GALL was a prolific French vocalist and performer, remembered as one of the central figures of the 1960s yé-yé pop movement. Aligning catchy, spirited rhythms with lighthearted lyrics and drawing from the beat music a la early Beatles and Hollies, the yé-yé artists promoted a sort of new freedom of expression and breaking down of social barriers in post-WWII France. Third Man Records is beyond honored to bring this music to a larger audience by issuing the first authorized North American vinyl pressings of these titles, some of the most brilliant highlights from Gall’s catalog. Baby Pop is not only an important album for France herself, it is also a hugely important record for the entire yé-yé scene. Baby Pop hinted at the musical direction that yé-yé was headed in much the same way Revolver and Pet Sounds did in the UK and USA. Baby Pop is more mature and varied than her earlier more bubblegum releases. You will still find a wonderfully cheesy tracks like “L’Amerique” here and there but with the impossibly infectious title track and songs like the Gainsbourg penned “Nous Ne Sommes Va-T’en” and the groovy Farfissa driven “Faut-Il que Je T’Aime” we welcome a new France Gall and say hello to some of the finest pop music ever released in French or any language. 180-gram vinyl pressing in direct-to-board jackets.
LP $26.45
03/06/2020
***FRANCE GALL was a prolific French vocalist and performer, remembered as one of the central figures of the 1960s yé-yé pop movement. Aligning catchy, spirited rhythms with lighthearted lyrics and drawing from the beat music a la early Beatles and Hollies, the yé-yé artists promoted a sort of new freedom of expression and breaking down of social barriers in post-WWII France. Third Man Records is beyond honored to bring this music to a larger audience by issuing the first authorized North American vinyl pressings of these titles, some of the most brilliant highlights from Gall’s catalog. While France Gall had been releasing music since she was 16 it wasn’t until she took the Grand Prix at the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest with her rendition of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son” that she would be catapulted to the top of the swinging yé-yé scene alongside the likes of Francoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan and Bridgette Bardot. This record contains two of France’s most loved tracks, “Poupée de Cire” and “Laisse Tomber Les Filles” also penned by Gainsbourg. She recorded versions of the title track in French, German, Italian and Japanese and was now an international pop superstar. At the time France was dismissed by many as making fluffy ultra commercial pop hits but her music stands the test of time far better than most, as not many were making music of this consistent high quality. Highly recommended. 180-gram vinyl pressing in direct-to-board jackets.
LP $26.45
03/06/2020