Hope everyone is having a great summer. I have been, and I trust my fellow contributors have been as well; hence the lack of posts around here the last couple months. That being said, summer always has been, and always will be, my favorite time of year to listen to, and argue about, music. More often than not, it's filled with some of the years best releases, and it's always a great time to sit around and revisit the albums and songs that you'll always hold close to your heart. But this summer has been pretty unique, ironically. The number of great artists who have released or will release albums this year is staggering, but things have slowed considerably during these summer months. This definitely isn't all bad; as front-loaded as 2010 was, it's nice to be able to soak in some of the records that probably didn't get a fair shake to begin with (the month of May made it impossible to really listen to anything properly). But even taking that in to consideration, this summer has been more nostalgic for me than most. I've spent more time listening to albums that are pre-2005 than not, and needless to say it's been a lot of fun. So not surprisingly, the focus of my first post of the summer is taking a look back.
I'll begin this by saying that I never have been a fan of split singles. I know there is a lot of appeal to collectors, and a collector I am, but never of vinyl (I'd like to, but the idea of starting that up is just overwhelming). On top of that, I don't really like singles or eps in general. I find them frustratingly short. But, listening to playlists this summer has got me intrigued. So, to encourage discussion, I'm just gonna throw this out there:
The "E. Texas Ave."/"Blue Boy" split by Texas is the Reason and The Promise Ring is the greatest split 7-inch of all time.
Try to top it. You can't.
The Promise Ring: "E. Texas Ave."
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Not really sure if anyone has ever actually taken this band seriously. They really are something to admire. The glue that holds these people together is something stronger than just the music. Stronger than love. Stronger than blood. Nobody can really quite put their finger on what it is but we all should feel lucky to have them around. They just keep it simple. Simple like one of those old blues artists where it was just one person-one guitar. Its just so easy to feel the joy, the pain, or the chemically induced sense of joy. See and hear for yourself.
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