Anomale Used Blog

Alternative Systems for Grading Vinyl The first grading system to be adopted by jazz record collectors was devised in 1943 by a committee of experts, elected by the readers of Record Changer magazine, and under the chairmanship of John M. Phillips. There are other record grading systems, notably the one devised by the sound restorer John R. T. Davies in the 1960s, known as the Davies Record Grading System. This utilises two numbers, one for wear and one for scratches and surface damage. Images by DJ Paine Record Collectors Grading System This system is predominantly used in the UK and is often the go to grading scale for many online and high street stores. The Record Collectors Grading Scale was introduced as part of the Record Collector Magazine which was originally published back in March of 1980 and was initially designed to help collectors identify and value the rarer records of the time. Mint (M) The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deteriorat...

Couldn't find anything interesting to share today, will find something for tomorrow. Peace to the world. ✌️☮️ The Jesus And Mary Chain - Sometimes Always Written by: William Reid Released in: 1994 Genre: Rock, Alternative Rock "The Jesus And Mary Chain revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid, who are the founders and only consistent members. They are recognized as key figures in the development of the shoegaze and noise pop subgenres." Wishbone Ash - Mother of Pearl Recorded: Live at the Liverpool Empire Genre: Psychedelic, Rock Produced by: Ron Albert and Howard Alber "The band includes founding member Andy Powell, who handles lead vocals and trades licks with Yorkshire’s Mark Abrahams. Bassist Bob Skeat, a 25 year veteran of the band, drives the rhythm section along with Joe Crabtree, one of the best of Britain’s new breed of drummers." See previous Song of the Day

An interest in music of the past has been characteristic of a part of the musical world since the early nineteenth century, from about the time of the rise of museums. The revival of Gregorian chant in the early nineteenth century, the Cecilian movement in later nineteenth century Germany seeking to immortalize Palestrina’s music as a sound ideal, Mendelssohn’s revival of Bach, these are some of the efforts made in the past to restore still earlier music. In recent years this interest has taken on particular meaning, representing two specific trends, first, a rediscovery of little known and under appreciated repertories, and second, an effort to recover lost performing styles, in the conviction that such music will come to life anew using those performance practices. Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music have been central to these ideas, and their repertories have taken on new sheen and attractiveness as a result. Much was gained in the twentieth century from the study and revival ...

Many of the best known blues musicians came from the southern states of America, and some would argue that the Mississippi delta was the birthplace of the blues. This area had a greater concentration of black people than any other part of the country, and an economy based largely on cotton farming which meant that this was also an area in which segregation and social isolation of black people through lack of economic opportunity was deeply entrenched. The large scale migration of black workers from the southern states to the northern cities, often referred to as the Great Migration, created pockets of densely populated and very poor black communities within the urban areas of the cities. Prior to the Great Depression of the 1930s, many of the migrant agricultural labourers found themselves jobs in city factories, but these were poorly paid. However, they took their sense of community with them and a more dynamic version of the blues emerged, making use of the new technology of electric...

Americans have been singing since the first Europeans and Africans began arriving in North America in the sixteenth century. Work songs, hymns, love songs, dance tunes, humorous songs, and parodies, such songs provide a record of American history, serving both as historical sources and also as subjects of historical investigation. During the colonial, revolutionary, and federal periods, 1607-1820, most American songs were strongly tied to the musical traditions of the British isles. Hymn tunes, ballads, theater songs, and drinking songs were imported from England or based closely on English models. The main exceptions were the hymns of German speaking communities in Pennsylvania, the music of African American slave communities, and the songs of New Orleans, which were closely linked to the French West Indies and to France. Those exceptions aside, the most distinctively American songs were patriotic ones, like Yankee Doodle and the Star Spangled Banner, and even these were adaptations o...

Dancing in Your Head their refusal to abide by traditional values, their racy lyrics, the sexual innuendo of their rhythms, the goings on where they perform, their references to black magic and other vestigial descendants of African belief systems. In their turn, the feelings of blues folk toward their religious brethren have run an apparently bewildering gamut. Many blues greats shuttled between the sacred and the profane. Some of them, like Skip James, lapsed into silence for decades because they wouldn't sing the devil's music once they returned to the church... Interestingly, there's also a small but dynamic tradition of spiritual blues singers. Some are collected on Preachin the Gospel. This meeting of the sacred and profane has flowed in the other direction as well. The '40s harmonies of groups like the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots were gospel derived, and paved the way for the '50s doo woppers who likewise crossed gospel into pop. Sixties soul music and s...

The most noticeable characteristic of African music is the heavy emphasis on rhythm. Many in our culture have mental images of the savage drumming from old movies shot in Africa, but in reality, the rhythmic content of the music is very sophisticated. Often contrasting, syncopated rhythms, each played by a different musician, are superimposed on each other, creating a polyrhythmic effect that is so complex that it cannot be written down using standard music notation. African harmony and melody is equally complex, although to European trained ears, it often is characterized as simple and primitive. Once again, part of the problem rests with the urge to interpret one culture through the standards of another. One commonly observed quality of African melody is the strong reliance on a five note pentatonic scale, on a piano, this can be approximated by playing the black keys only. Another important aspect of African music is the importance of improvisation. Many instrumental performances a...