Music » Vinyl Record Rock Music

Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.

Undeniably a defining effort in the spirit of the early, now considered 'classic' doom metal sound

Jokingly referred to as the White Stripes' British album, Elephant is scattered with cultural references that give away the fact it was recorded far from home. Just listen to the lyrics on "Seven Nation Army" ("From the Queen of England to the hounds of Hell") or the album outro, in which someone chips in, "Jolly good, cup of tea?" But while there are new twists here, from Meg White discovering her voice to a tongue-in-cheek threesome with Holly Golightly, Elephant is no great departure for Jack and Meg White. They still push their creativity (and the boundaries of their eight-track) to new heights. Check out the startling, Queen-inspired "There's No Home for You Here," while the deep bass line on "Seven Nation Army" makes it a classic indie dance track. But while some songs fly off into new realms, there's plenty of their trademark straight-up bluesy rock, notably the overtly sexual "Ball and Biscuit." And there's Jack's plaintive, resolutely modest and yet theatrical voice. --Caroline Butler

After long years in remission, this release is back in circulation. By the turn of 1990, The Mummies were fed up with the records of their time. Not content to take things lying down, these cut-rate visionaries put out a bunch of their own. So pleased were they with those 45s, that they recorded a mix tape. In 1992, they convinced Estrus Records to release it as the standard long player, "The Mummies: Play Their Own Records," which sold out sometime in 2005. Relive those lazy, hazy, crazy days of the twilight years of the last century with this LP.

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Release Date: 2010-02-23, Vinyl, Sst Records

The precursor to Bowie's masterpiece, The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, Hunky Dory points in many of the same musical directions as Ziggy, with Bowie camping it up outrageously through a mixture of cabaret piano, coquettish lyrics and soaring vocals. After the hard rock "The Man Who Sold The World", Mick Ronson's guitar is turned down in favour of plenty of piano and acoustic guitar, as Bowie proves his mettle as a masterful singer-songwriter. Not a dull note is struck on the whole album, which flits from opener "Changes" to the vampy "Oh! You Pretty Thing" to the heart-wrenching "Life On Mars" with a seemingly impeccable ear for a tune. Flirty, sexy and irresistibly seductive. --Amber Cowan

Only a peak-of-their-powers Stones could manage to overshadow one of their very greatest albums by surrounding it in their studio chronology with Let It Bleed and Exile on Main St.. Sticky Fingers, however, is anything but an also-ran. Offering some of the band's most inspired twists on their basic approach--"Sway," the midtempo rocker that would sound orchestral even without Paul Buckmaster's climactic string arrangement; the gorgeous closer "Moonlight Mile"--this also rocks like the demon they had lived to face another day after Altamont. And, as if to prove their minds were still as dirty as their music, its keynote is "Brown Sugar." --Rickey Wright

"the apocalypse's doomy, amp-destroying fifth horseman...galloping mammoth metal" - SPIN

"unbelievably heavy...massive crunching riffs and drums that slam like vault doors" - REVOLVER

Massive power trio HIGH ON FIRE are a supersonic exercise in conquest by volume. Equal parts molten metal and earthquake panic, HIGH ON FIRE's MOTORHEAD-meets-SLAYER roar is outrageously loud and absolutely punishing. With Blessed Black Wings, guitarist / vocalist Matt Pike (ex-SLEEP) unleashes a devastating combination of bombastic guitar and howling war cries, weaving fantastical tales of supernatural beasts, forgotten battles and rivers of blood over an unstoppable bass and drum assault. HIGH ON FIRE are a class unto themselves, manhandling rock music while locking into grooves that transcend time.

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