Brian Owens
Soul of Cash LP
scum stats: black vinyl version with different cover seems widely available, smoke version (this) limited to 100 copies, black/white insanity version limited to 20 copies (someone send me this one!)
Right around the two year anniversary of these record of the week missives, so it seems appropriate to go and revisit Soul Step, the label that released the first record I ever wrote about here (“Lemonade” by the Gills, FYI)
Melvin over at Soul Step is relentless, he just keeps on putting out stuff faster than I can listen to it. This one, with Daru Jones production/drum work on it along with Robert Randolph contributions AND the theme (soul covers of Johnny Cash) made it stick out from the rest.
And it’s solid here. Songs that are buried in the fiber of your being reinterpreted respectfully. The feeling where you know the lyrics to a tune but can’t place why, because the arrangement/instrumentation are totally unconnected to your ingrained memory…that makes your brain stronger.
In my opinion, labels like Soul Step are what actually keep the world of music interesting and exciting. On the front lines, exploring and discovering and sharing. Doing it for the LOVE of it all. I’ve seen folks come and go in this world, looking to MAKE MONIE$$$$$$ and you learn to be able to sniff ‘em out the moment they set foot in the pressing plant.
This isn’t something you do because you want to get rich. That’s what banking and the stock market are for. You get involved with music because you can’t stop yourself from doing it…whether it’s performance, running a label, whatever.
The feeling I get when ever a Soul Step package arrives, is “Damn right, keep it up.” I fully encourage you to support them (and ANY independent labels) in any way you can. They are what keeps new, young, creative talent moving. They are necessary. Your life would be a much worse place without them.
I’ve got a spare copy of the smoke vinyl version here, and it goes to the commenter here who tells the best true story about how they lost or found cash. I once found a $20 bill in the water at Metro Beach in Michigan. Went and bought some packs of Upper Deck hockey cards with it. Clearly you have a story better than that, right?
PS. I know the two year anniversary is actually next week, but with baby #3 due to arrive any minute, I’m not planning on a write-up then, so we’ve got an amazing piece of nostalgia lined up from TMR distro champion Cam Sarrett. Stay tuned.
I found a 20 dollar bill on the side of the road walking with my friend once when I was a teen. I was so happy he didnt see it! I was RICH!!! I bought a pack of smokes and went and played bust-a-move at the bowling alley arcade where a 15 year old could smoke with impunity lol Oh man how times have changed.
I grew up in semi-rural Ireland, and back in the day the currency here was irish pounds, but for most of my life it’s been the euro because screw england. When I was a teenager I used to meet my friends after school and on weekends in a nearby town, just to loiter and get kicked out of shops, as teenagers do. Not to play into a cultural stereotype, but there were a few old guys that tended to hang around town somewhat inebriated, and occasionally we would have conversations with them about whatever nuggets of life advice they decided to bestow on a bunch of aimless teenagers. One day about 6 of us were walking down the street, and one of these men that I’d never seen before approached us, pulled a handful of old irish pounds out of his pocket and gave us each one in turn. These weren’t recent coins either, they were rusted and clearly pretty old. He then walked away wordlessly, and none of us ever saw him again. I know he was probably just an old drunk guy with some reason in his own mind, but I still wonder, why did he carry these old coins around with him, and then deem us worthy of receiving them? Maybe someday we’ll all be called on a quest and the coins will be the final key to solving it. I had forgotten about it until I read this post!
I found Johnny (Cash) when I was 15. A Columbia Records Club purchase,get 13 for a penny or something like that. Folsom Prison and San Quentin I still have them today. If only I knew about sleeve protecters then.
Listened to this on Apple Music…yes it is there…and yes, I know that defeats the purpose of talking about vinyl, which is part of the allure of Blackwell’s record of the week….but, damn, this is worth the listen
I went to Sasquatch Music Festival @ The Gorge a bunch of years in a row and figured out a “scam”. Being a Canadian it always sucks having to pay for food/beer in USD as after conversion the $14 beers were basically $20 CAD which is ludicrous. At the fest though, they would accept Canadian money on par with US money. Not only this, but they would give you USD as change. So my 2nd year going I brought 10 x $100 Canadian Bills. The plan was that every time I would buy a beer or food, I would pay with $100 CAD, get the beer, and receive $88 USD back in change (which was worth more than the original $100 CAD). I was actually profiting by buying beer, even after a healthy tip. Perfect Plan, except that after buying 2 or 3 beers, I either dropped my wallet in a honey bucket or was pick pocketed (which makes sense if someone saw me paying with hundreds). Ruined my weekend. The bulk of $1000 (possibly literally) down the drain.
I found a $200 in a night stand left behind in an apartment I moved into. Asked the landlord about the previous tenants and how to get a hold of them but never could track em down. Ended up holding onto it for 3 years and put it toward a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico with my girlfriend at the time.
Went to Trader Joe’s in Birmingham, MI a few years ago and found a paper-clipped bunch of bills totaling $86 in the parking lot behind a nice BMW. I would have waited for the owner to return to ask if it was theirs but it was Birmingham and a BMW. I probably needed the money more than them! lol
I found a dollar once — it was a special dollar because some trickster drew a “B” and an “R” on the back. It no longer read “ONE” but now reads “BONER”.
https://twitter.com/VinylTrunk/status/1041745896751476737 Here it is!
I found a copy of Folsom Prison Blues in a stack of my parents vinyl when they got divorced and were getting rid of all their shit that was checked out from the Minneapolis Public Library in 1969 it still has the library card, I’m not returning it.