The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Extra Width LP

Matador (1994)

I'm not sure I will ever make it and replace all of my Blues Explosion CDs with vinyl, but I do want to track down some of the key pieces if nothing else.  While I have always been a disciple of Orange and never adored any Blues Explosion album quite as much as that one, I have always liked everything else.  Even the albums I would rank on the lower part of the scale still have their moments.  Extra Width, however, probably ranks higher than that for me.

I'm not sure what album is my second favorite one from Blues Explosion, but Extra Width is in the running.  While it's not as slick and catchy as Orange is, you can definitely see the building blocks that would make Orange great being put to use on this album as well.  Slinky guitar riffs, shouting random non-sequiturs and just starting to get into that vibe that would become the Blues Explosion's trademark.

The stand outs for me have always been "Aftro," "History of Lies," "Soul Typecast" and "Inside the World of the Blues Explosion."  Those would be solid standouts on any album.  The rest of the record isn't filler, but I don't think the other songs reach quite as high.  It would take Jon and company one more album to perfect their potion, but once they did...hot damn was it ever perfect.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Extra Width:
https://shoverecords.bandcamp.com/album/extra-width

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange LP (Matador Pressing)

Matador (1994)

I've posted a few times about my goal of finding a pristine copy of Orange, as it is one of my very favorite albums of all time.  It's been a tough road, but I think I'm finally content with this version.  It isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn close.

This was actually a sealed dead stock copy that I bought from Japan, I got to be the first person to open and play the record after releasing it from its shrink-wrapped tomb for the first time in twenty-seven years.  Unfortunately the record had moved around inside the sleeve over the years and there was some minot scuffing, but for all but one song, it plays about as good as I could possibly imagine.  No crackles, no pops and rich, full sound.

The only exception to this is that there is a particularly deep scuff int he middle of "Flavor."  It doesn't affect the play too much, but you can hear the slight repetition of static as the needle plows through that section.  It's not a deal breaker, and I probably wouldn't notice it as much if I had not been listening to it so intently.  For now, I'm calling this quest over.  If I ever stumble across another reasonably priced sealed copy, I might take another chance, but for me this copy is finally good enough.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange:
https://shoverecords.bandcamp.com/album/orange

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange LP - Orange Cover Edition

Crypt (1994)

My search for a really excellent listenable version of Orange continues.  I have the original Matador picture disc, which sounds OK but is limited by the lack of fidelity inherent in picture discs.  I also have the semi-recent reissue on Shove, but that one is all crackly and weird for whatever reason.  So I've been searching Discogs trying to find a nice copy of an older pressing.  In the interest of trying to keep things interesting, I zeroed in on this version with different artwork.

I've got to say, as much as I like the usual shiny silver art, I really dig the simple line art on an orange background.   It might be my favorite of the two.  Unfortunately this record is just as full of crackle and surface noise as the recent reissue.  It's not bad or unlistenable.  For its age, it's actually in really nice condition.  But one thing about this record is that there are a lot of pauses and moments of silence where the pops and cracks really stand out in ways that they wouldn't on other albums.

Maybe I'm fighting a losing battle, trying to find the perfect specimen.  But I love this album so much and am so annoyed that I never picked up a good copy over the past twenty seven years.  I'll keep looking and hopefully something will pan out eventually.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange (YouTube Music full album playlist): https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mYhqeq9YyjZFO1hIfdKwtRdRxyY6EK5-s

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange LP

Shove (2011, Reissue)

Orange is a really important record to me.  When I started listening to Beck in 1994, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was one of the first bands I found that had some sort of relationship with him.  I picked up Orange and was just blown away and completely in love with the album.  I know every second of this record by heart and I just love the music.  The vinyl version that I've had was the one Matador put out in 1994 that was a picture disc that was silver sparkled.  It was and is very cool looking, but picture discs don't sound that great and I decided I needed to pick up a normal copy on vinyl that I could just play.  I think I picked the wrong one.

I am not sure what is up with this pressing on Shove, but it's pretty bad.  I ordered one from Amazon, played it once and they returned it, thinking I got a bum record.  I replaced it with another copy and this one sounds just as bad.  The pressing is so noisy, with loud crackling and surface noise throughout.  I've given it a deep clean and played it on multiple record players but any way you slice it, it still sounds bad.  If it hadn't happened on two different copies, I'd probably just dismiss it as bad luck, but I'm pretty convinced that something is wrong with this pressing.

So, now I am hunting around on Discogs to try to find another version of this that I can pick up.  Orange is such a full sounding, warm record with lots of pauses and sections of silence in the middle of songs.  You really need a top notch pressing to enjoy it and this one just isn't it.  But the music, well that's just out of this world.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange (YouTube Music full album playlist):
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mYhqeq9YyjZFO1hIfdKwtRdRxyY6EK5-s

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Freedom Tower - No Wave Dance Party 2015 LP - Green Vinyl

Mom + Pop (2015)

There's something comforting about having a long time favorite like The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion still making records in 2015.  I've been a pretty gigantic fan of JSBX since 1995's Orange.  That record stands as one of my very favorite records of all time and I've perhaps unfairly compared every other record this band has ever released to that seminal masterpiece.  So let's get it out of the way right upfront.  No, Freedom Tower isn't as good as Orange, but it's still a pretty great little record.

It's a progression away from 2012's Meat + Bone.  While Meat + Bone was more of a fuzzy howling garage inspired record, Freedom Tower sees Spencer and company going back to a cleaner sound and a funkier vibe.  While I'm not sure this is a proper dance party as the title suggests, the record has a strong groove and is the sort of thing that makes you catch yourself bobbing your head along to the tunes.  I do find the vocals to be somewhat more high pitched than usual, but the more I listen to the record, the more it fits in with the songs.

I've never though lyrics were particularly important to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion experience. To me they've mostly just felt like random things for Jon to shout in between scorching guitar outbursts.  While there is some of that here, such as Jon going on about Jack and Jill going up a hill on opener "Funeral," most of the album tends to deal with New York City and the crazy changes it's gone through over the years.  It's not preachy and not blatantly in your face about it, but the lyrics do unify the record and helps segue from song to song.

At the end of the day, this is somewhere in the middle if I'm ranking all of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion albums.  I don't love it quite the way I do classics like Orange or Meat + Bone, but it's still a great record and probably one of the albums I've listened to the most in 2015 so far.  If you're a fan, definitely pick it up.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - "Do The Get Down":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jBXbzIf7qo

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - "Betty vs. The NYPD":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKTkJIyTfz0

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - A Reverse Willie Horton LP

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - A Reverse Willie Horton LP, a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Pubic Pop Can (1991, Bootleg)

With the new Blues Explosion album out, I've also been going back to some of their older releases to see how they stand up. Some hold up pretty well, others, not so much. During this time, my buddy @swamipat started posting on twitter about his copy of A Reverse Willie Horton. Frankly, record collectors are a jealous bunch and when he started talking about this record again, I decided I needed to get it in the collection. I had been on the hunt for A Reverse Willie Horton back in the 90's, but the expensive price tag always kept it on the "next time" list.

Well, times have changed in 2012, and I was able to grab a copy off Discogs for $36. Compared to the prices this thing went for in the 90's, SOLD. Musically, this was never my favorite Blues Explosion release, as I have had the vast majority of the songs from the S/T LP and Japanese Crypt Style CD. The songs are all rough, loud and crazy and while I do appreciate the energy, I have always been partial to the band's more polished work.

It's still a mighty fine record to have in the collection though, especially since it completes a long abandoned quest.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Rachel:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9mV-VKtyOI

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Lovin Up a Storm:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIN196V1Zco

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Ghetto Mom 7"

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Ghetto Mom 7", a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

In The Red (2002)

While we're on the Blues Explosion kick, I also recently picked up the Ghetto Mom 7". This is 7" #5 in the Explosion Jukebox Series. Since i had 1 through 4 and #6, it made sense that it was time to grab #5 to complete the series. I found it on Discogs for cheap and there you have it. It's an OK song, it was recorded during the Plastic Fang sessions and has a similar vibe. Good, but nothing amazing. I am excited to complete the series however,

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Ghetto Mom:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SfBNXf6-Fo

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat & Bone LP

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat & Bone LP, a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Mom & Pop (2012)

One of my favorite records of all time is Orange by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. When that record came out I played it to death. Hit after hit after hit. BLUES EXPLOSION! I've spent the last almost 20 years waiting for them to put out another record that good. While I wouldn't say that Meat and Bone reaches the level of Orange, it's easily the best thing that the band has done in a long, long time.

There's energy on this record. Frenzied, manic, rock & roll energy. The songs just fly by with driving percussion and great back and forth guitar play between Jon Spencer & Judah Bauer. If I had a qualm, it's that I wish the production was a bit cleaner. There's more vocal distortion than I would prefer and the recording seems a little cluttered to me. But that doesn't take too much away from the killer songs on Meat & Bone. Is this record perfect? No, but it probably the best Blues Explosion record since Orange and is certainly one of the better albums of the year. Blues Explosion!

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat & Bone:
soundcloud.com/fuse-group-australia/sets/the-jon-spencer-...