More About Hipsquare Playlist #4
Read more about Hipsquare: Music Media Photography by Shaun Armstrong
See all the Hipsquare Vinyl Playlists - nine tunes drawn from my limited-edition vinyl collection, curated by a theme for your visual and listening pleasure here (new window)
Here are the blue vinyl albums from which the tracks come from: (all photos from the original media)
Have you warmed up yet?
What did you discover, like or not so much?
Vinyl
Cool mix of blue-tones, including a lovely marble on Hop Up by Orlando Weeks and the very limited blue/white blend for the Wolf Alice album Blue Weekend (obvs). Although they could have easily swapped wax for a better fit with the album cover. Just saying.
The Infancy vinyl by excellent The Ninth Wave (now on hiatus doing solo projects) is Part 2 of a two-album release, Part 1 being red. Part 1 came in the gatefold cover and then Part 2, released later, slotted into the other part of the cover. Not seen that before or since.
Time Bend and Break The Bower by Sinead O‘Brien is a Dinked Edition pressing of her debut album. So good to see after I saw her as a “plus” artist on the Dry Cleaning tour of 2021 before they blew up. File under genre-breaking.
This playlist features the first and maybe last inclusion of a retro vinyl, the quite limited early blue pressing of Outlandos D’Amour by The Police in 1978. I have everything they released on collectable vinyl but Masoka Tanga is such a quintessential but lesser-known Police track, with all their early hallmarks turned up to 11; Sting’s jazzy bass and falsetto vocal, Summer’s choppy angular guitar and Copeland’s reggae backbeat, cymbal work and a smattering of octobans.
Covers
This set brings photo-art forward, single images taken to another level in terms of cropping and pattern, something I like/prefer rather than photoshop montages. Couple of straight artworks, Hope Up is on a beautiful matt (not reverse) board and the inside of the cover (not seen this before) is red to match the dot. Quality.
The Wolf Alice cover is lenticular and flicks between band poses; aficionados will note this image shows the to-camera rather than the default away from.
Bonus
Artist-signed copies of Hop Up and Time Bend and Break The Bower as is Phantom Isle bought at the album launch event at The Black Prince in Northampton in 2022.
Feel free to throw a comment or question on these below or follow and interact on the Hipsquare Instagram for vinyl content and my unique photography for album covers.