Elias Hulk – ‘Unchained’ (1970/2023) – Album Review

One thing I’ve been having fun with is collecting the Exclusive vinyls offered at my local Record Store, Noble Records. Each month he generally has one or two releases that are exclusive to his store. Usually that means a colored variant of archival release. It has allowed me to branch out and listen to things I would normally never ever hear or get the chance to hear. And I will say, 90% of his releases I have found to be quite enjoyable and made me really appreciate a lot of these cult bands that seemed to fall by the wayside or discarded from this rock & roll business. I have reviewed two of these before and I thought, it is time to start diving in to more of this and do a review. So, here we are with one of those exclusives.

For this review, we are going to look at a band that had one album and was done. A One And Done band called Elias Hulk. The album was released in the UK sometime back in 1970. The band was originally called Alias the Hulk due to their love for Marvel Comics and The Incredible Hulk. Eventually the name was shorted to Elias Hulk. The band consisted of members James Haines (Bass), Bernard James (Drums), Neil Tatum (Lead Guitar), Granville Frazer (Rhythm Guitar) and Peter Thorpe (Lead Singer). And as far as sound, they are a cross between a heavy bluesy rock with some psychedelic hard rock mixed and some Eastern elements that add a cool uniqueness to their sound. And if that wasn’t enough, it is a little proggy as well. I would say that it is a pretty accurate as we definitely have some heavy moments and then some not quite so heavy, but all sounds are still rock and still kick ass.

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Cheap Trick – “Gimme Some Truth” – 7″ Single RSD Black Friday 2019 (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

For Record Store Day on Black Friday, November 29, 2019, Cheap Trick was releasing a limited edition 7″ Single of a new song and limited to only 1,500 copies. It was a RSD First Release which means they were going to release it again sometime and wasn’t exclusive, but it didn’t stop me from picking it up. The funny thing is it said it was a new song off it’s latest album which actually didn’t come out until 18 months later, but I am okay with that as I love my 7″ Singles. The song was “Gimme Some Truth” which is a of course, not really a new song as it is a cover of the John Lennon classic. But I guess it is new to Cheap Trick.

The B-Side is a live version of a song that was truly on their latest album at the time which was their Christmas album called ‘Christmas Christmas’. The studio version is on the album and this is live which is cool as the song is the Wizzard cover of “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” written by Roy Wood. Well, Roy Wood is featured on this live version from the band. How cool is that!! And the packaging was great as I like the Uncle Sam on the cover and then on the back is the Cheap Trick logo morphed in to the Union Jack. Cheap Trick was always called the American Beatles and with covering a Lennon song, we get the British side of them as well.

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Turntables & Vinyl #21 – Colored Vinyl

The typical vinyl is black.  It is a beautiful color and when I see it, I want to drop a needle on it and give it a spin.  It draws me in and all I care about is the music that it holds and it needs to be heard, right now and very loud.  There is nothing better.

Or is there???

Whenever a band seems to put out an album nowadays, they are always putting out colored editions…and sometimes many different colored versions (Ace Frehley, I am talking to you).  And I want them!!!  I don’t go get them, but I want them.

Now, when I find I have a choice between a plain, old, boring black vinyl and a vibrant, elaborate, colored vinyl, I typically pick the colored vinyl.  Why?  Because they are so pretty!!  And different.  Different is good.  It can be exciting and invoke so many emotions and feelings.

Why am I talking about this?

No reason, other than I wanted to show off all the different colored vinyl I have in my collection so far.  Maybe not all, but as many as I can before I tire of putting this post together.

What is the most popular colored vinyl I have in my collection?

WHITE!!!

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