oojavaguru Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 19.99 + shipping here: http://www.scdistribution.com/release.html?catalog=SC299&class=title Didn't It Rain is Jason Molina's first perfect record. Recorded live in a single room, with no overdubs and musicians creating their parts on the fly, the overall approach to the recording was nothing new for Molina. But something in the air and execution of Didn't It Rain clearly sets it apart from his existing body of work. His albums had always been full of space, but never had Molina sculpted the space as masterfully as he does on Didn't It Rain. Perhaps it is that Molina entered the session with fully written songs that allowed this emboldened confidence in chance. The creaks and scraping of strings are all part of the Didn't It Rain choir. So when Molina hoots for another chorus during the album's eponymous opening gambit, it feels less an off-the-cuff call, and more an essential piece of the tone and structure. Midway through the same song, that which takes its name from a traditional piece popularized by Mahalia Jackson, we hear the long, low woosh of a passing bus. Distant traffic has forever been a trope of lo-fi, but here, it is a pristine woosh. The highest of fidelity and sure of purpose. The same can be said for Molina's always remarkable voice, here settling into a matured, assured, and subtly lowered tenor. It all adds up to something near in mood to Neil Young's song "On The Beach," and maybe even Boz Scagg's 1969 self-titled album laid to tape at the legendary Muscle Shoals studio. Didn't It Rain is an ode to the Midwest Rust Belt under which Molina was born and Molina's newfound Chicago home. When we move to a new place, we must truly confront all our own weaknesses and strengths, and Molina puts that all on the table with this one. The album's triple-threat center pieces come by way of "Ring The Bell," "Cross The Road, Molina," and "Blue Factory Flame." Strung together, they present clearly Molina's specific set of mythological symbols that had been forming on previous recordings. It is as heady a middle section as I can recall. But the journey across these three songs -- with their circling serpents, their neon-flame wreathed moons, their swinging blades, their debilitating emptiness -- also feels like a cleansing, a catharsis, a sort of primal therapy. While demo'd and recorded months before the events of 9/11, Didn't It Rain does seem to somehow consider the mood of the time. It's surely an album about setting roots, but it also offers a moment of solace in a time of overwhelming uncertainty. Here, Molina's now well-known battle with depression aligns with an entire nation's moment of depression. While even more cryptic and spartan, Didn't It Rain's imagery and themes can be poetically linked to another 2002 Chicago-rooted album that tapped into the post-9/11 psyche, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This expanded reissue presents Molina's home demos of the record, eight previously unreleased tracks, complete with a distant playground full of children chiming in the background for a few songs. The glorious juxtaposition of Molina's songs' desolation and the blissful playing of children is about as haunting as it gets, friends. TRACKS Didn't It Rain Steve Albini's Blues Ring The Bell Cross The Road, Molina Blue Factory Flame Two Blue Lights Blue Chicago Moon Didn't It Rain Ring The Bell- Working Title: Depression No. 42 Cross The Road, Molina- Working Title: Chicago City Moon Blue Factory Flame Two Blue Lights Blue Chicago Moon The Gray Tour- Working Title: Waiting It's Whole Life (Later Re-Recorded for The Gray Tower 7") Spectral Alphabet (Later Re-Recorded for Pyramid Electric Co.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyhambone Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Damn!...have this on vinyl as it's one of the best things ever. The extra album of demos on the Magnolia Electric Co. Deluxe Ed. was excellent so I imagine this will be great too. RIP Jason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksuwdboots Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 I'm probably going to be ordering the deluxe bundle in order to get the poster and vinyl but won't have a use/need for the 2xCD, so if someone is interested in it for $8 + shipping, let me know (PM me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kouka Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 I wish there were a bigger photo of the poster.. also, if I order it, I'll sell the 2xCD for $5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmoney Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N2W5P2Q/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00N2W5P2Q&linkCode=as2&tag=kersjour-20&linkId=IXLYFX4LT2YGZT3L $22 shipped on Amazon with Prime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazza43 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I'll take someone's Cd set if they don't want it. Hit me up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N2W5P2Q/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00N2W5P2Q&linkCode=as2&tag=kersjour-20&linkId=IXLYFX4LT2YGZT3L $22 shipped on Amazon with Prime. Thanks, just placed an order. I've been meaning to pick up Jason Molina records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellnow Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Listened to this album a couple dozen times on my last long car trip. I never get tired of listening to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpa21 Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Does anyone else's copy of this have a lot of surface noise? Notice quite a bit of popping and scratching especially on side A of the record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mesi Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 I don't have my copy yet, but unfortunately that seems to be a pattern with Secretly Canadian, every single Songs: Ohia record I have is quite noisy. Pretty sure it has to do with the pressing plant they are going with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpa21 Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 That's unfortunate. I don't seem to recall Magnolia Electric Co having the same issues. It's not unbearable but quiet would have been nice for a release like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
museummouth Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 I listened to mine last night and there was a tiny bit of pops but overall it was pretty quiet. I only dry cleaned it before too, not wet clean yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eliminator Jr. Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 Is the second LP worth the purchase? I love this album, but already have the OG and I really don't know if I need this.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyhambone Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 In the same boat, the 2nd album of the Magnolia Elec. Co. Deluxe was excellent so I'm pretty sure this will be too. Just haven't sprung yet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellnow Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 Is the second LP worth the purchase? I love this album, but already have the OG and I really don't know if I need this.. Listened to the second disc for the first time today and enjoyed it a whole lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtz Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 My copy sounds good. No surface noise or pops. Did not need cleaned either. Definitely worth the purchase for the Demos LP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simple_torture Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Not sure where this should go, but Secretly Canadian tweeted this out today: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksuwdboots Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 ^ A live (or studio?!) album of Molina songs with Timothy Showalter (aka Strand of Oaks) on vocals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamrocks Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 certainly seems to fit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Crackrock Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 kinda juicin' this poor dead guy, no? hope some of this is goin' to his family. docbronze 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simple_torture Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 On 6/11/2018 at 5:33 PM, ksuwdboots said: ^ A live (or studio?!) album of Molina songs with Timothy Showalter (aka Strand of Oaks) on vocals? Word on the street is that it's probably a 7'' in advance of the Memorial Electric Co. shows w/ Showalter this fall: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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