Normals Books & Records

Gil-Scott, Sioux Favorites, Fugs, Basho & A Feast of World Music and Folkways

Okay, it is actually finally cold out.  And there is a quarter inch of icy snow mix on the ground, but surely you have watched enough episodes of Pee-Wee Herman and/or American Horror Story or Justified in your pj’s to be ready to venture out into what passes for the Arctic tundra these warm days. 

We have just the vinyl haul to entice you!  What Goldmine magazine calls “A Shorts Spotter”.  Bought from a way groovy smart elderly social anarchist who used to be on the radio.  Put on your union suit, sip some White Lightnin’ or V-8 and come on down.

Africa In Revolutionary Music.  LSM.  Very good + in very good jacket, $10.

Athletico Spizz 80 - Do A Runner.  Near mint promo with original inner sleeve, $5.

Robbie Basho - Voice of the Eagle.  Oh how I wish this guitarist’s albums would flow freely into the store.  I do not care at what rate they would flow out.  I have even grown to love his bold operatic voice booming from the mountain top.  Very good + on Vanguard in very good jacket.  With cut-out punch hole, $25.

Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.  Near mint 1981 IRS pressing in very good jacket with lyric sheet, $15.

Hazel Dickens - Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hitting People.  Near mint on Rounder, $8.

Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard - Hazel & Alice.  Very good + on Rounder, $8.

D.O.A. - War On 45.  Very good + on Alternative Tentacles.  In vg+ jacket, $10.

Dr. Demento’s Mementos.  Near mint second collection of the AM radio trickster.  This does not contain his best known classic spins like “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” or “Who Put the Benzedrine In Mr. Barysh’s Ovaltine”, but it does feature “My Name is Not Merv Griffin” and “My Wife Left Town With a Banana”.  $6.

The Fugs - Self-titled.  Near mint ESP stereo original!  The best copy I’ve ever seen of an album that usually gets brutal treatment under late night bong parties.  With the classic cuts “Kill For Peace” and “Frenzy”, $25.

The Fugs - The Belle of Avenue A.  Near mint two-tone Reprise pressing.  In very good jacket with cut corner, $20.

Gang of Four - Entertainment.  Near mint original in very good + jacket.  With original inner sleeve, $15.

Gang of Four = Solid Gold.  Near mint, $10

Gang of Four - Songs of the Free.  Near mint with inner sleeve, $8.

Gentle Giant - Pretentious For the Sake of It.  Double UK Vertigo lp.  Very good ++ in near mint gatefold, $20.

Hartman’s Heart Breakers - Give it to me Daddy!  Hot Hillbilly Rhythm from the 1930s.  Singing by Betty Lou.  Pressed on white vinyl by Rambler.  $15.

Abbie Hoffman - Wake Up America.  Near mint on Big Toe.  In vg minus jacket, $20.

Lightnin’ Hopkins - Soul Blues.  Original Prestige stereo pressing on thick vinyl with deep groove label.  Very good + in vg+ jacket, $30.

Lightning - Self-titled on P.I.P.  Near mint vinyl in very good jacket, $40.

Hugh Masekela and the Union of South Africa.  Near mint on Chisa.  Very good + jacket with cut-out mark at bottom right, $12.

Idris Muhammad with Pharoah Sanders - Kabsha.  Near mint on Theresa in vg+ jacket, $8.

Pop Group - For How Much Longer Must We Tolerate Mass Murder.  Rough Trade Y2, near mint.  With red insert, but not the poster, $30.  Mark Stewart’s group before Mafia.  Think of The Birthday Party crossed with Crass.

Blind Alfred Reed - How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live.  Near mint on Rounder in very good jacket.  With insert, $15.

Jimmy Reed - As Jimmy Is.  Near mint raw rocking blues on Roker.  Open, but still in shrinkwrap, $20.

Gil Scott-Heron - Midnight Band.  Very good + in vg+ gatefold jacket, $10.

Gil Scott-Heron - 1980.  Near mint in vg+ jacket with original inner sleeve, $10.

Gil Scott-Heron - Bridges.  Near mint in vg+ jacket with og inner, $10.

Gil Scott-Heron - Real Eyes.  Near mint in vg jacket with og inner, $10.

Gil Scott-Heron - Secrets.  Near mint in vg+ jacket with og inner, $10.

Gil Scott-Heron - From South Africa to South Carolina.  Near mint in vg+ gatefold, $10.

Sedition Ensemble - Regeneration Report.  Near mint radical jazz in both meanings of the term.  With Bern Nix who later went on to play in Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time.  Near mint 1981 small press on Context, $30.

Sioux Favorites.  Canyon, near mint, $15.

Social Unrest - SU-2000.  Near mint on Libertine in vg+ jacket with insert, $30.

Southern Prison Blues - All Titles Recorded at Louisiana State Pen, Angola.  Near mint on the Tradition label, in very good + jacket, $10.

A Very Special Stash:  The Best of Reefer Songs.  Near mint on Stash, $10.

Norma Tanega - Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog.  Rare oddball winsome folk classic.  I don’t know if she ever followed this album up with anything else despite the title track getting a fair amount of attention.  Very good mono pressing on New Voice in good only jacket, $10.

10,000 Maniacs - Secrets of the I Ching.  Semi-Official bootleg on Christian Burial.  Near mint in vg jacket with insert, $15.

Joe Tex - Hold What You Got.  Beautiful near mint Atlantic original, $20.

Tribe - Tribal Bumpin’.  Vg+ on ABC in vg+ jacket, $8.

Voltage Brothers - self-titled.  Very good + Lifesong pressing in very good jacket, $6.

Phil Ochs Presents Song for Patty - Sammy Walker.  Near mint Folkways in very good minus jacket.  With lyric insert.  Young Dylan look-alike composes folk songs about Patty Hearst!  $25.

Robert Pete Williams - Those Prison Blues.  Near mint Arhoolie in vg+ jacket, $25.

Robert Wyatt - Old Rottenhat.  Canadian Rough Trade pressing, near mint.  Open, but still in shrink.  Tiny cut-out punch hole at top left, $15.

Zappa - Zapped.  Vg+ original Bizarre pressing in vg jacket, $15.

Zappa and the Mothers - Freak Out!  Near mint on Verve in vg gatefold that has some light ringwear, $25.

Zappa - You Are What You Is.  Near mint Barking Pumpkin double album in vg+ gatefold.

New Store Sign!

The Normal’s Culture Mothership has been getting a lot of facelift and body work done this year.  To go with the slick new Santa Fe facade Mistress of Visions Jen Kirby was brought in to whip up some wall candy.

On the scene shot of Professor Franklin implementing “The Bang Device”.

Sign creator Jen Kirby after many sleepless nights of feverish work.

In seems an auspicious omen that filmmaker, toastmaster and Baltimore Spiritual Guru John Waters came into the store about a half hour after the new sign hanging and agreed to pose for us. 

Even if culture is soon injected into the spinal cord directly through government manufactured microchips, we will still be right here in semi-human fleshy form hawking the sacred boards and wraps and spinning wax!  Insh’allah!

New Vinyl!

Abe Vigoda - Reviver.  On PPM, $6.

Abe Vigoda - Skeleton.  On PPM, $8.

Aloha - Some Echoes.  Polyvinyl, $6.

Devendra Banhart/Jana Hunter.  Troubleman Unlimited split, $8.

Beach Boys - Rarities.  Capitol, with inner sleeve, $8.

Black Sabbath - Greatest Hits.  Ariston import, $8.

Cocteau Twins - Head Over Heels.  4AD, $6.

Girlschool - Hit & Run.  Stiff, $6.

Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days.  With insert, Sub Pop, $12.

Mars Volta - Televators.  Limited edition picture disc, $15.

Moon Duo - Escape.  On Woodsist, $10.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea.  Merge original with insert, $12.

Tara Jane O’Neil - Peregrine.  Opened, but still in shrink.  With insert, $12.

Orphan - Aborted by Birth.  Limited edition black metal on white vinyl, $12.

Pearl Harbor - Something About the Chapparals.  Mexican Summer, $12.

Shins - Chutes Too Narrow.  $10.

Elliott Smith - Self-titled on Kill Rock Stars, near mint, $15.

Elliott Smith - From a Basement On the Hill.  Double album on Anti, $15.

Elliott Smith - Either/Or.  Near mint with insert, $15.

Start Swimming - Stiff groups live!  With Bush Tetras, Fleshtones, Dbs, $6.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise.  Rare first pressing with Superman on cover, $25.

TV On the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes.  Double album on Touch & Go, $15.$

Unwound - A Single History, 1991-97.  Kill Rock Stars, with insert, $15.

Violent Femmes - Self-titled debut with original inner sleeve, $15.

Denison Witmer - Safe Away.  Burnt Toast, $10.

Vendredi Noir Sale at Normal’s This Friday!

Cultural Warriors -

   although the day after Thanksgiving should be officially named National Plasma TV Day, we here 
at Baltimore's oldest book and record style combine hold out hope that the things we hold most dear
 will not completely blink out of existence like the American Middle Class.
    To help whet your appetite for fine literature and sublime vinyl we're having a 30% off sale on all 
used books, records, cds and dvds tomorrow, Black Friday, while far off howls can be heard from shelving
 being devoured at nearby Walmarts and Targets and Best Buys.
     Hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving!  Go Ravens!  And NPR better play that beautiful Charles
 Laughton spoken word record piece that they usually play.  For me it is the moment that most says Thanksgiving
 like Tiny Tim being pepper sprayed says Merry Christmas.