Acoustic Collection: The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week
Welcome back to Far Out’s weekly vinyl corner feature, where we look to bring you a tempting selection of records from some of our favourite artists, bargain vinyl deals to look out for, and unmissable limited-edition releases. This week we’re unplugging our amps and wrapping our ears around the warm woody vibrations of the acoustic guitar.
Vinyl sales grew for the 15th consecutive year in 2022, rising to 5.5million units, the highest level since 1990, when …But Seriously by Phil Collins was the year’s biggest-selling studio album. The return to plastic has steadily climbed since the invasion of streaming services in the late 2000s. While the weightless, highly accessible and practical format is great for discovering and consuming swathes of new music while you’re out and about, there’s nothing like coming home to a bit of vinyl.
Fellow collectors will agree that if there’s an artist or album you love, there’s always a good reason to have the turntable at the ready and a 12″ slot reserved on the shelf for inevitable expansion. The sound quality of vinyl brings something more hearty and vibrant with its analogue warmth and crisp definition that there really isn’t a substitute for.
So if, like me, you have a soft spot for these groovy discs of plastic, allow me to walk you through ten hot picks for this week. Today’s haul contains some acoustic classics from Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and some more recent releases from Elliott Smith and Big Thief.
The following selections have been handpicked by Far Out Magazine, and as a result, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week:
Jackson C. Frank – Jackson C. Frank
The desperation and depression heard within Jackson C. Frank, the like-named songwriter’s first and only studio album, was deeply artistic yet reflective of an unpalatable reality. Shortly after the album’s release, Frank was sadly diagnosed with schizophrenia.
As his mental state deteriorated, Frank withdrew from the music industry, spending his later life battling destitution and homelessness before his death in 1999, aged 56. With ‘Blues Run the Game’, ‘Milk and Honey’, ‘Dialogue (I Want to Be Alone)’ and ‘My Name Is Carnival’ in its ranks, the album is now revered as a seminal milestone of acoustic music.
Available for purchase here for £38.15.
A Treasury – Nick Drake
Nick Drake was among the most talented British musicians to emerge from the singer-songwriter boom of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He pushed the boundaries to explore complex and unorthodox tunings and fingerstyle patterns that express the poetry of his lyrics, often as much as the words themselves.
Sadly, Drake wasn’t appreciated in his time and would never live to see his popularity take flight, much like a musical Van Gough. Thankfully, Drake is now regarded as an acoustic legend. This compilation comprises audio-enhanced versions of Drake’s most beloved tracks – one of the audiophiles out there.
Available for purchase here for £27.65.
Solid Air – John Martyn
The late, great British singer-songwriter John Martyn reached a creative peak in 1973 with his fourth studio album, Solid Air. The album boasts a bounty of soft rock and acoustic music overlain with immersive, insightful lyrics characteristic of Martyn’s catalogue.
The title track kicks off the album on a tranquil note with lyrics written in tribute to his friend and fellow musician, Nick Drake, who sadly passed away from an overdose 18 months after the album’s release. Later, the album offers several essentials, from ‘Over The Hill’ to ‘May You Never’.
Available for purchase here for £27.14.
Hejira – Joni Mitchell
Often regarded as the female answer to Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell created some of the most artistically prevalent folk music of the 20th century. She came to fruition as a salient and recurring feature of the Newport Folk Festival through the mid-60s before releasing three formative albums later in the decade.
Her spell of success soared through the 1970s, reaching a peak in the middle of the decade with albums like Court and Spark and Hijera. The latter, released in 1976, was home to such essentials as ‘Coyote’, ‘A Strange Boy’, ‘Amelia’ and ‘Black Crow’.
Available for purchase here for £26.89.
MTV Unplugged – Nirvana
Following their surge to fame in the early 1990s with their hit albums Nevermind and In Utero, Nirvana were invited to Sony Music in New York City to perform an unplugged set for MTV. The arresting acoustic set has gone down in history as one of the finest in the series.
The recorded set was recorded in November 1993 and released almost exactly one year later, seven months after Kurt Cobain’s tragic suicide. Highlights of the performance include ‘About a Girl’, ‘Come as You Are’, ‘Something in the Way’, and a few well-executed covers of David Bowie, Lead Belly and The Vaselines.
Available for purchase here for £24.99.
Goodbye and Hello – Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley, the father of Jeff, released his masterpiece second album, Goodbye and Hello, in 1967. Though he never broke through as a major star before his death in 1975, his legacy has grown over the years, especially following the rise of his son’s indie rock career in the 1990s.
Remarkably, Tim was only 20 years old when recording Goodbye and Hello. Refined and breathtaking tracks like ‘Once I Was’, ‘Phantasmagoria in Two’ and ‘Pleasant Street’ showed wisdom and skill far beyond his years.
Available for purchase here for £26.63.
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You – Big Thief
Ohio indie-folk group Big Thief give a gentle and sentimental feeling to much of their music, making it a delight for lazy Sunday afternoon listening. In their latest album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, Big Thief bring a bumper selection of heartwarming acoustic tracks over two LPs.
As Far Out wrote in our stellar review of the album last year, it’s “a record that allows for creativity to grow and procreate among the liner notes while also staying true to the soil it was first planted in. There aren’t many albums that have the opportunity to please everyone all of the time. But there aren’t many bands like Big Thief around.”
Available for purchase here for £27.49.
The Times They Are A-Changin’ – Bob Dylan
While Bob Dylan’s 1962 debut album showed promise, 1963’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan changed the course of history for the young singer and the world at large. Bob Dylan showed the true potential of his lyrical skills while giving a thankful nod to the giants on whose shoulders he stood.
Following this second album up was always going to be difficult, but with The Times They Are A-Changin’, he nailed it. At the time, the album wasn’t as warmly received as its predecessor due to its more dour tone, but in time, it’s been regarded as one of Dylan’s finest.
Available for purchase here for £23.61.
Harvest – Neil Young
Following his formative tenure with Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and Graham Nash in various combinations over the late ’60s, Neil Young returned to a more permanent solo career with his third solo album, After the Gold Rush, in 1970. The album kicked off what would be his most prolific and indisputably vital decade.
This record is perhaps only bettered by one other in Young’s solo canon, 1972’s Harvest. Young explored blues rock and even invented grunge over his varied career, but Harvest boasted his most consummate work in the field of folk. This essential album includes classic hits like ‘Heart of Gold’, ‘Old Man’ and ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’.
Available for purchase here for £23.98.
Either/Or – Elliott Smith
Following his tenure with the rock band Heatmiser in the late 1980s and early ’90s, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Elliott Smith branched out into a more subdued acoustic-centric solo career in 1994. Smith’s solo career struck an artistic high point in 1996 with the arrival of his third studio album, Either/Or.
The release’s highlights, including ‘Speed Trials’, ‘Ballad of Big Nothing’, ‘Between the Bars’ and ‘Angeles’, elevated Smith’s status before his Oscar-nominated single of 1997, ‘Miss Misery’. The track was used in the soundtrack for Good Will Hunting.
Available for purchase here for £40.24.
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