Long-time faves Wendy & Lisa recently released an EP of 6 songs recorded during the past 15-20 years that didn't make it onto their albums. Unfortunately it didn't make it to vinyl, but since I never did a proper
unboxing of White Flags of Winter Chimneys, here is that:In the decade since they released Girl Bros., they've been pretty busy guesting on other peoples albums and scoring plenty of TV shows and films, but finally had time to do an album during the Hollywood writers strike of '08.
Their 1990 release Eroica had been my favorite W&L album, and The
Life from their '87 debut my favorite single track, but in the past year
White Flags has edged ahead of Eroica for me, being a work on their own
terms and not to please a label wanting a commercial hit, and contains
You And I- a song equal to the beauty and near vulnerability of The Life
but on a smaller scale, in a shorter minute.
White Flags of Winter Chimneys was mastered by Dave Collins, but Paul Du Gré re-mastered this specifically to optimize the sound for vinyl playback. Limited to 1000 copies, this is a 180 gram blue/black splattered white virgin vinyl pressed by the awesome Pirates Press, and actually weighs in the 190-200 gram range. A beautiful gatefold cover with artwork by Rex Ray perfectly reflects the feel of the music and nicely utilizes the available space of a 12" canvas. The inside cover contains lyrics, the sleeve contains credits and a note from W&L. They wanted the vinyl to be something extra special, they accomplished it. 
White Flags is still available as a vinyl-only purchase through their website for $15, as well as part of a deluxe package with autographed CD and download for $39.99. All orders from their site now also receive stickers and custom guitar picks. Download versions include 4 bonus tracks: 3 demos from the 90's and a home birthday recording.
Wendy & Lisa online.W&L on facebook.
Rex Ray online.
Steven Parke online.
Pirates Press.
(Pictured left: I received an autographed thank-you card when I ordered in '09. Stickers shown were sent by my friend Jeff Anderson.)
1 comment:
goodness gracious I love this album!! The autographed postcard was one of the coolest things they could have done. I'm excited about the fDeluxe album - did u hear that's getting a vinyl release? U might have been the person that told me, actually. :)
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