The Rosedales Raise Your Spirits Vinyl Review
Back in 2000 I first became aware of a band called The Onlys due to me getting deeper into the Horrorpunk scene, so I reached out to the band about a possible review of their EP, “Gravest Hits”. Happily, the band obliged and sent me a CD and I was absolutely blown away at the magic that they’d created on that EP. It was something totally unique considering everyone in the scene at the time were copying the Misfits/Danzig and as history will show, most of that stuff was awful, but the Onlys stood out although they had little internet presence.
Despite several great reviews, the band didn’t get much traction, and I stopped hearing or seeing updates on the band’s happenings. And then a few years later I started to hear a buzz about a Horror Rock band out of Chicago called The Rosedales and I was like, hmmm The Onlys were from Chicago, so I dug in and checked them out, low and behold it was the same band, they just changed the name of the band. I still don’t know the reason behind that, I didn’t ask, I just requested a CD to review and once more the band obliged me. What I got was one of the best releases of 2003 in the album, “Raise Your Spirirt”. This CD is still with me today, it’s another one of those staples in my Horror Rock section and I listen to it often considering its age.
Sadly, my review of The Rosedales “Raise Your Spirits” went down with the original version of the B.A.P. site. The review of The Onlys EP also went down with it. However, my love has never wavered, so I have no problem talking about the album again. This time around, I’m here to talk about the album’s vinyl release. Yes, The Rosedales have pressed this now legendary album to vinyl, it’s been mastered specifically for vinyl playback at 45 RPM, it’s not one of those digital bricked up releases that would be better used as a frisbee. For us folks who like colored vinyl, this one is a beautiful translucent red. The record jacket is high gloss, so it shines so brightly you can see it across the room. The artwork is the same, so the nostalgia of the original release is present. I’m a bit late talking about it, to be fair it was released in 2020. We all know what happened that year, so I couldn’t grab it up and then I forgot about it which is typical.
Thankfully, I was able to grab the vinyl release this year on Record Store Day, I’d seen a post about it on social media, so I jumped on it because who doesn’t want to have The Rosedales on vinyl, I mean seriously! I want to say in my original review I said something along the lines of The Rosedales are an Undead version of the Beach Boys vocally and I still stand by that today. The album is packed with some of the most amazing vocals I’ve ever heard, and it’s backed with beautiful harmonies and melody lines. You’d have to go back to the 50’s and 60’s in the Doo-wop era to find acts that could measure up to these performances. How it was recorded, I’m not sure, I’m sure there were multiple tracks layered in, but one thing is for sure, auto-tune wasn’t used because it really wasn’t a thing back then. Musically, The Rosedales focus their attention on the Rock area with a nod here and there to genres like early Rock N’ Roll, Rockabilly and small amount of Surf. It could be the vocal harmonies swimming around in my head that give me that feeling - whatever, it’s still awesome and after all these years I still have the best time listening to “Raise Your Spirits”.
If I haven’t said enough about this album to make you want to head over to the band’s site and purchase it and everything else, they have available, be sure to check out the tunes “Moon Glow”, “Frozen Ghost”, “It’s Midnight” and “Cool Black Moon”. I’m sure those handful of songs will change your mind. For faithful fans of the band, this vinyl pressing is something you’ll cherish having in your collection. According to the band, the stock is starting to run low on this pressing, I’m not sure exactly how many were pressed, this isn’t something you want to miss out on. The band has also released their sophomore album, “Once Upon a Season” on vinyl too, which I also grabbed! The Rosedales are a magnificent band of ghouls, and I’m stoked out of my mind that they thought enough of me all those years ago to send me CDS to review. Otherwise, I’d sincerely be missing out right now just as you are if you don’t have all their releases in some kind of format. I have them on CD & Vinyl now, but I’m extra and I’m also one of the greediest physical media junkies alive today.