The Black Dog – Parallel

Had this for years, sounds great and no pressing issues. A fab cheap way of getting a few of their early EPs in one package. And it’s cheap…

Funny that HMV in the uk were stocking these bootleg copies as legit back in 2002. The soma double cd reissue is much better.

Before The Black Dog's first full length releases in 1993 ( Black Dog Productions - Bytes ) there were 7 eps/singles, so there have been a few attempts over the years to reprint and compile those eps for collectors who missed them the first time around.
Not to be confused with the actual ep called Parallel, this compilation is a reprint of The Black Dog's 4th and 6th eps ( The Black Dog - Book Of Dogma that included this as disc 2 (and had the first 3 eps as disc 1) some songs are in the wrong order and some tracks from Vir2L are missing (the original ep has either 4 or 5 tracks depending on what printing of it you have, not 2).
Still, if you didn't know anything was missing or out of order you'd definitely feel like you got a good release for your money. It IS a good listen. But I'd recommend the full version ( Book Of Dogma ) instead of this "just disc 2" version that shares a name with a non-compilation release. To be fair this compilation came out in 1995, while Book Of Dogma came out in 2007, so it's not like this was a "just disc 2" release of an already existing compilation at the time. It just became that after the fact, 12 years later.
(btw I mentioned there were 7 singles before the first full length album not 6. For those who are wondering the 7th is Black Dog Productions - Black Dog Productions E.P. The fact that it's under an alternate band name might make it hard to find for some, and I wouldn't want to leave you confused.)

Love this album but my stylus has trouble tracking B3 shortly after the full rhythm track comes in - it sticks in one place, on a kick drum, and did the same thing in the exact same place on the replacement copy I bought, too. I'm using an ortofon 2m bronze weighted at 1.5g exactly using a digital scale, with the correct anti-skating force, and literally none of my other hundreds of records have tracking issues with this tip. Anyone else?

one of my favorites.

Avoid this bootleg if you can. I bought it not knowing it was a bootleg. Never mind the artwork issue the most annoying thing is the sound. On my copy the volume keeps dropping. I thought my hi-fi was playing up at first but its the disc.

This is the ultimate Black Dog collection. Songs that will never tire nor sound old, reminding us of how important they were to the sounds of the future. A must have.

Parallel... what a track. Thanks to the Black Dog and Plaid.

<I>Parallel</I> isn’t an album as much as it is a collection of tracks off of the Black Dog’s early GPR EPs. Not surprisingly, though, the quality remains undiminished after all these years. From the first track, “Parallel,” you can tell that the Black Dog boys know their stuff. “Glossolalia” ambles by smoothly, while “Vanttool” whistles by like a breath of fresh air. There’s quite the rhythmic workout on “Rainbow Bridge.” And the twin tracks of “Virtual Hmmm…” and “VIR2L” show the extreme diversity of their ideas using the skeleton of the same track. There won’t ever be anything like the Black Dog -- luckily, you can continue to enjoy what they did produce today and, surely, in the future.

Hub is a deep melodic Black Dog classic- but it's got so many more on there as well. Get it if you can!