Includes unlimited streaming of The Future Store
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 90 days
$14USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of The Future Store
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 90 days
$20USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
"The Future Store" plus all Four Previous VWR CD's!!
Includes unlimited streaming of The Future Store
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 10 days
$29USDor more
about
THE FUTURE STORE LINER NOTES - By Mike Lidskin
Hello, fellow Vegas With Randolph fan. We last met in the Above The Blue album liner notes, and I’m glad we’re both back to celebrate this fifth installment of the VWR catalog, The Future Store. On previous albums, fellow writers have noted that the album they wrote notes for was the best Vegas With Randolph album to date. I now get to make that claim. It’s true–The Future Store is the finest Vegas With Randolph album yet!
With this album, the band comes off of their longest interval between albums. Much has transpired between 2018 and 2024. The loss of beloved bassist Dan Aylestock. A global pandemic, which affected musicians and their audiences. And of course, a lot of life has happened in six years. The big question on everybody’s mind: How will Vegas With Randolph respond?
The answer: Fast and furious out of the gate, with a sense of urgency. The core team of John Ratts, Eric Kern, Brock Harris, and Dave Purol are making up for lost time. This album is a rocker. It starts off powerfully with hard rocking drums and guitar riffs, and doesn’t slow down or let up until over 50 minutes later, when the introspective track, I Can’t Walk Away, closes the “regulation” portion of the album, before taking a tribute song encore.
Along the way, you’re going to experience a tour de force of songwriting and performance. For the most part, the songs alternate between John’s and Eric’s compositions, with the writer taking lead vocals on each of their songs. Since there are three guitarists in the band, you’re going to be treated to some great six string fireworks. Eric, a keyboardist/guitarist, has now also picked up bass duties and did a splendid job. Notably, there is one final track that features Dan Aylestock’s bass playing: Give In To Love. Oh–and don’t worry–the patented soaring vocals and harmonies are front and center on this record. That's always been Vegas With Randolph’s secret weapon-those harmonies.
But what would a VWR album be without a few special guests? And boy, these guys always know who to invite. Hillary Burton (honeychain, Nushu) and Ken Stringfellow (The Posies) help out in back-to-back tracks, a killer one-two punch of songwriting and vocals. Also, a really cool thing happened. Phil Kenzie, the man responsible for the legendary saxophone solo on Al Stewart’s Year of the Cat, plays a sax lead on “Don’t Stop Your Love.” It’s stellar–it plays more like a guitar lead.
A Vegas With Randolph feature I’ve always loved returns to this album: a medley of seven short original songs, this time entitled Triple Play. It takes you through several moods, some upbeat, some more reflective, but ending on an optimistic note with glorious poetic metaphors and music to match.
Usually, there’s a standout track or three that capture my attention on an album. So which tracks made me jump out of my seat on The Future Store? All 21 of them! I refuse to pick a favorite this time around, because they all are equally strong and worthy of your attention. Any one of them will sound great on my radio show, and they will all get their chance. This album is upbeat and largely positive. In some songs, the guys are hopeless romantics, in others, they are hopeful romantics. The breakup songs are mature. No hard feelings, just a realization that it’s time to move on with your life. Even the kiss-off song, I Feel Great, with Hillary Burton, helps you to understand that sometimes a little self-care is needed after an ended relationship, and you’ll be better off once you reach the other side.
And finally, I alluded to an encore at the end of the album. After the album’s most reflective song, I Can’t Walk Away, there’s a brief but gorgeous string and piano instrumental, Heartsick Reprise. A bit of a palate cleanser, and then onto the bonus track, a surprise cover of I Got A Name, perhaps my favorite Jim Croce song. VWR gives it a rock treatment, while still respecting the uplifting vibe. It’s always risky taking on a song of such magnitude, but the guys did it right. This tribute adds to the original. I can’t think of another band I’d trust with this classic. The original always got me in the gut, and this one does too. Chills. A glorious finale.
I’m lucky, because I don’t have to try to encourage you to get this album. You’ve already got it. We both know what happens now. Put it on, and enjoy the next 56 minutes. You deserve this album.
Mike Lidskin
Woody Radio
Sacramento, California
lyrics
WHAT IF?
words & music by John Ratts & Eric Kern, intro by Brock Harris
Who can say what the future holds
No one can
No one knows
I couldn’t tell you if our time will come
Or what tomorrow brings for anyone
I’ll turn the tables
Hand it back to you
Can you tell me what dreams might come true
If you could look into a crystal ball
Read the tea leaves and then tell us all
What if, What if
I found you
and you wanted me
And I wanted you
And we were meant to be
What if I could lift the veil and see
Our destiny
Throw the bones
Read my palm
Please tell me
Tell me more than just wait and see
Wishing wells behind hidden doors
Fortune tellers know I’m wishing for
What if, What if
I found you
and you wanted me
And I wanted you
And we were meant to be
What if I could lift the veil and see
Our destiny
credits
from The Future Store,
released April 29, 2024
words & music by Ratts/Kern intro by B. Harris
recorded and mixed by Vegas With Randolph
mastered by Steve Turnidge, ARS Divina
c) 2023 Wandering songs / BMI
Vegas With Randolph’s music has been called “ebullient, unabashed power pop”, “thinking man's party music,” and “blissful
pop songwriting at its finest” and their music has been compared to Fastball, Sloan, and Fountains of Wayne.
VWR is currently working on tracks for a fifth CD - look for this release in late 2023! VWR includes John Ratts, Eric Kern, Brock Harris, and David Purol....more
Decent homage to what I consider one of the finest English (as in region in south of British Isles, rather than language or mistaken term for entire UK) Folk records of the Twentieth century. Shaggy Maggot
Norwegian power pop outfit founded by members of black n' roll heavyweights Kvelertak strike a perfect balance between catchy and caustic. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 9, 2022
