Really sunny, crisp, fresh and beautiful.
The blossom is out on the trees, the daffodils and crocuses are in bloom, the air smells sweet and clean. I walked through the streets to the north of Golborne Road, dropped down along the Portobello Road, then cut through Pembridge Crescent to Notting Hill Gate, to meet Jeff for a Sunday Lunch, then a leisurely exploration of the bargain basements of the Record & Tape branches, seeking out weird and wonderful vinyl. We had a pint in the Castle, flicked through the racks of sevens in Rough Trade, and checked out Intoxica. I came back with a Stupids album,and a repress of the first ever Studio One album.
As soon as I got back home, this was on the stereo:
It's been a weekend of cooking too - vegetable soup, meatballs in tomato sauce, home-made bread - I've been slaving over a hot stove, and I've loved every second.
Showing posts with label collecting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collecting. Show all posts
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monday, January 07, 2008
Record fairs! Don'cha just love 'em?
Well, I do :)
Went to the record fair in Brighton yesterday; there's truly no more restful and cathartic way to spend your Sunday morning than flicking through piles of old vinyl....
So what did I buy? Well, a trio of singles for a pound a pop. Firstly, the true punk/pop GENIUS that is "Animal World" by The Last Words. Australia's first real slice of Independent Punk, it came out on a small label in Oz in 1978, and was re-released on Rough Trade here in 1979. Check the video, this is one of those lost Punk classics that EVERYONE should own.....
If you need a copy on CD, it's on this compilation, which has loads more Aussie Punk and Post-Punk gems on it......
But for me, it's the joy of getting old Rough Trade singles that puts the icing on the cake: as a record collector, they're just....amazing. I love the light green labels, the over sized grooves, the "Porky's" scrawl in the run-out...and the actual vinyl always seemed to be somehow more substantial than other indie labels...
With Rough Trade as well, you were buying things from a label which continually confused and amazed you, with it's breadth of styles and statements. Within just a year or so of releasing "Animal World", Rough Trade were releasing the next one of the singles which i bought yesterday: "Are You Glad To Be In America?" by James "Blood" Ulmer. From DIY garage punk to...well, to a slice of No-wave industrial alt-jazz - there's change for you.
I can just imagine Nigel in the Rough Trade Shop, back in 1981, slipping copies of this into customer's bags, with a cheery recommendation of "you'll love this, it's great!" and then when they got home, those self-same customers would have one of those "WTF?" moments, and send the single off to the Record+Tape...
Well, the joke's on them; because, you know what? It turns out Nigel was right all along- it is a great record. Ulmers vocals have this ghost-like, haunting bluesy wail, that suits the dense concrete-jazz stew behind him perfectly...it's a record that could only have emerged at the turn of the 80's when the experimental approach of people like The Red Crayola's Mayo Thompson (who produced the single) was at it's peak. It's a record that is defiantly of its time, and all the better for it.
Last of the three singles was a copy of "Life's A Gamble" by Penetration. I know I've blogged about my love for this record in the past, and it seems my love affair with it continues unabated, as this was a "double"....I've already got it on 5 separate compilation Cd's, the CD of "Moving Targets" , FOUR copies of it on the Luminous vinyl album issue of "Moving Targets", and I've already got a copy on 7". But this one had a Picture sleeve, so it was time for yet another copy. Will I ever learn? I sincerely hope not.
The rest of my haul? A bunch of cheap 12"s, Baby Ford "Oochy Koochy (because it was the Remix), some old Woodentops stuff, a Blancmange single (no, i'm not sure why either) and a picture disc of "So Hot" by the Haines Gang.
I'll say it again, I LOVE record fairs :)
Went to the record fair in Brighton yesterday; there's truly no more restful and cathartic way to spend your Sunday morning than flicking through piles of old vinyl....
So what did I buy? Well, a trio of singles for a pound a pop. Firstly, the true punk/pop GENIUS that is "Animal World" by The Last Words. Australia's first real slice of Independent Punk, it came out on a small label in Oz in 1978, and was re-released on Rough Trade here in 1979. Check the video, this is one of those lost Punk classics that EVERYONE should own.....
If you need a copy on CD, it's on this compilation, which has loads more Aussie Punk and Post-Punk gems on it......
But for me, it's the joy of getting old Rough Trade singles that puts the icing on the cake: as a record collector, they're just....amazing. I love the light green labels, the over sized grooves, the "Porky's" scrawl in the run-out...and the actual vinyl always seemed to be somehow more substantial than other indie labels...
With Rough Trade as well, you were buying things from a label which continually confused and amazed you, with it's breadth of styles and statements. Within just a year or so of releasing "Animal World", Rough Trade were releasing the next one of the singles which i bought yesterday: "Are You Glad To Be In America?" by James "Blood" Ulmer. From DIY garage punk to...well, to a slice of No-wave industrial alt-jazz - there's change for you.
I can just imagine Nigel in the Rough Trade Shop, back in 1981, slipping copies of this into customer's bags, with a cheery recommendation of "you'll love this, it's great!" and then when they got home, those self-same customers would have one of those "WTF?" moments, and send the single off to the Record+Tape...
Well, the joke's on them; because, you know what? It turns out Nigel was right all along- it is a great record. Ulmers vocals have this ghost-like, haunting bluesy wail, that suits the dense concrete-jazz stew behind him perfectly...it's a record that could only have emerged at the turn of the 80's when the experimental approach of people like The Red Crayola's Mayo Thompson (who produced the single) was at it's peak. It's a record that is defiantly of its time, and all the better for it.
Last of the three singles was a copy of "Life's A Gamble" by Penetration. I know I've blogged about my love for this record in the past, and it seems my love affair with it continues unabated, as this was a "double"....I've already got it on 5 separate compilation Cd's, the CD of "Moving Targets" , FOUR copies of it on the Luminous vinyl album issue of "Moving Targets", and I've already got a copy on 7". But this one had a Picture sleeve, so it was time for yet another copy. Will I ever learn? I sincerely hope not.
The rest of my haul? A bunch of cheap 12"s, Baby Ford "Oochy Koochy (because it was the Remix), some old Woodentops stuff, a Blancmange single (no, i'm not sure why either) and a picture disc of "So Hot" by the Haines Gang.
I'll say it again, I LOVE record fairs :)
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Right.....
That's the last time I'm EVER drinking Jaegermeister and Red Bull :(
I think I need some sweet release in the form of digging through crates of vinyl at car boot sales.
I think I need some sweet release in the form of digging through crates of vinyl at car boot sales.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
The format that just won't die......
Everyone kind of expected vinyl to take its rightful place at the head of the vast panoply of musical formats to emerge over the last 100 years: it's the fetishistic nature of the plastic, the smell of it, the feeling of sliding a mint condition album out of its poly-lined inner sleeve for the first time, the unexpected buzz of peeking inside the sleeve of a seven inch single to find a coloured vinyl treasure inside....
All of that makes perfect sense doesn't it? So how come there's still so much interest in the humble cassette tape? It's rather odd, but I guess it's all tied up with the fact that it was THE mass-market format of the 80's, and would have been most people's first encounter with organising, saving and treasuring their first batch of musical memories. Hence, the affection that people feel for the humble cassette. I'd like to see the same thing happen with CDR's and mini discs in 10 years time, I bet it wont :)
All of that makes perfect sense doesn't it? So how come there's still so much interest in the humble cassette tape? It's rather odd, but I guess it's all tied up with the fact that it was THE mass-market format of the 80's, and would have been most people's first encounter with organising, saving and treasuring their first batch of musical memories. Hence, the affection that people feel for the humble cassette. I'd like to see the same thing happen with CDR's and mini discs in 10 years time, I bet it wont :)
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