Category: 33s

What can you get for a Tenner? Rough Trade Container Chuck Out and Wobblers.

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Ok this bunch cost £12..4 in 2 £3 for a fiver deal and rest £1 from remnants of the great Florida Container dump of October 2025. Rough Trade imported a huge load of chuck our USA vinyl as Student bait and it worked for a while then everything got reduced from £5 each (crazy) to a more reasonable £1. In amongst this stuff I found some gems which I still going through.

Hamilton Camp: here’s to you. Warner Bros 1968.

Not very exciting cover until I turned it round and I saw this

Now that is A-List Wrecking Crew band in a Hollywood Studio. Not a bad musician anywhere and anything with Van Dyke Parks (Brian Wilson’s mate) on …and Hal Blaine…no-brainer. Bud Shank plays flute on brasilian feel Seven Circles.

It’s a stunner sunshine baroque pop by an English actor who started pre Dylan with Bob Gibson. Apparently Camp also had a Paths to Victory Lp which a stunner too giving great renditions of then obscure Dylan songs not on general release.(it on my list). I played it several times still a winner slight marks on one track but well worth a quid. Production is pure Van Dyke Parks feel..special. Best song Travellin in the Dark. Written by a couple who managed and worked with Cream and the wife ended up shooting partner. Could I make that up the song is so wonderful like a weird Nebraska out-take.

So here’s a £3 LP (£2.50) and again a cracker I went with cover basically felt right..

Turns out I right this guy not only a revered Jazz player from 1950s onwards but wrote the Hollies song he ain’t heavy he’s my brother and the theme music for the film Taste of Honey. If hat not enough he produced a whole load of Lps including a Nana Mouskouri Lp which apparently fab called Nana.

Didn’t sing that much but here he does and it is sublime. Another Warners Brothes Lp 1971 a promo copy.

Favourite track hard to say maybe this one…Willoughby Grove this pre Elton John Tumbleweed the guy a ace…has feel of best of Mickey Newbury high praise indeed.


Full album here….rarely does a lost classic actually deserve the accolades this does..

https://reflectionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/robert-william-scott

Third LP is a tad dissapointing looked up the UK artist was a writer and member of Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance band and actually co-wrote How Come with Ronnie. The Lp title seemed promising and some of the tracks are good but it just lacks a killer song. Produced by The Shadows drummer Tony Meehan on label financed by same people who brought you the Marmalade label including Blossom Toes which Kevin W was in. Best track probably ‘The Girl’ which reminds me of a Robert Forster solo track. I like rock and roll is pure Canvey Island pub rock.

Fourth oldie is a right puzzler. Has Nils lofgren and bonnie Rait on BUT its batshit. Mr Johnson admits to be being both brilliant and having some substance issues including going AWOL on record company advance with John Cale…..PETER C JOHNSON

This his first LP was home-made in a McCartney way i.e. some pretty expensive kit lying around and sounds outrageously good yet the songs are KAK. Real post Robert Palmer Punk never going to happen MOR kak. I will post one you will get gist.

Peter C. Johnson was one of the driving forces in the Boston music scene in the late ’60s. His singer/songwriter style was a big influence on the young musicians coming through the area, including a relatively unknown Bruce Springsteen. He teamed with Astral Weeks session player John Payne to form the Manic Depressives, a band best known for backing Bonnie Raitt, although they performed with Howlin’ Wolf numerous times during this period. The band broke up following a fistfight at a gig, and Johnson disappeared for a few years. When he reemerged, he had completely rethought his approach, this time performing with six mannequins and a fortune in electronic equipment that provided a chorus of voices and music behind what he was playing on-stage. He released a self-titled album on A&M, which was a critical success but never quite caught on with the record-buying public. On top of this, a poor contract left him penniless after his touring expenses caught up with him. He recorded an album with John Cale soon after, but eventually disappeared after trying to rehab his drug problem.

Ok so that the old stuff now a couple of what RT refers to as wobbly wax which can cover a multitude of sins. In some cases and I suspectthese two a case in point its old stock that been lying on shelf since day one so ends up reduced. I had passed these two many times to point where at £3 each seemed worth investigating. I had ehard of TJO a bit as a artist that had worked with James Elkington and Steve gunn good sign. Iwas pleasantly surprised the LP is very ambient/transcendental blues and more mellow than mellow. Still worth a £3 dive. filed with Owls of the Swamp in contemporary singer/writer mystics territory. You can guess most of that by the cover.

Chose this track as it seems to be a Navajo chant vibe..

finally another £3 ‘wobbler’ and bought purely on basis of label Village Green is contemporary ambient/electronic/classical label my freind Pete astor side project with David Sheppard Ellis Island Unit released on this label. Chris Morphitis is world/ambient/electronic bit of Steve Reich in this track but pretty eclectic overall.

So there you go what can you get for a tenner these days….there your answer Ok £12…..its only numbers.

3 FOR A FIVER: THE RECORD FAIR CONUNDRUM

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Record Fairs have become strange ritualistic sites of male obsessiveness, competition and downright stupidity in almost equal proportion. They also have different identities depending on which geezer runs them. The so-called AA (nothing to do with alcohol) fairs are relentless in terms of finding pitches and banging out the same plastic tubs of mostly knock-off new vinyl that comes from the great white van in the sky. No questions asked etc etc . If not that then like every other record fair it has the ubiquitous real rock syndrome that means every Pink Floyd album is treated as a holy relic and anything ‘metal’ or ‘goth’ is looked at as worth a few bob no matter how shite.

So today I ventured with heavy heart to the AA Fair and found that even white van men have their weak spots. Stuff they dont like/never heard of/in a foreign language’ ends up in the three for a fiver box. Now Having long held the view that anything over a quid was a rip-off I allowed myself the luxury of going to 3 for a fiver land.

What I found was hilarious and brilliant in equal measure and I assure you my gracious dealers had no fucking idea what it was they chucking out. If it ain’t worth a doller on discogs it shit..so here we go…

1. The Fiction Aisle: Heart Map Rubric

This was a interesting cover and a brief web search established it a double lp by the ex lead writer in Electric Soft Parade and Brakes from Brighton and it looked like the person who made it cared a lot. So I put it in the trolley. First listen its a stunning record reminds me of The Blue Nile.

2. Jesse Taylor: Last Night UK LP 1990

Second up and it brought me to a emotional dead stop a Jesse Taylor Lp. Mint. This guy is a legend and a direct line to my long late great friend Terry Clarke who worshipped him and played with him and Ely. In the trolley it went.

3. Owls of the Swamp

Third and this turns out to be a 200 limited edition by a madcap australian folkie who moved to Iceland. The name alone sold it to me again mint probably unplayed. Sounds like a folky Elliot Smith who hugs too many trees but very lovely for all that.

So that £5 down next post the second batch…and at present HMV boasts of 3 for £66 yes that a sale reduction to £22 each because frankly HMV are cunts and market directly to students who stupid.

OK Batch 2 three for a fiver. Different geezer this one had a LOT of Elvis and frankly maybe a little too much by about a thousand items. However in true dealer chuck out style here what chucked out.

1. 12″ Promo Richard Thompson of ‘Turning of the Tide’ 33 1/3 from AMNESIA LP. WTF? USA tour promo prob aimed at radio stations in 1988. Both sides the same track which handy as one side scratched just turn the fucker over and bingo a bargain. It worth nowt hence chuck out.

2. The Merle Haggard problem. I have almost everything by Merle Haggard and it a problem as there is a lot of Merle Haggard however by a freak chance I didn’t have this one with the insane cover….Is that a photo or a early version of AI or a photo of his mother hard to tell..the cover states a major 20th century man and talent of magnitude. Who am I to argue album produced by Fuzzy Owen enuff said.

3. Now this is a example of Rock dealer Classical Music LP syndrome in most cases they bin them or take the inners and chuck the rest but this one survived and…..this is a weird Uk Charing Cross Road label affiliated to Melodisc USSR in fact it a Russian label in all but name and the Great graphics and photo are by Brian Shuel who went on to work for Topic as a photographer and designer so known well to Simon Ashley. I now have two of these MK Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga) Lps. Not rare but revealing of a time when being a Communist on the Charing Cross Road was cool…and the black and white Shuel sleeves are worth purchasing for the covers alone..beautiful. In this case it mint and it a great artist and conductor and Hindemith..win win.also I could not find a cover shot so it rarer than a dead hen’s teeth..

Herewith concludes the Chuck Out Bin report for today..total outlay £10.

Mono Record Players X2

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I am the proud owner of a 1978 Toshiba Music Centre ( thank you Terry) and after replacing the belt which had perished and a gentle straightening of the original Shure stylus it great especially with heavy tracking arm and cartridge for those ‘well-loved’ monos I have been piling up in the corner. It has a mono/stereo button too so some older stereos that too loved also sounding good.

I had previously tried to replace a ceramic cartridge on a wooden schools mono because knobbled stereo Garrard Deck from 1976. Having seen the error of my ways (all electrics were under the bonnet state of art 1976 and it only mono by default) and had a repalcement stylus which correct one for the deck it now my singles bar deck as the auto return etc shot. Still sounds great with singles.

So first up I tried a recent Pound of Wax (£1 Arnold) Charlie Christian LP sounded great with a pair of Wharfedale Delta bookshelf speakers.

The Go-Betweens – a life-time commitment

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The Go-Betweeens Uk 12″ collection and a bit of my cat Merle’s tail…

I recently met a neighbour who unbeknown to me shared a life-long passion for the Australian group The Go-Betweens. He introduced me to a facebook group called Right Here: The Go-Betweens Appreciation Society and I been posting all day.

Above the UK catalogue on vinyl as purchased throughout the 1980s. I knew of The Go-Betweens from early on having collected Postcard Records like Orange Juice and Aztec Camera and the first Go-Betweens single in the UK. Then my friend Pete Astor through his bands The Loft and The Weather Prophets got to know and play alongside them. I loved Cattle and Cane and started to collect everything they did. That collection has come through two relationships and four cities so at least some things stay constant. Loving The Go-Betweens going by the Facebook comments is a lifetime commitment….and despite ‘Part Company’ there will be no divorce. We been together nearly 40 years already 🙂

UK 7″ collection 1980 -1990

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2238310669/

Open Country – The crazy CBS/Sunday Times triple LP sampler 1972

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I picked up this insane triple album in Nottingham for a pound…i.e. 33 1/3p per disc 🙂 The image is a woman with plastic animals all over…mad but reminds me of the later Loose early compilation below:-)

It is a Sunday Times offer from 1972 in collaboration with CBS so content and vinyl quality very good.

It all CBS related acts so you get The Byrds, Johnny Cash, Carter Family etc etc.

Amazing selection which fully listed on the discogs page.

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Open-Country/release/5140579

I paid the going rate it seems £1.99 so not a collector’s item but nice none the less.

Joe South – Midnight Rainbows

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Bargain of the year! This almost mint copy of Joe South’s second to last album from 1975 cost me 50p.

I have seen cover many times over the years but never investigated further.

Once I put it on the deck I realised it a keeper. There a very full and beautifully written eulogy to the man here:

http://deeprootsmag.org/2012/09/11/for-all-he-gave-and-for-giving-his-all/ 

This says all you need to know about his career going back to the late 1950s. I never knew he played bass on Blonde on Blonde nor that he was such a rated guitarist and was experimenting with guitar techniques and hacks way back. A new hero.

The album is astonishing and indeed Nillson and Beatlesque in its depth and variety. He had spent four years ‘missing’ following the suicide of his brother and this album was some kind of a comeback. From the sitar playing on the famous Games People Play he had been an innovator but I still unprepared for just how good this LP is.

It made me pull out a See for Miles reissue of his first album Introspect. I also found a double CD rip of the two later albums Games People Play and Joe South. All highly recommended..Southern Roots at its best.

Here the man himself on youtube in 1969 TV appearance..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5znh58WITU8

 

DISCOGS PAGE : https://www.discogs.com/artist/325103-Joe-South

White Music – January 1978 – XTC in the shires..

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White or Red Stripes? The out-takes from cover photo session for Virgin first album.
You can see the cans of lager in these other photos. The record company airbrushed out on the actual cover below!

January 28th 1978 I am 19 years old and on my one year foundation course at Oxford Polytechnic just as PUNK was filtering into the shires….we were a year behind London 🙂 I remember watching in awe the previous autumn as a guy on the course purchased the Buzzcocks first album complete with designer silver grey plastic bag and showed it off.

I had a birthday in January 1978 and as money was so tight that was my first opportunity to buy a punk album. I only had three options in my little hometown of Didcot, Oxfordshire.

The Lays Electrical shop where I had bought my glam rock 7 inches off the pegboard walls or W H Smith which was vinyl central then or Woolworths.

It turned out Woolies was more PUNK….

I remember to this day looking through the rack and seeing three or four options..The Damned, XTC, Iggy Pop’s The Idiot and the red compilation of ‘New Wave’. I plumped for the Iggy Pop album for some reason and took it home over-excited. This ended as I put it on the tiny dansette hidden in my parent’s old sideboard….it was warped so badly it didn’t play.

So I took it back and had only two choices…the red compilation or this weird album by XTC called White Music…it looked punky and I had no idea they were down the road in Swindon.

White Music it was…

 

I now listening to a digital version for first time in years..was way ahead of me then and still sounds exciting now. Not a bad choice and somehow over the years I lost my original copy…..will keep a look out for a replacement on vinyl for old times sake.

Meanwhile here what I listening to in a sideboard on a mono dansette in January 1978 🙂

A dub version of All along the watchtower….FFS 🙂

Swindon Boys and recorded at the Manor Oxford…..local post modernism 🙂

Did it influence my art not much…but it was the soundtrack:-)

More INFO: http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/a_WhiteMusic.html 

Chuck Berry re-takes on Mercury 1966

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If you see this mid-price compilation from Spain from 1967 grab it as it is a re-badging of the Mercury Studios 1966 re-takes session Berry did when he swapped labels moving from Chess to Mercury (Fontana over here).

Original Mercury album cover from states

The session involved :

  • Chuck Berry – guitar, vocals
  • Ebby Hardy – drums
  • Johnnie Johnson – piano, electric piano
  • Quincy Macon – rhythm guitar
  • Eugene Washington – drums

They hit the hits at quite a lick and all in all it a feisty reinterpretation of the Chess standards with one new track Club Nitty Gritty that came out as the first mercury single and hence very rare.

 

More info on the Mercury Releases here : http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/mercury.html

My particular favourite is the take on Roll Over Beethoven which almost punk like in its speed and intensity. The whole session sounds one-take live throughout. Leadbitter and Slaven’s Blues Records 1943-1970 states it recorded Clayton Mo, Oct/Nov 1966.

 

Full track listing:

Side one

  1. “Sweet Little Sixteen” (2:32)
  2. “Memphis” (2:07)
  3. “School Days (Ring Ring Goes the Bell)” (2:35)
  4. “Maybellene” (2:35)
  5. “Back in the U.S.A.” (2:27)

Side two

  1. “Johnny B. Goode” (2:45)
  2. “Rock and Roll Music” (2:33)
  3. “Roll Over Beethoven” (2:02)
  4. “Thirty Days” (2:10)
  5. “Carol” (2:24)
  6. “Club Nitty Gritty” (2:18)

Ramblin Jack Elliott and Trailer Star

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I always had a soft spot for Ramblin Jack Elliott (born Elliot Adnopoz in Brooklyn yes the original Jewish Beat Cowboy before Zimmerman 🙂 ) not only because of the obvious Dylan connection but because the early Topic LPs are beautifully designed especially the drawn ones which I copied for Trailer Star’s fake album Suit of Nettles. Spot the influence…

The artist on these Topic albums (I also have a beautiful Sarah Ogun Gunning album of the  same period) was probably the same artist but I cannot trace who it is at all.

The Elliotts have what appears to be a signature but Bosard C my best guess comes up with nothing ..

This my collection so far as Ramblin Jack has 50 releases a way to go…

In situ Lincoln 2008..note the influences..

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4RFT8qkXQE

Eve of Destruction – Barry Maguire

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maguire

Do not know where or when I picked this up. Probably bought for the cover and a little familiarity with the title track. Produced by Lou Adler on his own Dunhill Records which had bigger hits with the Mama and Papas and Carole King. We are firmly in ‘New Dylan’ territory and it not surprising that fellow folkie P.F.Sloan provides a couple of tracks alongside Dylan himself. The Dylan covers are polite and pleasant. The production pure Terry Melcher or CBS studio A Johnston . The stand out is this the title track. A cold war track of unending relevance even now sadly. Maguire found religion and became a major artist on The God and Jesus circuit long before Dylan found himself ironically. Overall a novelty record but worth it for a couple of nice tracks. I once had the P.F.Sloan greatest hits which overall a better album. I believe P.F.Sloan made a comeback recently just before he passed away in November 2015. Here’s the track..enjoy.

For more on Maguire see http://www.barrymcguire.com/ he a little less hair now…

sloan

P.F.Sloan OBIT: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/p-f-sloan-eve-of-destruction-songwriter-dead-at-70-20151116