Home//Record Collector/Issue 559/In This Issue
Record Collector|Issue 559For The RecordSEND YOUR PRAISE, MISSIVES AND CALLS FOR THE DEIFICATION OF MATTHEW QUINLAN TO: rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk, or to Record Collector, 2nd Floor, Saunders House, 52-53 The Mall, London W5 3TA, or via social media rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk www.recordcollectormag.com Record Collector Magazine @RecCollmag RecordCollectormag @recordcollectormag PANG VS KING I thoroughly enjoyed the latest edition of the magazine [RC 558]. It was interesting to read May Pang's soundtrack; so many of the records bring back good memories. In citing The Shirelles' Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? and the way it reflected the girls' voices, it is slightly ironic that the words were written by Gerry Goffin, as was another of her selections, Up On The Roof. She also says that she was “always curious about songwriters” yet describes Carole King as the writer of these…7 min
Record Collector|Issue 559THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTORSJohn Earls turned 22 the week Oasis' Definitely Maybe was released and had recently moved to London – perfect timing to enjoy Britpop (p74). He'd also been the right age to fall for Slippery When Wet, so loved meeting Bon Jovi (p56) for this issue. Since making Crowded House's Distant Sun his Single Of The Week in Melody Maker in 1993, Pete Paphides has interviewed Neil Finn several times. Their latest encounter is recounted on page 60. Former RC staffer-turnedfreelance Joel McIver meets his hero Marc Almond (p50). Like Marc, Joel has written several books, but that's where the similarities end. Apart from both having one leg shorter than the other. Tony Cummings had designer stubble when he first wrote for soul music fanzines in 1963. By the time he…1 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Howard MonkWe'd been playing the odd show, and at one in Walthamstow, in 2017, we decided to make new music. It's taken no time! Tell us about the new album. It follows on from What Becomes Before, and we're happy with it. Some of the ideas started yonks ago in rehearsals. Gav [Baker] is the librarian, recording and filing all rehearsals. No ideas get lost. We've used piano and glockenspiel, but it's a celebration of guitar music, focused and clean, with nods to our heroes. Were there any amusing episodes during its creation? Hywell [Dinsdale] arrived on an early flight from Denmark and slept in the doorway of the pub opposite the studio from 5am! How long did it take? Recorded over two weekends, three days each, October 2019/November 2022. Mixing…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Memorabilia laneCher's onetime 3,089 feet2 house, 0.5 acres, bar, Coldwater Canyon, California, was offered in April via Douglas Elliman, $4.1 million. ■ On 8 May, two Primus guitars were offered for charity via closiit.com. ■ In May, ex-Guns N'Roses' Gilby Clarke offered guitars, pedals, clothing, award discs, posters, drum kits, amps, via reverb.com. ■ In May, Duane Eddy's former 2,400 feet2, three-bed Beverly Hills house was offered via Coldwell Banker Realty, $2.995 million. ■ In May, 300 Grateful Dead lots, including road cases, speakers, amps, original artwork, were offered via analogr.com. In May, an Elvis Presley motorbike was estimate $1 million, Eric Clapton prototype guitar, $3 million. ■ On 12 May, a BB King guitar was offered via catawiki.com. ■ In May, Wilson Phillips' Chynna Phillips' two-bed, two-bath house, with two-bed,…4 min
Record Collector|Issue 559THE LANDS DOWN UNDERWith a grand-daughter in New Zealand and a long-term friend in Australia, who emigrated as a '£10 Pom', I have more than one excuse to go Antipodean. Each trip provides the opportunity to check out some of the terrific record shops that can be found in these largely English-speaking countries, and I've become acquainted with many such establishments. Making long-distance purchases leads to the occasional problem, such as a Tony Joe White CD acquired from Wellington's excellent Slow Boat shop in the Kiwi capital (183, Cuba Street; slowboatrecords.co.nz), which, on returning to London, proved to have no disc in the case. Doh! However, once apprised of that, they quickly sent one. Bonzer! On a recent sojourn, arriving in Australia, I wandered around Sydney's suburb, Newtown – akin to a somewhat…8 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Diggin' For GOLDCOME ON! COME ON! LITTLE EVA Lllllocomotion (London HAU 8036, mono, plum label, laminated sleeve, LP, UK, 1963)£30 Little Eva's The Loco-Motion was one of the records of 1962, hitting No 1 in the US and No 2 in Britain. A backstory was prepared for publicity purposes – and, as is so often the case, it wasn't wholly true. Some of it was: Eva Boyd was indeed live-in nanny to husband-and-wife songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. But the story about King playing a tune on the piano at home, Eva starting to dance, and Goffin being reminded of a railway train and quickly working out a lyric – no. Goffin and King had been approached by music publisher Don Kirshner to produce a follow-up to Dee Dee Sharp's hit…7 min
Record Collector|Issue 559MOST WantedCONTACTS: BONHAMS: Tel 020 7447 7447; www.bonhams.com DISCOGS: www.discogs.com EBAY: www.ebay.co.uk HAKE'S AUCTIONS: Tel 001 866 404 9800; www.hakes.com JASPER 52: www.liveauctioneers.com/item/175081756_alice-s-restaurant-cookbook JULIEN'S AUCTIONS: Tel 001 310 836 1818; juliensauctions.com MEM: Tel 01635 269327; www.rockpopmem.com MYNT AUCTIONS: www.liveauctioneers.com/auctioneer/7804/mynt-auctions/ POPSIKE: www.popsike.com Send your Most Wanted suggestions to paulrigby@theaudiophileman.com…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 559TALKING HEADSPAUL MOLLOY The Coral guitarist on his latest solo endeavour What film could your new set soundtrack? It's a musical satire about the apocalypse, so Dr Strangelove, or a dystopian Bugsy Malone. If you could revisit any album, what'd you change? It'd be interesting to re-record Serpent Power a bit rawer, live, and bluesier. Is there anything still unissued? Tons of 8-tracks, cassettes and DATs of my first group, and projects. Have you done anything that fans may not know about? A load of jingles for Holy Joe. None got used. With whom would you like to make a split 7”? Tom Waits or CW Stoneking. What was your favourite record shop when you started out? Hairy Records, Bold Street, Liverpool. My friend Carl worked there, and it was a…10 min
Record Collector|Issue 559FULL MARCSSoft Cell Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (Some Bizzare BZLP 2, 1981) £10 The paranoid sound of 1981, encapsulated perfectly via minimalist synths. Even if you weren't a struggling teenager pushed to society's sidelines, your heart still went out to the young Almond, who crammed emotion into every track. The Stars We Are (Parlophone PCS 7324, 1988) £8 Navigating a fine line in and out of synth-pop, Almond stayed relevant with songs such as Tears Run Rings, an absolute banger whose remixes you need to seek out on YouTube right now. Nico guests on this album, too. Jacques (Some Bizzare BREL 1, 1989) £15 Stepping away from electronic music and embracing the music of his idol Jacques Brel, Almond pulled off an instinctual move into dramatic chanson – and in doing so,…1 min
Record Collector|Issue 559HOOD VIBRATIONSTHE O'JAYS If you were to gather together a bunch of soul buffs and ask them to name the greatest album ever, you'd be sure to hear named What's Going On, Otis Blue and Songs In The Key Of Life. One album bound to be acclaimed is Ship Ahoy by The O'Jays. The Miami Herald once called the title track “a dark, atmospheric, frightening masterpiece” while several DJs and critics today have suggested that the album's For The Love Of Money is the greatest piece of dance music ever recorded. What is certain is that every component necessary in creating a true classic album came together in time (the early months of 1973) and space (Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studio). The individuals that producers and songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff…15 min
Record Collector|Issue 559CAUGHT BY THE BUZZ!Britpop SpecialBRITPOP REVISITED Every generation gets the music epoch it deserves – whether that's psychedelia, glam, punk, new pop, Madchester… In the 90s it was the turn of Britpop. For a period, there was a range of activity under that banner, most notably from the colossally popular likes of Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Supergrass and Elastica, but also from the lesser-known likes of Marion, Menswe@r and My Life Story… Over the next 12 pages we reacquaint ourselves with some of Britpop's stars, Joel McIver looks at Britrock and Joe Muggs at Brit-dance to affirm the era's rampant eclecticism, Wesley Doyle recalls life in a band on the scene and meets the next generation of Britpoppers, we reassess the era's best albums and the “runners-up”, consider the notable singles, remember the Blur-Oasis…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 559beyond thunder's droneBritain has always been a nation of headbangers, inventing heavy metal circa 1970 and exporting the stuff worldwide. Our nation's love of all things loud and leathery may not have been obvious in the Britpop era, when everyone supposedly forgot about the existence of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, but that didn't stop a whole wave of British heavy rock bands from flourishing anyway – regardless of whichever scene people associated them with. Consider the evidence. Stereophonics formed in 1992 and were massive from 1997; Ash also got together in '92, and their debut album, 1977, was a No 1 hit four years later; and keen Nirvana fans Bush found a willing American audience by 1996. Those cheery chaps Supergrass were all over the charts with I Should Coco in…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559they're alright!My Life Story Mornington Crescent (Mother Tongue MOTHER LP1, LP, UK, 1995) £50 My Life Story tapped into Britpop's trash-glam feather boa aesthetic. The band's in-house orchestra propelled Jake Shillingford's big dreams and bigger choruses. Headrush arrangements ensured strings were used to their full potential on songs resonating with high drama. JE Sleeper Smart (Indolent, SLEEPLP007A, LP, UK, 1995) £30 At the time of The Fast Show and Reeves And Mortimer, Britpop could be funny, too. No one was sharper than Louise Wener, whose eye for detail was worthy of Squeeze. Add in chunky guitars showcasing Sleeper's Breeders infatuation and Smart remains an intoxicating mix. JE Shed Seven A Maximum High (Polydor, 531039-1, LP, UK, 1996) £80 If their terrible name ensured they instantly became Britpop's easiest punchline, the strength…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 559WHY BRITPOP SUCKSA 2003 Britpop documentary asserted that early 90s rock music was in the doldrums, only to be rescued by the mighty fleet of Britpop, with Oasis steaming majestically forth surrounded by a flotilla that included Cast, The Bluetones and Northern Uproar. This was risible. Whereas previous upheavals in UK rock were transformative, necessary, we were in no need of “rescuing” from anything, least of all by Britpop, in the mid-90s. Rescued from what? Radiohead? The Manic Street Preachers? My Bloody Valentine? Throwing Muses? Massive Attack? Orbital? Or, from across the Atlantic, the giddying waves of Nirvana, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr? The great psychedelic movement of the 60s had dragged pop and rock from repressive, uniformed monochrome into countercultural colour. The detonation of punk would lead immediately to the urgent, inclusive insurgence…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Alien InvasionDavid Bowie Rock'n'Roll Star! Parlophone 5054197623509 (5CD/Blu-ray, LP) “So long 60s,” Bowie sings on the song of the same name that opens this collection of Ziggy Stardust-era demos, outtakes and live recordings. “I'll kick you in the ass, you rascal, you.” It's a deceptively playful threat from a man who was about to boot the decade into oblivion. Even an acoustic sketch such as this carries unlikely traces of the electrifying reinvention that was just around the corner. Recorded in a hotel room in February 1971, the song sports the verse melody of Moonage Daydream, although the surviving “keep your mouth shut” lyric would be put to more predatory use in the mouth of Bowie's mama-papa space invader. The first disc of Rock'n'Roll Star! is full of fascinating glimpses such…18 min
Record Collector|Issue 559The Hostess With The MostestLinda Thompson Proxy Music StorySound 161059 (CD, LP) On the cover of her new record, elder stateswoman of folk Linda Thompson is dressed up in a parody of Roxy Music's debut album cover, grinning at the camera. Anyone else and you'd wonder about their sanity, but this is someone who's long shown an ability to surprise, both with music and lifestyle. Thompson, of course, was half of the husband-and-wife duo with former Fairport Convention singer and guitarist Richard as they set new folk-rock rules in the early 70s. But now Linda can't sing, silenced by spasmodic dysphonia, a life-long neurological condition that sends voice muscles into spasm – her most recent album was 2013's predictive Won't Be Long Now. It would, however, take more than that to keep Thompson quiet…20 min
Record Collector|Issue 559State Of The ArtJohn Foxx Electricity And Ghosts Rocket 88, £44 ISBN: 9781915156143, 224 pages Unbeknown to many, John Foxx created post-punk combo Ultravox! as a project at the Royal College of Art and this elegant tome takes us from the spiky collages that echoed the band in the late 70s right through to the eerily beautiful images that accompany today's ambient persona. Foxx's works, graphic design colliding with classicism, dominate this fine quality art book, yet there's also a history of the artist who is happy to slip behind the name of one of his projects, The Quiet Man. In minimalist interludes he recounts his decision to abandon Ultravox! and heavy touring for studio time, both art and music. There are moody, mono, photographic cityscapes, often with a quiet man somewhere in…11 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Gig GuideFatboy Slim July (5) Manchester Castlefield Bowl (6) Scarborough Open Air Theatre (20) Glasgow SWG3 August (24) Halifax Piece Hall Garbage July (12) Glasgow TRNSMT Festival (14) Edinburgh Usher Hall (15) Bridlington Spa (17) Wolverhampton Civic Hall (19) Manchester O2 Apollo (20) London Wembley OVO Arena Hozier July (7) London Finsbury Park (9) Chepstow Summer Sessions (10) Glasgow Green Heart July (1) London Greenwich O2 (3) Birmingham Utilita Arena (5) Nottingham Motorpoint Arena (6) Manchester AO Arena (8) Leeds First Direct Arena (9) Glasgow OVO Hydro Hozier July (7) London Finsbury Park (9) Chepstow Racecourse (10) Glasgow Green Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan July (2) Cardiff Castle (3) Manchester Castlefield Bowl The National July (2) St Blazey Eden Sessions (3) Cardiff Castle (4) Manchester Castlefield Bowl (5) London Crystal Palace Park…4 min
Record Collector|Issue 559UNDER THE RADARThis month: Mr Big Mr Big – the UK version, not the US hair metal band (about whom, more later) – should have been chart perennials in the mid-70s, but instead, they scored just one Top 10 hit with Romeo, in 1977. With the release of a 3CD set of the band's complete catalogue on Cherry Red, singer/mainman Dicken, aka Jeff Pain, was happy to discuss the band's history and what he did next. Prior to Mr Big's breakthrough hit, the band, under the name Burnt Oak, had played numerous gigs at The Marquee, supporting many of the big-name acts of the late 60s and early 70s. “Jack Barrie, who ran The Marquee, fell in love with our bass player, Pete [Crowther], and we ended up playing loads of nights,”…5 min
Record Collector|Issue 559THE ENGINE ROOMThis month: Gustavo Santaolalla The name Gustavo Santaolalla may not be over-familiar to those outside of Latin America, and yet millions in the West will have heard his music, not least through the exposure of his soundtrack for the post-apocalyptic video game, and subsequently the HBO television adaptation, The Last Of Us. The Argentine musician and composer, who specialises in the charango (a diminutive Andean string instrument) was born in Buenos Aires in 1951. His earliest exposure to music came via his record-loving parents. Gifted his first guitar from his grandmother, a young Santaolalla took lessons but frustrated his teacher with his inability and unwillingness to learn through formal methods. He was, however, a naturally skilled player. “When I was 10,” he recalls, “she [his teacher] came and told my…5 min
Record Collector|Issue 559BIRTH! SCHOOL! WORK! DEATH!Trini Lopez If I Had A Hammer (Reprise R.20198, 7”, UK, 1963) £2 My Dad is much more into classical music, but he had a few records that I heard constantly in my childhood, this being one of them. I remember from an early age being transfixed by this song coming out of the old Tannoy speakers; I also used to hear a lot of The Goons and sometimes even Ravi Shankar coming out of his study or the kitchen. But this song brings back those early memories of hearing all this incredible music for the first time. Mozart Robert Casadesus/George Szell: Piano Concerto No.21 (CBS SBRG 72234, LP, UK, 1965) £10 I started playing the piano when I was nine years old, taught by the actor Michael Crawford's mother…5 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Hello, and welcome to RC599Unlike punk or psychedelia, say, Britpop is a genre appellation ascribed to a certain era which conjures as many negative feelings and memories as it does positive ones. For reasons bound up with the actual music as well as the politics of the period and its perceived social and cultural leanings Britpop can excite but it can also dismay – some people hear Oasis and think, “Best British band since The Beatles”; others recoil and think, “That lot are more than partly responsible for laddism, musical conservatism, Brexit and everything else bad.” Of course, there was much more to the maligned Britpop than Oasis, and we celebrate it in this issue. We name the best Britpop albums as well as the key singles, we note that it was also a…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559What's Happening?!?!At RC Towers, we're banking on fresh sounds coming from Elton John, Lauryn Hill, Circus Maximus, Lucy Spraggan, Halestorm, The Coronas, Black Label Society, Sam Fender, Five Finger Death Punch, All Saints' Melanie Blatt, As I Lay Dying, Ed Sheeran, Bon Jovi, Aldo Nova, Ariana Grande, Joe Satriani & Steve Vai, Daryl Hall, Envy Of None, Tinie Tempah, Guns N' Roses, Allison Moorer/Kenny Greenberg, Shinedown, Marillion, Fleet Foxes, Slayer's Kerry King, ex-Journey's Steve Perry, Conflict, Killswitch Engage's Howard Jones/Adam Dutkiewicz, Marilyn Manson (on Nuclear Blast), Pattern-Seeking Animals (GEP), Armored Saint (Metal Blade), Christina Aguilera (5020); Pentagram (Heavy Psych Sounds), plus Sub-Basem*nt, Review Your Choices reissues; a set by Bill Kelliher (Mastodon), John Garcia (ex-Kyuss), Rich Mullins (ex-Karma To Burn); and Otis Redding reissues (Sony). CELLULOID HEROES Projects due include DA…4 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Eating humble pie?In May, Variety reported that Steve Marriott's Estate and his daughter, Mollie Marriott, are opposing AI-generated 'vocals' designed to 'in-paint' unissued demos by the Humble Pie frontman. The Cleopatra label is said to have proposed issuing three compilations of raw demos, followed by AI-enhanced versions. Chris France, MD of the Marriott Estate, noted that “there are no confirmed plans to use Steve Marriott's voice on AI recordings, but that does not mean a deal will not be done with one of several suitors who have made offers”. Mollie Marriott stated that “the Marriott Estate is due to release an AI solo album of old and new songs of my father. The surviving family, my siblings, Lesley, Toby, Tonya, and I, have nothing to do with the Estate, as there was…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559The CollectorCOLLECTING Sam Parks and Freya Parks, who live in London, are father and daughter, and both working actors. They first shared musical tastes listening to cassettes in the car, Sam passing on his favourites to Freya and then vice versa: Sam would never have come across Warpaint or Fever Ray without Freya, and Freya would never have come across Radiohead if it hadn't been for Sam and his iPod that she'd “borrow” and take to school with her every day. Sam was never in a band at school but has been thrilled to watch Freya play bass in various bands and shows over the years. Sam's collection includes funk, pop, jazz, metal and rock. Freya's collection includes rock, ska, psychedelic rock, folk, punk, northern soul and Motown. What do you…10 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Vintage VenueNo 53: The Troubadour, Bristol It operated for just five years (1966-71), but during that time The Troubadour, in the Clifton area of Bristol, played host to many up-and-coming folk acts and acquired a lasting reputation. Al Stewart mentioned it in his Clifton In The Rain, and in 2016 a Troubadour 50th anniversary concert was held at St George's in Bristol, including some of the acts that had appeared there. It was the brainchild of Ray Willmott and his wife, Barbara (pictured in front of the club). Returning to Bristol after a few years in Australia, Ray felt that “a club run on commercial lines was badly needed,” and set about looking for premises, eventually deciding on No 5, Waterloo Street, Clifton. One of his criteria was that it had…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 55933 ⅓ minutes with… Dana GillespieDana Gillespie was the 60s It Girl who hung out with a pre-Bowie David Jones at Soho cafe La Gioconda and sang at the Marquee alongside Julie Driscoll. Jimmy Page produced her 1965 single, Thank You Boy, and played on her 1968 debut album, Foolish Seasons. Its follow-up, 1969's Box Of Surprises, paired her with producer Mike Vernon and Savoy Brown while 1973's Weren't Born A Man saw her working with Bowie and Mick Ronson. First Love, her covers album out now, is produced by Marc Almond and Tris Penna. “Marc said to me, 'I'm fed up with you being the biggest undiscovered secret on the planet,'” she says on the motivation behind what will be her 74th album. “He said we've got to change that. I've never even been…5 min
Record Collector|Issue 559AT PEACE THE O'JAYS ON RECORDThe Mascots (Do The) Wiggle (King 45-5377, US, 1960) £20 It's ironic that Dick Clark's American Bandstand TV showcase, which was to foist on US teenagers dozens of banal dance records, was broadcast from Philadelphia. Before The Mascots became The O'Jays, and long before they became the masters of Philly soul, they made this puerile effort. Fortunately, it wasn't to make American Bandstand. The O'Jays I'll Never Forget You (Imperial 66162, US, 1966) £300 Such is the perfect fit between Eddie Levert's gospel exhorting and Motown-sounding or Philly soul accompaniments that the majority of The O'Jays' unsuccessful singles got some plays on the Northern soul scene. This Detroit-recorded song is their rarest, and consequently their most expensive. The O'Jays I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow (Than I Was Today) (Bell 691, US,…1 min
Record Collector|Issue 559The toppermost of the BritpoppermostOasis Definitely Maybe (Creation CRELP169, 2LP, UK, 1994) £160 Considering Oasis were one of the great B-sides bands, with flips like Half The World Away and Acquiesce established indie classics, it should be little surprise that most people aged 40-60 can probably still sing virtually every song on Definitely Maybe. Noel Gallagher possessed the music equivalent of magical Billy's Boots circa the writing of Oasis' first two albums. Even their debut's one filler, the rinky-dink doggerel of Digsy's Dinner, is memorable. There was a toughness to Gallagher's guitar playing on Definitely Maybe, too, with the wallop and economy of Sex Pistols' Steve Jones, the glamorous colour of Mick Ronson and, on Slide Away, some of the shoegaze haze of Kevin Shields. Capable singer as he was, though, he needed his…15 min
Record Collector|Issue 559oasis v blurThe Oasis v Blur face-off was a defining moment in 90s music. When Blur's poppy Country House and Oasis' rocky Roll With It singles were released on the same day in August 1995, the ensuing chart battle dominated the news worldwide. Unless you were there, it's hard to imagine how culturally significant and all-encompassing this intense rivalry was in Summer 1995. Yet for record buyers, it wasn't such a polarising experience. Most people were fans of both bands, so they bought the two singles. Blur won the battle, with 270,000 sales to 220,000; but Oasis won the war, being the eventual financial winners due to Blur's single retailing at 99p, while Oasis were charging a whopping £1.99 (meanwhile, of course, their attendant albums – The Great Escape and [What's The…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559the singlesFlowered Up Weekender (Heavenly HVN 16, 12”, UK, 1992) £20 Joining the dots between the 60s mod all-nighters and the thencurrent rave/baggy scene, Weekender, with its Quadrophenia samples and accompanying video, sowed the seeds for a mod resurgence and Britpop proper. The Charlatans Can't Get Out Of Bed (Beggars Banquet BBQ 27, 7”, UK, 1994) £5 Never expected to last beyond the baggy era they helped define, The Charlatans outlived the Mondays and Roses and, with the mod pop and soulful rhythm of Can't Get Out Of Bed, captured the changing times. Corduroy Motorhead / London England (Acid Jazz JAZID 95T, 12”, UK, 1994) £6 Acid Jazz four-piece rode the Britpop wave with their if the-90s-were-the-new-60s semi-instrumental, a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the UK capital's club scene and unofficial Blow Up…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559common peopleBob Stanley of SAINT ETIENNE Saint Etienne were one of the groups named on the cover of Select magazine's 'Yanks Go Home' issue in April 1993. Could you tell something was coming? It didn't feel like the beginning or centre of something, it just felt like here is a bunch of groups who have a kinship. There had been a lot of US groups on magazine front covers, and it felt like a reaction to that, but it didn't feel like anything was going to explode. We were pretty tight with Pulp and Denim, and I tried to become friends with Suede embarrassingly by hassling Bernard Butler going, “We're going to do this and do that, and we should get together” and he obviously wasn't remotely interested [laughs]. Select gives…9 min
Record Collector|Issue 559JAZZ COLLECTORRenowned for his deafening drum solos, volatile temperament, and ruling his sidemen with a razor-sharp tongue and unflinching iron grip, Brooklyn-born BUDDY RICH was a larger-than-life character whose reputation as a virtuoso musician transcended the confines of the jazz world. Celebrating his unique artistry are three, very contrasting, CD releases. Trios ( Wienerworld) is the most revelatory, where Rich, whose forte was big band drumming, can be heard playing entirely with brushes in a pared-down threeman unit. The album spotlights a hitherto underappreciated quality in his musical armoury: subtlety. In stark contrast, BirdlandWienerworld) is a more typically brash Rich offering; a high-voltage live big band album whose title track is an exciting revamp of the famous Weather Report tune. The third album, Lost Tapes ( Wienerworld) is a live-in-the-studio session…5 min
Record Collector|Issue 559PSYCH COLLECTORDemoler! Demoler! Demoler! Munster) celebrates the work of Rebeca Llave whose Lima-based imprint, Disperú, was the first female-founded record label in South America. During the mid-to-late 60s, she cherrypicked talent from her homeland and the broader vicinity (Los Cuatro Brillantes, for instance, were Uruguayan), 14 examples of which appear on this comp. It's a varied but consistently vibrant collection that showcases garage rockers (Los Saicos), smoother 60s poppers (Claudio Fabbri) and those working in the tropical Andean vein (Toño Y Sus Sicodelicos). If their shakes and rhythms don't get your hips moving, you must be medically catatonic. The potent material of SHELLY Y NUEVA GENERACIÓN makes it sound as though they could have been Spain's answer to Jefferson Airplane. Alas, their run at it was mercilessly brief. Shelly y Nueva…4 min
Record Collector|Issue 559The Full PictureCult favourite's early years excavated, the plot thickens. Margo Guryan Words And Music Numero NUM 085 (2CD, 3LP/3LP+10”) With each archival release, the much-missed New York singer-songwriter Margo Guryan becomes more intriguing. The late-90s revival of her sole album, 1968's brilliant chamber-pop flop Take A Picture, was initially met with bemusem*nt from Guryan, who'd long drawn a line under her musical career. When power-popper Linus Of Hollywood was played it, he fell head over heels and reissued the album on CD on his Franklin Square label in 2000. As he and Guryan became close, she played him recordings of her unreleased songs written after Take A Picture. The following year, 25 Demos was released, a collection of early versions of Take A Picture songs and those unheard 70s tracks, revealing…9 min
Record Collector|Issue 559The Great UnwashedDirty Three Love Changes Everything Bella Union BELLA 1597 (CD/LP) Considering the events of the 12 years since Australian noise wranglers Dirty Three last released an album, they could be forgiven for returning with a bleak, state of the universe address. Love Changes Everything is anything but, a continuous 40-minute suite comprised of six unnamed instrumental movements forged from improvisation and alive with the intoxicating possibilities of music. Violinist Warren Ellis (Bad Seeds), drummer Jim White (PJ Harvey, Smog) and guitarist Mick Turner (Cat Power, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) have been making a glorious racket together for three decades and – despite the hiatus – the spark remains. From the very start, the listener is made to feel as if they're in the room with the band, privy to an unfiltered…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559FilmsLet It Be (Streaming on Disney+) Infamous fly-on-the-wall “obit” remastered Hidden from view for decades by the official gatekeepers of The Beatles' ongoing legacy, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg's film of the Fab Four supposedly falling out at the tail-end of their career has become a kind of twisted myth. Its continued absence from TV screens, VHS/DVD or the art house circuit gives the impression it was deemed a misfire, but watching afresh 55 years after the events it depicts suggests the initial reception was a huge overreaction. Part of its sombre reputation is undoubtedly due to the context of the times in which the movie first appeared. Although it was filmed in January 1969, Let It Be didn't open in cinemas until May the following year, fewer than five weeks after…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 55910OF THE BESTAmmar 808 Maghreb United (Glitterbeat Records GBLP 060, LP, Germany, 2018) £20 Gloriously inventive, with abrasive beats and fluttering, polyrhythmic stabs, Maghreb United caused a stir when it first appeared, and feels just as fresh six years on. Taking a stage name with a nod to his favourite drum machine, Tunisian producer Sofyann Ben Youssef does a wonderful job of conjuring electro-organic soundscapes located somewhere between a cyberpunk future and a mythical yesterday, kicking up clouds of metallic dust that sparkle and dance with dervish spirit. ÌFÉ IIII+IIII (Discos Ifá DI LP001, 2LP, Puerto Rico, white vinyl, 2018) £30 New Orleans-based African-American producer and percussionist Otura Mun, the artist behind ÌFÉ, mixes Yoruban religious music with easy-flowing, bib-bop flutters, vocoder voices and swaying rhythms. You'll hear particles of everything from…4 min
Record Collector|Issue 559I Was ThereThis month: Supertramp, Wembley Arena, Thursday 1 November 1977 Being a great fan of the band, I was really looking forward to the gig. The support act was a then practically unknown Chris De Burgh. I really enjoyed his set. Unfortunately, during the interval all the power went off. We had the emergency lighting so we could see what was happening. They managed to get a mike going and they announced that it was a power cut in the Wembley area. They'd been on the phone to the electric board who said they were doing their best to bring things back to normal. So, we had to sit and wait. Chris came back onstage with the mike and a light and sat down at the piano and started a singalong…1 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Corporate hackMetal bands such as Flat Black and The Worst Of Us recently reported that they'd had all their online songs copied and re-posted on Spotify under other titles by criminal scammers, losing them revenue and exposure. Some artistes have had unissued tracks illegally offered online for streaming and/or downloading, one being Grant Langston, who found that digital files making up his aLAbama album, due for release 10 May, had been hacked at some point before December 2023. Four of the tracks were available to stream online in April via TuneCore, having been posted as the purported work of a fictitious artist, 'Bertram Graham'. While the revenue stolen from streaming is small in individual instances, cumulatively, it's estimated that hijacking schemes steal $2 billion per year in the US alone, usually…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Game on!John LennonMind Games – The Ultimate Collection is launched this month, with several versions of his 1973 Mind Games. A remixed 24-track 2CD and 2LP include Ultimate Mixes and Outtakes, plus repro poster, postcards and ID card. A 72-track Deluxe 6CD/2BDA adds a 128-page hardback book and Elemental Mixes, Elements Mixes, Evolution Documentary and Raw Studio Mixes, plus 5.1 and Dolby Atmos mixes, two videos, unissued hidden audio/video including secret messages/easter egg bonuses from reel-to-reel, cassette and video tapes. An 1,100-copy Super Deluxe edition adds a 7LP box, picture disc EP box, picture disc 2LP Magic Box with poster, postcards, two maps, Citizens Of Nutopia box with repro flag, plaque, ID card, stamp, fishes, badges, I-Ching box with three coins, torch, magnet, Puzzle Tiles box, and John Lennon/Yoko OnoMind Games…1 min
Record Collector|Issue 559Pictures At An ExhibitionThe Through The Lens Of Esther Anderson:Bob Marley– The Early Years photo exhibit is at Muswell Hill Gallery, High Street, Hornsey, London, to 19 June. ■ In June 2025, the SXSW London festival takes in dozens of venues, galleries, clubs and exhibition spaces in Shoreditch. ■ Ex-Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart's Art At The Edge Of Music art exhibition is in the immersive audio-visual Dead Forever Experience, including 1974 stage speakers, at The Venetian, Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, to 15 July. His Animazing Gallery artwork is at the Palazzo Grand Canal Shoppes. ■ The Ice Cold: An Exhibition Of Hip Hop Jewelry, including items from A$AP Rocky, Nicki Minaj, Tyler, The Creator, Slick Rick, Nas, Erykah Badu, The Notorious BIG, is at the American Museum Of Natural History, Theodore…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 559The VinylistUPCOMING VINYL RELEASES JUNE (13)Ten Years Of So Young Magazine red LP, with Fontaines DC demo, Rough Trade (14) George BensonDreams Do Come True LP, CD, Rhino; Widespread PanicSnake Oil King turquoise LP, Widespread; Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic EchoesAstral Travelling yellow LP, Cosmic Funk brown LP, Real Gone; Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFODoes The Cosmic Shepherd Dream Of Electric Tapirs? 2LP, Space Age; CoilRecoiled LP, gold, white, amber LPs, Cold Spring; Julian CopeWorld Shut Your Mouth LP, Proper; DoroStrong And Proud turquoise 2LP, Rare Diamonds; Ernie K-DoeMother-In-Law LP, Charly; The Only Ones green 180g LP, Even Serpents Shine orange 180g LP, Baby's Got A Gun silver 180g LP, The Men They Couldn't HangSilver Town, BlackstreetAnother Level 180g 2LPs, Vaughan BrothersFamily Style blue 180g LP, Corrosion…11 min
Record Collector|Issue 559VALUE ADDED FACTSFATS PROFIT I recently inherited a small collection from my great grandfather. There were only about 100 records passed down to me and most were 50s charity shop fodder by the likes of Dickie Valentine, Tab Hunter and Frank Sinatra. Some were 10” LPs which, despite my collecting since the 90s, I had never come across before. There is only one that piqued my interest due, I suppose, to its obscurity. It is “Fats” Sadi's Combo by “Fats” Sadi's Combo. It's in a very glossy sleeve that is VG to VG+ and the vinyl is in a similar condition. It's on the Vogue label. Any information about Mr Sadi and the value of the record would be most appreciated. There is nothing in your otherwise excellent Rare Record Price Guide.…10 min
Record Collector|Issue 559anchoressawayThe environmental ethics of vinyl manufacturing in the midst of a climate crisis are something of a hot topic right now (if you'll excuse the pun…). Global megastars such as Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift are seemingly trading verbal punches over just who, what, and how much each are doing to counter the huge carbon footprints involved in touring, manufacturing and the general shenanigans of being a pop star in the 21st century. And vinyl has been the watchword on everyone's lips. Not least because, while revenues are falling everywhere for your average band/artist, the demand for vinyl has, conversely, seen a huge explosion. Despite the fact that streaming still made up 4/5ths of the total consumption of music in 2023, according to the Official Charts, around 5.9 million vinyl…4 min
Record Collector|Issue 559“I WAS SEEN AS AN OUTSIDER”This writer and Marc Almond have a few things in common, not least the fact that we're both Northerners transplanted to the South of England. But I hadn't expected us to find common ground in the fact that we both have one leg slightly shorter than the other. This allows us to complain, as people of a certain age frequently do, about our respective lifetimes of lower back pain. “Forty years of wearing Cuban heels hasn't helped the situation very much,” sighs Almond, talking to RC in a hotel in London's Soho, dressed in regulation black, apologising for being late back from his acupuncturist. With our physical ailments taken care of, we can turn our attention to Almond's fabulous new album, a covers collection called I'm Not Anyone. It's about…18 min
Record Collector|Issue 559DON'T STREAM IT'S OVERCROWDED HOUSE Told that Record Collector would be arriving at 4pm, Neil Finn figured this would finally afford him the chance to ease the effects of the jet lag. It's been two days since he arrived in London from hishometown of Auckland in New Zealand, but any sleep lasting longer than two hours has eluded him. In the early hours of the morning, he awoke in his Marylebone hotel bed fretting about the session Crowded House were due to perform for BBC Radio 2's Vernon Kay on his mid-morning show. Three songs in total, with the station's in-house orchestra. In the event they did something old, something new and something borrowed: their 1992 hit, Four Seasons In One Day; recent single, Oh Hi; and a version of Petula Clark's Downtown.…13 min
Record Collector|Issue 559OVERCOME BY SADNESSPERNICE BROTHERS Joe Pernice's earliest ever memory is music related. “We were visiting my grandmother in East Boston on my birthday,” recalls the singersongwriter, Zooming RC from his adopted home in Toronto. “I must have been three years old. I had one of those Big Wheel tricycles as a present and I was riding up and down her hallway. Jimmy Webb's Galveston came on the radio, and it stopped me. Something from that song just f*cking went into my head like a spike. I didn't even hear the words, it was purely sonic – the chord changes, the melodies, the instrumentation. It was very powerful to me.” In many ways, 56-year-old Pernice has spent his creative life in the slipstream of that moment, trying to evoke in others the same…14 min
Record Collector|Issue 559shut up and britdanceDuring the years that young Brits were irrevocably altering the place of guitar music in the culture, the UK's electronic music scene was in a period of mindblowing flux. The white-hot explosions of acid house and rave were always hugely varied, but by 1993 the centre couldn't hold and the various subsets of hard house, happy house, prog, trance, jungle and so on were fragmenting and creating their own subcultures. Around 1994, arena dance artists were finding their feet and settling in for the long haul in the good old fashioned album-and-tour model. In short order, albums like Orbital's self-titled “brown album”, The Prodigy's Music For The Jilted Generation, Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman, Leftfield's Leftism and The Chemical Brothers' Exit Planet Dust emerged and made their way into the mainstream critical canon.…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 559I WAS A BRITPOP ALSO-RAN!Pimlico had been playing in one form or another since the late 80s, despite their mod power pop being completely out of step with what was going on at the time. I'd been in bands since I was a teenager, mainly indie-rock stuff, and we played the same local circuit. Towards the end of 1993, though, it was obvious something was going on in the UK. There was a move towards a more homegrown form of expression, and a rejection of grunge. It was really exciting, and I wanted to be part of it, so I joined Pimlico as the singer, and we started gigging. The bassist Andy Lewis was (and still is) a well-respected DJ and was involved with Blow Up, which along with Club Smashing was a focal…3 min
Record Collector|Issue 559mint imperialsWhether a 'cor blimey collector' or a 'mad fer it music magpie', Britpop is a decent area for acquisition. In the forthcoming Rare Record Price Guide (out October, [Brit]pop pickers), the big three – Oasis, Blur and Pulp – all command solid prices. First-pressing LPs of these three, and many others, exchange hands for three-figure sums – due mainly to the fact that so few were pressed at the time. As John Coleman has already explored Blur and Oasis prices in this feature, what else is there? THE BIG THREE ARE A SOUND INVESTMENT Original pressings of Pulp's albums remain a safe bet – their holy trinity is a sound investment: His'n'Hers has risen to, and This Is Hardcore remains at £150 in the new price guide. The big daddy…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559SOUL COLLECTORTHE STAPLES JR SINGERS are a family trio who formed in 1971 in Aberdeen, Mississippi. They were incredibly young when they started – leader Annie Brown (now Caldwell) was just 11; her siblings R.C, 12, and Edward 13. Named after their chief influence the Staple Singers, with other touchstones including Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye, they sung gospel and of the civil rights struggle. By the time they recorded their first album When Do We Get Paid in Tupelo in 1975, they had recruited Ronnel Brown who was 10. Pressing just a handful of copies, they sold them at their shows and to neighbours from their front lawn and their songs switched from deadly solemnity to dancing-in-the-aisles jubilation. Its reissue in 2022 brought a renewal of interest in them and…4 min
Record Collector|Issue 559The Blitz And GlamourVarious Rusty Egan Presents: Blitzed! Edsel DEMRECBOX 92 (4CD, 4LP) The Blitz only ran for 18 months as the 70s became the 80s, and yet the club's cultural impact has been nothing short of phenomenal: Boy George, Spandau Ballet, a Midge Ure-fronted Ultravox, David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes video… none of these things would have likely existed in the form that they did without it. Less venerated, though absolutely pivotal to the club's success, was Rusty Egan, the Visage founder, sometime drummer, and undersung electronic pioneer who DJed at the club he ran with Steve Strange, introducing the 80s to itself. Egan's tireless work acquiring recherché vinyl discs from across post-imperialist Europe helped to embed nascent electronica into the London culture, and inspired a milieu of Tuesday night hedonists to…2 min
Record Collector|Issue 559The Gospel According To JohnJohn Grant The Art Of The Lie Bella Union BELLA 1594 VX (CD, LP) A recent study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, claims song lyrics have become simpler and more repetitive over the last four decades. With his eloquent and erudite new record, John Grant is defiantly bucking that trend. The Art Of The Lie is Grant's sixth solo album, and his first with producer Ivor Guest (Grace Jones, Brigitte Fontaine, Lana Del Ray). As always, that smooth and sonorous voice is front and centre, while sonically he and Guest revel in the synthetic sounds of John Carpenter, Laurie Anderson, The Art of Noise, Vangelis, and Yello. Working with a crack team of session players – including Dave Okumu, Robert Logan, Robin Malarkey, Seb Rochford, Robin Simon and Leo…6 min
Record Collector|Issue 559KEEP THE FAITHLives Paloma Faith Birmingham Symphony Hall 5/5/24 “I'm so glad to be here, singing about my misery,” laughed the singer, waltzing on in a double-split, sequined dress and sunglasses, for a smouldering performance. She belted out How To Leave A Man, God In A Dress and Bad Woman with electrifying force, before elegantly sitting at the piano and singing her heart out on ballad, Already Broken. She ditched the stilettos for the synth-laden disco romp, Cry On The Dancefloor, and bantered humorously with raw honesty between songs, about relationships, motherhood and her emotional story. After walking barefoot through the crowd in the triumphant Sweatpants, she exited, returning with even more glitz for a second set of nostalgic, chart-topping hits, such as Stone Cold Sober and Picking Up The Pieces, before…11 min
