Table of contents for Issue 553 in Record Collector

SEND YOUR PRAISE, MISSIVES AND CALLS FOR THE DEIFICATION OF RC’S STAFF 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 UNTIMELY OF THE MONTH Thanks for all your posts about the missing date in my first calendar [RC 552 Xmas ‘Super-Deluxe’ Calendar]. Was it a genuine mistake, or a ruse to see who would spot it? That would be telling… I do hope you have a lovely 31 January, which from now on will be known as ‘Collector’s Day’, like something for an old saint. Happy new year! Daryl Easlea, RRPG editor DORS OF PERCEPTION Pity you didn’t include Diana Dors in the calendar with her quite brilliant 1960 single,…

Rob Chapman saw Syd Barrett’s Stars and bought Nick Drake’s Pink Moon in the same week in February 1972. He wrote the acclaimed Barrett biography, A Very Irregular Head, and has now published a novel, Unsung Unsaid, about Syd and Nick. He writes about Barrett and Drake this issue (p72). In between bouts of co-presenting the Parallel Universe podcast with DJ Marc Riley, Rob Hughes was granted an audience with the mighty Donovan (p48). The veteran singer-songwriter even dug out his trusty acoustic guitar as an added treat. Tony Cummings joined in 1963 the religion of record collecting (or its bastard child, home taping). He started soul music fanzines and, by 1973, was working in Fleet Street. Record production and a book, The Sound Of Philadelphia, followed, before, in 1980, he…

Blackout Rebels Riot LP, red LP, CD, Sony, 23 February: Rou Reynolds (Enter Shikari). Grey DeLisle She’s An Angel, Hummin’bird, 19 January: DJ Bonebrake (Lone Justice), Bernie Dresel (Brian Setzer), T Jarrod Bonta (Jimmie Vaughan). William Doyle Springs Eternal, Tough Love, 16 February: Brian Eno. D-Block Europe Rolling Stone CD, cassette, D-Block Europe, 12 January: Raye. Emin Now Or Never CD, white, red LPs, emin.tmsotr.es, 9 February: Katherine McPhee, Nicole Scherzinger, Engelbert Humperdinck. Jane Getter Premonition Division World, Esoteric Antenna, 23 February: Adam Holzman (Steven Wilson). Halo Maud Celebrate, Heavenly, 22 March: Greg Saunier (Deerhoof). Ex-Bad Company’s Robert Hart Circus Life CD, green LP, Escape, 26 January: Steve Morris (Heartland), Steve Overland (FM), Robert Sall (WET), Steve Mann (MSG), Harry James, Chris Childs (Thunder), Keith Atack (Bonnie Tyler). Illumishade Another…

At RC Towers, we sense new music emerging from Lady Gaga, Stereophonics, Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones, Paradise Lost, Mr Big (US), Amorphis, The Kinks, Testament, Bill Bailey, Helloween, Enrique Iglesias, Eric Church, Metal Church, Noel Gallagher, Sabaton, Lizzo, All That Remains, Louise Patricia Crane, Suicidal Tendencies, Blossoms, Betty Boo, Beabadoobee, Ariana Grande, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer, Blackpink, The Black Dahlia Murder, Dido, Sacred Reich, Ludacris, Funeral For A Friend, Lainey Wilson, Cronin/Shane MacGowan (RIP), Xentrix (on Listenable), Kim Wilde (Cherry Red), Annihilator’s Jeff Waters (three albums); and 20-plus Annihilator reissues (earMUSIC). CELLULOID HEROES Projects due include the Edith Piaf Edith biopic, via Warners; the June June Carter Cash documentary film on Paramount+, 16 January; The New Look drama TV series, with soundtrack featuring Nick Cave, Lana Del Rey, Florence Welch,…

D'ACCORD THE SILKIE Born To Be With You/Well Alright (Fontana 267581 MF, 7”, France, 1966) £15 Born To Be With You (Fontana 465308 ME, EP, France, 1966) £20 The Silkie were a four-piece folk group, formed in 1963 while their members (Sylvia Tatler, vocals; Mike Ramsden, guitar/vocals; Ivor Aylesbury, guitar/ vocals; Kevin Cunningham, double bass) were at Hull University. Their first record, a four-track flexi, was issued the following year in aid of the university Rag Week. Soon after graduating, the band came to the attention of The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, who secured them a deal with Fontana. Their first Fontana release, issued April 1965, was Blood Red River/Close The Door Gently (TF 556), the former a re-recording of one of the songs on the original flexi. It was a good…

JUSTIN YOUNG The Vaccines frontman on their latest effort What film could your new set soundtrack? Heartbreak Kid is named after the 1972 movie, while the artwork and lyrical content lean heavily to Easy Rider. What was your favourite record shop when you started out? Rough Trade West, London. What was your first record? A Noasis single, age seven. What’s the last album that you bought? Sebastien Tellier Sexuality. What record made you want to go pro? Elvis Live, age five. Is anyone in your family a musician? My dad made music when we were growing up. We had a room with instruments and used to write and record. Supposedly, my grandmother cut a single, though I’ve not found it. Have you ever collected anyone? Elvis memorabilia. What’s your most…

Fairytale (Pye, NPL 18128, LP, some copies with blank rear sleeve, mono, UK, 1965) £50 As with debut What’s Bin Did And What’s Bin Hid, acoustic guitar and voice frame these beatific folk narratives, highlighted by Sunny Goodge Street and To Try For The Sun. Sunshine Superman (Pye, NPL 18181, LP, mono, UK, 1967) £50 Donovan shifts into expansive psych-pop (sometimes backed by young guitarist Jimmy Page) on gems like the title track and Season Of The Witch. A Gift From A Flower To A Garden (Pye, NPL 20000, 2LP, black or navy blue box, 12 inserts, mono, UK, 1968) £125 His masterpiece, a rapturous double-album borne of 60s idealism and free associative poetry, versed in shades of folk-jazz, psychedelia and dream pop. Barabajagal (Epic BN 26481, LP, US, 1969) £10…

BIG COUNTRY In August 1983, a fading Thin Lizzy and emergent Big Country both appeared at the Reading Festival, respective stars burning out and ascending with equal speed. Parallels between the two run deeper than their shared ability to score hits with a blend of Celtic rock heft and pop hooks. Lack of long-term success in America is often stressed despite the significant breakthroughs they each attained across the pond. Later albums are frequently overlooked regardless of their quality, and the tragic circumstances in which Phil Lynott and Stuart Adamson died is given coverage disproportionate to their accomplishments. The recent 45th anniversary of Lizzy’s feted Live And Dangerous has spurred a renewed focus on Lynott and Lizzy’s legacy, and it’s to be hoped that the new deluxe 4CD edition of…

The Limelights Don’t Leave Me Baby (Uncle 1442, 1967) £6,000 My absolute favourite Northern soul is by soul harmony groups who sound like they started off singing doo wop on street corners but have been taken into the studio and given a Motown-sounding beat. When Shep Sheppard left The Limelites sometime after their Daddy’s Home hit, the group [with a different spelling] made this record. It’s so perfectly Ian Levine. It’s got all the ingredients that make a record appeal to me. The Charades The Key To My Happiness (MGM K13540, 1966) £1,200 This was a Dave Godin discovery. It’s got minor sevenths and very clever jazz chords. With a raucous vocal it’s an absolute gem. It was produced by Horace Ott. Leroy Taylor Oh Linda (Brunswick 55345, 1967) £150…

NICK DRAKE & SYD BARRETT It seems scarcely credible now, but 50 years ago, at the outset of 1974, it was still possible to believe that Syd Barrett would make a third solo album and Nick Drake a fourth. Indeed, ardent fans of their music, like me, were hugely encouraged by the coverage both artists received in the pop press that year. In April, NME carried Nick Kent’s lengthy fivepage essay, The Cracked Ballad Of Syd Barrett. It was a front cover feature and, although it laid bare in unsparing detail the short-lived highs and turbulent lows of Pink Floyd’s former talisman, the renewed interest it sparked led directly to the reissue of Barrett’s solo work and renewed efforts to get him back in the studio. Even more tantalising were…

Reviews From The Vaults Reissues, remasters and compilations Black Sabbath Hand Of Doom 1970-1978 BMG BMGCAT 860 BOX (8LP) There’s many who would argue, quite vociferously, that the first eight albums released by Black Sabbath – in the years from 1970 to 1978 when Ozzy Osbourne originally fronted the band – represent the cream of the crop. There’s no doubt that the Ronnie James Dio era that followed produced two fine releases in Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules, and that these were probably better than the final pair put out by the previous line-up. But those Dio-fronted albums were built on a legacy, whereas the records from Black Sabbath to Never Say Die! founded that legacy, and in doing so distilled many elements of contemporary heavy music to fashion a…

ARETHA FRANKLIN’s A Portrait Of The Queen 1970-1974 ( BMG) collects together Aretha’s first five albums of the 70s in a 6LP or 5CD box with the album set including a disc of alternate takes, outtakes and demos. Four of the albums – 1970’s This Girl’s In Love With You, the same year’s Spirit In The Dark, 1972’s Young Gifted And Black, and Let Me In Your Life from ’74 are produced by Atlantic’s A-team Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin and Jerry Wexler while 1973’s Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky) pairs her with Quincy Jones. Each album is a classic; This Girl’s In Love With You profiles Aretha as interpreter; 10 of the tracks being covers with Aretha going back to church on readings of Son Of A Preacher…

Ian Hunter on working with Bowie, giving fans what they want and how this box set came together. How much of the album’s aura is due to Bowie’s involvement? He gave us …Dudes, that was the hit. Before that we were doing okay. We were on Island Records, but after we played a gas tank in Switzerland where the sound was awful we split up. We got back to England, and Pete Watts rang David for a gig because he was forming the Spiders. He was a fan, we didn’t know. He gave us Suffragette City, we said no. He gave us …Dudes and we said yes. Weren’t the recording sessions kept secret from your then-label? Johnny Glover and Alec Leslie were bookers for Island, and we had a tour…

Sleater-Kinney Little Rope Loma Vista 7253930 (CD, LP) On 2021’s Path Of Wellness, Sleater-Kinney confronted crises personal and public by doubling down on what they knew and using it as a springboard for exploration. And what Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein knew best was their dynamic as a duo, after drummer Janet Weiss’ much-publicised departure. “Let’s get lost, baby,” they harmonised, embracing the unknown in sync. Even so, Sleater-Kinney’s 11th album presented them with unprecedented life challenges. During the making of Little Rope, Brownstein’s mother and stepfather were killed in a car crash. The album was already underway, but it’s hard to listen to without sensing the seismic reverberations of that tragedy. The response is a fraught album that reaches out furiously for release, forming a push-pull of pressure and…

Gruff Rhys on being inspired by Dolly Parton, his songwriting process and more… There seems to be a theme on this record of coming to terms with one’s own failings and shortcomings. Yes, it’s like a cross between Communist selfcriticism and Country & Western contrarianism. There’s humour in there too, but I maintain songs are autonomous beings, they just emerge and don’t necessarily bear any relation to those who imagine them. ‘Writing’ a song seems a bit of a stretch sometimes – I think I imagine songs, then fill in the details. There are also frequent references to the world spiralling towards Hellishness, politically and environmentally. Yes, it’s a terrible time, and the political backdrop was the start of the war in Ukraine. Also, my audience in the studio was my…

Micky Dolenz Dolenz Sings R.E.M. EP 7A 7A 061 EP 605 Magical Micky continues to plough an unavoidably lonely farrow (hey, hey, he even calls himself ‘The Monkee’), and turns his talents to four R.E.M. gems on this 12” EP, produced by Christian Nesmith, son of Mike. It gleams with love and joy. Get your ears around Shiny Happy People, which maxes out the song until it becomes a shimmering baroque-pop anthem that lingers in your mind like a happy memory. Fear not: Micky’s curiously dry vocal makes it plain he comprehends the alienation at the song’s heart. The pulsing, free-flowing Radio Free Europe ought to rock indie discos at every uni, assuming they still have such things. Man On The Moon acquires a percussive, brittle mystery, and Leaving New…

Sell Vinyl/CDs direct to RC readers, call us on 0208 752 8172 or Email listings@recordcollectormag.com NEXT ISSUE: FEBRUARY 2024 (on sale 25 JANUARY) Deadline for submitting adverts (Listings & Classified): Tuesday 2 JANUARY Please email your advert (word doc/excel file/plain text) to: listings@recordcollectormag.com Postal address: Record Collector Listings, Diamond Publishing Ltd, 2nd Floor, Saunders House, 52-53 The Mall, Ealing, London W5 3TA Following issue: MARCH 2024 (on sale 22 FEBRUARY) Deadline: Monday 29 JANUARY…

This month: Heinz Burt In the dystopian nightmare that is Village Of The Damned, a group of supernaturally intelligent and sinister peroxide-blonde alien children terrorise a community. It is rather ominous, then, that when feted producer Joe Meek met his German-born protégé, Heinz Burt, in 1961 he decided to confer upon him an image directly inspired by these mutant offspring. Heinz had decamped to the south of England with his mother in 1949 aged just seven (his father having been killed in the war) and as his teenage years hit, he began to fall heavily for the new and vibrant world of rock’n’roll. “Heinz became very interested in watching bands from the side of the stage from about age 16 onwards,” says Craig Newton, chairman of the Joe Meek Society.…

Wendy/Walter Carlos Switched On Bach (CBS 63501, LP, UK, 1968) £11 Originally released under her birth name of Walter Carlos, Switched On Bach was groundbreaking for its time, featuring Carlos’ highly entertaining versions of the great composer’s work, reproduced via the Moog synthesizer. Snubbed by classical purists, Carlos’ effort was championed by the more far-sighted, eventually scooping three Grammys, including Best Classical Album. The work serves as a fitting preface to Carlos’ A Clockwork Orange soundtrack (1972). Raymond Scott Manhattan Research Inc (Basta 30-9078-2, CD, Netherlands, 2000) £16 A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, Scott began his career in the jazz world, leading bands and composing. Equally drawn to the technical side of music production, in the mid-1940s Scott increasingly leaned towards development and innovation, establishing Manhattan…

We hope you had a great Christmas. Thanks for picking up this copy of Record Collector, either the last of 2023 or the first of 2024, depending on what day you’re reading these words. It was a good year, 2023, for answering those great “what if?s”. What if The Rolling Stones were to release their 24th (British) studio album – a question successfully answered by Hackney Diamonds – and what might a follow-up to The Beatles’ Let It Be have sounded like – again answered, finally and fairly effectively/emphatically, by Now And Then. We start 2024 with another great what if? In a new book, out next week, called Unsung: Unsaid: Syd & Nick In Absentia, author Rob Chapman ruminates on a parallel fictional future for Syd Barrett and Nick Drake,…

How come you’re back now? I was just writing songs, but then decided to go with the Scheitan name, rather than Helltrain or Devil’s Force, as it’s ‘normal’ vocals, rather than screaming! It’s a natural continuation of 1999’s Nemesis, with ‘real’ vocals. I didn’t really have this type of singing in me 20 years ago. I recorded all the instruments and vocals, did the design layout, and the final mixes were done by Daniel Bergstrand [In Flames]. How long did it take? Ten months, with short times for ‘rest’ and for new ideas to flow, and to let the songs ‘breathe’ and evolve. What were you up to during the interregnum? When it was time to follow-up Nemesis, in 2002, I felt that the songs weren’t in the right style.…

Ronald Watson is a lifelong record collector. He was brought up in the Northeast of England surrounded by music. His mother was Canadian and met his father when he was in the RAF as a Wing Commander, stationed in Ontario. The family moved to Merseyside in 1958 and, after leaving school, Ron joined Canadian Pacific in the Royal Liver Buildings, “very handy for lunchtime sessions at the Cavern”. He moved into wider travel work and his final position was as General Manager of five travel agencies in the Northwest. He had always been interested in politics and served as a Councillor for the best part of 50 years, holding all the major positions at local, regional and national level as well as within the EU. He has also held a…

No 9: The Record Peddler, Ancoats, Greater Manchester If there’s one record shop to make former Manchester boys drift into a blissful reverie, it’s The Record Peddler, open for around 12 years from 1981 onwards. The shop was in Ancoats, Salford, just a three-minute walk from the very centre of Manchester (just don’t tell a Salfordian that Ancoats is in Manchester, though, it might hurt…) Around 1984, I got my first job, just 10 doors down from the shop in question, which was run by Mark and Craig. They were a great double act; friendly, humorous, and always very knowledgeable. Their shop sold both new and second-hand vinyl and tapes, including a treasure trove of rare Bowie and Genesis and a whole lot of Factory Records’ output plus lots of…

OPINION Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, Wales, Bonnie Tyler started out singing in Bobby Wayne & The Dixies in 1969 then helmed her own soul outfit, Imagination, in the early to mid-70s before going solo. She debuted with 1977’s The World Starts Tonight, which yielded the Top 10 hit Lost In France. In 1983, at her instigation, she teamed up with producer/ songwriter Jim Steinman, and recorded Total Eclipse Of The Heart, which, hitting No 1 in the UK and US, saw her crowned undisputed queen of the power ballad. In 2023, the video for the career-defining single exceeded a billion views on YouTube. “I’ve been told that only 301 acts have had videos that have reached that figure,” Tyler tells Record Collector on Zoom, her husky voice instantly recognisable.…

The Crossing (Mercury MERH 27, UK, LP, 1983) £20 From the soaring Caledonian melodies of Fields On Fire, to the emotional slowburn of Chance and panoramic sweep of Porrohman, The Crossing established Big Country as a new breed of rock band, and sounds equally potent four decades on. Steeltown (Mercury MERH 49, 1984, UK, LP, gatefold or single sleeve) £10 A darker auccessor to The Crossing, Adamson’s growing lyrical flair is matched by the band’s fast-developing instrumental dynamism. The Seer (Mercury MERH 87, 1986, UK, LP) £10 Inspired by poets and events throughout Scottish history, Adamson takes an ambitious leap forwards, delivering songs that drive the debut’s uplifting Celtic swagger in more expansive directions. Kate Bush duets dramatically on The Seer itself. The Buffalo Skinners (Compulsion NOIS 2, 1993, UK,…

C.P. Spencer This Man Needs You (West World 7001, 1990) £20 My favourites of my productions happen to be Northern soul. CP Spencer was from The Originals and Sylvia Moy wrote the wonderful lyrics. We remixed it, taking the chords of the melody, making it fit the beat of William Bell’s Happy – one of the biggest Northern soul records ever – pastiched them a bit and made it fit the William Bell beat. Venicia Wilson I Can’t Stop This Feeling (Top-Top 1010, 2022) £80 This was an old unreleased Contours song. We did it with Venicia, whose real name is Kat Jackson. Getting her to record was like getting blood from a stone. But it was fantastic. The best song I’ve ever produced. The Supremes And The Originals Back…

For a couple of artists who had such a brief window of creativity – both for very different yet equally devastating reasons – there is still a huge amount of interest in their sparse, yet near perfect, back catalogues. Both Nick Drake and Syd Barrett represent the quintessential English songwriter: eccentric, romantic, hugely respected. Their music is a rite of passage for all creative musicians: Damon Albarn, Julian Cope, Beck, John Grant, Paul Weller, David Bowie, Kate Bush and Feist are just some of the diverse range of artists influenced by their work. The Why So, why are they so revered? One answer could be that their careers were cut short too soon; the phrase, “leave the public wanting more”, could never have been more apt. Yet the true answer…

Geezer Butler on albums, critics and Top Of The Pops. Which album from those first eight are you most proud of as a band? It’s very hard to say, as it’s like asking which is your favourite child. I remember being particularly proud of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, as we had time to really expand our boundaries on that album. The first three albums were all recorded in a rush, and were basically us live in the studio. The first album was recorded in two days, Paranoid in five days, Master Of Reality in ten days, and Vol 4 was recorded in a haze of drugs. But Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was much more relaxed, and we had time to experiment musically and lyrically. And which album from this set has the most…

Magma Une Histoire De Mekanik Seventh MDK 50 BOX (7LP) No other band, prog or otherwise, could devote a multi-vinyl boxset to half a century of evolutionary incarnations relating to one single track. But this is Magma, the cataclysmic ensemble formed in 1969 by French thermonuclear jazz drummer Christian Vander which, over the decades has become both ultimate cult band and the original progressive rock era’s longest-running space opera. Always devastating live but initially falling short on two feet-finding French-released albums, Magma’s first classic line-up solidified around stentorian Basque vocalist Klaus Blasquiz, demonic bassist Jannick Top and Vander’s wife Stella leading the chorale. Now, deploying hugely powerful precision-drilled onslaughts, ecstatic supernova jazz flights and Orff-like chorales, Vander could realise and unleash Mekanik Destructiv Kommandoh, his epic sci-fi tale charged with…

Brown Acid The Seventeenth Trip ( RidingEasy) opens powerfully with the swaggering Ethereal Genesis by Grapple. There’s plenty more downer-rock fun to be had thereafter, be it the pretty funky Smokey Bear by the excellently named Stone Hedge or Image’s shameless plagiarism of Black Sabbath. Well, they wouldn’t be the only ones. New York’s SABBATIS formed in 1968 when Ozzy and co. were still trading under the name Earth so they can’t be accused of riding the Brummies’ coattails. Warning In The Sky ( Guerssen) was intended as their demo. The recording failed to get them signed, a heinous oversight on the part of label execs because even a panelshow talent-spotter like Amanda Holden would recognise this group’s god-fearing material rocked hard. Even though Sabbatis didn’t have the fanciest tools at their…

Carrie Brownstein on loss, guitars and dualities… What was your starting point for this one after Path Of Wellness? Path Of Wellness was born of the pandemic, it was made in insular times. Little Rope carries with it a restlessness that is very intrinsic to the music of Sleater-Kinney. When we began writing for it, we knew that sonically it would be more urgent, more extroverted. Was most of the album in place before the accident happened, or did a lot of the record’s identity take shape in the aftermath? About half of the songs were written before the accident. Afterwards, the stakes felt incredibly high and all of the songs were dragged kicking and screaming into this nascent landscape. There was a rawness there, but also a renewed certainty…

HARDCORE: The Cinematic World Of Pulp Paul Burgess & Louise Colbourne Thames & Hudson, £40 ISBN 9780500026984, 256 pages Private parts: behind the scenes of Jarvis Cocker & co's post-pop blowout In the same spirit that Jarvis Cocker approached his memoir Good Pop, Bad Pop, photographer Paul Burgess and graphic designer Louise Colbourne sort through paraphernalia from Pulp’s This Is Hardcore era. They seek not so much truth about a period Cocker has claimed to have little recollection of, but, rather, to expand – and, at times, complicate – the ways in which the album can be understood. Fittingly, for a band whose lyrics tend towards the voyeuristic, much of the view is through a lens, courtesy of photos that Burgess took during video shoots. What HARDCORE presents is the…

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In order to assist everyone who buys and sells rare discs, Record Collector magazine has originated a set of standards for the condition of secondhand records, cassettes and CDs. Anyone buying or selling records through the magazine must use our conditions to state what amount of wear and tear the disc, its sleeve and/or contents have been subject to. The seven standard condition categories, and a description of what each one means, are listed below: MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint. EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played,…

ABC January (29) Southend Pavilion (30) Stoke Regent February (1) London Palladium (2) Cardiff St David’s Hall (3) Bournemouth Pavilion Bring Me The Horizon January (9) Cardiff International Arena (10) Bournemouth BIC (12) Birmingham Utilita Arena (13) Manchester AO Arena (14) Glasgow OVO Hydro (16) Newcastle Utilita Arena (17) Liverpool M&S Bank Arena (19) Sheffield Utilita Arena (20) London Greenwich O2 Buckcherry, The Treatment January (23) Bristol Thekla (24) Blackpool Waterloo Music Bar (26) Nottingham Rescue Rooms (27) Buckley Tivoli (28) Manchester Academy (30) Glasgow Garage (31) Newcastle Riverside February (2) London Islington O2 Academy (3) Wolverhampton KK’s Steel Mill (4) Milton Keynes Craufurd Arms The Lotus Eaters’ Peter Coyle January (31) Liverpool Cavern February (1) London Camden Forge Ex-The Stranglers’ Hugh Cornwell, The Primitives January (17) Bury St Edmunds…

This month: Graham Parker & The Rumour Reunion USA Tour, 2012 When we heard the sensation that Graham Parker & The Rumour had reunited after 32 years, and would undertake a short US tour, my friend, Clive, from Nottingham, was crazy enough to come over to the States. We met in London and flew together to Newark, NY, on 30 November 2012. In the afternoon of the same day, we drove to the Theater Of Living Arts in Philadelphia. The fabulous Figgs played support, before Parker and The Rumour came onstage. They got a very warm welcome, starting with Fool’s Gold. The Rumour played an impressively tight set, as though they’d never parted. After the concert, we talked to members of the group. We asked if they would tour Europe,…

Played on Dylan’s Slow Train Coming Played on 90s solo tours Seen in the Walk Of Life video Played at Live Aid Played on Chet Atkins’ Stay Tuned Played on Sailing To Philadelphia Played on 2009 solo LP, Get Lucky…

Lindisfarne’s Alan Hull Singing A Song In The Morning Light 90-track 4CD, 77 unissued, Cherry Red, 23 February. Due: January (12) Janis Ian Between The Lines, Rude Girl, The Doug Dillard Expedition Live At Fremont Hotel, Las Vegas, 1970, Floating World (26) Richard Thompson Historic Classic Concert Live In Nottingham 1986, The Store For Music February (23) Cara Dillon Coming Home, Charcoal. Biz The Hopeless label’s 30th anniversary is marked by a US travelling exhibition including stops this year at Cleveland Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame and Las Vegas Punk Museum. A CD, photobook and documentary film are due. ■ An 8,500-capacity venue opens in Edinburgh Park in 2027. ■ HMV reopened its foundational store at 363, Oxford Street, London, 24 November. ■ The Haarlem Vinyl Festival, Haarlem, Netherlands, 2729 September, is at 30-plus venues, including…

Syd Shelton’s Rock Against Racism free photo exhibition is at St Mary’s Hospital, Praed Street, Paddington, London, to March 2024, then Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, White City, London, April to July. ■ The free Make Some Noise exhibition about Wigan music heritage, including items from Wigan Casino, is at the Museum Of Wigan Life, Library Street, Wigan, to 1 January. ■ Paul McCartney’s Photographs 1963-64 exhibition is at Chrysler Museum Of Art, Memorial Place, Norfolk, Virginia, to 7 April. ■ The Power Of Holly exhibition on Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Holly Johnson, utilising his personal archive, is due at National Museums Liverpool. ■ An exhibition of Captain Beefheart’s Don Van Vliet’s Standing On One Hand paintings is at Michael Werner Gallery, Upper Brook Street, London, to 3 February. ■…

The Loveless Meet The Loveless (Cadiz CADIZ LP 261, LP, 2024) Formed by Marc Almond alongside Neal X of Sigue Sigue Sputnik, keyboardist James Beaumont and Iggy Pop associates Mat Hector and Ben Ellis, UK supergroup The Loveless have announced details for the physical release of their debut album, featuring a mix of original material and popular covers from their live shows. Covering everyone from The Kinks to Bo Diddley, the band describe this collection as “songs for sailors ’n sluts, wantons ’n night hawks, sirens ’n sinners, werewolves ’n kittens, the misbegotten and the unforgiven”. There are two versions of the LP available, with 500 numbered copies pressed on light pink vinyl and a further 500 on dark pink vinyl. Itasca Imitation Of War (Paradise of Bachelors POB 073…

NITE FLIGHT TO LOW COUNTRY I am an avid reader of your column and always find the information fascinating and compelling even when it concerns records and genres that are not my core interest. I note that in the last edition of the Rare Record Price Guide, the 1978 album, Nite Flights, by The Walker Brothers was valued at £80. I have an original copy and was glad to read that. But I noted that the single from the album – The Electrician/Den Haague – is not in the guide. Is there any reason for this? It’s as hard to find as an original copy of Nite Flights as literally no one bought the single at the time. David Garvey via email As you well know, The Walker Brothers were…

Q&A Where are you based, what do you do, and why? I’m Simon Parker of NAKED Record Club, an indie-loving Brit based in the South of France. NAKED releases sustainably-made records for our favourite indie artists. Why the name? Our records are naked; no plastic shrink-wrapping and vinyl without toxic chemicals. Our culture is one of naked transparency – both in terms of how we profit-share with artists and with our sustainable manufacturing process. When did you launch the label and how have things changed since? Our first release, Babybird’s King Of Nothing, arrived in August 2022. We then released albums by Beezewax, Lowgold and The Chesterfields. Though we’re still a young business we’ve already experienced a fair amount of change and we’re always looking for ways to make vinyl…

One of my favourite overly-dramatic phrases in rock music is “formed from the ashes of…” Sadly, not literal – it doesn’t mean that, say, Led Zeppelin were scooped out of an urn containing the mortal remains of The Yardbirds. It is, nevertheless, a go-to rock journalist cliché meaning that a new band is really bits of an old band reassembled in a hopefully more pleasing order and without the drummer who hasn’t even been told yet about the split. “Formed from the ashes of” is an expression from the golden era of Pete Frames’ Rock Family Trees, those fantastic, er, rock family trees which detailed the stories of bands and their infinite ins and outs of membership. I love Pete’s work so much that even now the words “Deep Purple…

There are echoes of Donovan wherever you look in South Kensington. Walk up Cromwell Road and you’ll find the flat where his 1968 masterwork, A Gift From A Flower To A Garden, was partly conceived. It’s only a short hop to the Royal Albert Hall, scene of several triumphs. And just opposite is Hyde Park, where Donovan and Blind Faith once flew the flag for the free concert scene. Then there’s Sunny South Kensington itself, Donovan’s carefree hymn to the 60s cultural revolution. It was a decade that defined him, having emerged from the home counties to become Bob Dylan’s British counterpart, putting folk poetry on the radio with Catch The Wind and Colours. The assimilation of psychedelia, primarily with Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow, turned him into a transatlantic…

5 × ABBA ’82 collectables When All Is Said And Done (misprint sleeve) (7”, Australia RCA 103955) £500 The title of this song from The Visitors was misprinted on some versions of the sleeve (as When All Is Said Is Done). The Visitors (LP, Picture Disc, Bolivia RCA RLP090) £600 An obscure release from the Latin American market, where ABBA became stars after the record-breaking sales of Chiquitita in Spanish in 1979. Greatest Original Hits (Cassette, 4 track EP, UK, Epic EPCA 40-2618) £35 Part of a series of ‘cassingles’ featuring CBS recording artists. The same four 1980– ’81 hits are on both sides. The Singles – The First Ten Years (2× LP, picture disc box set, with booklet, poster and reproduction Eurovision ticket, UK, Epic ABBOX2) £75 Epic’s efforts…

It’s a private party/banquet to celebrate the 70th birthday and extraordinary life of producer, songwriter, DJ, re-mixer and record collector supreme, Ian Levine. In among the speeches by music industry big-timers, friends and family who’ve flown in to attend this elite gathering is a reminiscence from eminent doctor Anthony Bleetman, author, consultant at several London hospitals and second cousin to Levine, which raises the biggest empathetic laugh of the evening. Said Dr Bleetman, “My brother phoned me and said, ‘You’ve got to meet this guy… he’s possibly the rudest man in the world!’” Levine’s determination to fearlessly speak his mind about all things has led him into literally hundreds of full-blooded arguments with pop stars, DJs and music executives. But this hyper-active creative tour de force is also a record…

Like many young people in the early 70s I used to hitch-hike a fair amount. The A1 from my hometown of Sandy in Bedfordshire to London was a much-favoured route and ‘Hatfield and the North’ was a significant road sign to me long before it was a band. On this one occasion in the late summer of 1972 (or it might have been 1973) I was thumbing a lift home from London at one of my favourite spots just north of Hendon on the Barnet Way when a young guy stopped to pick me up. I did a doubletake as I got into the passenger side and realised in an instant that my driver looked uncannily like Nick Drake. I’d only seen him on record sleeves at the time, obviously,…

Combining a warm, soulful guitar sound with an instinct to swing and a jaw-dropping flair for improvisation, WES MONTGOMERY tore up the jazz guitar rule book when he emerged as a recording artist in 1959. Building on the legacy of his idol Charlie Christian, he created something startlingly fresh and new that influenced several generations of jazz guitarists, including modern-day greats John Scofield and Pat Metheny. Released to coincide with the guitar genius’s centenary is Complete Full House ( Riverside/Craft Recordings), an expanded 3LP box set version of the Indianapolis fretboard master’s 1962 Riverside album Full House, recorded live at Tsubo coffee house in California with a stellar quartet comprised of tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Arguably one of the greatest…

Mott The Hoople All The Young Dudes 50th Anniversary Edition Snapper SMABX 1233 (2CD/2LP/12”, 2LP) The story has passed into legend of Mott The Hoople, the road-weary band saved from breaking up by the gift of a song from David Bowie. It titles this, their fifth album, which the Starman himself produced for a new label, CBS. It also introduced singer Ian Hunter to Bowie lieutenant Mick Ronson, whose later recruitment to Mott The Hoople as guitarist hastened their downfall – irony all round, then. Ironically, too, this wouldn’t be their most successful long player. It stalled one place short of the Top 20, and would be eclipsed, both chartwise and in musical consistency, by 1973’s Mott. But the double whammy of Bowie and his unique musical donation seemingly justifies…

Bill Ryder-Jones Iechyd Da Domino WIGLP 485 XM (CD, LP) When Bill Ryder-Jones began work on his sixth album, Iechyd Da, he set himself two goals. The first was to make it sound like the last three years of his life, a kind of aural snapshot where personal hardships – heartbreak, his mental health issues, financial struggle – were given a more hopeful bent when paired with the imagined sound of his home surroundings in West Kirby, Merseyside: the long strolls he’d take on the seafront; the short, regular walk through the park from his house to his own studio. The second – the most important one – was to write an album that at least equalled his sparse 2013 LP, A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart, an endeavour…

Gruff Rhys Sadness Sets Me Free Rough Trade RT 0420 LP (CD, LP) “In the nightclub of my mind I’m doing cocaine in the cloakroom/Come and set me free from my vain and selfish ways…” So runs the first couplet of the opening (and title) track of Sadness Sets Me Free, whose lachrymose pedal steel and peals of piano initially appear to be setting up a classic country love ballad, before pivoting immediately to a self-aware confession of its singer’s own inability to love. Gruff Rhys has now released 25 albums, whether solo, with Super Furry Animals or in various ad hoc combinations. He has never sounded as selfreflective as he does here. Second track Bad Friend cops to being exactly that, admitting, “I’m as reliable as asking a seal…

Everything Is Possible BMG (Paramount Plus UK) The unforgettable tale of the great Scots The band that would become Simple Minds formed in Glasgow in 1977, so inevitably the first 15 minutes of Everything Is Possible are taken up with tales of tenements and tower blocks, footage of rubbish piling up in the streets, and every 80s popstar’s seminal TV moment watching Starman on Top Of The Pops. So far, so cliched, though this film avoids being a run-of-the-mill music documentary thanks to the fact that Simple Minds were genuinely extraordinary. They channeled their Eurocentric love of Fellini and Kraftwerk into their work as they stealthily became one of the biggest bands in the known universe, going from indie dance cred to John Hughes soundtracks, stadium rock ubiquity and all…

There’s no doubt that Rough Trade’s shops are world-renowned. Their story is a blend of vision, energy and commitment, wrapped up in a palpable love of music. Its longevity is impressive and beyond dispute. Geoff Travis’ original Rough Trade shop opened in 1976 in London’s Ladbroke Grove as punk started to explode. Rough Trade now has five UK shops: three in London, plus one in Bristol and another in Nottingham. There is also a US store in Manhattan and plans for a Berlin shop in 2024. While Rough Trade’s shops parted ways with the celebrated label in the mid-80s and they now operate as separate companies, their shared history represents a notable part of modern music’s landscape. That said, the robust survival of the shops is impressive in itself. Of…

This Ready Reckoner will help you work out the value of a record in any condition. For example, if you see a disc which is valued at £10 in Mint condition, but which you consider to be in only Very Good condition, then you can consult the Ready Reckoner and find out the appropriate price for the record - in this case, £5. As very few collectors are interested in records in Poor or Bad condition, we consider that any disc worth less than £10 in Mint condition is effectively worthless in Poor or Bad condition.…

Do you have any pre-/ post-show routines? Pre-show, a coffee or sugar-free Red Bull, and, occasionally, warm-ups and a power nap. Will you be playing any songs that you rarely perform? A few new ones off our latest album, and maybe a deep cut or two. Will the set-list change over the course of the tour? It evolves with time and ‘vibrations’. Are there any venues that you’re particularly looking forward to? Wembley Arena, with the homies, Skindred. Will you check out your tour supports, and will there be any guests? We always check out who we’re touring with and, collaborations, yes, if the vibes are right. We’ll discuss with the artist that we’re touring with and see what’s realistic. Bam! You never know. Will you be recording any shows?…

This month: Ron Grainer Ron Grainer was an Australian TV and movie score composer best remembered for his themes for Doctor Who, Steptoe & Son, Tales Of The Unexpected and The Prisoner, helping the latter to create arguably the greatest opening sequence in British TV history. Born in 1922, he sought to advance his musical career when he moved from Australia to London in 1952. As a classically trained pianist he soon found work in the light entertainment business, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Frankie Laine, Guy Mitchell and Billy Eckstine. His exceptional gifts as composer and arranger brought him to the attention of Rediffusion TV where he was employed as a consultant for their gala programmes. Meanwhile Grainer continued to find himself in constant demand as a pianist…

David Ackles David Ackles (Elektra EKS 74022, LP, stereo, UK, 1968) £25 Ah, yes, what a man he was, one of the first pianoplaying singer-songwriters, one of the first people I was exposed to when I was still at school. I loved the mournful aspect of the album. It was quite dark – not pop songwriting, not just boy meets girl, it had a lot more depth, a progressive edge. More thoughtful, esoteric, metaphysical. He inspired a lot of people, Elton John to some degree. He was a pioneer. Caravan In The Land Of Grey And Pink (Deram SDL-R1, LP, UK, 1971) £120 They were my band of the moment. I saw them quite a few times. I was particularly keen on David Sinclair’s keyboard playing, a really original sound,…