Innehållsförteckning för Issue 558 från Record Collector

Wish You Were Here was the first Pink Floyd album that I sought out in real-time. When Meddle came out, I was listening to my dad's Sinatra, Dean Martin, Liza Minelli and Sammy Davis Jr eight-track cartridges and I was too in thrall to the collected heartbreak pop of David Cassidy, Donny Osmond and Michael Jackson to pay attention to Obscured By Clouds. The Dark Side Of The Moon I remember being played at “evening-ins” with school friends, male and female, in a mood-altering rotation system with 10cc's epochal, ear-dazzling The Original Soundtrack and, oddly, Derek & Clive (Live), but that was a passive, passing infatuation: I didn't actually buy it. No, Wish You Were Here was the first Floyd album that I spent pocket money on. This was circa…

Stevie Chick untangles the ambient experimentalism and emotional undertow of Pink Floyd‘s Wish You Were Here (p74). His interviews with The Mars Volta feature in Nicolas Jack Davies’ acclaimed forthcoming documentary, Omar And Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird. Photographer Jill Furmanovsky‘s first rock shot was of Paul McCartney. It was taken on a Kodak Instamatic when she was a teenage Beatles fan. Since then, she's photographed many of the biggest names in rock, including Pink Floyd circa Wish You Were Here (p74). Gered Mankowitz (p54) is one of the acclaimed photographers of his generation. Over five decades he has captured iconic portraits of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Kate Bush and many more. His exhibition is now on at the Gibson Garage, London. A massive fan of Jackie DeShannon…

How come you're back now? The band re-formed in 2018, but we didn't record until 2020, then Covid hit. Early 2023, we got Michael Rummans back, while George Keller and Jeff Jourard joined. The vibe changed. We were more creative, open to ideas, and came up with 13 new tracks. The sound is very reminiscent of the original band, but new. The production is clean, like in the 70s. It was fun. Ballads, anthems, quirky songs, straightahead rock'n'roll, pop. Our best album. Were there any amusing episodes during its creation? Jeff suggested some obscene lyrics to Michael's Sleeping Giant. That had me doubled over in laughter. Michael comes up with off-the-wall ideas, one being cello on Shortage Of Love, another, harmonica on Walking With An Angel. How long did it…

AURORA Whatever Happened To The Heart?, Decca, 7 June: Dave Hamelin (Beyonce), Matias Tellez (Maisie Peters), Tom Rowlands (The Chemical Brothers), Chris Greatti (Blink-182), Ane Brun. As For The Future LP, CD with nine bonuses, As For The Future Music, 14 June: Mauro Refesco (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Ryan Keberle (David Bowie). Arooj Aftab Night Reign, Verve, 31 May: Kaki King. Allman Brown Second Son, Nettwerk, 28 June: Thomas Bartlett (Taylor Swift). The Albion Band's Simon Care/Gareth Turner Two's Up Two 2CD, Talking Elephant, 21 June: colleague Phil Beer. Johnny Cash Songwriter LP, coloured LP, CD, Mercury Nashville, 28 June: Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Vince Gill (Eagles). Terri Clark Take Two, Mercury Nashville, 31 May: Lauren Alaina, Kelly Clarkson, Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce, Lainey Wilson. Louise Patricia Crane Netherworld…

I have an album by the reggae artist I-Roy. I bought it from Virgin Records at the Marble Arch end of Oxford Street – well before they had their Megastore at the other end. It's called Musical Shark Attack and is in pretty good shape. I wondered if it's worth money. Roger Capp via email Roy Reid, best known as I-Roy, began recording in Jamaica in 1969 with singles being issued on labels including Modis, Jump and Royco. His first LP was recorded for Gussie Clarke who brought the masters to England and sold them to Trojan Records who issued Presenting I-Roy in 1973 (TRLS 63, £45) This was swiftly followed by the well-received Hell And Sorrow (TRSL 71, £35) in 1974. Many Moods Of I-Roy came out later the…

LARRY GREEN Moving The Blues (Movin’ 133) £3,900 Funky soul 7” release from 1966 with Bad Business on the flip. (eBay item number: 126322644093) Supplied by eBay THE SHOWCASES The Love Was Real (Galaxy 732) £3,302 Recorded in 1963, this 1964 doo-wop release features Anna My Love on the flip. (eBay item number: 196269475438) Supplied by eBay AGUATURBIA Volumen 2 (Arena LPD 080) £2,561 An 8-track, psychedelic rock album outing from Chile. (eBay item number: 315249285449) Supplied by eBay WISHBONE ASH The Vintage Years 1970-1991 (Madfish SMABX 1065) £1,113 Limited-edition box set including 30 CDs and a flexi disc. (eBay item number: 196266730633) Supplied by eBay JOHN COLTRANE Blue Train (Blue Note 1577) $12,600 RVG-stamped, deep groove pressing on the NY 23 label. Supplied by Popsike HANK MOBLEY Hank Mobley…

JAY ASTON Bucks Fizz singer's solo catalogue revamped online before a London show Tell us about your latest project. Some songs on I-Spy are being reworked for a movie that I've started writing. If you could re-visit any of your albums, what'd you change? Pray was a very ad lib vocal and needs more instrumentation. Is there anything still unissued? Yes, but it would take ages to resurrect them. Have you done anything that fans may not know about? Some dance tracks. Who'd you like to produce? My daughter, Josie. We're writing for her currently. Where were you when you first heard one of your songs on vinyl? Making Your Mind Up, BBC Radio 1, going to a photo shoot after winning A Song For Europe. What was your first…

Wah! Nah=Poo - The Art Of Bluff (Eternal CLASSIC 1, LP, 1981) £6 Wah!'s essential debut balances a broody sensibility with post-punk fizz, with memorable hooks to boot. Includes The Wind-Up and Seven Minutes To Midnight. The Mighty Wah! A Word To The Wise Guy (Beggars Banquet BEGA 54, LP, 1984) £10 Delivering an ambitious spread of rock, funk, brassy soul and even a little reggae. Features the anthemic Come Back. Pete Wylie Sinful (Siren SRN LP 10, LP, 1987) £10 Wylie officially steps out as a solo artist, bolstered by a Top 20 title track (featuring Josie Jones) and fan favourite, Fourelevenfortyfour. The Mighty Wah! Songs Of Strength And Heartbreak (Castle Music WENCD 209, CD, 2000) £6 Initially rejected by Sony, Wylie pours passion and pain into songs imbued…

Jackie DeShannon knew she wanted to be a performer from the outset. “I don't remember a time when there wasn't music-making or singing in my life,” she tells Record Collector over Zoom from her Los Angeles home. DeShannon, born Sharon Lee Myers in Hazel, Kentucky in 1941, came of age in the 60s. She was friends with The Beatles, who invited her to open on their 1964 first US tour and The Byrds and The Searchers who both covered her songs. She was also there at the birth of folk-rock with the jangly Needles And Pins and When You Walk In The Room. By the end of the 60s she had templated the singer-songwriter genre with her folk-soul-rock concept album, Laurel Canyon. Meanwhile, her classic hits, What The World Needs…

Xmal Deutschland Fetisch (4AD, CAD302, LP, UK, 1983) £5 Signed by 4AD and stunning Cocteaus audiences, Anja Huwe, Manuela Rickers, Fiona Sangster, Manuela Zwingmann and “token male” Wolfgang Ellerbrock delivered a debut with the sharp focus of Bauhaus or Joy Division. Xmal Deutschland Tocsin (4AD, CAD407, LP, UK, 1984) £5 With Mick Glossop producing and Peter Bellendir joining on drums, Tocsin was the cool and commanding, touch-tight treat fans had believed was coming. Perhaps their pinnacle. Xmal Deutschland Viva (X-ILE/Phonogram, XMALP1, LP, UK, 1987) £25 Less unsettling, equally earnest, but smartly in step with then-topical sounds, Viva was a solid bridge led by single Matador, Emily Dickinson's poetry and the brilliant Polarlicht. Xmal Deutschland Devils (Metronome 837940 1, LP, Germany, 1989) £30 Huwe fronted a muchchanged line-up on the faltering…

The textural passages of synthesiser that punctuate Shine On You Crazy Diamond were a high-profile early example of what was later defined as ‘ambient’ music. Here are 10 further preliminary stages of the evolution of ambient. Miles Davis In A Silent Way (1969) Davis seemed in a state of permanent evolution as the 60s melted into the 70s. Moments before inventing fusion with Bitches Brew, Davis and producer Teo Macero assembled this dreamy, star-gazing beauty. Terry Riely A Rainbow In Curved Air (1969) A monumental release, its title track – composed from overdubbed tambourine, harpsichord and goblet drum, replayed at altered speeds – was at once busy and trancelike, and rewarded whatever level of listening was invested. Tangerine Dream Rubycon (1975) Having conquered space-rock with Zeit earlier in the decade,…

Reissues, remasters and compilations Luther Luther Legacy Recordings 19658880951 (CD, LP) This Close To You Legacy Recordings 19658885851 (CD, LP) With his exquisitely creamy croon and sublime vocal elegance, Luther Vandross quickly grew into a colossus of smooth soul music after Never Too Much, his 1981 debut single for Epic Records, topped the US R&B charts and set his career in motion. But for unknown reasons, having found success, Vandross sought to erase an early but significant chapter in his career by buying the master tapes from Atlantic Records to two late-70s albums he recorded while leading a vocal quintet called Luther. Despite pleas from fans over the years to reissue both records, Vandross – perhaps dissatisfied by his earlier musical endeavors, though we'll never really know for sure –…

Pavement Cautionary Tales: Jukebox Classiques Matador OLE 1997 X (18 x 7”) We all know the old saying – a decade is a long time in erudite and artfully skewhiff indie-rock. The 18 singles here, spanning the hiss and clangour of 1989's DIY debut EP, Slay Tracks, to the bittersweet balm of 1999 farewell single Major Leagues, certainly say as much. Cautionary Tales: Jukebox Classiques might be first and foremost a fan service – let's face it, only the already smitten are going to splurge on a pre-order-only box set of reproduction 7” singles – but weirdly, approaching their music in this way helps to appreciate the breadth and scope of Pavement's music, the singles and attendant B-sides joining the dots. Distinct strands run throughout the 56 tracks here, as…

In The Beginning There Was Rhythm Soul Jazz SJRLP 550 C (2LP) When post-punk went funky By 1978, with punk becoming its own caricature, bands that had rushed through the doors it originally opened started casting way beyond its confines, deploying its ethos to explore bass-propelled JB's grooves, liberated jazz, industrial discordance and Suicide-style electronic battle-weapons, often topped with political messages. Soul Jazz's first post-punk foray in 2001, this compilation brilliantly captured the anarchic spirit of the time, including A Certain Ratio (Shack Up, of course), 23 Skidoo, Gang of Four, Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle (getting down on 20 Jazz Funk Greats). The Pop Group's magnificent She Is Beyond Good And Evil and The Slits’ uproarious title track are highlights that led the charge for the funky…

Camera Obscura Look To The East, Look To The West Merge MRG839 (LP, LP+, CD) Glasgow indie-pop collective Camera Obscura's first album in 11 years is poignant, heartfelt and infectiously captivating, even without its personal backstory. Two years after the release of their previous record, 2013's Desire Lines, the band's keyboard player Carey Lander died tragically young, and the resulting decade-plus has clearly been a period of grief and recovery. The band returned to live performance in 2019, with Covid delaying Look To The East, Look To The West‘s arrival. All at once, it's everything that fans of this band – who follow them with a similar passion to the overlapping fanbase of their Glaswegian contemporaries Belle & Sebastian – would want, and an incredibly touching distillation of the process…

READER SERVICES Call on 020 8752 8172 or email stockists@metropolis.co.uk for more information or to sign up today! SOUTH EAST 101 Collectors Records – ‘Established in 1991. Now under new management. Buying and selling new and second hand vinyl and cd's. Stock a range of quality artist merchandise in store.’ 101 West Street, Farnham, GU9 7EN. Tel: 01252 734409. richard.101collectorsrecords@hotmail.com www.101collectorsrecords.com Across the Tracks – ‘On busiest corner of hippest city, open seven days. Thousands of rarities in the shop that aren't on the net. All genres, including classical and new CD promos, nothing mundane. Collections bought.’ 110 Gloucester Road, Brighton BN1 4AF. Tel: 01273 677906. edfrombrighton@tiscali.co.uk www.acrossthetracksrecords.com Alan's Record & CD Shop – ‘Diggers paradise! Over 15,000 records and 3,500 CD's. Soul, Reggae, House, Dance, Blues, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Rock, Punk,…

Lives Slash Bangkok Centrepoint Studio, Thailand 15/3/24 Slash was back on Thai soil for the fifth time, the third as a solo artist and, despite the 40C heat outside, he and Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators entered in leather jackets, while Slash donned his uber-cool top hat. Opening with The River Is Rising, the soaring vocals of Kennedy made waves, as did Slash's heavy riffage on Driving Rain and an impressive Halo. Their set-list focused on their four albums together, but there was still room for some surprises. Bassist Todd Kearns admirably took on vocal duties for Slash's co-written cover of Lenny Kravitz's Always On The Run and on the sole Guns N’ Roses offering, the rarely-aired Don't Damn Me. Wicked Stone became a jaw-dropping 15-minute workout with hypnotic locomotive…

This month: Keith Forsey Keith Forsey is often remembered for writing Don't You (Forget About Me) for Simple Minds, and – ironically – for little else. That hit song from a memorable 1985 movie (The Breakfast Club) is by no means something you'd want others to forget, and yet there are many other blockbuster moments of note in a blistering career. Survey the producer, songwriter and drummer's many credits – running into several thousand contributions over half a century – and you will discover a Zelig-like figure who was present and often instrumental in the creation of assorted epoch-defining music. If his name is rarely mentioned, then you suspect he likes it that way. You'll not find interviews with him should you go searching on the internet. There aren't too…

Jah Wobble Mu (Trojan Records TJZCD 290, CD, UK, 2005) £5 Any number of Wobble albums could make this list, but Mu rises to the top thanks to its mercurial blend of post-punk spikiness and unnerving beauty. The legendary bassist is supported here by a particularly strong backing group in the form of the wonderful Barbadian-British trumpeter Harry Beckett, French bagpiper master Jean-Pierre Rasle, shakuhachi (Japanese flute) expert Clive Bell and long-time collaborator, guitarist Chris Cookson. No one but Wobble could sing about the Buddhist concept of samsara and make it feel as visceral and enlightening as a Zen koan. Barry Adamson Moss Side Story (Mute STUMM 53, LP, UK, 1989) £12 Former Magazine four-string wizard Adamson has built up an impressive discography full of dark wit and invention, fusing…

SEND YOUR PRAISE, MISSIVES AND CALLS FOR THE DEFENESTRATION OF DARYL EASLEA 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 THE MEN (AND WOMEN) FROM UNCOOL The best thing about RC is that it makes no effort to be cool and, therefore, somehow, it's really cool, if that makes sense… I love the fact that RC respects a wide range of artists. I can't think of any other national magazine that would run a two-page piece on an artist like Joyce Harris [RC 556], but it was so joyful and interesting. Keep up the great work. Nigel Hodgkins, Canterbury SIGNED D.C. I often find it rather endearing to see the…

At RC Towers, we brace ourselves for new music from The Offspring, Soul Sign, Katy Perry, Papa Roach, Natasha Bedingfield, Down, Lily Allen, SHAV (System Of A Down's Shav Odadjian), Atomic Kitten's Natasha Hamilton, Modest Mouse, Paramore, Kylie Minogue, Foreigner, RAYE, Clutch, Noel Gallagher, Nightwish, Janet Jackson, Pearl Jam, Sade, Jimmy Barnes, Billy Idol, Deftones, Gordon Giltrap & Nick Hooper, Vent 414, Crimson Glory, Shelby Lynne, Robbie Williams, Childish Gambino (two), BLACKPINK's Lisa (on RCA), Vanessa Williams (Mellian), Miranda Lambert (Republic), Mötley Crüe (Big Machine), The Night Flight Orchestra (Napalm); reissues from Stryper, Cats In Space; and a memoir by Poison's Rikki Rockett. CELLULOID HEROES Projects due include Air Supply All Out Of Love biopic in 2025; Melissa Etheridge I'm Not Broken two-part documentary series, The Crow Girl film, soundtracked by Adam…

Merck Mercuriadis is the founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management and founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a London FTSE 250 company, and Hipgnosis Songs Capital in partnership with Blackstone. The companies have invested more than $3 billion in iconic songs that have been extraordinarily successful and are of great cultural importance amassing a portfolio of over 150 catalogues, including the catalogues of Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nile Rodgers, Lindsey Buckingham/ Christine McVie/Fleetwood Mac, Shakira, Leonard Cohen, The-Dream, Steve Winwood, Justin Timberlake, Journey, Justin Bieber, Timbaland, The RZA, David A. Stewart/Eurythmics, Jimmy Iovine, Chris Cornell/Soundgarden, Kenny Chesney, Mark Ronson, Richie Sambora/Bon Jovi, Journey, Carole Bayer Sager and Chrissie Hynde/The Pretenders. The catalogue includes more than 25 per cent of Spotify Billions Club and over 10 per cent of…

I was a big fan of Suicide and actually saw them perform live in the UK back in 1978, I think. I picked up both their first and second albums and even dipped into their solo careers when singer Alan Vega and keyboard player Martin Rev went their own ways for a bit. I must have not been too enamoured because I'm ashamed to say that I have an American pressing of Vega's Saturn Strip LP still in shrink wrap! Talk about Mint! I'm curious if it's worth anything as I note that it's not listed in the RRPG which only lists his second solo LP Collision Drive from 1983 at £15. Liam Rourke via email Alan Vega was the frontman for the legendary American duo Suicide where he was…

No 13: Mole Jazz, 374 and 311 Gray's Inn Road, London In the 80s, on visits to London, one of my regular haunts was Mole Jazz near King's Cross. Mole Jazz grew out of a mail-order business run from a spare bedroom by Ed Dipple. When the piles of records outgrew the house, Dipple, along with Graham Griffiths and Pete Fincham, opened the Mole Jazz record shop. The mail-order business had built up a 1,000 strong customer base and in August 1978 Griffiths told Music Week they intended to keep the mail-order business going because “in Wales, Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland” jazz collectors’ demands “were not met by local shops”. The shop attracted visitors from all over the UK and overseas, with specialist sections for deleted and collectors’…

OPINION As guitarist and co-songwriter, Will Sergeant recorded a spate of influential albums with Echo & The Bunnymen that helped define the sound of 80s post-punk. His ongoing career with the Bunnymen aside, Sergeant's other work has often been deeply experimental, from 1978 solo debut Weird As Fish through to ambient project Glide and the open-ended Poltergeist. He also happens to be a noted visual artist and author. The recently published Echoes, the engrossing follow-up to 2021's Bunnyman, is Sergeant's second volume of memoirs… Has writing two books given you a different perspective on the Bunnymen? It's made me realise what we've achieved. It's a big deal when you put it all down in a book. I'd been around the world in both directions by the time I was 23…

Breakin’ It Up On The Beatles Tour! (Liberty LRP 3390, LP, mono, US, 1964) £30 Dick Glasser-produced follow-up to her 1963 eponymous debut, not recorded while on tour with the Fab Four as the title suggests but instead a seemingly random collection of singles spanning 1962 and ‘64 including folk-rock incubators Needles And Pins and When You Walk In The Room, plus girl group classics She Don't Understand Him Like I Do and Hold Your Head High, co-penned with Randy Newman. This Is Jackie DeShannon (Liberty SLBY 3063, LP, UK, 1965) £25 Liberty places her in a sophisticated supperclub setting with covers of Summertime, Take Me Tonight and Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying, in Jackie's hands the latter an emotional tour de force. Also features her major breakthrough,…

The undisputed doyen of West Coast jazz drummers, SHELLY MANNE (1920-1984) enjoyed a long and illustrious career that saw him play with everyone from bebop legend Charlie Parker to avant-rock deity Frank Zappa. Jazz from the Pacific Northwest (★★★★ Reel To Real), which captures the drummer leading his group THE MEN, is a stupendous new compilation of previously unissued live performances recorded in 1958 at the inaugural Monterey Jazz Festival and in Seattle's The Penthouse venue in 1966. The audio quality is astonishingly good; the accompanying booklet also features detailed notes and reminiscences from several musicians, including fellow tub-thumper Jim Keltner, who cites Manne as a major influence. Though he was a prolific studio musician, one of Manne's most highly regarded albums was 1959's At The Black Hawk Vol. 1…

His real name may be either Winston Holness or George Boswell, but after losing a thumb in an accident as a youngster he was saddled with the somewhat unkind nickname of NINEY, which he must have been happy with, as he's used it professionally ever since, often coupled with the self-bestowed and more flattering epithet ‘The Observer’. In the late 60s, he began learning the music business by working for up-andcoming producers Joe Gibbs and Bunny Lee. Indeed, he took his first tentative step towards becoming a producer by borrowing a Lee rhythm, Pat Kelly's Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye, to create the instrumental Pepper Seed, which kicks off the double CD Niney Presents Lightning And Thunder (★★★ Doctor Bird). This was a far-fromoutstanding debut but Niney was on his…

Paul Weller 66 Polydor 588 843 2 (CD, LP) It is fascinating to think that Paul Weller has been a solo artist for 33 years; his time in The Jam and The Style Council that preceded it scraped a mighty 11 years together. At 22, Paul Weller was Going Underground; at 33, he'd fallen off the radar for the only time in his career; at 44 he was searching for new directions; at 55 he was producing some of his most experimental music. At 66, all his experience seems to have sweetly coalesced. In fact, it must be fantastic to be Weller at this present time – to have gone through all that and still be here, adored by many, yet now given the space denied by his fans and…

Bowie Odyssey 74 Simon Goddard Omnibus Press, £16.99 ISBN 9781915841032, 168 pages … In which Bowie shakes off glam's shackles yet becomes prisoner to his addictions Of the five titles in Simon Goddard's ongoing Bowie Odyssey series, this 1974 entry is arguably the most timely. While chronicling the Ziggy crack-up, Bowie Odyssey 73 skated close to self-parody in a way that was perhaps fitting, given Bowie's need to avoid the same, but also exhausting for a reader ready, like Bowie, to move on from glam. Here author and megalomaniacal rock star enter new territory, and although 1974 is largely a transitional year for Bowie – the troubled rock of Diamond Dogs being rapidly shunted aside for Philly soul and the Young Americans sessions – Goddard wrings from it every ounce…

Anne-Marie June (20) Scarborough Open Air Theatre (22) Mansfield Sherwood Pines Forest Park (27) Rugeley Cannock Chase Forest July (4) Leeds Millennium Square (5) Tetbury Westonbirt Arboretum (27) Cardiff Castle (28) Ludlow Castle Bryan Adams June (13) Margate Dreamssland (16) Northwich Delamere Forest (18) Llangollen Pavilion (20) Brandon Thetford Forest (21) Pickering Dalby Forest (23) Halifax Piece Hall Bat For Lashes June (12) Oxford O2 Academy (18) Birmingham Town Hall (19) Bristol Beacon (24) London Barbican (25) Bexhill-On-Sea De La Warr Pavilion (27) Manchester Aviva Studios The Breeders June (24) Leeds O2 Academy (25) London Limehouse Troxy (26) Manchester Albert Hall (28) Nottingham Rock City (30) Bristol Sounds Body Count June (30) London Kentish Town O2 Forum July (1) Manchester Ritz (2) Glasgow SWG3 Sheryl Crow June (13) Halifax Piece…

This month: The New Seekers, Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, 3 April 1972 I was persuaded by my thengirlfriend, Janet, that it would be a good night – or maybe she had promised me a good night – if I took her to see The New Seekers. Whichever it was, on Easter Monday 1972, I find myself making my way to the Capitol Theatre to see a group which couldn't be further from the type of music I was listening to at the time. Anyway, first up – and introduced by Allan “Fluff” Freeman – were Abi Ofarim and Tom Winter. Four years earlier, Abi, with his wife, Esther, had been No 1 with Cinderella Rockefella and, to be honest, that is the only song I can recall. So, to the main…

In March, a survey of 1,000 US music fans found that 46 per cent of women and 44 per cent of men buy official merchandise of their favourite artists, including items such as T-shirts, hoodies, tour programmes, phone cases, shot glasses and keychains. They spend an average of $252 per annum. See blog.customink.com. US Top 10 Merch Sale Genres (% of fans making purchases) 1 Metal – 40 2 Electronic – 31 3 Lo-fi – 30 4 Indie – 29 5 Folk – 27 6 Rock – 25 7 K-pop – 23 8 Country – 22 9 Jazz – 22 10 Hip hop/rap – 21 US Top 10 Merch Sale Spenders (highest average spending by fans) 1 K-pop – $418…

Toni Childs Union (A&M AMA 5175, LP, UK, 1988) Not sure how I “discovered” Toni Childs, but I fell in love with this album within 90 seconds of hearing the opening track. Childs’ magical voice – which cuts through everything – and thoughtful lyrics are spellbinding. Standout tracks: Don't Walk Away and Stop Your Fussin’. Teddy Thompson A Piece Of What You Need (Verve Forecast 1779769, CD, UK, 2008) Thompson has always worn his heart on his sleeve and this album exemplifies that fact superbly, seamlessly blending love, passion and remorse. Standouts: I Don't Know What I Was Thinking, Jonathan's Book, and Turning The Gun On Myself. Paolo Nutini Sunny Side Up (Atlantic 825646890163, LP, UK, 2009) Any one of his albums could have made this list. I chose this…

WASTELAND MYSTERY Who were 80s synth-poppers, Strange Images? This was the question put to Ian Shirley by Danny Baker in 2020. Finally, we have the answer… Just before Covid, the legendary Danny Baker (inset, right) got in touch about a record in his collection. It was by a band called Strange Images who put out a single, Wasteland/ House Of Shadows, back in 1981, on the Paintbox label with the catalogue number S/81/CUS 1067. Despite multiple tweets on the matter, he couldn't find out anything about the band and asked me to investigate. Sadly, Sherlock Shirley turned up a blank. Fortunately, during lockdown one of the band members – drummer Nev Ball – uploaded Wasteland and House Of Shadows to YouTube and received a very positive response. So, when Danny…

Turn the dial of any radio (pretend that radios still have dials, please) in the UK or Europe and within 10 minutes you will come across that song. You know it, the one with one of the greatest lines in pop ever written: “Its only metal, what a bore…” It's one of the most spiteful diss songs eva; a petty bitch-out aimed at a “disloyal” band (I'm down with this: ungrateful musicians suck, songwriters rule) from a prima donna pop star. And you know what? The prima donna pop star won and scored an absolute monster pan-European smash hit that became indelibly stamped on the psyche of generation after generation. Game, set and match to one Stephen Nice from Deptford. Way to go, Steve Harley. Steve Harley has gone. Sadly…

One man's chaos is another man's orderliness. Pete Wylie is speaking to RC from his Liverpool home, rammed with all manner of ephemera, from stacks of books and old Monopoly sets to a Baywatch Barbie and Billy, the first gay doll, a souvenir of a trip to New York. “It's a big place full of fabulous memorabilia and musical instruments,” says the ever-voluble Wylie, sporting a black leather jacket over a NASA T-shirt. “I love it. The whole place is chaotic and hard to navigate for some people, but I find it relaxes me. Every room is a multipurpose reflection of my mind.” His last album, 2017's Pete Sounds!, was recorded here. And while he's also been busy planning a fresh batch of songs (more of which later), we're here,…

JUDAS PRIEST British heavy metal has described a curious trajectory over the years. We invented it in 1970 with Black Sabbath's first album, inspired by the late-60s backstory of heavy rock pioneers Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Judas Priest and Motörhead debuted in 1974 and ‘75, Iron Maiden popped up in ‘79, Def Leppard followed in ‘80 and we basically owned the genre ‘til the mid-80s. At that point, though, Metallica, Guns N'Roses and the rest of the American thrash and glam metal bands started attracting attention, and as for the 90s, that benighted decade was dominated by Pantera and Korn before Slipknot and the German band Rammstein made the 2000s their own. By then, British metal was essentially made up of a large number of competent but medium-sized acts…

1974-1975 was pivotal for Pink Floyd; as their popularity soared, the band's fan base grew globally. This included South and Central America: with a slew of reissues of their first two LPs as the new-fan friendly A Nice Pair 2LP set. Normally shy of releasing singles, this period also saw numerous 7” issues in territories spanning the world: from Greece and Japan to New Zealand and Angola. Then came Wish You Were Here, of which there are currently more than 900 different versions for collectors to choose from. Here, we consider some fascinating and highly desirable items. ALBUMS WISH YOU WERE HERE – LATER ISSUE UK ALBUMS SINGLES: WORLDWIDE A BIZARRE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES AND CURIOS…

ELAINE BROWN made two albums. The first, 1969's Seize The Time (★★★★ Real Gone Music) on LA's Vault label and her 1973 self-titled second on Motown's Black Forum. Seize The Time is the better of the two, although both are good, and recorded at Vault Recording Studios it captures the only ever female chair of the Black Panther Party fighting the power on 10 self-penned tracks (including The Meeting, the Black Panther Party's unofficial theme) arranged and conducted by Horace Tapscott, pianist and founder of the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra who provide the sparse backing. Skip Mahoaney, who died in 2020, was from Washington DC and blessed with a glistening falsetto. He began as a street corner doo-wopper then formed the Casuals with school friends in 1965 and they later honed…

Various Artists Holland-Dozier-Holland: Detroit 1969-1977 Demon DEMORECBOX 94 (4CD, 4LP) Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland were all in their early 20s when they began collaborating at Motown in 1962. While their first fruit, Dearest One, recorded by Lamont and released in June on Motown's Mel-O-Dy subsidiary, failed to make its mark, by February 1963 they'd had their first hit with The Marvelettes’ Locking Up My Heart on Tamla and after that there was no stopping them: it was smash after smash: for The Supremes (You Can't Hurry Love, Where Did Our Love Go), Four Tops (Reach Out I'll Be There, I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)), Martha & The Vandellas (Heatwave, Nowhere To Run) and so many more. It's impossible to overstate just how important the…

Bernard Butler Good Grief 355 Recordings 355 REC 1 LP (CD, LP) To paraphrase Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, grief is good. It helps us process tragedies and sundry other emotional upheavals, and hopefully emerge as wiser people. It's tempting, therefore, given the title, to approach Bernard Butler's first solo album since 1999's Friends And Lovers as a soul-searching appraisal of his last quarter century, and beyond. Its maker doesn't argue with that (see below), having eschewed his frequent bent for collaboration to put himself in the therapeutic crosshairs and ‘fess up to thoughts and feelings he might previously have been reluctant to address. This is a resolutely autobiographical record, its contents birthed by 30plus years in the spotlight, but navel-gazing is kept to a minimum and…

Mogwai: If The Stars Had A Sound Adler/Blazing Griffin (Release TBC) … they would sound like this… A Mogwai album at No 1 – who saw that coming? Nobody, but this happy eventuality greeted As The Love Continues in 2021, testifying to the devotion of Mogwai's fanbase. That passion and chart-placing form the basis for this discursive and unconventional doc from director Antony Crook, honouring a band who go about things the long way and in their own way. Guitarist Stuart Braithwaite begins the film by recalling John Peel's belief that Mogwai would be a band just “a couple of weirdos” liked. But those weirdos massed early with Young Team, the debut album that asserted Mogwai's facility for rapturous noise and provided this film's title, and then massed some more…

Sell Vinyl/CDs direct to RC readers, call us on 0208 752 8172 or Email listings@recordcollectormag.com NEXT ISSUE: JULY 2024 (on sale 13 JUNE) Deadline for submitting adverts (Listings & Classified): Monday 20 MAY 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: AUGUST 2024 (on sale 11 JULY) Deadline: Monday 17 JUNE…

This month: LOU RHODES & ROHAN HEATH OF Kiiōtō How have you prepared? Rohan Heath: Over three months, we auditioned drummers, guitarists and string players, and performed a small warm-up gig. Do you have any gig routines? Lou Rhodes: I need at least an hour before a gig when I don't speak to anyone, apart from the most basic exchange of information. I literally struggle with forming full sentences and need to zone out, do my vocal warm-ups and be a bit of a hermit. Will you be playing any rarely-aired songs? RH: Our debut album in its entirety, and Gil Scott-Heron's Winter In America. It's a masterpiece that's daunting to cover, but we hope to do it justice. Will the set-list change much? LR: Sets always evolve, and there's…

CODA This month: Rita Jean Bodine In the first half of the 70s, 20th Century Records, the record label division of 20th Century Fox, managed to sign a trio of exceptionally talented singer-songwriters, though it failed to break any of them to the extent deserved by their talents. Harriet Schock, a young Texan, played piano and wrote pithy, wry, melodic love songs. Patti Dahlstrom, also from Texas, had a gruffly expressive voice and compelling, earthy music to go with it. But perhaps the most show-stopping and dramatic was Rita Jean Bodine. She was the most unusual and outré of the three, with an appealing, flapper/ mystery-lady image, elaborate makeup, a formidable funk/soul singing style and songs that fused R&B fire with singersongwriter plaintiveness. She was also the one who vanished.…

CODA Rosie & The Originals Angel Baby (Highland 1011, 7”, US, 1960) £5 I heard this song when I was 10 and just a baby myself. Music was all around with great radio stations and pop TV shows every night. When I first got together with John [Lennon] we really clicked on music. I mentioned this record and he said, “I love that song! How do you know it?!” “Well, being American, maybe I heard these songs before you did [laughs]!” John recorded this with Phil Spector [during the Rock & Roll sessions] – a situation that unfortunately became a whole mess… The Everly Brothers Cathy's Clown (Warner Bros 5151, 7”, US, 1960) £5 Because I was so into vocals and great harmonies, I fell for this. What made them…