Innehållsförteckning för Issue 571 från Record Collector

SEND YOUR PRAISE, MISSIVES AND CALLS FOR THE DEIFICATION OF MARK MCSTEA TO: rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk, or to Record Collector, 4th Floor, Harmsworth House, 13-15 Bouverie Street, London EC4Y 8DP, or via social media rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk www.recordcollectormag.com Record Collector Magazine @RecCollmag RecordCollectormag @recordcollectormag MILK 0 ALCOHOL 4 The latest Record Collector [RC 570] is an engaging, gripping page-turner. Well done, Team RC. Talk about “Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please!” May’s issue quenched my thirst with its barrel-load of ‘pub rock’. Often coming across as a short-lived link to early rock’n’roll/R&B/punk, it now has credibility, and a legacy: “beer direct to vinyl”. I’ve collected everyone from Brinsley Schwarz and Ducks Deluxe to Dr Feelgood, Eddie & The Hot Rods to The Count Bishops. Fundamentally, pub rock is a live…

This month Jeremy Allen talks to the Godfather of Goth, Peter Murphy, for the cover feature (p76), on the occasion of his excellent new solo album. He also joins Steven Wilson in space (p60) and picks New York’s best ever 45s (p66). Since 2002, Simon Goddard has published 12 books, including his latest, Bowie Odyssey 75. In the same time, Peter Doherty (p48) has made 12 albums, including his latest, Felt Better Alive. Joint fellows of The Dozen Club, Simon meets the invincible Libertine. Led down a roots reggae rabbit hole by 2 Tone and punky reggae, Rich Davenport discovered the compelling catalogue of Peter Tosh (p54), whose life he investigates this issue. He also fronts Vicious Bishop (www.viciousbishop.com) and plays guitar for Andy Ellison. Charles Donovan is a writer…

The Live Odyssey immersive exhibition opens at London Camden Stables Market, 22 May. It charts 60 years of British music from the mid-60s on, including unaired recollections of John Lennon by his sister, Julia Baird. Six rooms include an exclusive The Libertines hologram performance, and unseen films and photos of the likes of Led Zeppelin, Sex Pistols, Arctic Monkeys, Oasis, Spice Girls, Eurythmics, Blur, Coldplay, Amy Winehouse, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Stormzy. A revolving cache of artefacts initially includes a David Bowie microphone, original artwork for Lennon’s Imagine and The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour, Kate Bush The Whole Story and The Rolling Stones Slow Rollers. Pop Nouveau’s exhibition of album and sleeve artwork includes 3,500 releases, as well as artwork fashioned from mastertapes of Queen, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Morrissey…

At RC Towers, we’re banking on upcoming music from The Who, U2, The Faces, Black Flag, Madison Beer, All-American Rejects, Europe, Alan Clayson, Marillion, Noel Gallagher, Sublime, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, Elegant Weapons, Drake, Bruce Dickinson, M2M, Bring Me The Horizon, Cardi B, Take That, Wolf Alice, Jamelia, The Bangles’ Suzanna Hoffs, Savatage, Judas Priest, Lindsey Stirling, Post Malone, Macy Gray, Opeth’s Fredrik Akesson, ex-Slayer’s Kerry King, Shinedown, Drowning Pool, Doja Cat, So Solid Crew’s Lisa Maffia, Maroon 5, Buckethead & Bootsy Collins, Clawfinger, Stereolab, Motionless In White, Saxon, One More Satellite (with Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo), The Violent Hour (with ex-Butcher Babies’ Carla Harvey), Dirkschneider & The Old Gang (on Reigning Phoenix), Axel Rudi Pell (SPV), Sabaton, The Rasmus, In This Moment, Yellowcard (Better Noise), ex-Siouxsie & The…

A Deluxe box set version of Jeff Wayne’s The War Of The Worlds double-album is due in August. As well as the original 2CD, there are another 14 CDs, two BDs, a 156-page hardback book, 24-page book, 12-page script, map, two prints and certificate. The CDs comprise the 34-track The Coming Of The Martians Revisited -Original Studio Outtakes I; 53-track The Earth Under The Martians Revisited – Original Studio Outtakes II; 30-track The Earth Under The Martians Revisited – Original Studio Outtakes III; 16-track ULLAdubULLA The Remix Album I, 10-track II; 10-track III & Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks I, eight-track II; six-track Original 2006 Live Cast Recording I, eight-track II; five-track The New Generation I, nine-track II; six-track 2012 Live Cast Recording I, nine-track II; six-track Piano, Strings And Other Things.…

The V&A Museum in London announced in April that is “is curating a groundbreaking display on the vital role of grassroots and independent music spaces – from sweaty basement gigs to legendary nightclubs across the UK”. In General Kitchener poster style, they added that for the Lost Music Venues exhibit to proceed, “We need you! We’re searching for artefacts that capture the essence of these spaces – flyers, set-lists, posters, club signage, flooring, equipment, DJ decks, photographs, film footage, microphone scuffs, iconic designs, stage-worn clothing. If it tells the story of a venue, a movement, a moment between 1988 and 2025, we want to see it. Have something to contribute? Reach out to our curatorial team by 31 May”. To contribute to the exhibition, email musicvenues@vam.ac.uk.…

In April, the results of the Music Fans’ Voice survey of 8,108 UK live music concert-goers by Nielsen Consumer research were published. Following the recommendations from parliament’s Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee, the research was commissioned by eight UK city authorities and conducted between 3 February and 4 March 2025. Respondents were aged 18+ and roughly equal male/female, with 21 per cent working in the music industry, and mainly rock, alternative, punk, folk and pop gig-goers (along with numerous other genres). Some 26 per cent admitted going to gigs less in recent years, 64 per cent citing the cost of tickets as the key reason, and 91 per cent agreeing that lower ticket prices would encourage more attendance. 97 per cent agree that the face-value resale of tickets should…

"If you can see into the record in a way that you hadn’t before, that’s a successful remastering,” affirms Steve Rosenthal, and he ought to know. The man who founded New York City’s revered Magic Shop studio (home to productions by everybody from David Bowie to The Arcade Fire) remastered albums that form the foundation of rock, country, soul, and much more, up to 2016. “It’s a difficult situation,” he explains, “because people don’t hear at the level of sophistication that they see. If you play somebody the MP3 of Beggars Banquet and then play them an SACD of a high-resolution presentation of it, some people will hear the difference, but nowhere near as many as see the difference between 4K and standard TV. It’s heartbreaking for a geek like…

Our regular look at the more arcane corners of record collecting. Includes Vintage Vinyl and Sound And Vision We first shone a light on hip-hop promos back in RC 395. Our focus remains on promos which differ from their retail counterparts in significant ways and those that never moved beyond that stage. While promo copies are often the same price as their commercial equivalents (or cheaper due to the absence of cover art), this selection bucks that trend. Despite the high price-tags, however, it is possible to acquire physical copies more cheaply in the form of reissues and compilations. For example, LL Cool J’s second single, I Want You, is available in a much cheaper commercial version from the same time (as well as via many subsequent reissues), while Kool…

Poor Paul McCartney. He delivered two terrific, twinned albums with Tug Of War (1982) and Pipes Of Peace (1983) and critics were unrelentingly mean, for no reason other than he wasn’t John Lennon. Compared to his former compadre he was too sugary, they said (presumably they’d never heard John’s songs on Double Fantasy). He was cold. He was shallow. Genuinely, they can’t have been listening. I’m here to defend Pipes Of Peace. His first new album after Lennon’s death had been Tug Of War, which contained a tribute to his late friend, Here Today, a song whose construction must have caused him much consternation. It had a suitably Revolver-like baroque feel, and touching lyrical details (“What about the time we met….”). They cried together. That’s quite the revelation. Tug Of…

You allow Peter Doherty into your hotel, you’ve only yourself to blame for the fresh pile of vomit on the foyer carpet. “Oh … shit!” groans the sometime Libertine as he frantically scoops up the offending splatter with all the napkins he can grab – the polite thing to do since it’s not his sick but that of his gigantic and adorably docile dog, Gladys, who moments earlier took a funny turn after being fed scraps of batter from his plate of fish’n’chips. “Poor Glad-la,” he tuts, stroking her head, “she’s not been very well.” Being publicly embarrassed in a North London Marriott by his queasy canine is, remarkably enough, as scandalous as Doherty’s life gets these days. Once upon a redtop the nation’s most vilified drug addict, he’s been…

“I wasn’t a fan,” states Steve Sutherland, then reviews editor for Melody Maker and later the editor of NME. “I just didn’t think they were any good.” Sutherland’s relationship with Bauhaus began when he went on tour with them and The Birthday Party, a pairing he says, “exposed them for the poseurs they were”. He uses phrases like “cod-theatrical” for Bauhaus; for Nick Cave’s pre-Bad Seeds juggernaut, The Birthday Party, he reserves “astonishing, visceral and violent, and just brilliant”. His assessment clearly didn’t endear him to Bauhaus, who hatched an unusual plot. Sutherland had requested an interview with the band to explore his charge that they were “fake Bowies”, an accusation they’d blanched at before having a hit single with Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. The plan had been for Sutherland to…

Few artists make their greatest work with album Number 11 but STONE FOUNDATION might just have done that. Which isn’t to say they haven’t made great records before this one but The Revival Of Survival ( 100%), their follow-up to 2022’s Outside Looking In, is a cut above. The group, now featuring former Style Councillor Mick Talbot on keyboards, draw on a star-studded cast including Omar, Lavelle, JP Bimini and Carmy Love, and embracing gospel house, disco and funk create a future club classic. Recorded at Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios in Surrey, touchstones include Roy Ayers, Fela Kuti and perhaps even The Rolling Stones’ Emotional Rescue period. Stand-out tracks include the opening track How Many Times, which if there is any justice should become the banger of the summer. The…

Francis Rossi looks back and revises his opinion… When Status Quo released Live! it was just in the post-Frampton era – the double live album wasn’t quite yet a ‘thing’. I never really believed in them. I had a manager/father figure, Colin Johnson, and he believed it was the obvious progression. But I never called it live – it’s a recording. Were we dead when we made the other albums? We wanted to record the room, and it was a very big room, the Glasgow Apollo – three and a half thousand people in that size of theatre. That audience was the most vociferous anywhere, I believe. The recording was done with so many ambient mikes; what was being recorded was the sound. The result didn’t meet with your approval? I…

Sparks MAD! Transgressive TRANS 850 X (CD, LP, cassette) A thought experiment. Imagine what would happen if a brand-new band fell to earth in 2025 who were identical musically, lyrically and aesthetically to Sparks, and the same in every respect except the age of its members (Russell Mael, 76, and Ron Mael, 79). The critical community would immediately spiral into an almighty meltdown. The magazine front covers spinning towards the camera, Citizen Kane-style, would only have two fresh young faces on them, and one of those faces would be sporting a Charlie Chaplin moustache. The mountains of praise shovelled upon this thrillingly unorthodox new act would lead to a global superlative shortage, the music industry would need to annex Greenland to mine enough gold for the awards the group would…

Jack Barnett on creating his band’s mesmeric new album All of your records have such a distinct sound and feel. Do you always set out to do that? It’s kind of moulded as we go. We’ll write a lot of music, and it’s a sea of chaos, and then you have to carve out the order from the chaos. You don’t want it to just be a random jumble of stuff. A lot of it is about decision-making and whittling it down until it’s something clear that has its own identity and is doing its own thing. You’ve used field recordings before, and Crooked Wing began when you recorded the bell of a Greek Orthodox Church… It’s a tiny little chapel. You have to walk through a gorge to reach…

Memorials Another Waterslide / Memorial Bells Fire / FIRESI 784 (7”) Let’s begin with a stern reminder that Electrelane were one of the best British bands of the mid-2000s. Their third album, Axes, was a stone-cold post-rock classic and every time it gets overlooked in favour of something far more derivative by Franz Ferdinand or Kaiser Chiefs then John Peel turns in his grave as if all that he fought for meant nothing. Electrelane’s Verity Susman now plays in Memorials with latter-day Wire guitarist Matthew Simms. Another Waterslide floats like psychedelic prayer music at first. Susman’s mantra-like vocals are furnished with a range of sonic effects which are variously kitschy, dubby and kaleidoscopic. If The Flaming Lips were fronted by Isobel Sollenberger from Bardo Pond, the result might be in…

Basement Jaxx June (21) Scarborough Open Air Theatre July (4) Powderham Castle (25) Henham Park Latitude Festival (26) Margate Dreamland August (2) Lulworth Castle Camp Bestival (3) Cornbury Deer Park Wilderness Festival (23) London Crystal Palace Park South Facing Festival (24) Cardiff Bute Park Bright Eyes June (16) Nottingham Rock City (17) Bristol O2 Academy (18) Leeds O2 Academy (21) Manchester Albert Hall (22) Glasgow Barrowlands (24) Wolverhampton Wulfun Hall (25) London Shepherd’s Bush O2 Empire Betty Boo June (5) Dover Booking Hall (6) Hertford Corn Exchange (7) Ipswich Baths (11) Milton Keynes Crauford Arms (12) Leicester Roundhouse (13) Stockton Ku (14) Birkenhead Future Yard (18) Southampton Joiners (19) St Albans Horn (20) Hebden Bridge Trades Club (21) Hull Social (25) Glasgow Hug & Pint (26) Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms (27)…

Goth continues to exert tremendous fascination, and so, after making a fuss about Siouxsie Sioux staging a return (to the stage) in 2023 and The Cure issuing their first album in many years in 2024, we thought it was time to focus our attention on Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, on the occasion of a brand-new album, being hailed as one of his very best. Murphy is arguably the goth prince to Sioux’s queen and Robert Smith’s king. There’s no shame or crime in being the third-best or third-biggest band of a scene or era -just ask The Who or Pulp – but the more we thought about it, and the closer we (re-)listened to Bauhaus’ and Murphy’s records, to his booming, stentorian vocals and the music’s air of sonic majesty,…

The 60th Record Planet fair at the Brabanthallen, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 11-13 April, boasted an onslaught of 500-plus stalls, dazzling entertainment, and sideshows across two aircraft hangar-sized halls, a third offering live music. Event organiser, Stephan Van Zal, was delighted: “Matching the visitor numbers of our record-breaking November edition, despite Record Store Day and the sunny spring weather, is a testament to the fair’s international appeal and loyal community of collectors.” It was also my pleasure to be there, checking prices and trends. The main hall on the first morning illustrated the vibrancy and eclecticism of the event. I had a brilliant chat with Ken Shipley, co-founder of Numero Group, discussing his label’s future. A deep music fan, he states that the imprint couldn’t stay exclusively with releases like the deep-digging…

Andy Yorke: We were signed to a major label in the late 90s and I felt some serious impostor syndrome. An intense few years followed and I had a meltdown, left the band, and making music. In 2020, it was Nigel’s 50th birthday, and he wanted us to play some UT songs. When we were rehearsing, we started coming up with song ideas. I was approaching 50, and I realised that leaving the band had left a bit of a hole in me. And songwriting is a gift, so why would you go through your life not using it? Where does the new album fit in your canon? Nigel Powell: It sounds like us, but in a non-static way. Ideas and influences are progressions from things that existed in the…

Dionne Warwick has a 280-track 12CD box set with 16 unissued cuts due this month. It takes in: Presenting/Anyone Who Had A Heart (with two bonuses); Make Way For/The Sensitive Sound Of, Here I Am/Here Where There Is Love (three); In Paris (14); On Stage And In The Movies/The Windows Of The World (two); Valley Of The Dolls/The Magic Of Believing (five); Promises, Promises/Soulful (five); I’ll Never Fall In Love Again/Very Dionne (five); A Decade Of Gold I, II (five); and Always Something There: Live And Studio Gems From The Scepter Vaults. Dionne Warwick Make It Easy On Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-71 12CD is on Soul Music, 27 June.…

A crowdfunding campaign to 23 April has secured a 1,000-copy 7CD/DVD box set release in January 2026 of Dick Gaughan R/evolution 1969-84, via Last Night From Glasgow. It contains a 126-track 7CD with 83 unissued cuts and a 30-track On Film 1970-91 DVD, along with two booklets. The CDs comprise the 21-track BBC/Live 1969-73, 18-track Studio/Live/BBC 1973-77, 21-track Studio/BBC 1977-78, 17-track BBC 1977-79, 17-track Studio/Live 1981-82, 15-track Live In America 1981, and 17-track Studio/Live 1981-83. Subscribers can also acquire the 500-copy signed Live In The 70s 2CD and Untroubled: Live In Belfast 1979-82 CD. See kickstarter.com/projects/2121905920/dick-gaughan-revolution-1969-84-an-8-disc-box-set?ref=project_link.…

Author Ian Smith is preparing Stiff Little Fingers – A People’s History for publication by Spenwood in 2026. The tome aims to feature recollections from 400-plus fans, focusing on the handful of early shows that the band played in 1977, their classic albums – Inflammable Material, Nobody’s Heroes, Hanx, Go For It and Now Then – and their farewell shows of February 1983. Smith wants to know if you attended a SLF concert during their heyday, saw them on TV, met them on the street or at the stage door, heard, bought or stole one of their records, and how it changed your life. Every submission will be acknowledged, and Smith seeks first-hand accounts of about 400 words, or telephone interviews that can be arranged. For gig memories, include the…

John Hynes is a Canadian, born and bred in Toronto. He started collecting as a teenager and hasn’t stopped since. He loves the lore, the artwork and the music, and he also loves to go to shows. He saw The Beatles three times, has seen The Rolling Stones more times than he can count – including their first show at Maple Leaf Gardens with 5,000 in attendance – he saw The Doors for free and went to the Isle of Wight festival in 1969. Though he is now retired from a long career at a bank, collecting records has been his true life’s work. What do you collect, and why? Rock’n’roll, folk, female vocalists, R&B and country. I’m just not into jazz. One of my favourite series to collect is…

STAN LYNCH Tom Petty & The Heart-breakers’ drummer on his new The Speaker Wars project What film could your latest set soundtrack? It’s about soul, hope, love and bettering yourself, so Goodwill Hunting, Being There or It’s A Wonderful Life. Have you done anything that fans may not know about? Drum sessions with Jackson Browne, Eurythmics, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, The Byrds, co-writing with Don Henley – some of the most fun that I’ve had as a musician. Who’d you like to produce? The Wallflowers. Where were you when you first heard one of your songs on vinyl? The first Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers LP in 1976. The whole band went to my best friend’s house and spun it on his turntable. A surreal moment. What was your first…

THE LIBERTINES Up The Bracket (Rough Trade, 2002) The album that started it all, setting a benchmark for Doherty’s entire career. If not quite a guitar band debut of Definitely Maybe proportions, its youthful punk-skiffle energy and lyrical nous still influenced a whole generation of shambling copycats. But with songs as great, catchy and funny as Time For Heroes, Up The Bracket and Horror Show, the Libs were always in a class of their own. £60 BABYSHAMBLES Down In Albion (Rough Trade, 2005) Musically, the two later Babyshambles albums produced by Stephen Street are far tighter ships, but to understand his artistry in the blood-drawn, raggle-taggle raw there’s no substitute for his second band’s ramshackle debut. From the anthemic nihilism of Fuck Forever to the hymnal Albion itself, herein are…

Were you surprised when Steven Wilson got in touch with you about writing the lyrics for a song in the Objects Outlive Us section? Not totally, no, because he’d asked me to write lyrics once before on the track How Big The Space. Being asked to write about space and big things on a cosmic scale is always alarming, because there’s no humanity involved. But he was very happy with that so when he called again, I wasn’t surprised. Do you get asked to write lyrics for artists very often? I was asked to write a couple of tracks for Sarah Brightman a few years ago, because she wanted to do a spacey record. I came up with a song called Woman At A Spinning Wheel, about a woman allegorically…

The Gothfather is back to claim his crown of thorns. It’s been nine long years since Peter Murphy released his last solo album, Lion, and in that time the genre he is best associated with has not only returned but also made itself at home, presenting Murphy with the perfect opportunity to launch himself, bat-like, into the public consciousness again. Siouxsie Sioux played a slew of shows in 2023 and The Cure’s Songs Of A Lost World was just recently up for a BRIT (it was beaten off by Brat). Has there ever been a better time to welcome the return of Bauhaus’ gloomy, theatrical frontman? The news just gets better as we learn that Murphy has defied all sorts of odds to make his 11th and arguably best solo…

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd At Pompeii MCMLXXII Pink Floyd Records 19802876231 (2CD, 2LP, DVD, BD) To mark the Pink Floyd catalogue’s new tenure at Sony, Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii – now retitled Pink Floyd At Pompeii MCMLXXII – is the first restoration project. The audio for film director Adrian Maben’s arty capture of the group amid the ash-encrusted ruins of Pompeii finally appeared legally in The Early Years box set in 2016, but now, Steven Wilson has mixed it, and it sounds fresher than a beech growing in volcanic soil. Released as a stand-alone album (and BluRay of the fully restored 1974 version of the film) for the first time, it commemorates the exact point where the long first act of Pink Floyd ended. Recorded at Pompeii in October…

Prince & The Revolution Purple Rain: Audiophile Blu-ray Edition NPG Records/Warner Records BD2 25100 (BD) Looming large over everything Prince did before and since, defining the 80s and now shaping the decisionmaking process of seemingly every artist who fancies themselves a disruptor, Purple Rain is all too easily taken for granted. As implausible as it may seem today, the whole thing was a risk in 1984 – albeit a carefully calculated one, masterminded by an artist who never once doubted himself. Before the release of the movie and its soundtrack album – and the juggernaut global success of both – Prince was a scrappy up-and-comer whose previous work, 1999, crystallised his vision and edged him towards the mainstream yet was also issued as a “specially-priced two record set” in the…

Yeah Man, It’s Bloody Heavy!! Rise Above Relics RARLP 029 (CD/LP) First in new series chronicles couldabeen rock heroes Rise Above Relics continue to explore the musty corners of the nascent UK heavy rock scene of the early 70s. This compiles previously unreleased tracks from acetates and reel-to-reels for a vivid snapshot of the time, rock raw and uncompromising, matted of hair and snaggled of tooth. Birmingham’s Heavyboots leave an impression, with (excellent name) Graham Struggles’ wild solo lighting up the ahead-ofits-time Who Knows, Who Cares (1969). Meanwhile, the pulverising Kamikaze Pilot (1972) by Kingston’s Clemen Pull has genuine menace about it and the heavy groove of mysterious Scots Greenfly underpins some inspired organ bothering. Another highlight comes with the wild and nimble Witchcraft (1971) from Montrose three-piece Macbeth Periscope…

Pulp More Rough Trade RT 051 (CD, LP, Cassette) What happens to them all? The mis-shapes, mistakes and misfits? The revenge-obsessed, randy amateur spies? The legendary girlfriends? The stragglers who’ve partied too hard and mislaid part of their brain in a field somewhere in Hampshire? What happens when the passions of youth dwindle? When hedonistic impulses are curbed and the cosmic waffle of smoking-area chat gives way to small talk about commutes? When weekends revolve around farmers’ markets rather than the razzmatazz of nights on the tiles? What happens when Pulp people grow up? If you’re Jarvis Cocker, you write More, the first Pulp album since 2001’s We Love Life, to make sense of it all. “We’re hoping that we don’t get shown up,” he admits on the swaggering, Camdencirca-’95…

Russell Mael on knocking out another Sparks masterpiece and welcoming a new generation of fans into the fold… In your seventh decade of making music together, you seem busier than ever. That’s highly unusual. Well, it’s just par for the course with our whole career that it’s highly unusual. Highly Unusual is our other name! The career arc is not the traditional career arc. It’s surprising in a good way. We’re obviously happy that we’ve been this active lately. And it’s been a confluence of things that have made it happen that way. A lot of it was Edgar Wright’s documentary that exposed a lot of people to what Sparks was doing. Then the Annette movie also brought in a whole other group of people that may or may not…

Bowie Odyssey 75 Simon Goddard Omnibus Press, £17.99 ISBN 978191584156852700, 160 pages The side effects of the cocaine: the Thin White Duke’s annus horribilis revisited Halfway through his Bowie Odyssey series, Simon Goddard finds his subject at a crossroads: pick cocaine psychosis and become a rock casualty at the age of 28, or pull himself out of a tailspin and head for immortality through his art. By the time we reach the final pages of Bowie Odyssey 75, there are faint signs of the latter, even if Bowie himself may have been in no fit state to see them. Goddard’s challenge with 1975 is that Bowie spent much of it doing very little at all. Crowded out by his own demons – and the ones he thought were pursuing him,…

Sell Vinyl/CDs direct to RC readers, call us on 0208 752 8172 or email listings@recordcollectormag.com. Rates: recordcollectormag.com/advertise NEXT ISSUE: JULY 2025 (on sale 12 JUNE) Deadline for submitting adverts (Listings & Classified): Monday 19 MAY Please email your advert (Word doc/Excel file/plain text) to: listings@recordcollectormag.com Record Collector Listings, Diamond Publishing Limited 4th Floor, Harmsworth House, 13-15 Bouverie Street, London EC4Y 8DP Following issue: AUGUST 2025 (on sale 10 JULY) Deadline: Monday 16 JUNE…

Elvis Presley Hound Dog (His Master's Voice POP 249 10", 78rpm, UK, 1956) £35 It was because of hearing Scotty Moore on the early Elvis records that I wanted to learn to play guitar. Hound Dog and Don’t Be Cruel were very influential in terms of loving the guitar. I never got to meet Scotty, but he’s the guy who kicked me off. What I liked about those Elvis records was that they had two voices: Elvis’ and Scotty’s. Gene Vincent Git It (Capitol 45-CL 14935, 7", UK, 1958) £40 This might have been the first record I bought. I was lucky enough to have an older brother who was buying records, so I was hearing the good stuff well before I was in a position to buy my own.…

This month: The Smiths & The Redskins at GLC Jobs For A Change Festival, South Bank, Sunday 10 June 1984 Having previously shared a British Rail compartment with Labour politician Ken Livingstone on a return journey into Kings Cross from Lincoln Central in 1983, I never thought he would, 12 months later, be responsible for such an eventful free open-air day out in the Capital. And eventful it would turn out to be, mainly for the wrong reasons, sadly. I’d joined thousands of music-goers for 12 hours of celebrations - the majority to see The Smiths. We stood patiently in the County Hall carpark off the Thames all afternoon, applauding, before their turn, a superb list of artists including Misty In Roots, Aswad, Mari Wilson, and Billy Bragg. The Redskins…

Acoustic Nick Drake The Making Of Five Leaves Left 4CD, 4LP, 31 unissued, 60-page book, Universal, 25 July. ■ Mark Stielper The Complete Johnny Cash: Lyrics From A Lifetime Of Songwriting book, Voracious, 14 October. Due: May (30) Andy White The Night Is Approaching Though Some Would Say It Was Morning 2CD, Floating World June (4) Connie Smith Born To Sing/Soul Of Country Music/I Love Charley Brown/ Sunshine And Rain 2CD, Morello, Stephen J Kalinich I Love My Life, Real Gone (26) Cole Swindell Spanish Moss, Warners (25) Lady A’s Charles Kelley Songs For A New Moon TBC Ed Sheeran Play, [TBC]. Biz The Sonopress record pressing plant in Guetersloh, Germany, installed in late March a third press for eco-LPs. ■ The 750-capacity London Brixton Storeys venue opened 18 April. ■ Anthem Vinyl pressing plant began operation in time…

Aesop Rock Black Hole Superette CD, 2LP, blue 2LP, cassette, Rhymesyaers, 30 May: Dua Lipa, Lupe Fiasco, Armand Hammer. Avicii Forever CD, LP, Interscope, 16 May: Elle King. Azymuth Marca Passo LP, blue, red LPs, CD, Far Out, 6 June: Bluey Maunick (Incognito). Devon Allman Blues Summit, Ruf, August: Christone ‘Kingish’ Ingram, Robert Randolph, Larry McCray. Bioscope Gento, earMUSIC, July: Alex Reeves (Elbow). Matt Benson Sits Back Down Again, Absolute, 11 July: David Klinke, Fabio De Oliveira (George Ezra), Darren Beckett, (The Killers’ Brandon Flowers), Conor Brady (The Commitments), Keith Duffy (The Corrs), Linley Hamilton (Van Morrison), Ben Edwards (Amy Winehouse), Ben Castle (Blur). The Blow Monkeys Birdsong CD, LP, Creation Youth, 15 August: Mick Talbot (The Style Council). BABYMETAL Metal Forth CD, LP, Capitol, 27 June: Poppy, Spiritbox, RATM’s…

A pair of slipcased box sets, each with a 100-page book including unissued personal archive photos, is due this month as a 9LP and 7CD. The 83-track package (82 unissued) includes seven albums cut between 1983 and 2018, along with more recent amendments by ‘The Boss’. The set includes LPs of the 10-track Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions, 10-track Inyo, 10-track Perfect World, 11-track Faithless, 12-track Somewhere North Of Nashville, and 2LPs of the 12-track Twilight Hours and 18-track Los Angeles Garage Sessions 83. A 20-track Lost And Found best-of is also due. Bruce Springsteen Tracks II: The Lost Albums 9LP/book, 7CD/book, Lost And Found: Selections From The Lost Albums CD, 2LP, are on Sony, 27 June.…

Not so much paperback writers as letter writers are being sought by The Beatles ephemera collector, Joseph Robert O’Donnell of Newcastle. He’s hoping to reach 100 Beatles fans who sent fan letters to Ringo Starr in 1965. O’Donnell has amassed a collection of fan mail that once belonged to Ringo, dating from September 1965 to January 1966, and which came into the possession of a former Starr employee, Roger Hopkins of Wokingham, who worked for Ringo at his house, Sunny Heights, in Weybridge. O’Donnell notes that “there are 84 letters, and more than half have return addresses. I’ve written letters to the fans, hoping that someone who knows them still lives at the addresses. The goal is to obtain a further 16 letters and exhibit these pieces of Beatles history…

This Floridabased songwriter emerged at the start of the 2010s with scuzzy, hook-laden delights under his ‘unouomedude’ moniker. His song, Sunlight, remains a favourite from the Soundcloud blogosphere era. Now, Yuno is releasing a long-awaited debut album, full of shimmering synths and dreampop-inflected soul. You can order the white ‘loser edition’ vinyl from Sub Pop now. Raised in Baltimore but based in Germany where she divides her time between Hamburg and Berlin, Kennedy is a creative original. Her third album centres on a delectable brand of haunting alt. pop and sparkling electronica, juxtaposed with some beautifully sparse moments. The limited-edition vinyl is available with a printed inner sleeve, with a small number of signed copies also available via the City Slang online shop. Belfast collective Junk Drawer’s debut LP, Ready…

I'M AN UPSTART! I think I’ve got a really rare record. It came to me through my late brother who was a big punk fan and bought a lot of records back in the late 70s and early 80s. They were mostly on 7” and in a box. There were about a hundred in all. I have to admit that I’m no expert and my partner bought me your price guide as a Christmas present to help me work out what they’re worth. It took me a while to get going as many – the Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen, X-Ray Spex’s Identity (black vinyl) and Sham 69’s Hersham Boys – were not in the guide. So, I assume they are worth less than £15. Some, such as the…

David Thomas, aka Crocus Behemoth, co-founder of Pere Ubu and its sole constant member, has died aged 71. He leaves behind a 50-year legacy. His genius never dimmed: the most recent Pere Ubu album, 2023’s Trouble On Big Beat Street, raged and glowed with the inspired energy of their late 70s works including the 1978 albums The Modern Dance and Dub Housing, which would, alone, have sealed Ubu’s place in the firmament. Formed in Cleveland, Ohio, Ubu had arrived at the principles of post-punk as early as 1975, with their debut single, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, b/w Heart Of Darkness, with their deep, spatial sensibility, abstract sonic elements, sense of bleak landscape and shadowy foreboding. Thomas cut a contrast to his skinny, leatherbound CBGB contemporaries. He was corpulent and smiled…

Kerry Minnear joined Gentle Giant in 1970. Whereas the core of the band – brothers Phil, Derek and Ray Shulman – progressed from popsike hitmakers Simon Dupree & The Big Sound, Minnear came more or less straight from The Royal Academy of Music where he graduated with qualifications in musical composition, piano and classical percussion. His contributions to the group, one of the most mysterious of all prog outfits, added to their unique sound, utilising cellos, glockenspiels, and recorders. Never to reunite after their 10-year stint (1970-80), Gentle Giant remain much loved, and their 1977 double live, Playing The Fool, is reissued this month, fully souped up and raring to go. Playing The Fool has always been dear to GG’s collective hearts, has it not? That album is really special,…

Is New York the most influential music city of them all? What other metropolis comes close? London? Nashville? New Orleans? Berlin? Manchester? The Big Apple has such a wealth of innovation and musical history that one could probably compile a decent list of 45 x 45s from each of the five boroughs. The Bronx might be more hip hop, salsa and R&Bcentric while one based on Manhattan would undoubtedly include plenty of new wave punk and disco. This list, therefore, will be devoid of records RC readers might assume are shoe-ins. The upside is that the bangers are bountiful. Jazz and classical from Gershwin to Glass (a transplanted Baltimorean, no less) deserve a mention, though these genres are not necessarily conducive to the 7” single format. Tin Pan Alley, too,…

When Let The Flowers Grow crept out last November, it was clear that something was afoot in the Peter Murphy camp. A beautiful, soaring, anthemic duet with ex-Culture Club legend Boy George, it showcased the talent of two 80s icons in one five-minute torch song. “Boy George was Youth’s idea,” Murphy says, “a damned good one. It turned into a strong song, and I really value George being on the record. George offered a demo half-formed, and I saw its beauty.” Were they friends back in the 80s? “We didn’t cross paths much, just a glance here and there; but here our voices met, and with Youth’s hand it became something exquisite. I deeply value George’s place on this record, as I do every contributor. It’s a song that breathes…

Even though there’s been a veritable glut of previously unissued BILL EVANS live recordings in recent years, his devotees won’t complain about another hitherto unavailable archival release. Further Ahead: Live In Finland 1964-1969 ( Elemental Music) presents performances from three different incarnations of the Evans trio captured in Helsinki and Tampere between 1964 and 1969. Bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker give way to Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen with Alan Dawson, followed by Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell. Despite the different personnel, the quality of the musicians’ interactions with Evans is uniformly excellent; each trio significantly presents its unique sonic characteristics. Evans was a seminal influence on CHICK COREA, who went on to forge a distinctive individual style. Corea is remembered by many for his electric jazz-rock exploits with Return To…

For reasons unknown, BARDO POND haven’t gigged or released anything new in a long time. At least the archive items keep on coming, though. For the first time on vinyl, Volume 4 & 5 ( Fire) contains jams recorded at the heavy trippers’ home studio, originally self-released on CD-R in 2002 and 2004. The downside is that to squeeze them onto four sides of vinyl some of the pieces appear in shortened form. Volume 5’s Hollow has been left off altogether. The most heinous crime? The transcendentally repetitive instrumental Narmada is now half its size at a skimpy 11 minutes. It’s nice to hear what’s left of it on wax, nevertheless. The gems include K2 on which the woozily distorted guitar fuzz is accompanied by the creaking sighs of a…

Status Quo Live! Edsel EDSL 0234 (8CD) While other 70s UK behemoths set their sights on the States, Status Quo – the ultimate ‘people’s band’ – were happy to tread home turf, occasionally straying over national borders to rock and conquer. Their visit to Glasgow’s Apollo in October 1976 was extended to three gigs; the result was a fashionable ‘double live vinyl’, but the release never had leader Francis Rossi’s seal of approval – until now. All three nights have been refurbished and re-presented, in the manner of the Thin Lizzy Live And Dangerous set released a couple of years ago. Some of the multi-track tapes had been misfiled, one amusingly as by Peters & Lee, but their rediscovery has given fans the chance to compare and contrast. The set…

Jarvis Cocker on hitting the high notes, family ties and more. What made these songs feel like Pulp songs? It was a happy set of circumstances, really. We’d been playing in 2023 and, unlike when we got back together in 2011, we had a new song, which was Hymn Of The North. Just from a simple point of view, it was nice to have something to work on in soundchecks. And then at the end of the tour, we played it in Hammersmith and it kind of went down OK. So I just thought, “Well, let’s see how far we can take that.” It could be that we just write some more songs to play live, or if we get enough, then we’ll be able to record them. And because…

These New Puritans Crooked Wing Domino WIGCD 553 (CD, LP) The fifth album from art-rock experimentalists These New Puritans is bookended by the startling sound of a 10-year-old boy soprano, chosen from the Southend Boys’ Choir near the Essex hometown of the band’s twin brothers, Jack and George Barnett. Soaring above a dramatic, ever-rising church organ, on opener Waiting he sings of ominous images (“I am buried/I am deep underground/I am faraway/I am toiling in subterranean fields”) as ghostly effects and bells clang above; by reprise closer Return, the sound is chillier, weirder, vaguer. It’s evocative, unnerving, unexpected but oddly beautiful; the sort of aesthetic that These New Puritans have maintained over 15 years no matter what their latest type of leftfield artistic reinventions. Few predicted These New Puritans’ career…

Dig! XX Dogwoof (BD) Rock doc’s 20th birthday This version of Ondi Timoner’s portrait of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre is a kind of extended semi-remix. Revisiting the original’s intra-band rivalry, Dig! XX adds 40 minutes of footage plus commentary from Jonestown tambourine-shaker Joel Gion, whose wry, wasted bewilderment gave little away first time around. The result remains a truelife tragicomedy, documenting Jonestown main maniac Anton Newcombe’s doomed bid to “start a revolution”. Amid smashed sitars, onstage bustups, druggy meltdowns and roller-skating mishaps, Newcombe’s combustible capacity for self-sabotage drives most of the indie-Spinal Tap action. The Dandies’ Courtney Taylor-Taylor upholds Newcombe as some kind of bohemian genius. But as the Dandies swivel closer to fame and Jonestown implode, relations curdle. Besides the nostalgia for an era when…

This month: The Mike Stuart Span "If it goes on much longer like this, I’m afraid I’m going to have to chuck it in.” (Brian Bennett, guitarist with the Mike Stuart Span, A Year In The Life, BBC1, 1968) Although Brian Bennett’s (not to be confused with the Shadows drummer of the same name) concern for his musical future would ultimately prove true – “chucking it in” for a successful career in construction – in 1968, where music was concerned, business was still unfinished. As a member of Brighton-based act The Mike Stuart Span, his guitar prowess, paisley shirts and striking blond locks were a regular feature on the gig circuit throughout the UK and Europe. Later years would see signings to Elektra and Island in different group incarnations (Leviathan…

Deep Purple Listen, Learn, Read On from The Book of Taliesyn (Harvest SHVL 751, LP, UK, 1969) £200 The original Deep Purple had a varied musical manifesto which blended prog rock with mainstream pop informed by keyboardist Jon Lord’s classical leanings. This illuminating song, inspired by the works of sixth-century Welsh poet, Taliesin, typifies their taste for historically themed material; the very genre Blackmore would explore further in later years when he paired up with folkie vocalist, Candice Night. Syd Barrett Octopus (Harvest HAR 5009 7", UK, 1969) £250 Syd was already well on the way, head in a cloud, towards chemically-induced oblivion when he recorded his first solo album, The Madcap Laughs. Nursery rhymes jostle with lysergic nightmares in a jumble of absurd word associations that nevertheless make perfect sense…