Innehållsförteckning för Issue 576 från Record Collector

The two most prominent characters, in terms of pages allocated to them, in the latest issue of Record Collector are Jarvis Cocker and Todd Rundgren. Without wishing to be too “me-me-meeee!!!” about this, it’s an odd coincidence that I first wrote about the Pulp frontman and the producerperformer variously known as Runt, Hermit and Wizard in 1989; both for Melody Maker. I can’t remember if it was at my parents’ house in London, or at my place in Jarvis’ home city of Sheffield, where I was also then living, but I distinctly recall Jarvis calling me at home, keen as he was for me to come and see Pulp play live. Now, I tell you this not because I was some big cheese in the world of “the inkies” but…

Jason Draper has been a Pulp (p78) fan since the age of 12, when the group’s songs spoke to life as experienced in a West Country city that he was keen to leave. In this month’s cover feature, he discovers the records that have soundtracked Jarvis Cocker through his own worldly escapades. Nick Dalton saw 1977’s UK debut by Aussie punks The Saints (p58) and had a great time chatting with founder Ed Kuepper about their rebirth tour. Elsewhere, he finds Steeleye Span’s Maddy Prior (p72) another enduring character. Michael Heatley lived several streets away from Rock On Records in Camden, north London, in 1978. His vinyl investments have finally paid off as he charts the history of the legendary reissue label nurtured in that very store (Ace Records, p52).…

On 27 August, an analysis of eBay sales between May and 13 August was announced by Peak Waste recycling management firm, which is concerned to avoid PVC records going into landfill, and online research agency, Localiq. As its manager, Alex Brown, explains, the methodology used involved gathering sold-item data from eBay for each album that had 200-plus valid sales records. This avoided drawing conclusions from a handful of sales. For every album title, multiple pages of recent sales results were downloaded, each including the listing title, sale price, product photo, and link to the listing. Those with unclear/missing prices were omitted and sale prices were converted into numbers in pounds sterling. Because of variances in listing wording, condition and edition, machine-learning was used to group similar titles together, giving each…

The Beatles Anthology documentary TV series is boosted by a new Episode 9 and is available via Disney+ from 26 November. It’s preceded by The Beatles Anthology 368-page book, with 1,300-plus images, including unpublished ones, via Chronicle Books on 14 October. The 191-track expanded Anthology is out on 180g 12LP and 8CD on 21 November, each box set available in a numbered edition with four 12” art cards exclusively via The Beatles Store. See ukstore.thebeatles.com.…

Now includes Whole Love Of Lots BOB DYLAN Don't Look Back poster £275 Apparently, this groundbreaking documentary from 1967 was popular among arthouse fans and students. Here’s one for Bristol art students in 1969. The “(certificate refused)” line does need some clarification, though, because we thought the film was certificated in the UK. Anyone care to enlighten us? Supplied by MEM KLEPTOMANIA Elephants Lost (Flame FLP 03) £280 Released in Holland during 1979, this hard psych/prog album features a homemade, paste-on, sleeve and was limited to 300 copies. Supplied by Industrial Silence SMALL FACES Flyer £125 The band played at the venue in 1968, but the venue name was later changed because of Edward Colston’s connection with the slave trade in the 18th Century. Supplied by Briggs THE KINKS/GENE PITNEY…

We’re getting to that time of year when Brenda Lee will make her unlikely annual chart appearance and some smart-arse old timer will remind the world that only Elvis, The Beatles and Ray Charles outperformed her in the charts of 60s America, with The Supremes and The Beach Boys just behind her. It’s odd to think how big she was, and how groundbreaking, too, not to mention that extraordinary, oak-aged voice. And yet the still-living performer seems now to be regarded as little more than a festive bauble. Along with the recently departed Connie Francis, Brenda kicked open doors for female performers, and did so much groundwork – unlike Connie, she seemed to emerge from a period of huge fame and an intense work schedule with her health and happiness…

Tell us about your new album. It’s a mix of songs that I got together over a few years. It’s been a while since Bruce Brand, Bradley Burgess, Matt Radford and I had time to record. We tour a lot, and recording is never difficult for us, but there are big gaps. It’s always fun, and some of the new songs turned out as I’d imagined, with specific foibles. Others changed, but turned out great. What movie could it soundtrack? A comedy with a twist. Is there anything still unissued? Studio/radio sessions, practice tapes and 4-track recordings, floating around somewhere. Between Gizzard and Toerag Studios, and recording on tour, there’s a fair amount. I have some, but not everything. What’d you ask your music hero? Wreckless Eric, if he ever…

What film could your new set soundtrack? Our 15th studio album is quite cinematic and it could soundtrack a drama, action, art or horror film. Is there anything still unissued? Band tapes from age 12 on: The Animals, Accelerate, Violent Solution, and Abhorrence, 1989-90 VHS. Have you done anything that fans may not know about? A cover for a 2002 Finnish movie soundtrack: Africa, by Salvatore Cutugno/Pasquale Losito. What was your first record? WASP’s I Wanna Be Somebody, 1984, age 11. What’s the last album that you bought? T Jarva & The Dark Place Post Festum. What record made you want to go pro? Iron Maiden Powerslave. What records most influenced your style? Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath. Was anyone in your family a musician? Amateurs on both my mother’s and…

Bang, Bang You’re Terry Reid (Epic, 1968) £30 Mickie Most spirited Geoff Emerick from the Fabs to engineer Reid’s first two albums, Most’s production also punching up precocious originals such as Without Expression and a louche, blues-rock Season Of The Witch. Terry Reid (Columbia, 1969) £50 Donovan’s Superlungs My Supergirl provided Reid’s Superlungs nickname, lived up to on a paint-stripping Stay With Me Baby and undercut by the ethereal Mayday. The majestically rueful Rich Kid Blues is a songwriting peak. River (Atlantic, 1973) £50 Pieced together over several years on both sides of the Atlantic, Reid’s rhythmically rich magnum opus ranges from languid, slide-guitar-heavy country-rock to enigmatic bossa nova gems. Seed Of Memory (ABC, 1976) £60 Graham Nash produced this sturdier mix of Californian country and poignant ballads. The title…

It was autumn 1976 and (I’m) Stranded, debut single by The Saints, was released, a frenetic, three-minute, angst-ridden roar, a record that would find its place in history. It was, it’s generally accepted, the first punk record to be released by anyone other than a US band (and comfortably ahead of The Damned’s New Rose) – and it came from Australia. Not even the big city streets of Sydney but the musical backwater of Brisbane, almost 600 miles distant. Little over six months later The Saints – punk with tousled rather than spiky hair, weathered not ripped jeans – were on a triple bill with the Ramones and Talking Heads, two nights at London’s Roundhouse. And yet barely 18 months – and three classic albums – after that it was…

It’s 50 years since Steeleye Span had an unlikely Christmas No 10 hit with All Around My Hat and the folk rockers have now notched up 56 years as a going concern. Though many folk remember them from their Top Of The Pops days (the single Gaudete was a Christmas Top 20 hit in 1973), there was a whole lot more to them than that. David Bowie played sax on a cover of To Know Him Is To Love Him and Peter Sellers played ukulele on the perky song, New York Girls. They still mix dark, contemporary, electric-guitar-led, drum-thumping folk-rock with traditional numbers – but have all but given up their tradition of endless personnel changes. Their new album, Conflict, features five of the line-up that recorded their halfcentury celebration…

SAY SHE SHE return with Cut & Rewind ( drink sum wtr), their third album of astral travelling disco funk and the follow-up to 2023’s Silver. Recorded quickly with their rhythm section Dan Hastie, Sam Halterman, Dale Jennings and Sergio Rios – all members of funk band Orgone; chief influences The Meters and Booker T & The MGs – at Rios’ North Hollywood studio, Killion Sound, it captures the trio of Nya Gazelle Brown, Sabrina Cunningham and Piya Malik in fulsome voice. Their three-part harmonies are at equal turns ecstatic, righteous and sensual on songs that musically blend Chic (their name a play on “C’est chi-chi”, of course), Minnie Riperton and ESG, and lyrically protest for equality (She Who Dares; Disco Life) and solidarity (Under The Sun). It’s their best work…

Waylon Jennings Songbird Son Of Jessi/Thirty Tigers SOJ 001 CD (CD, LP) Yes, a new album by the outlaw country star whose roots even pre-date being Buddy Holly’s bassist on his final tour, even his final date, more than 66 years ago. Waylon played alongside Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson in the Highwaymen from the mid-80s to mid-90s and died in 2002. Yet he left behind a stockpile of work that no one truly realised or even appreciated until now. Son Shooter (real name Waylon, too, but that’s just confusing), himself a wildeyed country-tinged rocker and Grammy-winning producer, has spent the last year listening to the recordings, from 1973 to 1984, and this is the first of three releases created from his discoveries. And they didn’t need much…

Genesis The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Rhino 0603497819157 (4CD/Blu-ray, 5LP/Blu-ray) Just five gigs into a 101-date tour to promote Genesis’s most ambitious work, Peter Gabriel informed his band mates he was leaving, making the official announcement to press once the lengthy jaunt was completed. His wordy statement spoke of feeling “cooped up” within the group dynamic, and that “when performing, there were less shivers down the spine”. Performance temperatures notwithstanding, it’s fair to say the wheels were coming off the wagon earlier, during the making of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (a fable about troubled New York youth recorded in semi-rural Carmarthenshire). Although the sleeve credits all five members as joint writers, reports in years to come suggest Gabriel’s attempts to take control of the material rankled the others…

The Last Dinner Party From The Pyre Island 7859732 (CD, LP, cassette) Do the band, subject of awe and ire, whose debut album went to No 1 in February last year, wobble under the pressure of the difficult second album? They do not. They gorge on the possibilities, dance on their pop-cultural heat, and lean into their own wonderful world-building. It’s thrilling. The Last Dinner Party’s ascent, which seems rapid though they’d been playing most of that first album’s songs live for three years, has bothered those ageing, lonely geezers who feel emasculated by, say, women’s football. Because the band didn’t all grow up on grimy council estates – some of them even went to university, the frauds! – there have been some chaps who wail they’re not “authentic”. And…

Ringo: A Fab Life Tom Doyle New Modern, £25 ISBN: 9781917923132, 392 pages RC is positive a survey must have been carried out somewhere of the percentage of Beatle coverage per head in band biographies. John and Paul must always hit somewhere between 30 and 40 per cent each; George between 20 and 25, and Ringo, well, 5-10 per cent max. Tom Doyle has done more than readdress the balance in Ringo: A Fab Life. He’s made him the lead player, demonstrating how the others would have found it hard to cope at times without him. Doyle’s style is always a pleasure to read: friendly, informal and engaging yet fact-packed and forensic. By taking an episodic rather than strictly chronological approach, his portrayal of Ringo as the heart but also…

Bastille November (6) Plymouth Pavilions (8) Cardiff Utilita Arena (9) Nottingham Motorpoint Arena (11) Glasgow OVO Hydro (12) Newcastle Utilita Arena (14) Manchester AO Arena (15) Birmingham BP Pulse Live (16) Brighton Centre (18) London Greenwich O2 Dreadzone, The Orb November (14) Leeds Project House (15) Glasgow Queen Margaret Union (28) Birmingham O2 Institute (29) Bristol SWX December (5) Manchester New Century Hall (6) London Brixton Electric Bob Dylan November (7) Brighton Centre (9-11) Swansea Building Society Arena (13) Coventry Building Society Arena (14) Leeds First Direct Arena (16-17) Glasgow Armadillo (19-20) Belfast Waterfront Baxter Dury November (11) Belfast Mandela Hall (14) Glasgow SWG3 (15) Manchester Albert Hall (16) Leeds O2 Academy (18) Nottingham Rock City (19) Cardiff Tramshed (21) Brighton Dome (22) London Hammersmith Eventim Apollo (23) Bristol O2…

This month: Johnny Gustafson It is hard to believe that it is 11 years since big boss bass-man, Johnny ‘Gus’ Gustafson, passed away. While you may be unfamiliar with his name, most will recognise his music in one form or another which spanned five decades and covered many genres and outfits, from The Merseybeats to Roxy Music. His music career began in 1959 when he joined Cass & The Cassanovas, a Liverpudlian beat group led by Brian Casser (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), with Adrian Barber (lead guitar, vocals) and Johnny ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (drums). In 1960 they supported Gene Vincent at the Liverpool Stadium and backed the latest Larry Parnes prodigy, Duffy Power, when he toured Scotland. In December that year, Casser left, prompting the remaining members to reform as The…

SEND YOUR PRAISE, MISSIVES AND CALLS FOR THE DEIFICATION OF RIK FLYNN 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 THIS RECUPERATION'S SAVING GRACE I recently got my head kicked in for no good reason and, while recuperating, I received a care package containing the ‘Better Than Bricks And Mortar’ [Top 200 Rarities] edition of Record Collector [RC 575], from pals Lee & Michelle (of Lionheart FM’s Sonic Tonic show). Just to say it cheered me up. It must be 20 years since I saw or read one, though another pal (Gordon) got me RC 2 or 3 in 1980, and for many years your back pages [Classifieds] served us…

How come you’re back now? The time was right. I was working with Simon McBride [of Deep Purple], and a conversation started about making a new record. He’s played on or produced each one of ours. We discussed ideas and agreed not to follow the normal blueprint. It’s the best that we’ve ever done, with the heaviest riffs and the catchiest melodies. Were there any amusing episodes during its creation? For most sessions, it was just us two in the studio and it was very relaxed, with a lot of in-house jokes, and a few beers or brandies. It felt like a holiday camp. How long did it take? We worked on and off for a couple of years and we completed recording before the pandemic. That brought things to…

On 21 August, Peter Green’s Man Of The World handwritten lyrics sold for £24,700 via ewbankauctions.co.uk. ■ In August, a Doc Watson Martin D-28 acoustic guitar was offered via cartervintage.com for $75,000. ■ In August, Ray Stevens’ 35,000 feet2, 700-capacity CabaRay Showroom venue in Nashville was offered for sale, via rtstevens@raystevens.com. ■ In August, The B-52’s’ Kate Pierson’s 13,000 feet2, threebed, two-bath cabin at Lake Hill, Woodstock, New York, was offered via Compass for $750,000. ■ Steve Aoki’s auction.sxv.art launched 9 September, offering Michael Jackson glove, hat, Eddie Van Halen guitar.…

On 18 August, Big Country fans were warned by its official online store that, “due to the demise of the existing tariffs to USA (De Minimis Exemption) [exempting duty from goods valued at under $800], we are no longer able to dispatch goods to the USA. This is a massive blow to our customers and ourselves, as it is no longer economically viable to either our consumers, who will be liable for import charges, or us on the implementation in first instance of a minimum charge of between $80 and $200 on goods sent. This is a flat fee for the first six months. Looking after the six months, it appears that we will then have to pay 10% of the value of goods, and our customers will be subject…

Paul Turner’s journey through the music world began at London’s legendary Roundhouse in the late 60s, where he cut his teeth in stage lighting. By the early 70s, he was Head Of Lighting at the Rainbow and soon co-founded what would become Zenith Lighting, a pioneering company in touring production. From the 70s through the mid-80s, Paul lit the stage for a staggering list of artists, from Bob Marley to Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen. Over the years, he’s worn many hats, from tour manager and label head to publisher, but music has always been at the heart of it. Zenith Lighting later became Zenith Cafe, the independent record label and publishing house, all part-run by his daughters, Sophie and Laura. What do you collect, and why? I couldn’t say…

No 57: Redcar Jazz Club Redcar Jazz Club was a cultural beacon on the north-east coast. It began in 1958 in the form of informal gatherings featuring trad jazz bands, before taking up residence at the Royal Hotel and then the Red Lion. But the club’s classic years were at the Coatham Hotel on Redcar’s seafront. Though it retained its original name, by the mid-60s it had become a misnomer; the club was promoting top R&B and blues artists including T-Bone Walker, Freddie King, John Lee Hooker and Rod Stewart, under the wing of Britain’s leading bluesman, Long John Baldry. When the audience’s tastes changed to rock, the club booked The Who, King Crimson, Free, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Cream, Joe Cocker, Deep Purple, Steve Winwood/Traffic, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Humble…

BATHORY Requiem (Black Mark BMLP 666 10) £2,650 The 2003 reissue signed by… behold… Quorthon! (eBay item number: 116675166169) Supplied by eBay CANNON'S JUG STOMPERS Big Railroad Blues (Victor 21351) £2,618 A 10” 78 blues outing with Springdale Blues on the flip. (eBay item number: 236119199392) Supplied by eBay BEN AND THE TIGHT SQUEEZE BAND Thumping for You (Earth World TR 3000) £2,610 Funky, 3-track EP soul outing from 1981 including Brandon’s Song. (eBay item number: 205542301315) Supplied by eBay 311 Unity (What Have You 001 311 CD) £755 An 11-track hip-hop album, released in the US in 1991. (eBay item number: 336107739706) Supplied by eBay JOHNNY K. KILLENS & THE DYNAMITES I Don't Need Help (Deep City 2370) $4,000 Little-known funky soul from 1960 with Frenchy The Tickler on…

THE KORGIS+ English pop band, with Aussie guitarist, on their new collaboration Tell us about the album, and what film it could soundtrack. Al Steele: It’s a compilation for the US, with some great new versions of songs. Film? Coffee In New York. If you could re-visit any of your albums, what’d you change? John Baker: This World’s For Everyone. We made the mistake of using Atari drum programming. It dates it. James Warren: I’d re-record half of Dumb Waiters and replace a couple of tracks. Andy Davis left having sung half of it, and I had to re-sing Andy’s tracks in the original keys. Too low for my voice. Is there anything still unissued? AS: I have about 400 unreleased songs – mostly rubbish! The main fault was my inability…

What film could the new album soundtrack? The Breakfast Club or Pretty In Pink. Have you done anything that fans may not know about? Collabs – Kris Drever, Kate Rusby, Karine Polwart, Gareth Emery. With whom would you like to make a split 7”? Dry Cleaning. Where were you when you first heard one of your songs on vinyl? The house that we shared in Gilmore Place, Edinburgh, in 1997. Queen Of The Troubled Teens 7”. What was your favourite record shop when you started out? Age 13-15, Manifest Music, Greenville, South Carolina, 1989-91. What was your first record? Five Star Silk And Steel cassette, from Dundee Littlewood’s, 1986. What’s the last album that you bought? Jeff Tweedy’s triple album and the new Cate Le Bon. What records made you…

When the single Touch Me (I Want Your Body) came out in 1986, Sam Fox, still a teenager, was an unproven singer, albeit one of the nation’s best-known glamour models. Within months she had topped the charts in 17 countries. She became a worldwide star, and remains the only 80s British female artist to have had three Top 10 hits on each side of the Atlantic. Fox still plays festivals around the world with her band and her first three albums – Touch Me, Samantha Fox and I Wanna Have Fun – have now been celebrated with extravagant, multi-hued vinyl editions. Your albums are out on vinyl for the first time since the 80s. Excited? Absolutely! I was closely involved in everything – the colours, the design – making sure…

Brighton has a rich musical heritage stretching back to the 50s with jazz clubs such as the Chalet Club and the Ship Jazz Club, skiffle nights at Bill’s Dive and rock’n’roll at the Essoldo. When the Brit Invasion took hold in the 60s, Brighton had its own Cavern Club with The Klik in the basement of the Brighton Boys club, a starting point for local bands to hone their craft while The Beatles and the Stones headlined the Hippodrome, showing them how it was done. With the 1964 riots, the city became synonymous with the mods: The High Numbers/The Who held a residency at the Florida Rooms that year and Pete Townshend kipped on the beach. There were also The Starlight Rooms, the Dome (still flourishing) and Sussex University, which…

Buckingham Nicks Buckingham Nicks Rhino 0603497813681 (CD, LP) This is an album that supposedly changed the course of music history. Had Mick Fleetwood not encountered it being played on a tour of LA studios in late 1974 scouting out his next possible recording venue, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham would never have joined forces with Fleetwood Mac. A world without Rumours? Inconceivable. So this was the golden ticket – its music can never be separated from the events that followed. Yet the assumption that Mac were on their uppers and needed ‘rescuing’ isn’t borne out by statistics. Heroes Are Hard To Find (1974) was their best-performing US album in some time, while live dates fronted by US singer-guitarist Bob Welch were well received. And when the line-up featuring Buckingham and…

Radiohead Hail To The Thief Live Recordings 2003-2009 XL XL 1563 LP (CD, LP) Twenty-two years after its release, Radiohead’s sixth album is overdue for reassessment. In 2003, Hail To The Thief was viewed as a kind of rapprochement between the Bends/OK Computer and Kid A/ Amnesiac eras. And yet it gained a reputation as an ill-defined release in some quarters, an atypical act of compromise from a band to some extent loved for their inalienable stubbornness. When Radiohead launched Hail… on a small-venues tour in 2003, though, they showed a more forthright front than such readings suggests. Dublin’s opening night found them energised and electric, a band thrilled to be playing together while also capable of goading and jolting an audience thrilled to be so wrongfooted. The record’s liminality…

You’ve started what seems like a lifetime’s work, uncovering your father’s musical hoard. How did it start? When he died in 2002, his tapes were in his office and we had them digitised. A copy sat on my shelf, unlabelled, intimidating. Then I had booked Sunset Sound, the LA studio dad always used, to produce an album for someone but they pulled out last moment and I had a whole month. I thought, “This is the time, let’s do it!” Why the hoard? In the 70s, dad fought a battle with RCA, winning the ability to record on his own, away from their studios. He was cutting so many songs, by people on the radio, his friends; originals, too – he and Johnny Cash were cutting each other’s songs all…

Mozart Estate Tower Block In A Jam Jar West Midlands Records BRUM 7 (CD, LP) Is this the moment it finally happens for Lawrence? Not so much enjoying the sort of hit that would afford him the A-list pop superstardom he’s dreamed of for over 40 years, but his music actually making a small dent in the mainstream? For once, it’s not such a ridiculous question. Underground pop’s most infamous eccentric, notoriously besieged by bad luck and his own obstinacy, Lawrence has become defined by failure for much of his one-of-a-kind artistic path. Neither Felt, Lawrence’s brilliant 80s ethereal, lucent indie aesthetes, nor his 90s vehicle, the Britpop-presaging glam-revivalists Denim, gave him anything like the success he craved: nor have Go-Kart Mozart, latterly Mozart Estate, who Lawrence billed upon formation…

David Gilmour The Luck And Strange Concerts Sony 19802927011 (2CD, 4LP) Back in the heady days of Dark Side Of The Moon, David (then Dave) Gilmour could still walk unmolested down most high streets, such was the anonymity of the individual members of Pink Floyd. Half a century on, at 79, he’s on the cover of RC and is similarly front and centre of this release. It’s a far cry from The Wall, when a surrogate band was sent on stage in Floyd’s stead, but then this is far from a one-man show. The ten-strong troupe of backing musicians ranges from regular bass cohort Guy Pratt and American keyboardist Greg Phillinganes through daughter Romany to former Leonard Cohen backing singers the Webb Sisters. This is a family affair, the more…

Memo PST Puzzle Piece P(Doom) / PDOOM 012 (7”) If this LA punk band aren’t granted airtime on both Henry Rollins and Iggy Pop’s radio shows, I’ll eat my Adolescents baseball cap. Puzzle Piece boasts plenty of elements that are right up the street of those two gruff veterans. There’s the opening Stooges section. That gives way to a Cramps-y surf sound. All the while singer Chris Shaw applies a noise-rocky groan to what is ostensibly a love song, albeit a rowdy one. There’s a spiky guitar solo to break things up. Then Shaw’s back to yelling about his vital bit of jigsaw. The accompanying number is a narrative effort about a rampaging murderer with distinctive tattoos. It’s more monotonous and less tuneful than the first song. To its credit, it…

Sell Vinyl/CDs direct to RC readers, call us on 0208 752 8172 or email listings@recordcollectormag.com. Rates: recordcollectormag.com/advertise NEXT ISSUE: DECEMBER 2025 (on sale 30 OCTOBER) Deadline for submitting adverts (Listings & Classified): Monday 6 OCTOBER 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: CHRISTMAS 2025 (on sale 27 NOVEMBER) Deadline: Monday 3 NOVEMBER…

Earl Bostic Flamingo (Vogue V 2145 10”, 78rpm, UK, 1950) £15 I never had a record player until I joined Manfred Mann. All my listening came from the radio, or what the boys downstairs were playing. That’s where Earl Bostic’s Flamingo came in. It must have been about 1950. They were teenagers and I was eight. I thought the music was so unlike anything I had ever heard. It’s the link between R&B and jazz, the roots of rock’n’roll to come, like King Curtis’ sax on Coasters records and the sax on Duane Eddy’s records. Little Richard Rip It Up (London 45-HLO 8336, 7”, UK, 1956) £15 I was just blown away by this – I’d never heard anything so exciting. I heard Bill Haley and early Elvis, but Richard…

Soft Machine Love Makes Sweet Music (Polydor 56151, 7”, UK, 1967) £200 Fabulous 208 and pirate radio provided a musical mouthpiece for boomers. This Kevin Ayers song received a routine airing and was one of the first psychedelic signposts to an alternative lifestyle; the perfect primer for pop festival bohemians and wild-eyed boys from Freecloud. The unflappable Robert Wyatt handles the vocals; his singing as unconventional as his drumming, which makes the song all that more endearing. Is this the definition of sunshine pop? It sounds as if there is a party going on in the background, one you’d so like to join… Out-Bloody-Rageous from Third (CBS S 64079, LP, UK, 1970) £50 Formulated by keyboardist Mike Ratledge, this contains some of his most frenetic and impassioned soloing, with equally…

This month: David Bowie, 13 June 1973, London Gaumont My good friend, Pete, was an enormous Bowie fan, way ahead of the curve. He had all the early albums and was desperate to see him live. He asked if I could get tickets for the upcoming Aladdin Sane tour, as I had seen the Faces the previous year and procured tickets from a ticket outlet called London Theatre Bookings (small ads NME). After the postal order was bought (£2.50 x 4 + booking fee), plus a short note stating preferred dates & SAE, it was sent off. Amazingly, about two weeks later four tickets (circle) arrived for the gig at the Kilburn Gaumont State Theatre in London. Much happiness ensued: this was my second gig ever and, for the rest…

Acoustic Nicolette Larson Look In My Direction 4CD, with Nicolette, three bonuses, Live At The Roxy, three, Radioland, All Dressed Up And No Place To Go, one, Lemon, 14 November. ■ Richard Houghton Iain Matthews A People’s History book, Spenwood, 24 October. Due: October (3) Tindersticks’ Sophie Sirota Pressure Drop, Coastal Electronauts, Joni Mitchell Blue BDA, Rhino (10) Jacob Collier The Light For Days, Hajanga (31) Jonathan Richman Only Frozen Sky Anyway, Blue Arrow November (7) Kate & Anna McGarrigle/ Dancer With Bruised Knees, Morello. Biz Marcus Baines Around The World In 80 Record Stores book, Dog’n’Bone, 14 October. ■ Barrie Wentzell Should’ve Been There 392-page photobook from his time with Melody Maker, 1965-75, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, David Bowie, Genesis, The Kinks, Yes, The Who,…

Having emerged via Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label back in 2019 and subsequently put out their debut LP four years later, Pynch are back with another superb set of lo-fi indie anthems, full of charm, wit and personal reflection, with occasional nods to Pavement and Yo La Tengo in places. Self-released on the band’s own Chillburn label, there’s a limited run of ‘translucent’ vinyl available to order. This stunning record, conceived in Manchester and recorded in Leeds, is a magnificent blend of post-punk, synthpop and warehouse-rattling electronica. As the duo’s name might suggest, this is a spiritually nocturnal album; music for the club and the long road home. The ‘glow in the dark’ Dinked edition sold out within 48 hours of being announced, but you can still grab the LP…

NINANDY HANDFUL I have three singles that I would like some information and values for. They are all on the Ninandy label and are: The Cashmeres – Fairy Tales Just Ain’t True/Finally Waking Up (Bashful Man); Roy Roberts – Legend Of Otis Redding/Got To Have Your Love; and finally The Swordsmen – Oh My Soul/ Seems I’m Never Tired Of Loving You. Each of them is in Excellent condition with a large (American) centre hole. Leonard Fuller via email Wow, you have really got some rarities here. The Ninandy label was set up in America in 1967 by Andy Stroud. Stroud was the husband of Nina Simone and this accounts for the Ninandy name – Nina and Andy. At this time Stroud was not only managing Simone but other artists…

What film could your new set soundtrack? The Crisis Of Civilisation documentary. With whom would you like to make a split 7”? Goon. Who’d you like to produce? We’re partially through a collaboration with Holiday Ghosts, and we’d love to work with Vegyn, Nuphlo, Frankie Cosmos, David Moore, Parsnip, Ex-Easter Island Head, Kessoncoda. Who’d you like to remix? Acid Arab, Stereolab, Bombino, Chinless Wonder, Little Simz, Brighde Chaimbeul. What was your first record? Malka’s was Sgt Pepper’s, Colin’s She Loves You. What’s the last album that you bought? Goon Dream 3. Who’d you like to cover one of your songs? Hannah Cohen & Sam Evian, Riding The Wave. Which album, on first-listen, is the most startling that you ever heard? My Bloody Valentine Loveless. Was there ever a life-changing Sliding…

What film could your new set soundtrack? Quadrophenia and Saturday Night Fever. If you could re-visit any of your albums, what’d you change? I’d spend more time writing and playing together for Ritual. Is there anything still unissued? Loads since age 14, most pretty rubbish, and some trad Irish fiddle. Have you done anything that fans may not know about? The song Seventeen, with DJs Joris Voorn and Yoto. Who’d you like to produce? Black Country, New Road, 70s prog-style. What was your first record? Isaac Hayes’ Chocolate Salty Balls CD. What’s the last album that you bought? Babara Streisand Guilty LP. What record made you want to go pro? Talking Heads Stop Making Sense. Did you ever write songs ‘under the influence’? I smoked weed when writing and recording,…

Nah, I don’t regret it,” Terry Reid told this writer of his 70s contractual travails that caused one of many career derailments. “Look, you’re lucky to be alive. You don’t regret anything. Because if you sit there wasting your freaking time saying, ‘I regret this,’ you won’t get on with what the hell you’re doing, and you don’t move on. If I regretted it, I would never have written River and hung out with Brazilians and got in trouble and everything else.” Reid died aged 74 from cancer on 4 August. But I remember him brimming with life on a sunny afternoon in 2017, holding court in a Hawaiian shirt in a pub in rustic Ringwood, Hampshire, then again at his Mojave desert home, from where he called me. This…

Count Bishops Speedball EP (Chiswick SW1, UK, 7” EP, 1975) £10 These London pubrockers put the Chiswick label on the music map in 1975 with a four-track EP recorded at the princely cost of £92 at Pathway Studios. It’s since been reissued on vinyl and, with 11 extra tracks, on compact disc. Joe Strummer was a fan… enough said! Various Artists Hollywood Rock & Roll (Chiswick CH1, UK, LP, 1977) £10 Roger Armstrong: “The Ur-record of Ace as a catalogue company, with an enduring cover shot. A record that introduced a new generation of rock’n’roll fans to the genre.” The material was licenced from Era Records and was one of seven albums Chiswick released that year. If you like the moody biker photo, there’s a T-shirt to match… Motörhead Motörhead…

Rundgren and John Lennon are forever linked by the tragic context of Lennon’s death at the hands of Mark Chapman, a jaded fan obsessed with Rundgren. In 1974, there was a minor tiff played out in the music press, specifically an interview with journalist Allan Jones that appeared in Melody Maker, which was famously blown out of proportion (the Maker spat was partly a response to Rock and Roll Pussy, an anti-Lennon diatribe from Todd’s 1973 opus, A Wizard, A True Star, inset above). But did Rundgren and Lennon ever actually hang out? “We didn’t hang out,” he says. “I unfortunately met John during his ‘Lost Weekend’, when he got kicked out of the house by Yoko, kind of making a fool of himself in LA. He was in a…

Like Dexter Gordon, pianist KENNY DREW, who cut his teeth playing alongside bebop god Charlie Parker, relocated to Denmark in the early 60s. When he died there in 1993, he was buried in Copenhagen, where a street was named after him. Way before that, back in 1956, Drew went into the studio with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, then in the Miles Davis Quintet, to record Kenny Drew Trio Craft Recordings), now resurrected in the Original Jazz Classics vinyl series. Featuring a high-octane retooling of Duke Ellington’s Caravan alongside other jazz evergreens, Drew blends quicksilver bebop virtuosity with acute emotional empathy. The standout track is Blues For Nica, where the pianist pays homage to the “Jazz Baroness,” Pannonica de Koenigswarter. Renowned for his kinetic drumming, PHILLY JOE…

Welcome, headbanger! We kick off RC’s first ever Metal Collector round-up at a strange time in the history of heavy music. Ozzy Osbourne is gone, for a start. The members of the movement’s biggest bands, Metallica and Iron Maiden, are all in their sixties, while the rest of the big-selling, festivalheadlining vanguard – Slipknot, Rammstein, Judas Priest, Lamb Of God, Megadeth – are all right behind them. In 10 years they’ll all be retired or – like the much-missed pioneers Lemmy, Ronnie James Dio and others – permanently departed. Despite this misery-guts outlook, the fact is that there is more highquality metal around in 2025 than ever, from cheerful radio-friendly fodder to phlegm-gargling underground extremity. We’ll say hello to five of the latest new and reissue releases here, beginning with…

All Things Bright And Beautiful: The UK Pop Explosion 1967-1969 Cherry Red CRSEG 3 BOX 158 (3CD) Fab fizziness from late 60s footsoldiers The dawn of BBC’s Radio 1 lucked into a golden age of rock-based pop. Away from the now-heritage headliners (Beatles, Stones etc), a host of hopefuls with bright ideas and even better melodies enjoyed their day in the sun with songs marrying tunes and thrills. This four-hour, 86-track treasure trove includes respected names – The Move, The Kinks, Amen Corner -but also plenty of masters of the art of the single: Love Affair, Lulu, The Tremeloes, Marmalade, Honeybus. Then there are sensational one-offs like Barry Ryan’s Eloise, The Casuals’ Jesamine and Dave Christie’s Penelope Breedlove. Family-friendly (just), cautiously trippy love-letters to hippiechicks produced by ambitious chaps who…

How has the last year been after the release of the book? Incredible. The book has changed everything, really. I think people who didn’t know me bought it, and that’s been the breakthrough. Whereas if you’ve got an album, it’s hard to get more than your fanbase to buy it. For some reason, people have picked up the book. It’s this word of mouth. I get recognised more, it’s elevated 100 per cent. And I can tell a lot of them are ordinary people, not from the music world, not people who like underground music. “I want to have a driver and a bodyguard like Bowie” It was interesting in the book how many people who knew you insisted that, despite all your claims, you didn’t really want to be famous…

Why Ringo? It was an idea suggested to me by my publisher, Pete Selby. I thought the episodic/thematic approach could work well for Ringo’s story: zoning in on his experiences in The Beatles, but also looking at his childhood, when he almost died, plus going back and exploring all those mad films. Mind you, I’d be very happy not to have to sit through 200 Motels again. You mentioned when Andy White came in, Ringo thought they were “doing a Pete Best on me”. Do you think insecurity was a big part of Ringo’s make-up in The Beatles? Absolutely. The ‘last man in’ thing shadows everything. Especially when he got ill in ’64 and had to be replaced on tour by Jimmie Nicol, and the whole crisis of confidence he…

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 CDs. 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 Ben’s Collectors Records – Long-standing record shop in the heart of Guildford with an ever-changing large stock of records CDs and cassettes at the most…

This month: Vassar Clements A key figure in both the early days of bluegrass and its evolution as a fusion genre, fiddle-player Vassar Carlton Clements’ professional career spanned five decades, during which he lent his extraordinary talent to a wide variety of musical settings. Clements was born in April 1928 in rural southwest Florida but spent much of his adolescence some 300 miles away in the city of Kissimmee, near Orlando. He taught himself to play fiddle from the age of seven, forming a string band with his two cousins. Aged 14, Clements met bluegrass legend Bill Monroe through his stepfather, a friend of fiddler Chubby Wise, who was then playing with Monroe’s band, the Blue Grass Boys. Seven years later, when Wise left Monroe’s group, Clements successfully auditioned to…