45 Whiskers £10 charity shop challenge

[45 Whiskers]

So my challenge is made all the more interesting by me choosing to do it in Bournemouth, as I’m attending a stag do there. So, having hammered the beers til 3am on the Friday, I awake at 10am and head off into town to hit the chazzas, with the feeling that a Frenchman has shat in my head. For non-Blackadder fans, that means rather hungover.

My first stop is Barnado’s, where my barbershop bravado simply did not cut it (if anyone can name the lyric I just ’borrowed’ there they get treble kudos points).

And I have a punt on the Wings album ‘London Town’ (am I homesick already??).


I have to say it’s an album of two halves, the first being god awful bluesy crap, and then the second full of surprisingly catchy pop. Strange way to make an album!

Then I find my one and only copy of ‘Breakthrough’.

I quite liked this easy listening/loungey album. I can understand its hated for its omnipresent chazza status, but come on, it could be a lot worse!

Next up is ‘Australia’s king of the steel’ Les Adams playing some ‘Hawaii’.

Ok, so Bournemouth ain’t quite Hawaii, but this soothing music makes London feel closer to a beach.

Then onto Help The Aged.

Where I find ‘Total Sound’, an interesting Studio2Stereo piece.

Kicks off with 2001 theme, then a guitarwank version of ‘Something’. Highlights are barnstorming version of ‘Oh Happy Day’, nice bit’o Semprini, ‘Midnight Cowboy’, Louie Belson, and the shagadelic ‘Bond Street’.

And there I also find ‘The Spinners Are In Town’.

The cover suggests it could be some late-60s soul group…how wrong could I be!! A banjo-and-jaunty-vocals orgy is what it is. Pass me the sick bucket.

Next it’s the British Heart Foundation.

And a couple of nice finds to be had. The Shadows ‘From Hank, Bruce, Brian and John’ catches my eye.

A bargain at £1.99. Their sound has moved on a bit by 1967, with vocals on two covers. Though nothing to match ‘Scotch On The Socks’ in the quality stakes, although ‘Naughty Nippon Nights’ has a bit of energy. And then my first 45s: Ray Charles’s ’Born To Lose’.

A bit steep at £1.99, but it fills my Charles collection nicely. And some classic George, doing 'My Sweet Lord'


By now the hangover is killing me, and a couple of chazzas yield nothing. Then, when I looked doom to be stuck on £6 spent, I stumble across the Samaritans.

And there is a piece I didn’t even know I needed.

Music from the film ‘Shine So Hard’ - 4 Bunnymen tracks played live, from January 1981. Obviously it goes without saying they sound amazing. Best £2 I spent all weekend (apart from the money in the strip joint, of course )

I also find:

Rubbish

Rubbish

Rubbish

And that’s my lot, as I ran out of time and was pretty much dead on my feet. Spent almost £9 I think. Didn’t have a huge amount of fun doing it for obvious reasons, but really enjoyed getting home and listening to it all. And my 'good deed' in giving money to chariddy.

Yours forever,
Phil

[antwhiplash2]

That Bunnymen 12" is a classic, brings back memories, must have been 14 or 15 when i bought it, then literally played it to death......

[peretti]

Kingmaker

[Lord Thames]

I quite liked this easy listening/loungey album. I can understand its hated for its omnipresent chazza status, but come on, it could be a lot worse!

I had Breakthrough, Impact and Total Sound on almost continual loop for most of 1995, I think! I'm still very fond of all three of them even now - I love 'St Louis Blues' and 'Silhouette Hula' on Breakthrough, but Total Sound is the winner for 'Bond Street' alone.

[eclectiktronik]

excellent work, MR Whiskers, in adverse circumstances!

is the b side of anita harris 'butterfly with coloured wings'? if so, it's sublime and ace!

IMHO 'concrete and clay' is ok in a 60's poppy way .

'poppa yo quiero' on breaktru is a top track!!

and don't confuse the spinners with 'the detroit spinners' - which is what you seem to have done!! latter being the funky ones.

[ashra]

You will reconsider concrete and clay when you see this

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2JVfgucQTmI

[emperor tomato ketchup]

Breakthrough's crime is to be nowhere near as good as the cover would make you think.

[Ian Townsend]

I had Breakthrough, Impact and Total Sound on almost continual loop for most of 1995, I think! I'm still very fond of all three of them even now - I love 'St Louis Blues' and 'Silhouette Hula' on Breakthrough, but Total Sound is the winner for 'Bond Street' alone.

Seconded on the 'Silhouette Hula'.. great track.

Cheers 45 Whiskers.

[e3sa934]

That Bunnymen 12" is a classic, brings back memories, must have been 14 or 15 when i bought it, then literally played it to death......

I was at that Bunnymen gig where the EP (and video) was recorded (Buxton Spa Pavilion Gardens). It had been cryptically advertised in the NME a few weeks earlier - a stamped addressed envelope to the address in the ad yielded the ticket & instructions ...