May Finds 2015

[bradx]

Went into this little indoor market place that is really a tourist trap. There are records in there... at least 2 stalls ... but one is quite pricey and the other is all £3... but rarely find anything interesting in that one.

Anyway - went in and on the floor under a big heap of bric-a-brac was 4 bins of records. Had to get down on my knees >puff pant< to investigate.
Tourists kept pushing past me and a few even laughed as I pulled out fairly dirty looking albums.

There was a ton of rhythm n blues / soul in there. Compilations and whatnot. Some originals. I could've spent something like £80 taking chances on things.... but I wasn't in the mood.
Besides - I'd just been in another record shop and got some new things in there (not pictured).

The Kent comp 'Dance Floor Disaster' caught my eye as the 1st track is Beefheart's Hard Workin Man. Some other good blues based things on it like Bobby Bland/BB King/Jr Parker/. I like Kent comps and buy them whenever I see them. This was £4.50 so good value.

I have been reading a book called 'A Gathering Of Promises - The Battle for Texas's Psychedelic Music, from The 13th Floor Elevators to The Black Angels and Beyond' by Ben Graham. So it was great to find the Epitaph For a Legend comp. Not the original but an '80s reissue.

Don't know about J.T Brown. Doesn't look that great and I'm not a sax man really. Took a chance. On the Pearl label.

Frankie Lee Sims on Specialty. Cover is wack but the disc is ok.
I like his track She Likes To Boogie Real Low and I'm hoping there's some more jumping guitar blues on it in that style.

I might go back in the fullness of time and see if he's got anything else. Priced £4 - £6, that type of thing.

[Headless mermaid]

Went to this new big indoor fleamarket hoping to see some records. Turned out they just opened the same day and had nothing on the shelves except some used children's clothing. F_ckin amaeurs!!

[Aggie]

I have been reading a book called 'A Gathering Of Promises - The Battle for Texas's Psychedelic Music, from The 13th Floor Elevators to The Black Angels and Beyond' by Ben Graham. So it was great to find the Epitaph For a Legend comp. Not the original but an '80s reissue.

I googled the book you are talking about and I just gotta ask (just by plain curiosity)... Did you get an advance copy (Amazon says it's not out till late June)? Is it any good? : )

[bradx]

Yes - the author is local and I'm interviewing him in due course (when he gets back from Austin and the Elevators reunion gig!! Lucky man - I'm green).
He gave me a copy. I've nearly finished it.

It's a great book. I am no hardcore expert but have decent working knowledge of the '60s Texas scene... there's a ton of things I've learned.
Plus he puts it into a good social/cultural context too.

[treeboy]

On the list it goes
Hope the book is well received over there, I can think of a few complete knobheads who WILL be there and will probably give him a grilling; a; because he's English, and b; what do those Eeeeeenglish people know about Texas psych anyway? Seems like they listened to the music, but totally missed the point. I hasten to add, a tiny minority no doubt. Good luck to him, and boy! am I jealous too.

[Col Wolfe]

Yes - the author is local and I'm interviewing him in due course (when he gets back from Austin and the Elevators reunion gig!! Lucky man - I'm green).
He gave me a copy. I've nearly finished it.

It's a great book. I am no hardcore expert but have decent working knowledge of the '60s Texas scene... there's a ton of things I've learned.
Plus he puts it into a good social/cultural context too.

Is there much on Major Bill Smith in that book? I'm kind of obsessed with him.

[Head Gardener]

Along with a huge collection of cheap Mad Professor/Scientist/African Headcharge etc CD's
which I found at the car boots this morning, there were other nice odds and ends in the fields.


side 1 of this 7" from 1972 features music by Cathy Berberian who is mentioned in the Steely Dan song
Your Gold Teeth from the LP Countdown to Ecstasy :"Even Cathy Berberian knows / There's one roulade she can't sing."




this was a nice find but is the 1980 re-issue on Snotty Snail Records,
however it still features the song Gary Bushell's Band Of The Week on the flip




a run of kids EP's released in the early 70's on Kiwi Records










these British Wild Life sound effects singles were a pleasant surprise as
they all feature a selection of photo slides inside the booklet/gatefold sleeves








a couple of classic soundtracks




a stash of On-U Sounds



from the BBC TV show circa 1971




best find of the day was this scarce US compilation of dopey old 78's

[bradx]

Is there much on Major Bill Smith in that book? I'm kind of obsessed with him.

I don't think Major Bill is mentioned once. There's no index so can't actually confirm.
He freely admits in his intro "I have... ignored scores of great Texan garage bands and one-single wonders... that constitutes a whole sub-sub genre in itself".

So - no Larry & The Blue Notes.... and no Kenny & the Kasuals, no Mouse & the Traps.

It's very much centered around the Elevators, Janis Joplin, Red Crayola, Bubble Puppy, Golden Dawn, Lost and Found, Moving Sidewalks, Zakary Thaks, Fever Tree, Conqueroo, The Wig, Shiva's Headband, Cold Sun, Euphoria and Endle St Cloud. "That is the subject of the book".
Austin, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio.

Have you got Major Bill's Texas Soul (I'm sure you have).... I love that song Dead by Ede Robin. Harsh.

[Grim Lounge Cowboy]

"Finding your voice" looks like an 'educational' record. If so, I am intrigued by the inclusion of "Stripsody". Any comments.

This was a 'find' from a while back and perhaps a case of emperor’s new vinyl.

A month or so ago I bought Braen’s Machine – Quarta Pagina, over the net.

I was a bit busy when it arrived, so didn’t listen right away. And when I found time I found that I was reluctant to listen. I mention this as it might have been that something in my subconscious has prejudiced my thinking.

When I started listening, I wasn’t taken with it. At all. Even now with much of it I get a strong sense of the ‘Alan Parsons’’. Not many strong ideas, with, instead, a reliance on studio business to bring it home.

Just to be clear, the end result isn’t anything like the Alan Parsons work that I’ve heard. Here, some of the riffs and what have you are obvious clichés. And a part of the ‘studio’ aspect is the slightly grating character that the sound has. Having bits of music concrete in there adds to that. Possibly at that time that sort of juxtaposition counted as a strong idea.

In any event, I am keeping it on the basis of three tracks. The rhythm on “Frode” is close to being too repetitive. But it is a short track. And the avant/erotic wordless vocals make it a nice light-hearted intro to a mix. “In Fuga” has much the same elements. But I find the rhythm pattern a shade more tolerable. And I like the way the vocals go all flute-like. A more sombre vibe. Even more so with “Rimorso”. That is a good way to conclude - a faint and shimmering organ backdrop with a slow and haunting wind instrument over the top. I expect that many would find “Il Covo” a contender on the same basis. But it has what sounds like whistling. I draw the line at whistling.

I would have been seriously narked if I had spent big bucks on an OG to find there was so little in it.

I see there has been a reissue of Enrico Simonetti – “I colori del piano”. CD only for now. Dusty Groove are talking it up in a way that makes it sound promising. Anyone care to enlighten me?

[eclipsechaser]

I had a nice trip out on Sat morning and stumbled upon this at amongst other finds :





close to 400 singles. I bought the job lot.

































Mainly JA and UK press reggae n ska 45s. A good few hours in cleaning and sorting them and I'm getting a bit overwhelmed. The sheer deapth and qaulity of this lot is getting quite emotional. And as you can see I have barely touched the sides of the damn thing.





Some other interesting bits too like some JA soul and a bit of rock n roll.

[mr sayers]

Looks like your going to need a lot of PVA glue there Phil mate!

[Cacapo]

It was a good day to buy records in Berlin today. Here are a few highlights from 5 fleamarkets. Probably the warmest day this year and an excellent excuse to tour all around town to buy fun stuff with my Comics colleague. His highlight was a Kamen Rider Black action figure (guarding a Terry Pratchet novel and a stack of 45s). All records were around 1-3 Euro each.



[IMG][/IMG]



Here are mine:

Pretty Things- Emotions
Pretty Things seems to be a popular UK beat band. I'll just say the usual thing that they have been discussed here before and move on. It was priced 2 LPs for one
Euro because everything was supposed to be water damaged. This one wasnt.


Golden Folk Album Vol.2
Next is a Korean compilation (?) on Sung Eum . From needle dropping I'd say this is a onetracker but a very good garagey psychy onetracker at that.
Has this been posted recently? The cover looked familiar when I pulled it out.

Peter Thomas- Raumpatroille

I never bothered to pick up the Lp because I was sick of the title track that got play in every bar with coloured light bulbs since the 90s easy revival. Anyway it does have a few gems like this:

Hometown Hero OST

So far my favourite of the lot. I was expecting a lush orchestral score to an erotic movie going from the cover (all written in Korean with the only track in english being called Wedding March). Boy was I wrong. Completely bonkers instrumental music with synthesizers and drums heavy in the mix. Very solid listen throughout. Picking up random crap still pays off.
Not really the best tracks in this video but the best I could find. Apparently it was issued with 2-3 different covers I guess because of the explicit nature on my version.

Unknown Mix- Loops


This looks like a early 2000 electro 12 inch but it isnt. Metronomic tapeloops and Damo Suzuki style shouting with a few blips and bleeps thrown in for good measure. From Switzerland 1985.

The small ones:

I dik dik, little Tony, The Boston Matadors, and Casey Jones are the kind of thing you'd expect from a 60s Dj earlier in the set probably. All from the same box that was mostly filled with Jugoton releases of Western Music like the Rolling Stones and thing like that. Very bizarre to see so many familiar covers with slight differences. I arrived very late so I can only wonder what treasures might have been there earlier.

[eclipsechaser]

Looks like your going to need a lot of PVA glue there Phil mate!

Lucky enough to have an Okki mate but still takes for ages. Covered about 45 so far. Its gonna take me all summer I reckon.

[eclipsechaser]

Lucky enough to have an Okki mate but still takes for ages. Covered about 45 so far. Its gonna take me all summer I reckon.

although I would say they do require a LOT of cleaning. Lots covered in rubble and sticky stuff like old stickers.

[amidar]

Pretty much rained out on the car boot front this morning but I did visit one that was indoors although records were thin on the ground. I did pick up some half decent PA speakers though and these:





Some Mike Post action on MFP and typically bonkers Peter Hammill album from 79.