October finds 2015

[Tom B]

**sorry about the huge pictures - just switched over to Photobucket & I can't work out how to make them smaller...**

Good start to the month - I got wind of a soul 45 collection including what seems like a complete run of mint Contempo 45s. All pretty much perfect, the US singles with 25p import duty stickers on the sleeves. These are the best bits:

Melvin Bliss: Synthetic Substitution (classic break, of course)
Roscoe Thomas: American Girl (nice sunny soul track)
Funkees: Too-lay (afro funk)
Masais: Across the Tracks (JB rare groove business)

Eddie "G" Giles: While I'm Away (b-side is a good r&b dancer)
Calvin Stewart: You Turn Me On (loving this - youtube below)
Ross Carnegie & Co: Open Up Your Mind (nice slow b-side)
Great selection of James Brown 45s - original sleeves & all

Went on to SecondScene Records and picked up this longtime want - thanks Julian! Apparently the human whirlwind that is Sie Vulture was due the next day so I guess I got in just in time...



Here's a bit of a round-up from the past month or so, apologies if it goes on a bit & enjoy the vinyl pron...

Dropped in on the Bridport vinyl Saturday & scored a bunch of standards and trade fodder. A few keepers as well - surprised Mr Reza didn't snap up the first one



A few nice scores from the Little Record Shop in Crouch End:



Road trip to the east end of the UK turned up the following. The reggae 45s were the tip of a big iceberg apparently - the shop-owner had only got up to 'b' when I was there. Glenmore Brown is an absolute stormer. Hope to get back to see if he's made it further into the alphabet some time soon.

Focal Point 45 plays really well, & see nice pricing policy - doesn't sell for £50 so sod it, £5 it is... The Annie Bright has excellent backing from Hawkshaw, Cameron et al



Also made it out to West Wales last month - really sorry to see that the Tangled Parrot in Carmarthen has closed, though the owner has shifted his stock into a nearby antique market. And even worse news - Terminal Records in Haverfordwest is likely to close early next year when the delapidated shopping mall by the river is closed for renovation. They might be offered alternative space by the Council but seems unlikely. A few scores from these shops & a decent car boot:



and finally - longtime Scandinavian jazz want scored for a decent price:

[reza]

Dropped in on the Bridport vinyl Saturday & scored a bunch of standards and trade fodder. A few keepers as well - surprised Mr Reza didn't snap up the first one

Ha, well I certainly would have done except I wasn't there the last time it was on , glad you found some interesting bits
If you make it to the next one hopefully me and bacoso of OIR blog will have a table and be selling for a change

[Tom B]

Ha, well I certainly would have done except I wasn't there the last time it was on , glad you found some interesting bits
If you make it to the next one hopefully me and bacoso of OIR blog will have a table and be selling for a change

That explains it! Won't be able to make it in November but maybe one of the ones early next year

[amidar]

That Plastic sun album sounds awesome, on to the wants list, what year? recent?

[Tom B]

That Plastic sun album sounds awesome, on to the wants list, what year? recent?

Superb LP - 1970, according to Discogs

[Tom B]

Just realised this song was written by Bill Fay - it's really growing on me. If I'm honest these two facts are not totally unrelated:

[jakartajive]

Focal Point 45 plays really well, & see nice pricing policy - doesn't sell for £50 so sod it, £5 it is...
[

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jakartajive]

Just realised this song was written by Bill Fay - it's really growing on me. If I'm honest these two facts are not totally unrelated:

As I suspect you already know, the Bill Fay version surfaced on the collection of demos and the like FROM THE BOTTOM OF AN OLD GRANDFATHER CLOCK.
It's a thing of wonder.

[Tom B]

As I suspect you already know, the Bill Fay version surfaced on the collection of demos and the like FROM THE BOTTOM OF AN OLD GRANDFATHER CLOCK.
It's a thing of wonder.

Indubitably. Did he write songs for any other 60s artists? I spent a leisurely 10 minutes scouring the internet but didn't turn anything up.

[jakartajive]

Indubitably. Did he write songs for any other 60s artists? I spent a leisurely 10 minutes scouring the internet but didn't turn anything up.

There's this, which was unreleased at the time.
Don't think a Bill Fay take of it is out there anywhere (yet).
Incredible song.

[treeboy]

Nice selection Tom B. Focal Point is a bloody bargain. Lovely when it happens.

[Head Gardener]

various weekend finds, some good some bad, and some just plain evil



a couple of 12" singles took my eye, the Beat Squad below, later morphed into Acid ravers Altern 8








the debut 7" by a very young looking Kirsty MacColl, this was also issued as a picture disc







curious 7" with a school choir on one side and early 70's folk rockers group Magna Carta on the flip








my mum found this and was excited when she told me "look, it's all fully signed" but alas,
they were only pretend signatures, sorry mum - but hey, at least she tries bless her!









I have love for the early Caravan albums but have yet to check this one out





this was a nice find, an audiophile pressing in an exclusive sleeve of the Donald Fagen album
so beloved of stereo test centres, you had to buy some fancy B&W Monitor speakers to get it







this odd looking sleeve caught my eye and it wasn't until I got home I noticed the fella lurking
inside the rainbow was Jimmy Savile, someone had also tried to scribble out his face in pen!

[tjh392]

Went to Prague last weekend on my stag do and somehow managed to get a bit of time to go to looking for records. Found all of these in about 15 minutes and decided that I'd do some more on the Sunday. Turns out no antikvariáts or record shops are open on the Sunday (no surprise really!)





Managed to find a few more Mini-Jazz Klub records to add to the collection (No 1 and No 14)

[Grim Lounge Cowboy]

Francois Rabbath – “Multi-Basse”

This arrived from Japan shortly before my trip to blighty; the fruit of a trade with Plainstone.

Rabbath does double bass, solo, or pretty close to it.

I’ve got some from before this and, a couple of standouts apart, I’ve thought that his material let him down. Some of the compositions have a touch too much of the sixties, others are just unexceptional. And that is a real shame. Because time and again he generates moments of real intensity.

I’ve not seen anything to suggest what other players influenced him. Mingus? Rabbath does more arco work, though. It seems that he taught himself out of a book. Perhaps that is all there is to say. There is clearly a north-African element too, which for me brings a breath of the uncanny into it.

The key track from the earlier stuff is “Walpurgis” (Youtube).

I’ve read that for him his early work is “jazz” (his later work being ‘classical’). I’m not so sure. This isn’t classical, but it isn’t jazz either. Better just to say that by this stage the label has become moot. I can’t tell you if his technique has changed. But the material seems a little stronger, and I’m putting that down to the fact that the late sixties he have allowed him to shed whatever compositional constraints he might have had. On paper, the switch from drums to tabla looks like an unwelcome sixties cliché, but in fact it fits right in.

It all comes together in the first track, “L’Odysee D’eau”. For a short spell at the start I was thinking “whalesong” (correctly, as it happens). Next there’s a spell that for me evokes grace and strength. A sweetly mournful melodic lick. Organ in the background there, not too far away. Then, just over half way through, the percussion kicks in and raises the pace. Rabbath goes with them, tapping more into his lower registers for a propulsive riff. For me that is the cue for two to three minutes of deep indulgence. If you want a rough comparison, think of the ‘thief’ tracks from Roy Budd’s “Diamonds”. It is only rough because Budd’s work was meant to accompany a film; this is meant to stand alone. Great as Budd is, this is better. The flow is smoother and more urgent. It is less mechanistic. The high cries and warm lows of the bass draw you in more. You’ll want a bit of volume when you hear this.

And that is it at its best. “Thyossane” is the pick of the tracks on Youtube; I find the percussion slightly intrusive. I would have given “Incantation Pour Junon” priority. Maybe “Chagall De Basse” and “Horda” as well.

I believe I forgot to thank you properly for the swap, Plainstone. My apologies.

[Grim Lounge Cowboy]

Actually, the front of the sleeve says “Les Uns Par Les Autres”. The spine and the label don’t give a title. I’ve seen it referred to as “Multi–Basse”.

I’ve revised my comments several times since I first wrote them. The reason being that I keep noticing further details. I aim to leave it alone from now on.