Playlist

11-30-07 Playlist

Since starting on my “Cassette Project” – one thing I haven’t been doing is generating a lot of playlists lately. The other night, I set out to make one super good side of a C-100 high bias Maxell XL-II-S cassette (but editing it on an MD). The program is something like 49:30, so it should fit with ease. All tracks (except Fay L.) from original vinyl. (not the cassette pictured)

ROBERT FRIPP – Breathless (from “Exposure”)

DAVID BOWIE – The Secret Life of Arabia (from “Heroes”)

PETER GABRIEL – Exposure (from “Peter Gabriel II”)

XTC – Super-Tuff (from “Go 2”)

ROBERT FRIPP / THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN – Inductive Resonance (from “The League of Gentlemen”)

BARRY ANDREWS – Mousetrap (single)

THE STRANGLERS – The Meninblack (Waiting for ‘em) (single)

GANG OF FOUR – Cheeseburger (Live) (from “Another Day, Another Dollar”)

BLANCMANGE – The Day Before You Came (single)

THE NITS – Nescio (from “Omsk”)

DALEK I – Eight Track (from “Cum-pass”)

JANSEN & BARBIERI – Mission (from “Worlds In A Small Room”)

FAY LOVSKY – Makassar (from “Jopo In Mono”)

With the exception of the Fay Lovsky track, I tried to pick cuts that I either never used or hadn’t used in ages – for a “Various Artist” tape/MD. I frequently use “Makassar” to add 1:17 to anything.

I recently got the 2CD of “Exposure” by Robert Fripp – hence some of that turning up here – I will write about Mr. Fripp early in 2008. Mr. Fripp is the guitarist on the David Bowie cut, and he produced the Peter Gabriel cut. Barry Andrews was XTC’s keyboard player on their first two albums – and he also worked as a solo act and for Mr. Fripp.

The cassette side was dubbed in real time – alas, with “auto record level”; Dolby C.

It's raining!

Fred Chichin

I just heard that Fred Chichin from Les Rita Mitsouko has died. As readers of this blog will know, I was a big fan of this band. I saw them live in L.A., and I have all of their LP/CD's and lots of videos. Great band. Salut, Fred.

We all send our very best regards to Catherine Ringer.

- Ron

Lenny Bruce

11-29-07 Lenny Bruce

(Re-run from August ’02)

I don’t remember how I got turned on to Lenny Bruce, but it was in the very early 1970’s. Probably, when I first heard him, I had very little idea about his ‘notoriousness’. I just knew he sounded extra sharp. I probably didn’t even know he was dead. His book, “How To Talk Dirty and Influence People” affected me greatly when I first read it – even if I didn’t understand it completely! He was definitely the first person I’d ever heard of who offended people.

This particular album ("The Real Lenny Bruce") was only the 2^nd or 3^rd ‘collection’ of Mr. Bruce’s work. I believe it has some material not available elsewhere. It also has a nice ‘jail cell’ poster of Lenny in it, as well as some nice long liner notes (Ralph J. Gleason, perhaps?). This is probably the best of the ‘collection’ LP’s of his work, as it’s a double! As I recall, it was given to me from somebody at a radio station here in Long Beach, as they were unable (or unwilling) to give air time to anything on it.

For my money, Lenny is still the coolest of the stand up ‘comedians’. There’s no denying he spawned a tide of imitators, none of whom are anywhere nearly as entertaining to listen to. Lenny is as close as comedy ever got to jazz, in my humble opinion. Later in life, his ‘comedy’ turned very political in nature – some of it on disc is a little difficult to follow, unless you’re familiar with the times (the early-to-mid 1960’s). For most of his work, his playful use of the English language is sheer entertainment…or education. Not everything he did was comedy.

I wonder how his stuff would look in translation? It would probably lose a lot. I never saw the bio-pic of Lenny Bruce with Dustin Hoffman, but there’s no way anyone else could ever harness his zeitgeist effectively, I suspect.

If you are not familiar with any of Mr. Bruce’s work, I would suggest getting either of the Fantasy Records CD collections, “Originals” (Volumes 1 or 2), or try finding some of his original red vinyl Fantasy LP’s, notably “The Sick Humor Of Lenny Bruce” (which also has one of the most classic ‘bad taste’ LP covers of all time – Lenny having a picnic in a cemetery!).

For deeper ‘study’, try one of his complete shows on CD or LP, such as “The Berkeley Concert” or “Live At The Curran Theatre”.

2007 addendum: The 6CD boxed set that was released in ’04 “Let The Buyer Beware” is excellent, just amazing. Time has done nothing to dim Mr. Bruce’s irreverent humor. Too bad he was ‘too early’ – as so many others have made much better livings than he ever did – off of stuff he was nearly crucified for, in the 60’s. And to this I must add, please try and find a copy of his book, “How To Talk Dirty and Influence People”. The older I get, the more I understand it.

Robert Wyatt

11-28-07 Robert Wyatt

LP 1982 - 1984 ROUGH TR JPN 25RTL-20

12" ANIMALS FILM, THE ROUGH TR UK ROUGH 40

12" ARAUCO ROUGH TR DE 6005 139

7" ARAUCO / CAIMANERA ROUGH TR UK RT 037

7" AT LAST I AM FREE / STRANGE FRUIT ROUGH TR UK RT 052

CDx2 CUCKOOLAND VIDEOARTS JPN VACK-1269

CD DONDESTAN RHINO US R2 79469

CD END OF AN EAR, THE COLUMBIA FR 473005.2

LP END OF AN EAR, THE CBS UK 64189

CD FLOTSAM & JETSAM (Collection) ROUGH TR UK R3112

CDx2 GOING BACK A BIT (Collection) VIRGIN UNI UK CDVDM 9031

7" GRASS / TRADE UNION ROUGH TR UK RT 081

7" I'M A BELIEVER / MEMORIES VIRGIN UK VS 114

12" LAST NIGHTENGALE, THE RE UK RE 1984

CD LATE 70's - EARLY 80's JAPAN RECORD 32JC-109

CD MID EIGHTIES RHINO US R2 79488

LP NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW ROADRUNNER NL RR 9983

CD OLD ROTTENHAT ROUGH TR UK ROUGHCD 69

CD5 PEEL SESSIONS, THE STRANGE FR UK SFPSCD 037

CD5 POSTCARDS FROM ITALY SONIC BOOK 266526

LP ROCK BOTTOM VIRGIN UK V 2017

CD ROCK BOTTOM VIDEOARTS JPN VACK-1225

LP RUTH IS STRANGER THAN RICHARD VIRGIN UK V 2034

CD RUTH IS STRANGER THAN RICHARD VIDEOARTS JPN VACK-1226

7" SHIPBUILDING / MEMORIES OF YOU ROUGH TR UK RT 115

CD SHLEEP THIRSTY EAR THI 57040.2

CD5 SHORT BREAK, A BLUEPRINT UK BP108CD

CD SOLAR FLARES BURN FOR YOU CUNIEFORM US RUNE 175

7" STALIN WASN'T STALLING / STALINGRAD ROUGH TR UK RT 046

CD THEATRE ROYAL DRURY LANE (Live) HANNIBAL US HNCD 1507

7" WIND OF CHANGE, THE (Swapo Singers) ROUGH TR UK RT 168

12" WORK IN PROGRESS ROUGH TR UK RTT 149

7" YESTERDAY MAN / SONIA VIRGIN UK VS 115

I am by no means a completist with the works of Mr. Wyatt, particularly after it became difficult to follow in the 80’s. But I am a big fan. I am anticipating his new album, “Comicopera”, which I have yet to hear. I greatly enjoyed his 2003 “Cuckooland” album. This list should also include his works with Soft Machine (the first 4 albums) and Matching Mole (both albums), but it doesn’t. Surprisingly, some of the collections here are very good – notably “Flotsam & Jetsam” and “Going Back A Bit”. I am also very fond of the many cameo appearances Mr. Wyatt has made on a variety of artists records – thing like the “Fictitious Sports” album by Nick Mason (who also produced his magnificent “Rock Bottom” album) and “The Hapless Child” by Michael Mantler.

He’s sometimes called “The saddest voice on Earth” – but I have never particularly found him to sound ‘sad’. I like ‘em all, but if I had to pick one, it’d be “Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard”.

The Cassette Project

11-27-07 The Cassette Project

Recently, I did a “Cassette Project” – I had a large number of used blank cassettes and I wanted to make them look beautiful, as I put new stuff on ‘em. I went to a paper wholesaler and bought one sheet each of two dozen “Astrobrights” (two different paper companies, even!) – so I could re-wrap the cassettes with beautiful colors. A cassette inlay card is 4” x 3 ¾”, so I can cut the paper on my Rotatrim easily. I used to cut pictures out of magazines and use them for cassette inlay cards. The tapes I am currently working with were left by my GF’s mother’s old “jazz” boyfriend. He was a cassette nut – and he used to keep his cassette stash in my GF’s mother’s garage – which we cleaned out, about two or three years ago.

Onto these many cassettes I am dubbing “various artist” Sony Mini-discs; One odd thing – most of these cassettes are either 60 or 90 minutes. The Mini-discs are either 74 or 80 minutes (their time doubles when recorded in MDLP2) – either way, MD’s and cassette lengths do not always line up! Also, TDK & Sony cassettes have a standard sized plastic cassette box, and Fuji cassettes have a slim-line box – but I haven’t bothered to change the size of my cutting template.

The cassettes are destined for a friend that has a car with an in-dash cassette deck. He is someone with a fairly large musical frame or reference, so I am not afraid that my assorted musical choices will completely confound him. Sure, there will be some ‘familiar’ stuff on those collections, but there should also be some “new music” for him. He’s got a bit of a drive each day to and from his work, so these tapes should come in handy.

Over the years, I have had several commutes and for most of them, cassettes were a very important part. I only replaced my car’s cassette deck with an in-dash Sony Mini-Disc player when my in-dash cassette deck finally bit the dust. Too bad Sony isn’t supporting the MD format. The only “commute” I really have these days is my weekly drive to L.A. to my GF’s house in Friday ‘rush hour’ traffic (and the mellow drive home, on Sunday evening). I enjoy having a large selection of music available to me in my car. I have not really considered getting satellite radio – my MD deck does the trick just fine.

But I have no trouble remembering ‘how to do’ cassettes – and I am happy to help my friend with the in-dash cassette unit. There’s always the quandary: Dolby B or Dolby C? The last Sony cassette home deck I bought has ‘auto’ bias settings, so no setting it wrong for better high-end frequency response. The cassette deck ‘flips’ the tape for me, too – so I can set an MD to dub to cassette when I leave for work in the morning.

Somehow burning CD’s isn’t quite the same as making a cassette – even if it is a cassette being made from a Mini-disc. I guess I spent so many years (from roughly 1970 to 1999) using cassettes that I got really used to ‘em. Ah, the humble Philips Compact Cassette. The French refer to them as “K7” (lit. ‘ka-sept’).

Jet, Radio Stars & Andy Ellison

11-26-07 Jet, The Radio Stars & Andy Ellison

Nothing like finding a favorite old record after nearly 30 years! A while back, I found a beautiful copy of the self-titled LP by the British group Jet from 1976 at a swap meet for $2. Having been a sucker for British 70’s glam rock since ’03, I naturally became enamored of this fine LP. I recognized singer Andy Ellison’s name from him having had a solo 45 on Track Record in England (I am a compulsive discographist of Track Records). Also in Jet was guitarist Davy O’List who used to play in The Nice with Keith Emerson. He didn’t make it past their self-titled LP. It’s neither fish nor fowl – glam rock? Punk rock? Wrockrock?

Going back ages and ages – Andy Ellison comes from the group John’s Children – who infamously included Marc Bolan as a one-time member. Aargh – the John’s Children ‘real 60’s’ album “Orgasm” isn’t very good, readers.

Jet transmogrified into The Radio Stars, who made two amusing ‘polished punk rock’ LP’s towards the end of the 70’s, “Songs For Swinging Lovers” and “Holiday Album”. They sound almost exactly like Jet. “Macaroni ‘N’ Mice”! “The Beast of Barnsley”!

The bassist for both Jet and The Radio Stars is Martin Gordon, a former member of the anglo-l.a. poseur band Sparks. To be fair, Gordon wrote most of the material for both groups. It must be said that Andy Ellison was / is a very amusing vocalist – the only singer I can even think of comparing him to is the guy who sang for Punishment of Luxury (was it Brian Bond?). No, I was never much of a Sparks fan, sorry. (I would be curious to hear any of their work with Martin Gordon, however.)

So whether you want to wear your glam rock platforms or have your spiky punk hair, both Jet and The Radio Stars have some top quality British entertainment for you to behold! I found a CD of “Songs For Swinging Lovers”, and all of the original LP’s – but I cannot tell which of the assorted Jet CD’s contains their CBS album – and it doesn’t help matters that there is a recent British band also called Jet – gee, I wonder if anyone got paid for the use of the name?

As far as I know, just about everyone involved is still alive. I always hate it when you hear something interesting, and when you go to look it up in Google, you find that assorted members of any given band have died (and you never knew about it). (I recently looked up The Mothmen, and discovered that one of them was murdered!)

All hail Andy Ellison, Jet and The Radio Stars!

Viva Las Vegas!

11-22-07 Las Vegas

I recently visited Las Vegas, and saw that yet another indie record store has closed: Big B’s on Maryland Pkwy. I had been patronizing this store for nearly a decade, whenever I visited Las Vegas. Sorry to see it go, they always had a great selection of used LP’s and CD’s. Looks like the only player in L.V. these days is Arizona transplant Zia Records, on Eastern Ave. – absolutely huge inventory of new / used CD’s – but after looking through their A-Z, I felt like it could’ve been curated a little more carefully. There was plenty of stuff clogging up the A-Z that belonged in a “99 cent” bin. But – no complaints – I bought stuff, the staff was OK with an old guy like myself etc. Apart from this place the only other place locally that folks in L.V. can buy new CD’s is at one of the 3 “F.Y.E.” ( = “The Wherehouse” ) locations.

I also visited one of the few remaining Record City locations (on Sahara, the one in the strip mall, not the weird one in the little house). I remember when they had 5 or 6 stores in L.V.! And having been a visitor to Las Vegas for several decades, I remember fondly the Tower Records on Maryland Pkwy., Benway Records (also Maryland Pkwy.; I hear their Santa Monica location recently closed, too), J-Mar (at two different locations, at the intersection of Sahara and Maryland Pkwy.), the great big 24-hour Wherehouse on Las Vegas Blvd., the Second Spin (on Tropicana; they’re still in the phone book, however), The Underground on Twain etc. Now we have to add Big B’s to this list – in two different locations, both on Maryland Pkwy.

While we did not attend The Beatles “Love” show at The Mirage – we did go to the gift shop. I was surprised that they were selling the Dutch 2LP set of “Love” for $50! We bought some refrigerator magnets, a pair of socks etc. We wanted to go in the Revolution Lounge – but it was not open for business the days we were there.

And just like our last trip back from San Francisco, we had help from Harry Shearer, in the form of the conclusion (the 2^nd 2 x CD’s) of his audio book “Not Enough Indians”. We drove to L.V. with a 160 minute V.A. MD of British 60’s artists – around town, we had yet another 160 minute V.A. MD – but this one was from the Rhino Records “In Yo’ Face” series – FUNK!

We had drinks at a place near downtown called “The Art Bar” – maybe it was that it was a rainy Sunday night, but there wasn’t a lot going on in there – and no draft beer available, and lousy classic rock on the FM radio. I got nervous when I looked in and saw a chrome poll – “When’s the burlesque start?”, I thought.

Best restaurant food: “Origin India” on Paradise Rd.; Best drinks: $3 draft beers at “Main Street Station” downtown. Best shopping: a tie between “The Fashion Show” and the shops in what is now called “The Miracle Mile” (formerly the Aladdin Hotel’s “Desert Passage”, currently attached to the Planet Hollywood complex). Best burger: still goes to the “Burger Bar”, in the walkway between the Mandalay Bay and The Luxor. Viva Las Vegas!

Hall(s) of Fame

11-21-07 Hall of Fame

Or perhaps “Halls Of Fame”? I have way too many phonograph records and compact discs. It is beyond good or evil. I am not interested in dumping everything to an iPod and selling off the artifacts. I am rather fond of my artifacts. I distinctly think I could be interested in finding a Sony hard-drive unit (an obsolete piece of high end stereo equipment) to accommodate LP’s or CD’s where I only want to retain an individual track or something.

A few weeks ago, I whittled my “Want List” down to a single page of mostly CD titles. I figure by now – the LP’s I want are rather difficult to find, and I’ll know ‘em when I see ‘em. I will seriously be thinking about what to take to Amoeba Records San Francisco in a couple of weeks – I love turning unwanted items into a big ol’ credit slip.

I have five large structures that are filled with LP’s, and there are plenty of boxes on the floor in 2 or 3 rooms. About 3,000 of my CD’s have been put in ‘library envelopes’ – with the back-plates filed elsewhere – and just about as many in an assortment of boxes, some labeled, some not.

It is always fun to think about assembling an “ultimate collection”. In a perfect world, you would have an original LP and a compact disc of each title you are interested in – the preferred LP’s being original pressings from the country the artist is from and the preferred CD’s being Japanese little paper album cover ( = kami sleeves) CD’s that perfectly replicate the original LP sleeve, CD-sized – preferably with bonus tracks.

If I could take over a 4^th room in my home, I would love to have a set of shelves built that would theoretically accommodate my “Perfect Collection” – believe me, not everything from my ‘first’ collection would make it to this theoretical collection! A little at a time, I would move some stuff from my ‘first collection’ into the “Perfect Collection” – with the idea being that you would only want “re-mastered” CD’s (when available) or original pressing LP’s…or both.

Being a 20^th century music kind of guy – I deeply love looking at LP sleeves, discerning all the visual clues that artists provide to help better understand their work – whether it be unusual text or other visual stimuli. I always hated it when CD’s did away with any part of the original vinyl packaging. It is truly humbling to see how nicely the Japanese reproduce CD-sized versions of LP packagings, leaving nothing out – although sometimes, the printing is tiny and very difficult to read.

So, I assemble my “Perfect Collection” – and begin to look for the holes – what got lost that I really want from the first collection? If I sell stuff off, will I regret it? Of course! The whole reason I started buying LP’s again (over a decade ago now) was that I wanted some info that was in the liner notes of “Home” by Procol Harum – and I no longer owned an LP of it. It broke my heart.

Wallach's Music City

11-19-07 Wallach’s Music City

My 87-year-old mother recently found the pictured bag in the closet in her bedroom. The receipt inside dates it July 19, 1965. $1.29 – must’ve been an EP!

Hollywood (Sunset & Vine), Lakewood (Lakewood Center), Buena Park (Buena park Center), Torrance (Hawthorne & Artesia), Canoga Park (Topanga Plaza), West Covina (Eastland Center), Costa Mesa (South Coast Plaza) and El Toro (Saddleback Valley Plaza). Because of my locale, I naturally frequented the Lakewood store – but I think I went to each and every other Wallach’s, with the possible exception of El Toro – I do not remember ever going to that one. However, I certainly remember the Tower Records in El Toro (both of ‘em!).

Sadly, a Wherehouse (now called F.Y.E. = ‘For Your Entertainment’) now stands where the Lakewood and Torrance Wallach’s stores once stood. Amoeba Hollywood is near where the Hollywood Wallach’s was – Amoeba @ Cahuenga, Wallach’s at Vine – on Sunset Blvd. I certainly remember the display window of the Hollywood Wallach’s – all made up for “Magical Mystery Tour”!

Wallach’s had little booths where one could ‘audition’ promo copies of LP’s – the sight of a white label “Fresh Cream” is forever burned into my memory – straining to try and hear “Toad” in that little booth! You had to walk through a turnstile to get into the row of booths. Probably, they wouldn’t let kids in on their own – I bet I went with my dad. Which are the ‘rock’ records, dad?

I learned what King Crimson was in a Wallach’s Music City. I had the temerity to buy 2 different Elvis Presley EP’s from Wallach’s – long ago enough that one could still find EP’s stocked, for sale. And I remember when they did away with the booths – I was likely already going to hippie record stores by that time. If one went to Licorice Pizza, Platterpuss, The Phineas, Mundae, Lewin’s Record Paradise, The Psychedelic Supermarket, Poo Bah’s (which is still in biz, folks!)…you didn’t have to sift through easy listening or classical LP’s, like you did at Wallach’s. Wallach’s also sold sheet music – remember sheet music? Apparently, at the start of the previous century, the music business was driven by the sales of sheet music – and now people barely even know what that is / was.

I still have my Spike Jones and Beatles records I bought at Wallach’s Music City. And certainly my Elvis EP’s (“Shake, Rattle & Roll” etc). And a couple of Coasters 45’s (“Run Red Run”). Ooh, let’s ‘special order’ “The Ballad of Thunder Road” by Robert Mitchum! Or “Twine Time” by Alvin Cash & The Crawlers. Or “Telstar” by The Tornados. I remember that “Abbey Road” came out in September of 1969 and they it was a dollar more than all of the other LP’s around at that time. How come? It wasn’t any ‘longer’ – and it certainly wasn’t a ‘special’ package. Oh, it’s The Beatles – and it’s a dollar more because it can be a dollar more – and people will still buy it.

Train of Thought

11-15-07 Back to Monday’s / Tueday’s Train of Thought

OK, just trying to wrap my head around my perfect collection of 18,250 titles – for my 50^th birthday next August. In Portland, OR. Does it throw the whole thing off if I buy, like, 40 CD’s on that trip?

A while back – in a fit of Eternal Cosmic Boredom – I thought I was going to hand-write an encyclopedia of 20^th century music. I bought a nice blank book (made in Germany) in Toronto, and commenced the project – but only got as far as…well, the Eternal Cosmic Boredom subsided. Now I’m using this lovely blank book as a journal, but I’m also drawing in it.

It would be much better to write a themed book, rather than an encyclopedia, wouldn’t it? But how much call is there for the topics on which I feel I am qualified to write about? “The History of New Zealand 80’s New Wave”, “Les Francais – Les Annees FM” ( = The French, 80’s New Wave”), “Toshio Nakanishi – Annotated Discography”, “Wayne Cochran & The C.C. Riders – Annotated Discography”, “Track Record U.K. – Annotated Discography” etc.

I could write all of those books. And I would want to. Silly as that may be.

“Redemption Through Music” is what my autobiography should be called. Not that I feel even the slightest bit ‘redeemed’. Grumble, grumble – “I gave the music business the best Goddamn 20 years of my life!” etc. And I wouldn’t want to talk about the music business per se – more like ‘my life, as dictated by music’. My rambling infatuous hallucinations have entranced blog readers since ’02 – even if I do tend to repeat myself every now and again. But do we smell ‘book’ here?

I am so old fashioned. Mr. 21^st century schizoid man wants a book. I made LP’s in the 70’s and 80’s, even got a (real) CD made of “horNetZ”…but the ‘collected writings’ are, at present…uncollected. All those magazine / newspaper articles, liner notes, discographies…

Whine whine whine – get out of your lazy bed and write about music again, you bloody fool !! ~

OK, sorry.

For tomorrow, I’ll try to cook something up that’s easier on the eyes / brain. I am not always my most inspired, sitting at my desk at work – where I write most of this shit. The smallest tangent pulls me every which way…

Happy Birthday!

11-14-07 Happy Birthday

Today is my GF’s birthday. She doesn’t usually read this blog, so I can say whatever I want to. In January, we will have been together for 10 years. How time flies!

Shortly after we got together, she turned me on to Tortoise, the Chicago-based instrumental band. I told her they sounded like This Heat or Hatfield & The North – she was not familiar with either artist. That’s OK.

She listens to more “new music” than I do – so it’s because of her that I am familiar with Tahiti 80, LCD Soundsystem etc. – artists that I really like! She is also very helpful to me by finding stuff I am looking for, on my behalf, in the record stores of the world.

And she is the most patient woman on Earth, as far as I am concerned. She went with me to “Progfest” a few years ago, so I could catch up with old friend Aad Link (the manager / tour manager of Supersister). She just loved that finally she was at a concert where there was a line for the men’s room – but not for the ladies’ room!

I believe Charlie Watts (or Bill Wyman) of The Rolling Stones once said something to the effect of “25 years of rock & roll is 20 years of waiting around”. Nobody knows this better than my GF. Record Surplus in Los Angeles is a superlative record store – it has public restrooms, but – alas – nowhere for the patient GF to sit as I endlessly rummage through the $1 bins upstairs. Damn it, there needs to be more chairs in record stores! (To attempt to be egalitarian, I am very patient with her in rubber stamp / paper stores – which seldom have restrooms or chairs – for male patrons).

So, what can I say? She’s fair, compassionate, funny, a good sport, she likes to walk, she can sing, she’s great with a yo-yo – in short, she’s wonderful. To me. And that’s what counts (to me).

I said “good sport” – sometimes we spend Sunday mornings watching DVD’s of “Countdown”, the Australian 70’s music TV show. She eventually came around to liking Ian “Molly” Meldrum – I didn’t put (very much) any spin on it, Molly was taken at face value. I wonder how much Garry McDonald / Norman Gunston she could take? (I’ve taken her to see Barry Humphries several times, I might add).

I’ve used my ‘special record collector powers” on her behalf – doing my best to find her every Connie Francis and Elvis Costello record on Earth. We’ve hit the glass ceiling with Connie – all that we’re missing are the original 50’s and 60’s 45 picture sleeves, er, with about a million of them around at $12 - $25 a pop. So, we’re not necessarily going to go there. I even made her an Elvis “list” (for the Palm M125), trying to cut down on accidental unnecessary duplications.

So, happy birthday, sweetie! Thanks for a groovy almost 10 years. I hope you have a nice day today. Love, Ron

Playlist

For 'Peanut' Anderson:

1) THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND – Nightmare City

2) STREETWALKERS – Chili-Con-Carne

3) THE STEVE GIBBONS BAND – Somebody Stole My Synthesizer

4) STEVE HILLAGE – Hello Dawn

5) BE-BOP DELUXE – Blue As A Jewel

6) STEVE HACKETT – Hackett To Pieces

7) GLENN PHILLIPS – Creeper

8) ALAN PRICE – The Thrill

9) KRAZY KAT – Rock Of Ages

10) THE MOVIES – Living The Life

11) PHIL MANZANERA – Initial Speed

12) RADIO STARS – Horrible Breath

13) MADNESS – The Young and The Old

14) DEPARTMENT S – Monte Carlo Or Bust

15) FAMILY – Burlesque

16) PYLON – Volume

17) JOHN OTWAY & WILD WILLY BARRETT – Schnot

18) THE MOTHMEN – Thank You I Like It

19) GANG OF FOUR – Why Theory?

20) THE STRANGLERS – Go Buddy Go

21) LUXURIA – Pound

22) CHRIS SPEDDING – Boogie City

23) BRIAN PROTHEROE – Lady Belladonna

18,250

11-13-07 18,250

If I had a record for every day alive, at age 50, I would only have 18,250 records. The “Big List” as of Nov. 1, 2007 was 21,154 – and I don’t turn 50 until next August! That’s roughly 1.16 records for each day alive. Or thereabouts. By the time I turn 50, I would like nothing more than to whittle my collection down to 18,250 titles – lose that excess 2,904 titles! Can I do it? Yeah, probably. And I want to! (21,185 as of 11-13-07)

I could definitely get rid of a lot of titles that I obtained for one reason or another – that I do not seem to ever get around to playing – “I always wondered what this was and it’s only $1” type stuff. Some of them got played, others not. And I really only want to keep vintage easy listening albums that have amusing cover versions.

But what if your task was to try and find a record / CD to buy each and every day of your life? Could you really find something each day, week after week, month after month, year after year? I didn’t buy them “on schedule”, but it looks like I’ve managed approx. 1.16 records per day – and my memory floods with days that I bought hundreds of records. Hundreds!

In 1987, I visited Australia for the first time – my friends took me to a famous used record store somewhat outside of the city – we were on our way to Healsville, the place with the famous animal sanctuary (where they have actually bred a platypus before). Long story short: I got to the aforementioned record store about an hour before it closed. I was in heaven – the Aussie dollar permitted me to buy whatever I wanted (it’s a fair bit stronger against the US dollar these days). But the store’s Saturday closing time came, and the guy wouldn’t even let me finish looking through his inventory – I only got to “S”, before he made me stop. I can only remember thinking, “If this bastard would only let me finish looking at the A-Z, I bet I he would earn another A$100 off of me!”. He tossed me out, I never got to go back and look at “T – Z”.

Recently in Japan, I found a new ‘secret spot’ – they had exactly what I wanted, and it was all at very good prices (mostly little paper album cover ‘kami’ sleeve CD’s). I made it in about an hour before closing, and I went nuts in 2 of their 3 stores – and, bless her, my GF took a photo of the staff waiting patiently for me to finish, out in the hallway. At some point, I believe the patient staff informed me – in Japanese – that it was closing time and would I please bring my intended purchases up to the counter, please. “Yes, yes, yes”, I thought – and I really did hurry. They made about another JPY 10,000 (US$83, then) for every additional 30 seconds they let me look. As my friend Joe says, my money (cash) ran out before my interest did.

I could occupy myself with continuing to try to keep buying a title each day I am alive – but I feel equally compelled to try and cut back the collection down to the 18,250 mark – by the time I turn 50 next August.

(insert title here)

11-12-07 ( insert title here )

Believe it or not, I have actually started pulling titles out of my permanent collection (i.e. my list). I have often joked with myself, thinking “I can only buy a new title if I get rid of something already in the collection”. I do not really want the list to get any bigger than it already is. As I approached 20,000 titles, I definitely remember thinking “No more after 20,000” – but it only took a short while before I noticed the list being at 21,156. If I keep ‘pulling’ titles, can I get it back down to 20,000 without feeling too much compromise? First record to go under this new scrutiny is a 12” by an Australian band called 1927, from 1989. I got it because it is produced by Charles Fischer, a guy who had worked with Dave Dobbyn. But – if it ever existed – I never got their album, LP or CD. So, a one-off 12”, taking up a place on my list and some valuable shelf space in “Australia” – out of there! No, it likely isn’t of interest to anyone – and may just end up getting traded in with a large box of assorted vinyl to Amoeba San Francisco, when I go at Xmas.

Usually, when I go through my list, attempting to theoretically eliminate ‘duplicate’ titles (as in, when I have multiple pressings of a title) – I can usually whittle several thousand titles off of the total (not to say anything about format repetitions!). Even when I was selling off LP’s to buy CD’s, I never touched my 7” 45rpm collection very much – for another thing, there hasn’t really been anyplace ‘good’ in L.A. to sell 45’s – other than at the swap meet.

The big drive to get more vinyl started about 10 years ago. I consider my turning point (away from CD’s) when I wanted to look closely at the credit of “Home” by Procol Harum, and I discovered that the CD issue I had at the time literally ‘had no credits’… and when I went to get my trusty LP of it – it was gone!

In the last decade, I have taken on a few artists to collect that I never used to collect – The Monochrome Set, Yello, Cat Stevens, Paul McCartney etc. Particularly in the case of Yello, I have been able to find tons of stuff – Sir Paul has many more titles than Yello, but I seem less inclined to collect his ‘peripherals’ (read: variant pressings). I am always amused when I find an LP that has been on my ‘want list’ a long time – like since the 70’s!

To keep myself amused, I have been visiting a somewhat ‘guilty pleasure’ – playing Side 2 of albums that I usually only ever played Side 1! One such album is “Listen Now” by Phil Manzanera & 801 – I have loved Side 1 ever since the album came out 30 years ago, but…never got around to Side 2 until last week! Are there any records like that for you? I know with CD’s there’s no excuse to not listen to all of the album – but with LP’s – you had to flip the damned thing over! So, it’s like getting more of a favorite album after a long time – like bonus tracks, only better!

What should I get rid of? One of my 15 different copies of “We’re Only In It For The Money” by Frank Zappa or some more one-offs that didn’t lead anywhere? How to decide…eh, readers?

Peter Gabriel

11-9-07 Peter Gabriel

12" BIKO CHARISMA UK CB 370-12

CD BIRDY GEFFEN US GEFD-24070

7" D.I.Y. / MOTHER OF VIOLENCE / TEDDY BEAR CHARISMA UK CB 319

7" D.I.Y. / PERSPECTIVE CHARISMA IRL CB 311

12" DON'T GIVE UP (with Kate Bush) CHARISMA UK PGS 212

LP EIN DEUTSCHES ALBUM CHARISMA DE 6302 035

12" I DON'T REMEMBER CHARISMA UK GAB 12

7" MODERN LOVE / SLOWBURN CHARISMA UK CB 302

CD PASSION GEFFEN US 24206.2

LPx2 PASSION GEFFEN US GHS 24206

LP PETER GABRIEL (1st album) CHARISMA UK CDS 4006

CD PETER GABRIEL (1st album) re GEFFEN US 493299.2

LP PETER GABRIEL (2nd album) CHARISMA UK CDS 4013

CD PETER GABRIEL (2nd album) re GEFFEN US 493300.2

LP PETER GABRIEL (3rd album) GEFFEN US GHS 2035

LP PETER GABRIEL (4th album) GEFFEN US GHS 2011

LPx2 PLAYS LIVE GEFFEN US 2GHS 4012

CD SHAKING THE TREE - 16 GOLDEN GREATS GEFFEN US 24326.2

12" SHOCK THE MONKEY CHARISMA UK SHOCK 12

12" SLEDGEHAMMER CHARISMA UK PGS 113

7" SLEDGEHAMMER / DON'T BREAK THIS RHYTHM VIRGIN JPN 07VA-1039

LP SO GEFFEN US GHS 24088

CD3 SOLSBURY HILL VIRGIN UK CDT 33

7" SOLSBURY HILL / MORIBUND THE BURGERMEISTER CHARISMA UK CB 301

CD UP GEFFEN US 3388.2

CD US VIRGIN JPN VJCP-28147

12" WALK THROUGH THE FIRE promo ATLANTIC US PR 609

The major bone I have to pick with Peter Gabriel is that when the band Random Hold was offered to be his opening act on a U.S. tour around 1980/1 or so – Gabriel’s fans were so uninterested in them that the band broke up because of the extreme negative reaction that Gabriel’s fans exhibited.

So, it took me a few decades to get around to his recorded output – mainly starting when his LP’s began hitting the $1 bin in fairly large quantities. Except for the 2 x re-mastered CD’s I have chosen to buy, all of the other CD’s came from the $3 bin. And I pick up the singles, 7” and 12”, whenever I see UK copies inexpensively.

I always did like the first two solo albums by Peter Gabriel; I saw him live at The Roxy in L.A. in ’77. I bought his DVD of music videos. I really enjoy many titles on his Realworld label. I liked some Genesis albums at the time they were released, but did not even follow them until Gabriel left.

So, Gabriel fans – what should I listen to closely in the above list? Having recently heard “Us” & “Up” – I enjoyed some tracks on those albums. I’d like to find a CD of “Ovo”, as it didn’t even get a U.S. release. Shall I try any of his more recent live CD’s or DVD’s?