Song I.D. Request

1-31-08 Traditional / Song I.D. Request

I also used to find out about music by reading Melody Maker, Sounds and N.M.E. – all music newspapers from England. I was never overly interested in Rolling Stone magazine – too much opinion, nothing ‘local’ etc. I did enjoy Crawdaddy – I remember a great article by William S. Burroughs called “It Belongs Probably To The Cucumbers”, an article about how mysterious voices turned up on supposedly ‘blank’ magnetic tape.

AM radio could really only yield a certain kind of result, when discovering new music – they played mostly singles. I did listen to a lot of AM radio in the 60’s – KHJ, KFWB – “Boss Radio”. By the end of the 60’s, I got on to FM radio – KABC, KMET, and our own local KNAC. Music in stereo! Laid-back (i.e. stoned) DJ’s. Things really kicked in to gear when I started staying up late – or waking up early – and spinning the FM dial!

I gave up on hippy FM forever when I discovered KPFK (90.7) about 1971 or so. There were interesting late night DJ’s, early morning comedians (!)…and The Firesign Theatre! The early Sunday morning comedians were known as “The Sunday Gummies” – guys that both played comedy records and wrote and performed their own stuff. I used to call in to their show – I mean, how many people that time of the morning called in to radio stations? (We’re talking 6:00am-ish, Sunday morning).

Somehow, I got invited up to KPFK by The Sunday Gummies (Joe Adams was the name of the nice guy that I always talked to). I was about 13 or 14 – my dad drove me from Long Beach to Lankershim Blvd. in the Cahuenga Pass, and waited patiently for me. I must have a cassette around here somewhere of my radio debut, circa ’72.

I subscribed to KPFK – for something like $12; my ‘premium’ was a giant 6’ wooden phonograph record that said, “The Firesign Theatre” on it – it had been used as a backdrop for a live performance they gave upstairs at KPFK – you can actually see part of it on the back cover of their “Not Insane” LP cover! Again, my dad (patiently) drove from Long Beach to North Hollywood – and we strapped the big record into the trunk of his car and drove home down Alameda Ave., as it proved too unstable on the freeway. I still have it! (Photo shows them standing in front of one of the giant records)

The comedy guys seemed to have decent musical taste – I believe they were who played something from “Foxtrot” by Genesis, which served as my introduction to that band. They were also very into Monty Python – years before their TV show ever appeared in the U.S.

Late nights at KPFK also (eventually) yielded Alan Watts recordings – but that’s another tale to tell. Incidentally, I have a recording of a song that I got off of KPFK that I have still never been able to identify, since approx. 1972. It’s rock music, an instrumental – about 5 or 6 minutes long – Hammond organ featured prominently (sounds a little bit like Atomic Rooster). If you think you can ID it, drop me a line. I’d be happy to send you a cassette or CD-R of the song in question.

How Did I Get The Way That I Am?

1-30-08 So, how did I get the way that I am?

My father was who first took me to record stores in the early / mid 60’s. My brother was who showed me that record collection could be fun and cool. I likely followed my brother’s lead by picking up a Schwann Record Catalog at Wallach’s Music City. Through hearing the Bee Gees and Cream on the radio, I bought LP’s on the Atco label; the inner sleeves of these LP’s had numerous little color pictures of other Atco albums – I wrote down (on a yellow legal pad) a numerical list of the titles found on the Atco inner sleeves, and used the Schwann Record Catalogs to ‘fill in the blanks’. I often sat on the floor in the living room, right in front of a color television – and did my childhood ‘research’. After figuring out all the Atco LP’s in the 33-000 series (as many as were possible), I moved on to other labels: Elektra 74000 & 75000, Deram 18000 (US), Sire SES 97000 etc.

Around 1969 or 1970 – I began writing to record companies that put their addresses on their LP’s – notably the Decca Record Company (London, England) and Island Records (London, England). Both of these companies informed me that they did not sell directly to consumers and that I would have to contact an exporter / mail-order company. Perhaps this laid the groundwork for my future employment in import / export?

With all these hand-written record catalogues – I started to want to try to find the LP’s that I had never seen before. In some cases, I could see a tiny picture of the LP cover – other times, it was merely a single line in the Schwann Record Catalog. Atco Records had some interesting (to me) titles – such as “Tom Sankey Sings Songs From The Golden Screw” and “The Best of Chickenman” – records I eventually found. I puzzled over what record came between the first album by The Doors (EKS 74007) and “Cosmic Sounds of the Zodiac” (EKS 74009) – turns out it is “Sea Drift” by The Dusk ‘Till Dawn Orchestra (EKS 74008). I don’t remember which albums on Deram intrigued me – as I somewhat easily found most all of them in used / cut-out bins, usually for under $1. And the first incarnation of Sire Records yielded some stimulating results – Twink “Think Pink” and The Deviants “Ptoof!”, for instance. I was never much interested in Sire, after they were no longer distributed by London Records.

So, I have spent a long time buying music that wasn’t being written about – anywhere that I could ever find! I learned how to scan LP covers for musicians or producers that I liked; I was able to detect patterns – even if it was only the names of the people who designed all of the record covers. Not really the most social way of collecting music – it’s not like I had any friends to whom I could say, “What obscure ways do you have of discovering new music? I look for producers, cool record cover designers and missing numbers on major label record catalogs!”. Of course, I had record collector friends when I was younger – but they weren’t maniacs, like I felt that I was. I eventually met some maniacs – and we got on like a house on fire. Were they people crazier than I was? I don’t think so. And I don’t think I’m crazy, either – I just have a really good memory for “Artist / Title / Label / Number / Sequence”. Memory! Dr. Memory!

Ever look for a record because you knew it was a missing number in a sequence?

Playlist

Playlist #108 – January 29, 2008

1) YELLO – Unbelievable (Ford’s Edit)

2) STEPPENWOLF – Screaming Night Hog

3) IT BITES – Calling All The Heroes (Edit)

4) THE SKIDS – Goodbye Civillian

5) THE GLASS BOTTLE – Wonderwheel (from "The People next Door")

6) BUD FREEMAN – The Eel’s Nephew (Jazz)

7) ROXY MUSIC – Would You Believe?

8) THE STRANGLERS – Curfew

9) ARTHUR BROWN’S KINGDOM COME – Superficial Roadblocks

10) SKIN ALLEY – Living In Sin

11) HAWKWIND – Hurry On Sundown

12) RINGO STARR – Out On The Streets

13) DAEVID ALLEN / NEW YORK GONG – Materialism (Bill Laswell '79)

14) BRITISH LIONS – Fork Talking Man (ex-MTH)

15) THE PARAMOUNTS – It Won’t Be Long (Procol Harum '64)

16) THE ROLLING STONES – Poison Ivy

17) THE COASTERS – Lady Like

18) BOB DYLAN – On A Night Like This

19) JACKIE LOMAX – Fine Lines

20) 10cc – Iceberg

'To Be Played' Stack

1-29-08 To Be Played Stack

So, it’s near the end of January – and I am having fun playing a lot of music that I already own. Can you dig it? OK, so I bought a ton of CD’s in December 2007…and I presently have credit slips for several record stores in L.A. – and more boxes of LP’s & CD’s all ready to trade in. Is it possible to completely stop buying new music titles?

I’d like to think it isn’t. But – it is definitely possible for lots of other stuff to get into your path: I’ve had 2 ‘colds’ lately, and that makes me less likely to go out shopping on the weekends; I’ve also been caring for my elderly mother. To stay entertained, I close my eyes, stick my hand into the vast wall of envelope’d CD’s and pull out a random title and give it a spin – usually while lying in bed and reading (before falling asleep). Heard some great stuff lately, and at the beginning of February, I’ll post a list of all of the full-length titles I have listened to in January 2008. It’s at a rate of ‘more than one title per day’ at this point (as in, some days I hear 3 or 4 titles, other days = nothing). And as January dragged on, I did get more ‘new-to-me’ LP’s & CD’s.

There were times between 1976 – 1999 where I got so much new music – the mind boggles. I have often joked that my music “To Be Played” stack dates back about 20 years – but I discovered lately that I have titles from 1974/5 that I had yet to get around to. Over 30 years, waiting to be discovered! Yikes!

Yes, I can be that slovenly. New stuff comes in, gets stacked in front of stuff that was ‘new’ last week / month…to paraphrase Mr. Zappa, “A week went by, and now it’s July”. The records and CD’s got filed, entered into the big list, bagged & stored. “But how did you know if you liked it for not? You kept it for 30+ years without playing it? Are you nuts?”. Well, not exactly going to ‘give up’ on Bob Dylan – but I didn’t keep up with him, and “The Basement Tapes” took almost 33 years for me to hear / play. It’s fair to say that I often didn’t try and replace my LP of something with a CD if I’d never played the LP. Infinite vistas of possibilities here, folks. But…yes, I can still discover 60’s music that I’ve never heard before (like some of the amazing bonus tracks on the recent Eric Burdon & The Animals re-mastered Japanese kami / paper sleeve CD’s).

So the 30+ years it took me to get to “The Basement Tapes” is my ‘fleshing out the 70’s’ in action. I missed the UK 70’s glam rock first time around, so I have digested dozens of LP’s / CD’s of that kind of music since ’03. Now 60’s/70’s Bob gets his turn in the barrel. I have always been fond of the classic era of mid-60’s Dylan, but…never sought out all the nooks and crannies before now. Also never thought about The Band before December 2007.

Who knows what I will listen to next? Maybe I’ll see something on “Rage” that sends me scrambling to my own collection – or to the internet for some mail-order a-go-go. “Anyway the wind blows…” – like to the sale at Freakbeat Records in Sherman Oaks… what are you listening to?

Island Records 1969 - 1972

1-28-08 Island Records!

Last week, when writing about Mott The Hoople – I said that it would be great to find and listen to all of the Island UK ILPS series 9100 – 9200 – so here’s a list of ‘em. I had to start with 9099, as it’s one of my favorites. I think I am good with nearly the entire 100 albums listed here. What do you think? Sorry that my research is messed up by having the Alan Bown album listed twice. And what’s that “Unreleased” album, ILPS 9195?

1969

ILPS 9099 White Noise - An Electric Storm (dynamite 100% classic album)

ILPS 9100 Clouds - Scrapbook (only got it recently, just a great Scottish band)

ILPS 9101 Blodwyn Pig - Ahead Rings Out (Mick Abrahms of Jethro Tull)

ILPS 9102 Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking (their 3^rd album, Richard Thompson!)

ILPS 9103 Jethro Tull - Stand Up (Chrysalis) (the 2^nd J.T> album, and a timeless classic!

ILPS 9104 Free - Free (Fantastic 2^nd album, great cover, even!)

ILPS 9105 Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (Enigmatic debut, Joe Boyd production)

ILPS 9106 Dr. Strangely Strange - Kip Of The Serenes (One of my favorites, amazing! Yet another Joe Boyd production)

ILPS 9107 Spooky Tooth with Pierre Henry - Ceremony (British rock guys mess around with a French synthesizer maniac; not my favorite Spooky Tooth album!)

ILPS 9108 Mott The Hoople - Mott The Hoople (The Rockin’ Mott debut album with an Escher cover!)

ILPS 9110Q Quintessence - In Blissful Company (Hippie music, with a lovely cover)

ILPS 9111 King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King (dynamite 100% classic album. And takre a look at all the other amazing records issued around this!!!)

ILPS 9112 Traffic - Best Of Traffic (Cash-in time! But still a good album!)

1970

ILPS 9113 John & Beverly Martyn - Stormbringer (Another Joe Boyd production!)

ILPS 9114 Renaissance - Renaissance (Keith Relf of The Yardbirds)

ILPS 9115 Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief (Must get that new re-issue CD!)

ILPS 9116 Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die (One of the better Traffic albums)

ILPS 9117 Spooky Tooth feat. Mike Harrison - The Last Puff (My favorite S.T. album! Is it just me, or does this remind me of a Joe Cocker album of the day?)

ILPS 9118 Cat Stevens - Mona Bone Jakon (His Island debut, feat. Peter Gabriel)

ILPS 9119 Mott The Hoople - Mad Shadows (The fun 2^nd Mott album, and my favorite)

ILPS 9120 Free - Fire and Water (This is where you get “All Right Now”!)

ILPS 9121 Alan Bown - Listen (wait a second, this is both 9121 and 9131 – which is it?)

ILPS 9122 Blodwyn Pig - Getting To This (Chrysalis) (2^nd album)

ILPS 9123 Jethro Tull - Benefit (Chrysalis) (dynamite 100% classic album, easily my favorite J.T. album)

ILPS 9124 Bronco - Country Home (Steel guitars!)

ILPS 9125 Fotheringay - Fotheringay (Fairport periphery)

ILPS 9126 McDonald & Giles - McDonald & Giles (Former King Crimson members)

ILPS 9127 King Crimson - In The Wake of Poseidon (2^nd album, really great)

ILPS 9128 Quintessence - Quintessence (LP cover folded open from the center, man!)

ILPS 9129 If - If (Large rock group with horns…Chicago/BS&T influenced?)

ILPS 9130 Fairport Convention - Full House (Live album!)

ILPS 9131 Alan Bown – Listen (?) please tell me if I have the # right!

ILPS 9132 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Their impressive debut album, easily my favorite)

ILPS 9133 John & Beverly Martyn - Road To Ruin (Another Joe Boyd production!)

ILPS 9134 Nick Drake - Bryter Lyter (Another Joe Boyd production!)

ILPS 9135 Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman (A rather nice album!)

ILPS 9136 Amazing Blondel - Evensong (Folk music!)

ILPS 9137 If - 2 (see listing above for “If”)

ILPS 9138 Free - Highway (Great hard rock album, from a band under conflict)

ILPS 9139 Renaissance - Illusion (not released in the UK?)

ILPS 9140 Incredible String Band - Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending (The soundtrack LP to their film of hippies running around in the woods; really great!)

ILPS 9141 King Crimson - Lizard (3^rd K.C. album, with a new vocalist)

ILPS 9142 Uriah Heep - Very ‘eavy Very ‘umble (re-issue of their Vertigo debut title) (Bronze)

1971

ILPS 9143 Quintessence - Dive Deep (3^rd album of hippie music)

ILPS 9144 Mott The Hoople - Wild Life (3^rd album of MTH)

ILPS 9145 Jethro Tull - Aqualung (Chrysalis) (Their very successful album)

ILPS 9146 Mike Heron - Smiling Men With Bad Reputations (Solo I.S.B. album, with John Cale and The Who)

ILPS 9147 Mick Abrahms Band - Mick Abrahms Band (Chrysalis) (Post-Blodwyn Pig)

ILPS 9148 Mountain - Nantuckett Sleighride (Licensed from Windfall) (their 2^nd)

ILPS 9149 Heads Hands and Feet - Heads Hands and Feet (Another band with horns)

ILPS 9150 Paladin - Paladin (Bronze) (Black paper cover that damaged very easily)

ILPS 9151 Clouds - Watercolour Days (Chrysalis) (Ooh, I’d love to find a copy of this!)

ILPS 9152 Uriah Heep - Salisbury (re-issue) (Bronze) (their 2^nd)

ILPS 9153 Tir Na Nog - Tir Na Nog (Chrysalis) (Irish or Scottish?)

ILPS 9154 Cat Stevens - Teaser & The Firecat (Another nice C.S. album)

ILPS 9155 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus (Their 2^nd, still really good!)

ILPS 9156 Amazing Blondel - Fantasia Lindum (Folk music)

ILPS 9157 Juicy Lucy - Get A Whiff At This (Bronze) (3^rd album, fantastic! Great cover, and amazing vocals by Paul Williams)

ILPS 9158 Procol Harum - Broken Barricades (Chrysalis) (5^th album and one of my favorite records on this list – all hail the mighty Procol Harum!!!)

ILPS 9159 Jimmy Cliff - Another Cycle (Got this rather recently – not really a reggae album, believe it or not!)

ILPS 9160 Free – Live (just what it says!)

ILPS 9161 Bronco - Ace of Sunlight (Steel guitars!)

ILPS 9162 Fairport Convention - Angel’s Delight (More, please!)

ILPS 9163 Alan Bown - Stretching Out (Would love to find a copy of this!)

ILPS 9164 War - War (United Artists) (Post-Eric Burdon, I believe)

ILPS 9165 Sandy Denny - North Star Grassman & The Ravens (Solo Sandy)

ILPS 9166 Traffic - Welcome To The Canteen (Live album)

ILPS 9167 John Martyn - Bless The Weather (His first solo album in a while)

ILPS 9168 Luther Grosvenor - Under Open Skies (Wonderful album, S.T. guitarist)

ILPS 9169 Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself (re-issue) (Bronze) (3^rd album re-issue)

ILPS 9170 Mike Harrison - Mike Harrison (

ILPS 9171 War - The World is a Ghetto (United Artists)

ILPS 9172 Incredible String Band - Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air

ILPS 9173 Colosseum - Collector’s Colosseum (Bronze)

ILPS 9174 Tony Hazzard - Loudwater House (Bronze)

ILPS 9175 King Crimson - Islands

1972

ILPS 9176 Fairport Convention - Babbacombe Lee

ILPS 9177 War - All Day Music 1972 (United Artists)

ILPS 9178 Mott The Hoople - Brain Capers

ILPS 9179 Mountain - Flowers of Evil (Windfall)

ILPS 9180 Traffic - Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys

ILPS 9181 Sutherland Brothers Band - Sutherland Brothers Band

ILPS 9182 Claire Hammill - One House Left Standing

ILPS 9183 Vinegar Joe - Vinegar Joe

ILPS 9184 Nick Drake - Pink Moon

ILPS 9185 Heads Hands and Feet - On The Tracks

ILPS 9186 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Trilogy

ILPS 9186 Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston

ILPS 9187 Jim Capaldi - Oh How We Danced

ILPS 9188 Kossof, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit - Kossof, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit

ILPS 9189 The Bunch - Rocks On

ILPS 9190 Paladin - Charge

ILPS 9191 Michael McGear - Woman

ILPS 9192 Free - Free At Last

ILPS 9193 Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards (Bronze)

ILPS 9194 War - Deliver The Word (United Artists)

ILPS 9195 (UNRELEASED?)

ILPS 9196 Dick Heckstall-Smith - A Story Ended (Bronze) (Colosseum’s sax player – a former member of The Graham Bond Organization; a fantastic album!)

ILPS 9197 Richard Thompson – Henry The Human Fly (His debut solo album)

ILPS 9198 Smith – Perkins – Smith – Smith – Perkins – Smith (I love their single “Save Me” – took me 35 years to finally hear this album!)

ILPS 9199 Mountain - Live (Windfall) (Just what it says!)

ILPS 9200 Roxy Music - Roxy Music (Their marvelous debut album!)

Mott The Hoople

1-25-08 Mott The Hoople

I have previously written about my interest in Island Records from England – and Mott The Hoople were definitely one of the groups that I heard purely because they were on Island. I believe I got “Mad Shadows” first – then their debut…and it took a while to get the next two – no, my copy of “Brain Capers” doesn’t still have it’s ‘party mask’ included!

What I will say is that now I have the first four MTH albums on CD from Angel Air Records in England. I have listened to all four recently and still enjoy them a lot, particularly “Mad Shadows”, the one I always did like. All respect to Guy Stevens, their enigmatic producer – all the tales of his ‘working the band into a frenzy’ etc.

As a youth, after “Mad Shadows” I next ran into Mott The Hoople on the back of my discovery of David Bowie. The “All The Young Dudes” b/w “One Of The Boys” 7” provided a good excuse to re-evaluate MTH. My Bowie fandom didn’t last – after the bright flame of “Ziggy Stardust”, I wasn’t all that into “Aladdin Sane”. My MTH fandom kind of died with my Bowie fandom. I guess.

I have really been into UK 70’s glam rock since an ’03 visit to Japan – and the CBS era MTH albums all made themselves apparent to me more recently. So, it took 40 years for me to hear all of the ‘proper’ MTH albums – but the verdict is strictly ‘thumbs up’! Naturally, my glam interests made me try Ian Hunter’s first solo album, “Overnight Angels” – I guess it will take me another 40 years to digest Hunter’s solo career. I always found it interesting that British reviewers always seemed to make a lot out of the mild fact that Hunter sounded something like Bob Dylan – I always thought he sounded / acted a bit more like Mick Jagger! “…with his Beatles and his Stones…”

Now we get to the “not progressive enough” argument: another reason I likely didn’t carry on with MTH at the time was that by ‘72/3, I was totally into German artists like Neu!, Harmonia, Cluster, Faust, Can, Amon Duul II et al. Electronic music, if you will. MTH were a rock band, not entirely unlike The Rolling Stones, for instance. Mainstream rock music. Not progressive rock, which is what I was after as a teenager.

It’s much easier for me to fully embrace the first four (Island) MTH albums these days. The Angel Air re-mastered CD’s sound great, and have great, extensive liner notes. All have bonus tracks, but often I only play the tracks on CD’s that constitute the original vinyl release. I do like the first few CBS MTH albums, but…re-compartmentalized as “UK 70’s glam rock”. In fact, I think it would be really fun to listen to the Island UK LP catalogue, catalogue numbers ILPS 9100 to, say, ILPS 9200 (the first Roxy Music album!) (roughly ’69 – ’72). What a truckload of great rock music that would be, eh, readers? That would certainly get you at least the first four MTH LP’s!

Seems to me that there needs to be a proper Guy Stevens biography and CD boxed set of his ‘notorious’ productions.

"How Long...?"

Dr. Strangely Strange

1-24-08 Dr. Strangely Strange

As a youth, I decided pretty early on that I liked to investigate new music by what record label it was on. One of the first labels I investigated was Atco Records – because they put pictures of their album covers on their innersleeves. Largely because of artists like Jethro Tull, White Noise, Traffic and Spooky Tooth…I became interested in Island Records in England. Their address appeared on the back cover of nearly all of their LP’s, so I wrote to them, requesting a catalogue, about 1970 or so.

I knew what a lot of the stuff was in the Island Records catalogue – but there were, of course, titles I had never seen, didn’t really know who / what it was etc. One of those mystery records was “Kip Of The Serenes” by Dr. Strangely Strange, Island ILPS 9106, 1969. It took a few years, but I got a beautiful copy of this LP, and I still have it – all these years later. Good thing too; the world’s only CD of it (that I am aware of) is mastered at an incorrect speed. It’s a long-ish album anyway, but when I put the disc in my player, it registered to be even longer than I remembered it being! Long story short: it’s mastered wrong, slow. Maybe Hux Records will fix it? I’d love to see “Kip…” available again!

Dr. Strangely Strange are an Irish folkie band (they’re all still alive, I think!). “Kip Of The Serenes” was produced by Joe Boyd and it’s as spiffy as your favorite Incredible String Band album (yes, I like it as well as “Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter”, even!).

For some reason, I never got into their 2^nd album, “No Heavy Petting” (on Vertigo Records). Didn’t even hear it, really – until ’07, when I got a kami (paper) sleeve CD of it in Japan. They get some help from their Irish friend Gary Moore on it. I am still warming to it, but “Kip…” will always be my favorite: very sweet 1969 psychedelic folk music from the British isles.

I recently obtained “Halcyon Days” (Hux Records), a 2007 CD of previously unreleased songs / recordings from the early 70’s – and it’s very good. There are 2 or 3 songs recorded in 2006 by the same guys – in “Kip Of The Serenes” mode, as the liner notes tell us. I’d love to see them play live – but I suspect they have never played live anywhere in the U.S.! And I’d want to see all of “Kip Of The Serenes” played live – complete with the sing-along of “Donnybrook Fair”.

They really are a charming band – and my close friends will tell you that I am not (generally speaking) into Irish artists very much! Oh, OK – one of them (Ivan Pawle) was British. The two Irish members of the group are named Tim – Booth and Goulding.

So, thank you for the music, gentlemen – I owe you a drink, if you are still drinking. My life was enriched by having the music of Dr. Strangely Strange come my way years before many other aspects of modern life did. I paid DSS the compliment of paying full price in a retail shop for their new CD of “Halcyon Days”.

Steve Hackett

1-23-08 Steve Hackett

LP BAY OF KINGS MUSIC INT JPN JMI-28004

1984 12 TRKS insert

CD CURED CHARISMA UK CDSCD 4021

1984 8 TRKS ('89 issue)

LP CURED EPIC US ARE 37632

1981 8 TRKS

LP DEFECTOR CHARISMA US CL-1-3103

1980 10 TRKS

CD DEFECTOR TOSHIBA JPN VJCP-68776

1980 15 TRKS ('05 issue) (5 x bonus tracks) kami sleeve

CD HIGHLY STRUNG CHARISMA UK HACKCD 1

1985 9 TRKS ('89 issue)

LP HIGHLY STRUNG CHARISMA UK HACK 1

1983 9 TRKS insert

LP PLEASE DON'T TOUCH! CHARISMA UK CDS 4012

1978 10 TRKS 2nd

LP SPECTRAL MORNINGS CHARISMA UK CDS 4017

1979 8 TRKS 3rd

LP TILL WE HAVE FACES CHRYSALIS US FV 41571

1984 9 TRKS

LP VOYAGE OF THE ACOLYTE CHARISMA UK CAS 1111

1975 8 TRKS debut solo album

CD VOYAGE OF THE ACOLYTE TOSHIBA JPN VJCP-68773

1975 10 TRKS ('06 issue) kami sleeve (2 x bonus tracks)

CD WATCHER OF THE SKIES GUARDIAN US 21943

1996 11 TRKS New ’96 versions of Genesis songs, some with guest vocalists.

So in addition to re-evaluating Peter Gabriel for the new year, I have decided to look into the works of Steve Hackett, too. When the LP’s all hit the $1 bin, I got whatever I could find, and after the CD’s got re-mastered, I could sometimes find original editions for under $5. My favorite is “Voyage of the Acolyte” (and always has been), so I got a kami (paper) sleeve CD of it in Japan summer ‘07; I found the kami sleeve of “Defector” in San Francisco in winter ’07.

I tend to like the instrumental stuff better than the material with vocals. After all, Mr. Hackett is best known as a guitarist. I’d buy his other CD’s if I found them inexpensively. I’m looking for U.K. Charisma label LP versions of “Defector” and “Till We Have Faces”. I have some S.H. singles and videos, too.

So, do you like any of these LP’s? Any S.H. titles not on my list that I should be on the lookout for?

Playlist

Playlist – January 22, 2008

1) TENPOLE TUDOR – Swords of a Thousand Men

2) THE STRANGLERS – Genetix

3) COWBOYS INTERNATIONAL – Aftermath

4) THE MONOCHROME SET – Fun For All the Family

5) GANG OF FOUR – The History of the World

6) THE DAMNED – The History of the World, Part 1

7) HOWARD DEVOTO – Cold Imagination (Extended Version)

8) XTC – Melt The Guns

9) JOHN OTWAY & WILD WILLY BARRETT – Day After Day

10) MADNESS – Deceives The Eye

11) JOHN FOXX – No-one Driving

12) SIMPLE MINDS – This Earth That You Walk Upon

13) PETE TOWNSHEND – Keep On Working

14) HEAVEN 17 – Key to the World

15) PSYCHEDELIC FURS – Love My Way

16) STEPHEN ‘TIN TIN’ DUFFY – Broken Home

17) EUROPEANS – The Animal Song

18) DAVID SYLVIAN & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO – Bamboo Music

19) DEPARTMENT S – Monte Carlo or Bust

20) IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS – Mischief

21) SCRITTI POLITTI – Asylums In Jerusalem

There we are...

Bob Dylan

1-22-08 Bob Dylan

I do not have an extensive Bob Dylan collection, but I am very fond of his works from roughly ’65 – ’69. Recently, I have ‘discovered’ his work with The Band, and like it a lot.

BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME CBS UK 62515 LP 1965

11 TRKS Subterranean Homesick Blues

SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES CBS EU CDCBS 62515 CD 1965

11 TRKS Bringing It All Back Home; either way – a totally great album.

HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED CBS/SONY JPN 30DP-305 CD 1966

9 TRKS one of the world’s fist CD issues of this title.

HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED COLUMBIA US CS 9189 LP 1966

9 TRKS original U.S. LP, Al Kooper + Mike Bloomfield!

BLONDE ON BLONDE COLUMBIA US CGK 841 CD 1966

14 TRKS about the 4^th version of this album on CD

BLONDE ON BLONDE mono COLUMBIA US C2L 41 LPx2 1966

14 TRKS mono, original issue

GREATEST HITS CBS UK 62847 LP 1966?

12 TRK Collection, UK version, ostensibly to get “Positively 4^th Street”.

JOHN WESLEY HARDING COLUMBIA US CK 9604 CD 1968

12 TRKS

JOHN WESLEY HARDING COLUMBIA US CS 9604 LP 1968

12 TRKS stereo – got this one when it was new, and have always liked it.

NASHVILLE SKYLINE CBS UK 63601 LP 1969

10 TRKS Hmmm…”Country Bob”!

SELF PORTRAIT COLUMBIA US CGK 30050 CD 1970?

24 TRKS

SELF PORTRAIT COLUMBIA US C2X 30050 LPx2 1970?

24 TRKS I remember really liking it at the time, but then didn’t play it for 30+ years.

DYLAN COLUMBIA US PC 32747 LP 1973

9 TRKS Looks like I skipped a title or two…and I certainly never played this LP.

PLANET WAVES ISLAND UK ILPS 9261 LP 1974

11 TRKS UK original UK issue on Island – on my “Must Hear!” list.

BASEMENT TAPES, THE (with The Band) COLUMBIA US C2 33682 LPx2

1975 24 TRKS ('67 recording) I had this for over 30 years before playing it! Love it!

BIOGRAPH (5LP boxed set) CBS NL CBS 66509 LPx5 1985

53 TRK Collection, boxed set; some really nice stuff here – “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window” etc. I will likely get a CD set of this eventually.

LIVE 1966 (Bootleg Series No. 4) COLUMBIA US C2K 65759 CDx2 1998

15 TRKS Live 5/66 – an absolutely amazing recording, “Judas!”. “I don’t believe you, you’re a liar!”.

So, all hail Bob! Long may his flag wave!