(BUT NOT ALL HIS BOOTS) I love Miles Davis. Whether as a contributing midwife to the Birth of the Cool, the ultra-hip trumpeter of the late 50s, the restless innovator of the 60s, or inspiring bandleader and outta-space musician of the 70s, his is an endlessly varied—and indeed endless—catalogue. If you are browsing a shop […]
Peter Jackson’s famous films were not the first cinematic journeys into Middle Earth. American animator Ralph Bakshi visited back in 1978 with rather mixed results. Clearly holding the J.R.R. Tolkien books in high esteem, Bakshi adopted such a respectful approach to the epic fantasy that the result is, despite the adventurous content, quite slow-moving and […]
I always swear I will never buy another compilation album. I will ignore Various Artists, shun themed collections, eschew curated histories. I have enough. More than enough. So how come this section of the Vinyl Connection Collection still manages to grow? Today’s Curiosity Corner will give you an idea. There I was, getting to the […]
Prior to an overseas trip in the early nineties, I hosted a Book Party. The goals were threefold: to reduce the amount of stuff I needed to put into storage, see people for a farewell drink and chat, and perhaps raise a few shekels for the travel fund. So I put the word out, mentioning […]
[Recording: Bright daytime voice over fade of smoky alto sax solo] This is independent station WJAZ, all night jazz and conversation. Now back to your host, Lester The Nightfly LESTER Hello Baton Rouge. It’s coming up to 2:15 on a drizzly Saturday night… or Sunday morning if you’re that way inclined. Continuing our tribute to […]
The review I read was really positive 1 The price was a lot less than Discogs 2 It’s my birthday 3 I’ve never seen it ‘in the wild’ before 4 The cover art is nice 5 It fills a gap in the collection 6 It will be my birthday in 10 days / weeks / […]
I remember where but not which. The shop was in Princes Gate Arcade, down the end in a kind of cul-de-sac where only record hunters and lost commuters ended up. I remember a big window, counter, racks—sparsely distributed around a loungeroom-sized space—and bean bags where you could audition an LP of your choice under headphones […]
Considered to be the Big Bang of the Summer of Love, Monterey International Pop Music Festival (to present its full and rather ambitious name) was conceived and planned by a small group led by John Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas. Their hope was to give pop music the status awarded to jazz and […]
Where do you file your ‘Various Artists’ albums? By title in the A-Z? In their own section? Luckily that’s not what we are here to discuss and anyway it was extensively canvassed not long ago. Today we’re here to pay respect to one of the best compilations of all time, Nuggets. Curated by guitarist Lenny […]
It has been a very spiritual week here at Vinyl Connection. This, I hasten to observe, has nothing to do with matters of belief, but to the arrival of two albums that explore, in very different ways, the meditative state. Alice Coltrane founded the Sai Anantam Ashra ashram in 1983 and ran it until she […]
Syd Barrett and The Pink Floyd invented salted caramel in 1967 [Hieronymus Botch, Paisley Curtains website] While Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason studied architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic in London, Syd Barrett enrolled in Art and Design at the Cambridge School of Art. Contemporaries of young Syd, interviewed later on the strength of […]
I’ve got a bike. You can ride it if you like It’s got a basket, a bell that rings and Things to make it look good. I’d give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.* Despite painful learning as to the aptness of the name ‘stinging nettles’, it was one of the […]
