Tag Archives: Record Collecting
BEATLES: NOW AND THEN
A blogging comrade recently mentioned a Beatles podcast where the presenters led off their series with a negative review of Help! In my response, I observed that I tended not to write negative reviews, especially of beloved albums. Overnight, several things have caused me to reflect on that pronouncement. I detected the cloying scent of […]
REALITY BITES
For many music fans around the globe, the death of David Bowie in January 2016 left a gaping chasm in the rock world. No more new studio albums from one of popular music’s most restless creative spirits; no more tours, no more shifts of direction, no more jump-cut personas. David—and all his identities—were gone, leaving […]
AH, VIENNA
Vienna, the 1980 LP by UK synth-pop art rockers Ultravox, kicked off the second phase of their career. Original frontman John Foxx had departed in 1979 after three albums and an unsuccessful foray into the American market. But keyboard player Billie Currie—who had worked with Midge Ure in Visage—convinced Midge to join Ultravox and revitalise […]
DARK PLEASURES
It’s a striking opening line to the first song on your first album: “I’ve been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand”. Searching, yearning for direction, for counsel. The song is called “Disorder”, a one-word summary of the singer’s internal state. A plea for human contact: take my hand. Please. […]
ALBUM COVERS | PICKS AND PICS
Having launched into Instagram during lockdown, I kind of lost my appetite for its rapid digestive cycle after a year or so. More an icy pole than a proper meal, if you get what I mean. But a current September “challenge” caught my eye and so I decided to throw some records into the ring. […]
BETA ALPHA
The transition from novel to film involves many changes. Some enhance, others distract; often the response depends on what you did first… watched the film or read the book. The novel High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby, was first published in 1995. The movie, starring John Cusack and directed by Stephen Frears, was released in 2000. In […]
BILATERALLY YOURS
Glancing at the front cover, you could be forgiven for assuming you have just flicked past yet another early 80s record company sampler, a collection of mismatched tracks chosen by the not-so-hip uncle of the work experience kid and trotted out in a vain attempt to generate some (in this case) CBS buzz. You flip […]
TIMELESS
Cascading keyboard notes and flurries of guitar; soon they are dancing through a frenetic dialogue as dextrous as it is energising. Welcome to “Lungs”, the unexpectedly manic opening to Timeless, the entrancing 1975 album by John Abercrombie. “Lungs” was composed by the keyboard player Jan Hammer, he of Mahavishnu Orchestra fame. In group leader Abercrombie, […]
MORE SONGS ABOUT SEX AND BOOZE
What do you get if you mix the diamond grit of Dinah Washington, the heartbreak of Billie Holiday, the brash charm of Janis Joplin and the sass of The Ronettes? It’s a heady and potent cocktail, and one that resulted in soaring peaks and desperate troughs during the short life of Amy Jade Winehouse. In […]
ROUND LIKE A RECORD
During the 1970s “Sampler” LPs were a staple of record company marketing. Compiling a variety of tracks from various artists on their roster, these albums usually sold for much less than the prevailing price point of a new record. In fact, a number of companies called them, with disarming candour, “Loss Leaders”. There are a number […]
TORN BETWEEN TWO COVERS
When the Vinyl Connection collection finally moved into its new post-renovation space I was certain there was room enough to house at least five years of acquisitions. After all I was periodically doing a little weeding and pruning and the rate of purchasing had dropped substantially from an average of five LPs per week to […]
FEATS ALIVE!
Blending elements of rock, blues, country, funk and jazz, Little Feat created a sound that was entirely their own. Driven by the unique song-writing skills of Lowell George and a band both technically excellent and infectiously grooving, they were—and are—a favourite outfit of those who love their American rock somewhere West of the freeway. Yet […]
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