New Order released their fifth album, Technique, in 1989. I found a copy at a car boot sale in October for £1:
New Order - Technique (1989)
Technique marked a shift away from their rock-pop sound to a more dance based style, influenced by the huge current acid house scene and their residence at the time in an Ibiza studio.
The biggest track is the opener Fine Time, which reached no.11 in the UK singles chart. The album reached no.1 in the UK and no.32 on the US Billboard chart.
Join in if you can, alone or with friends, this
Sunday at 9pm with Greg Wilson's Living To Music worldwide communal listening
experience. The selected album this month is the Stone Roses' self titled debut from 1989.
This arrived via eBay yesterday just in time for the final run-up to Christmas - a snip at £4.06. Originally released in 1963 and called "A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector", it was reissued with this different title and cover art 20 years later.
Phil Spector's Christmas Album (1983)
It features four of Phil's artists; The Ronettes, The Crystals, Darlene Love and Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans. Spector's Wall of Sound is put to phenomenal effect on seasonal classics Frosty The Snowman, White Christmas, Sleigh Ride, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and many others. Some kind soul has put some of the tracks on youtube:
Fantastic! The album ends with a spoken message from Phil himself over a rendition of Silent Night by all of the artists. It really is an essential part of Christmas, so here's the Spotify link to the entire album: Various – A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
I bought a copy of Nina Simone's 1971 album Here Comes The Sun at a car boot sale in the summer for £2.
Nina Simone - Here Comes The Sun (1971)
Here Comes The Sun is an album of cover versions recorded with an orchestra, including the title track, Dylan's Just Like A Woman, Angel Of The Morning and My Way. The best track by far is her version of Mr Bojangles. It's the most moving version of this song (by Jerry Jeff Walker) I've ever heard.
Songs In The Key Of Life was Stevie Wonder's 13th studio album and the fourth and last of those from his so-called 70s "classic" period which began in 1972 with Talking Book. A few weeks ago I found a copy for 50p at a boot sale:
Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)
The album boasts 21 songs over a double LP and a 7-inch four-song EP. The EP was missing but the huge lyric book was present and everything was in excellent condition.
Wonder does indeed cover a vast array of life's issues including religion, politics, love, birth, death, racism and poverty. Much has been written about this sprawling critical and commercial gigantic success. Here's the original Rolling Stone magazine review from 1976:
It spawned several successful singles and went straight in at no.1 on the US Billboard album chart. It reached no.2 in the UK and is listed as no.56 in the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.
It's difficult to pick out favourite tracks, as the overall quality is so high, but here are a couple of zingers, followed by the link to the whole album on our good friend Spotify.
Join in if you can, alone or with friends, this Sunday at 9pm with Greg Wilson's Living To Music worldwide communal listening experience. The selected album this month is Michael Jackson's 1979 album Off The Wall.
Millie Jackson has been a recording artist since the early 70s. An American Soul/R&B singer with an incredible rich, deep voice, she is given to peppering her performances with spoken word sections, some of which contain language that ranges from the saucy to the explicit.
I bought two of her LPs at a car boot sale earlier this month for 50p each:
Still Caught Up (1975)
Still Caught Up was the follow up to the hugely successful 1974 concept album "Caught Up" which told the story of a love triangle from the perpectives of the two female sides. Still Caught Up continues the theme, with Side 1 sung from the point of view of the wronged wife who still loves her cheating hubby, with telling songs like "Making The Best Of A Bad Situation" and "Tell Her It's Over". On Side 2 we hear from the mistress with "Do What Makes You Satisfied" and "Leftovers".
Still Caught Up reached no.27 on the US R&B album chart.
Lovingly Yours (1977)
Lovingly Yours is another collection of songs about love, sex and heartbreak. The combination of spoken word, strings and subject matter give the album a very Barry White vibe.
Back in September I posted about a track from Breakdance - The Movie; a cheesy but fab 80s film. A couple of weeks ago I picked up the full soundtrack LP for £1:
Breakdance - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1984)
The original post with the lead single and movie info is here. It's a great soundtrack and as you can see from the album cover, the female lead is once again rocking the leotard/legwarmers combo.
I was pleased to find David Bowie's Station To Station in excellent condition for £1 at a recent boot sale:
David Bowie - Station To Station (1976)
Bowie's tenth studio album was partly influenced by his recent role in the Nicolas Roeg film The Man Who Fell To Earth, a still from which is used as the cover art.
A transitional album, Station To Station develops the "plastic soul" and funk grooves of Young Americans towards his later "Berlin Trilogy" which were influenced by cold German electronica and motorik rhythms (Neu!, Kraftwerk). His alter ego here is the "Thin White Duke" who comes over as a drug addled aristocrat; an emotionless alien character whose impeccable style and poise were only eclipsed by his massive cocaine intake.
It's hard to pick out favourite songs from the six on the album, but my two favourite at the moment anyway, are Stay for it's brilliant intro and his cover of Wild Is The Wind, which is just gorgeous.
I bought this for £1 a few weeks ago, partly because I remembered one of their singles, but mainly because of the fantastic cartoon cover art:
Westworld - Where The Action Is (1987)
Westworld consisted of American vocalist Elizabeth Westwood, drummer Nick Burton and former Generation X guitarist Bob Andrews. This was their debut album and I'd describe it as rockabilly-pop with hip-hop beats. No, come back...
The two most successful singles were Sonic Boom Boy which reached no.11 in the UK and Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo which got to no.37. They are both pretty good songs, and I also quite like another called Psychotech, but that's about where it ends really. Most of the rest is weak to awful, with thin 80s production and forgettable tunes; the nadir being the track Cheap & Nasty, whose apt title sums up the feel of much of the album.
Great cover, a shame the contents aren't as good. It reached no.49 in the UK chart.
This cost £4 at a recent car boot sale - big money for this vinyl fan, but well worth it!
Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers -
The King Of New Orleans Jazz (1981)
Jazz composer and arranger Jelly Roll Morton's birth name was Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe. The nickname Jelly Roll (the current black slang for female genitalia) was given to him whilst working as a brothel pianist aged just fourteen.
Born in New Orleans in 1885, he died at just 55 of complications from knife wounds. During his career he wrote and recorded what are now regarded as jazz classics of the 1920's, including Black Bottom Stomp, Jelly Roll Blues and Wolverine Blues. His Red Hot Peppers were indeed red hot; musicians such as trombonist Edward 'Kid' Ory and George Mitchell on cornet and trumpet, were both part of the line-up of sidemen.
This collection of recordings (first released in this format in 1962) covers this period during which he was at the peak of his career. According to the sleevenotes Morton, at the time of his death, was "in the process of suing the world for recognition". His claim to have "invented" jazz was well known, as was his extremely arrogant nature, and it may even have led him to lie about his date of birth, which may well have been a full five years later than 1885.
I received belated birthday presents from my little brother last week, bought from a second hand vinyl stall on Cambridge market. The first is Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits:
Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits (1974)
This is a collection of singles from Alice Cooper the band's (as opposed to Alice Cooper the solo artist) third to seventh albums, from 1971's Easy Action to 1793's Muscle Of Love, their final album.
The songs appear in chronological order and it's easy to track the development of Alice Cooper the singer in a Detroit hard rock band, to Alice Cooper the theatrical horror-rock superstar, now everyone's favourite scary golf-mad uncle. All of the songs were remixed by producer Jack Richardson especially for the album.
The illustration on the cover is by Drew Struzan. The band are seen lounging against a car in front of a 1930's garage. Film stars to spot include Jean Harlow, Humphrey Bogart and Groucho Marx.
The development in their sound can be heard by listening to the first track from each side of the LP; their first hit I'm Eighteen and 1973's Hello Hooray.
My brother (who is, by the way, both clever and handsome) also bought me David Bowie's compilation Changesonebowie:
David Bowie - Changesonebowie (1976)
This is a fantastic collection of singles and album tracks from 1969-76, including the single John, I'm Only Dancing, which had not yet been included on an album and not released in the US due to it's supposed "risque" lyrics.
Inspired by Vintage Vicki I've been playing with Mosaic Maker and have created a mosaic of just some of the records I've found at car boot sales and charity shops this year.
Peter Gabriel's third self-titled album cost 50p at a car boot sale a couple of weeks ago:
Peter Gabriel (1980)
Also known as "Melt" because of the striking cover photo, this is a dark album of prog-pop. It tells disturbing stories from the point of view of burglars and stalkers, plus tales of fear, murder and frustration.
This was the lead single which reached no.4 in the UK:
The album reached no.1 in the UK and no.22 in the Billboard Pop albums chart in the US.
Join in if you can, alone or with friends, this Sunday at 9pm with Greg Wilson's Living To Music worldwide communal listening experience. The selected album this month is Janelle Monae's The Archandroid.
Queen's soundtrack to the 1980 Flash Gordon movie set me back £1 the other weekend:
Queen - Flash Gordon O.S. (1980)
This was Queen's ninth album, and it features mainly instrumental pieces, the exceptions being the single 'Flash' ("Flash's Theme" on the album) and 'The Hero'.
It's a mixture of movie dialogue, guitar rock and synth-rock, with some small portions of the orchestral score (by Howard Blake).
The album reached no.10 in the UK and no.23 in the US. Here's Flash's Theme:
Introspective was the Pet Shop Boys' third album and contains six long 12-inch-style dance tracks, four of which were released as singles in the form of shorter 7" mixes. These were Domino Dancing, Left To My Own Devices (painstakingly produced by Trevor Horn), Always On My Mind and It's Alright.
It's Alright is a cover of Sterling Void's 1987 house hit. The album was the Pet Shop Boys' second best selling LP, reaching no.2 in the UK and doing well around the globe including reaching the no.1 spot in Argentina.
A rich mix of orchestral pop, latin rhythms and house, Introspective - despite the name - was created with the dancefloor in mind.
Sunday's car boot sale had lots of old vinyl to flip through. The morning had started cold but by the time I'd worked my way around the field I was thoroughly warm and in the possession of ten LPs, most of which cost 50p or a pound.
This was £1:
Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame (1982)
This second album, coming after 1981's Speak & Spell was Depeche Mode's first without Vince Clarke, who'd left to start Yazoo.
A Broken Frame is generally seen as their weakest album. I can see why this is the case but for me it has several high spots, including the instrumental Nothing To Fear and the singles Leave In Silence and See You.
It marks the beginning of the change from the poppy debut towards their later, much darker material, and reached no. 8 in the UK album chart.
A lovely big sister gave me this book for my birthday last week. It's a sumptuous history of sleeve design, from the 1940s through to the present. Filled with page after page of gorgeous album art, it also offers loads of background info on the evolution of the picture sleeve, as well as stories about individual LP covers.
The Art Of The Album Cover - Richard Evans (Compendium, 2010)
I highly recommend it to any lover of popular music, as well as fans of art and design. It can be found here.
...but on Sunday the sky was NOT grey! I am with transport once again so we headed up the coast to a car boot sale. The weather was roasting and the skies clear and blue:
The place was heaving but despite the many stalls, vinyl was thin on the ground. I came away with two LPs, bought for £1 each. First was this:
Geoff Love & His Orchestra - Themes For Super Heroes (1979)
This is a collection of orchestral versions of superhero film and TV themes, including Wonder Woman, Dr. Who and Batman. It's both hilarious and brilliant, and has recently been released on CD along with his Big Terror Movie Themes.
Next I got Talk Talk's third studio album, The Colour Of Spring. It marked a transition in style between their earlier synth-pop efforts and final two albums Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock.
I got this single last year for 10p. It's my favourite Madonna song, and possibly my favourite pop song of all time.
Madonna - Into The Groove (1985)
It's taken from the 1985 movie Desperately Seeking Susan, co-starring Rosanna Arquette. It's a story of murder and mistaken identity in which Madonna's acting isn't that bad, mainly because she's pretty much playing herself.
The single was Madonna's first UK no.1 and it stayed there for four weeks. Here it is.
I recently got the DVD of the movie and was reminded just how yummy Aiden Quinn (Dez, the male lead) was. Apparently Bruce Willis was originally up for this part - I'm glad they went with Aiden in the end!
Join in if you can, this Sunday at 9pm with Greg Wilson's Living To Music worldwide communal listening experience. This month's album - Nirvana's Nevermind.
This was the debut single from Tim Simenon a.k.a. Bomb The Bass. Said to contain a whopping 72 samples, it was one of the first tracks to herald DJ and sampling culture going overground and enjoying chart success.
It reached no.2 in the UK and can be found on the 1988 album Into The Dragon, which peaked at no.8 in the album chart. I was 13 at the time and my big sister had the album on cassette, which I used to borrow. I recently bought myself a cassette copy via eBay for 99p and the Proustian rush was enormous!
This was 50p at a boot sale this summer; Candi Staton's self-titled third album.
Candi Staton - Candi Staton (1972)
I can't find a lot of info about this LP, and don't know how successful it was. However it has been released recently on CD along with her other recordings on the Fame label.
The only song available on Spotify is her recording of In The Ghetto, so here it is, as well as a youtube vid of another of my faves from the album:
A few months ago I got this brilliant LP on eBay, for about a fiver, after seeing a documentary about it on TV:
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978)
Fans had to wait three years after Born To Run for it's arrival, due to legal/contractual troubles. It concentrates on the frustrations of small-town working class life, and many songs are about escapism. Key to this escape was the car, in particular drag racing and driving at night.
Some songs are about hopelessness, like the beautiful title track, while others are full of hope for redemption through hard work. e.g. Badlands.
Much has been written about this album, more eloquently than I ever could, so here is Rolling Stone magazine's original 1978 album review:
I got a couple of breakdance singles last year at different boot sales, probably for about 25-50p each. The first is the soundtrack to the 80's film 'Breakdance - The Movie' (called Breakin' in the US). My friend had both Breakdance movies on video and I loved them. As far as I can remember, they revolved around saving the local youth club somehow through the power of breaking. No, really.
Anyway, here's the video to Ollie & Jerry's UK no.5 single There's No Stopping Us, which also reached no.9 in the US chart. Prepare for some toprocking, downrocking and power moves. Plus a lady in legwarmers, obviously.
Ollie & Jerry - There's No Stopping Us (1984)
The next was Break Machine's Street Dance. This peaked at no.3 in the UK in March '84 and no.6 in the US dance chart. This video is a tad quieter so you'll need to whack the sound up a bit more.
Break Machine - Street Dance (1983)
The squeak at the start of the film is my cat Ethel meowing. She loves this song too.
The Sex Pistols were signed to EMI in Oct 1976, but then dropped on Jan 6th 1977, not long after a controversial TV appearance where some effing and blinding had taken place. It wasn't their first public controversy, or indeed their last. After a very short-lived signing to A&M, they finally released Never Mind The Bollocks on Virgin.
My favourite song is the album closer, written about their first record label. It ends with Rotten blowing them a raspberry:
Sex Pistols - EMI
The former owner of this copy has identified it with their punk name. Just inside the cover, scrawled in biro, is the alias 'Sick Nick'. Brilliant.
Now it's September and the weather is already taking a turn for the worse, car boot season is coming to an end. This gives me the opportunity to post about vinyl that I've found at car boots sales and charity shops before I started this blog back in July.
I'll start with my favourite buy of all, a mono copy of the Beatles' debut album Please Please Me (1963), bought for £2 earlier this year.
The Beatles - Please Please Me (1963)
It has a little bit of crackle (just the right amount in my opinion!) and jumps once on Twist & Shout, but I'm as pleased as anything with it 'cos it's a brilliant record, still so vibrant and exciting. The beginning of an amazing story, too.
Here's a little film of I Saw Her Standing There:
The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There
The fact that it spent thirty weeks at number one, only to be knocked off by their next album With The Beatles, is incredible. No artist these days could comprehend such a statistic, unless of course their name is Adele!
On Sunday I popped over to Aldeburgh with two of my sisters. After stuffing ourselves on chips and ice creams we had a look around the shops and I got this LP in the charity shop for £1:
Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye (1975)
The title track reached no.2 in the UK charts, and features on side 1 as part of an uninterrupted disco mix with the other two single releases Honey Bee and a cover of Reach Out, I'll Be There. The album reached no.32 in the UK and no.25 in the US pop chart (#21 in the R&B chart).
Just for fun, 'cos I've never used the video function on my camera in all the years I've had it, let alone uploaded one, here's the first song from side 2, All I Need Is Your Sweet Lovin', playing on my Dad's old Dual HS 34. He bought this record player in Berlin whilst posted there with the RAF in the 70s, and now it's mine after a recent loft clear-out. You may need to whack up the volume a little, and yes, it does skip at around the 2.50 min mark!
Despite going to three boot sales over the Bank Holiday weekend, I only came away with one bit of vinyl:
Paul Simon - Graceland (1986)
Bought for £1, this was Simon's seventh solo album and it reached number one in the UK. Heavily influenced by South African music and featuring a host of musicians from here, it produced four singles. The most successful by far was You Can Call Me Al, which featured Chevy Chase in the video and reached number four in the UK. The others were Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes, The Boy In The Bubble and the title track Graceland, which features the Everly Brothers.
I picked up a couple of LPs at a charity shop the other day, again both heavy on the synths. The first was Depeche Mode's 1990 album Violator.
Depeche Mode - Violator (1990)
This album, their seventh, was the one that pushed them from relative success in the UK to worldwide recognition, going gold in the UK and triple platinum in the US. This copy was a bargain at just 50p as it's an incredible album and in excellent condition. Top tracks -
The Electric Moog Orchestra - Music From Star Wars (1977)
Selections from the Star Wars soundtrack as performed on Moog synthesisers? For 50p? How could I resist? The Electric Moog Orchestra specialised in making electronic versions of John Williams' music. Other soundtracks covered include Battlestar Galactica and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Here's some blurb from the back cover:
I didn't get to a car boot sale yesterday, but here are the last two LPs bought the previous Sunday. Firstly this, bought for 50p:
Donna Summer - I Remember Yesterday (1977)
Donna Summer's I Remember Yesterday was her fifth album and features probably her most famous song as the final track; the Morodor-produced I Feel Love. Of the four singles from the album released in the UK this was the biggest success, staying at no.1 for eleven weeks. Here are the Spotify links for this track, plus another of my faves:
Lastly, bought for £1.50 was Souxie & The Banshees' Nocturne:
Souxsie & The Banshees - Nocturne (1983)
This live double LP was recorded over two successive nights at the Royal Albert Hall in the autumn of 1983, with the Cure's Robert Smith filling in for the recently-sacked John McGeoch.
It includes two Lennon & McCartney covers; Helter Skelter and Dear Prudence. The latter was recorded in the studio the same year and released as what turned to be their most successful single, charting in the UK at no.3.
Two more LPs bought on Sunday both make use of the synthesiser. As the 70s progressed, the synthesiser became a more and more popular instrument, and both of these albums were recorded during this decade.
The first is Paul McCartney's McCartney II, which I got in excellent condition for £1.50. I was anxious to hear this as it's been remastered this year and has thus been written about quite a bit.
Paul McCartney - McCartney II (1980)
Recorded in the summer of 1979 at his farm on the Mull of Kintyre, this album is an odd collection of synthpop, blues and more recognisable McCartney-esque ballads. And some other stuff that defies brief description. The experimental use of a synthesiser throws up instrumental tracks like Frozen Jap which many seem to hate, but this is one of my faves. Another couple of great pop efforts are the early electronica of Temporary Secretary and the UK chart no. 2 hit Coming Up.
Not available on Spotify, here are some youtube links, including the video for Coming Up which features Macca and Linda in a variety of guises.
The next album is pure synthesiser through and through:
Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene (1976 France, 1977 rest of world)
This cost me £1. French composer Jarre reached number 2 in the UK charts with this, his biggest success to date. It features six tracks named Oxygene parts I to VI. Part IV is probably the most well known track from this suite of analogue synthesised instrumental music. In the UK it was used as the theme to an 80s medical programme called 'Where There's Life', which is certainly where I first heard it! Here's the link:
