Hold Tight

Following on from my last post, here are the rest of last weekend's car boot vinyl bargains.

First up, for £1 was a greatest hits package from 60s popsters Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich:

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - Greatest Hits (1976)

This Wiltshire group formed in 1961 and eventually found success when in 1964 songwriters Alan Blaikley and Ken Howard took them under their wing.  They went on to sell millions of records, and this album boasts 12 top twenty hits from the peak of their career between 1966 and '68, the highest charting pair being The Legend of Xanadu (no.1) and Bend It (no.2).

My top track is Hold Tight, which got to no.4 in the UK chart:

Next was an album I already have on CD, but I couldn't resist it on vinyl, especially for a pound:

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975)

This, her seventh studio album, came after Court and Spark, and the jazz inflections there are further explored on the follow-up.  While the music is more adventurous, the lyrics also branch out in that Joni turns the microscope from herself to the lives of various American stereotypes, such as a gangster and his new moll in Edith & the Kingpin; a southern belle in Shades of Scarlet Conquering; and in the title track, with the hissing lawns referring to the water sprinklers of suburban gardens, an executive's trophy wife and their empty relationship.

The lyrics printed on the inside of the gatefold are much easier to read than those of the scaled-down CD version which requires a magnifying glass, so it's nice to be able to read them in comfort!

Inner gatefold

My favourite track is the Moog-led The Jungle Line, featuring the Drummers of Burundi five years before Malcom McLaren introduced them to Adam Ant via a cassette.  Someone's made a really good animated film to go with it on youtube:

Finally, also for a pound was The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood:

The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood (1966)

I'd never heard anything of Lee Hazlewood's before, but knew of his connection with Nancy Sinatra, whose career he rescued after she'd had five hitless years on Reprise.  According to the sleevenotes Lee said,

"She was singing too high for one thing, and for another she was trying to be Goody-Two-Shoes which is not her natural style.  I thought she needed more gutsy material."

Her  biggest hit with Hazlewood was These Boots Were Made For Walkin', and his own version is included here with songs both dark and playful; a kind of soft country-easy-listening style with shades of the Wild West, sung in Lee's laconic baritone.

You can hear a track from this album on Episode 2 of the Car Boot Vinyl Diaries Cloudcast here: http://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/