In July I picked up Bruce Springsteen's debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. in great condition for £1:
 |
| Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ (1973) |
Although it received positive reviews upon release, the spirited, industrious rock'n'roll of Greetings.. only sold an initial 25,000 copies in its first year. Since then it's deservedly sold much better and has won the position of no. 379 on Rolling Stone's '500 Greatest Albums of All Time' list. I have this on CD already, but couldn't leave it behind for the sake of a quid.
Another Bruce record I have on CD and again couldn't resist on vinyl, this time for £3 from a boot sale in August, was 1982's Nebraska:
 |
| Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (1982) |
Famously written and recorded as a series of demos, the ten tracks that make up the album were released unaltered from the cassette Springsteen made at home on a 4-track recorder after sessions with the E Street band failed to capture their rawness. It's a dark, haunting record with mainly bleak, often harrowing stories of violence, escape and death. If you don't already have it, I recommend it highly.
More lightweight but equally good fayre next, in the shape of the Average White Band's second album AWB:
 |
| Average White Band - AWB (1974) |
Released forty years ago (in the year of my birth), AWB was Scots funksters The Average White Band's debut for Atlantic after leaving MCA, reaching no. 6 in the UK album chart. Sadly, drummer Robbie McIntosh died the same year of an accidental heroine overdose so this album represents his best, last work. Steve Ferrone took over the sticks and the band's subsequent LPs Cut The Cake and Soul Searching also entered the top ten. I paid £1 for this corker of an album.
Another £1 bargain was this album from sophisticated chanteuse Françoise Hardy:
 |
| Françoise Hardy - In English (1969) |
'In English' is exactly what you'd expect - Ms Hardy taking a break from her native tongue and singing a selection of her material in English, including her biggest UK hit All Over The World. Note that this is a slightly different version of her 1966 album of the same name and more confusingly, uses the same cover photograph as 1967's Ma Jeunesse Fout Le Camp. My top track: the beautiful Autumn Rendezvous.
One particularly hot Sunday in July saw me spending £4 on this 1980s repress (with the CBS 'Nice Price' inner sleeve) of Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home:
 |
| Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965) |
Containing such classics as Subterranean Homesick Blues, Maggie's Farm and It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), it rightly takes its place at no. 31 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. You can hear me playing On The Road Again (and lots more besides) on Episode 7 of the Car Boot Vinyl Diaries Cloudcast here: http://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-vinyl-diaries-episode-7/
Also featured on Episode 7 is a song from South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo's 25th album, 1987's Shaka Zulu, which I bought for £1:
 |
| Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Shaka Zulu (1987) |
The soothing a capella recording consists of new versions of previously released material, this time produced by Paul Simon with whom they forged a musical relationship during their appearance on Graceland the year before. Some of the songs are sung in English, and this accessibility, coupled with Simon's involvement, made it a hit in the US leading to a Grammy award for Best Traditional Folk Recording.
Lastly - for Part 2 of the Catch-Up at least - again for £1, was Difford & Tilbrook's self-titled release from 1984:
 |
| Difford & Tilbrook (1984) |
I can't find a chart placing for this sole album as a duo made two years after Squeeze split, so I'm assuming it didn't do that well, which is a shame as although it has a rather dated 80s quality that's quite brittle in places, there's melody aplenty. Standout tracks are singles Hope Fell Down and Love's Crashing Waves. It's hard to find these days, so grab it if you see it.
Part 3 of the Catch-Up to follow soon-ish; in the mean time keep up with my boot sale finds on Twitter @VinylCarBooty and listen to the CVBD Cloudcasts here: http://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/
No comments:
Post a Comment