Winner of the Super Summer Giveaway

The grand draw for the first ever CBVD Super Summer Giveaway took place at 9pm last night, and the lucky winner is Julia Sen!  Julia has been contacted and as soon as she gets back to CBVD her prize of Blondie's Parallel Lines on original 1970s vinyl will be winging its way through the post.  Congratulations Julia!

Keep your eyes on the blog or Twitter (@VinylCarBooty) for the next Giveaway, coming soon...

Cloudcast Episode 3: Disco Suite Special now on Mixcloud!

The new CBVD Cloudcast is now online for your streaming - and dancing - pleasure. Featuring three whole non-stop disco LP sides, it's sure to get you out of your seat!

Car Boot Vinyl Diaries Episode 3: Disco Suite Special by Car Boot Vinyl Diaries on Mixcloud

Don't forget about the competition currently running to win a classic 70s pop album - see previous post!

Win a Classic Pop Album on Vinyl !

In its first ever Super Summer Giveaway competition, Car Boot Vinyl Diaries is offering a used copy of Blondie's 1978 classic album Parallel Lines.  In very good condition with no skips or sticks, this fantastic record by the Heart of Glass hitmakers can fetch up to a whole pound at car boot sales and charity shops!  (Unless it's in Oxfam, where it'd probably set you back a tenner).

Featuring five UK singles including two number ones, this chart-topping album has sold over 20 million copies.  Even if you don't have a turntable it'd look pretty cool on your wall. This wonderful LP could be yours by answering the following easily-googlable question:

What is the name of the producer of Parallel Lines?

a) Richard Gottehrer

b) Mike Chapman

c) Clem Burke

Put your answer into the contact form at the top-right of the page, fill in your name (real or internet) and email address in the fields provided and click 'Send'.  The first correct entry to be pulled out of the hat on Sunday 15th June will be the lucky winner of this fine piece of 70s wax. Car Boot Vinyl Diaries will notify the winner via email for a postal address and the prize will be sent in true thrifty style via second-class post!  I can only post to UK residents, unfortunately.

Good luck!

Album cover slideshow

Here's a selection of some of my car boot vinyl finds from the last few years...

...featuring three different Top of the Pops themes!

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/

Happy Hour

The weather last Sunday morning was ace, and so was the car boot sale that I attended with my eldest sister Vicki.  While she was on the lookout for plants, I was as usual on the lookout for some bargain vinyl and came home with seven LPs, ranging in price from 20p to a pound.

The first was an Isley Brothers compilation from their brief time at Motown:

Tamla Motown Presents: The Isley Brothers (1967)

Although I'd checked the condition of the record before buying, unfortunately I failed to check the label, as inside the cover was actually an album by Roger Whittaker!  I haven't dared to play it yet, but as I recall he was well-known for his whistling....  I'm hoping the seller will be at Monday's boot sale so I can check if they have the Roger Whittaker sleeve with the Isley Brothers record inside! But at 20p it doesn't really matter.

Next, for £1 was Rosanne Cash's King's Record Shop:

Rosanne Cash - King's Record Shop (1987)
Rosanne never actually visited the shop for this picture;
her photo was superimposed.  The shop was in Louisville
 Kentucky and owned by the brother of
country artist Pee Wee King.

This was Rosanne's sixth studio album.  I'd never heard anything of hers until recently when someone introduced me to her latest album The River & The Thread which I'm really enjoying, so when I saw this I had to get it.  I'm so glad I did, as it's a great country-pop collection of originals and covers.  It was produced by her husband at the time Rodney Crowell and the band features Benmont Tench and Steve Winwood among many other musicians and singers.

Rear cover

The album produced four number one singles in the US Country chart, including a cover of her father's Tennessee Flat Top Box.    My top track is her version of Eliza Gilkyson's Rosie Strike Back, which opens Side 1:

For 50p was an Everly Brothers collection:

The Very Best of the Everly Brothers (1965)

The brothers moved from Cadence to Warner Brothers in 1960 and this release on Warners consists of six re-recorded versions of 50s Cadence hits in sparkling stereo, plus six early Warners singles.  It was produced by Wesley Rose and songwriter Bouleaux Bryant who wrote five of these hits.  The re-records were done in Nashville with several of the original musicians, and for me are the versions I know best because they are the ones I grew up with, as my parents had this album (and probably still do).

The re-records are: All I Have To Do Is Dream, Devoted To You, Bird Dog, Wake Up Little Susie, (Til) I Kissed You and Bye Bye Love.

For another 50p I bought The Housemartins' 1986 debut album London 0 Hull 4:

The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4 (1986)

I would have been about 12 when this came out, and big sis Vicki had it on cassette.  I remember borrowing it a lot and singing and dancing for an imaginary crowd to the whole thing, using my bed as a stage and probably a hairbrush for a mic.  I really used to love the Housemartins and when their second and final album The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death was released, I bought it on LP with some Christmas record tokens.  It was the first album I bought with my own funds that wasn't a Now compilation!

I've since bought London 0 Hull 4 on CD, but I just had to get this vinyl copy.  It was a bit grubby but cleaned up very well indeed.

I'll put the rest of Sunday's finds up in a later post.  In the meantime don't forget to check out the Car Boot Vinyl Diaries Cloudcast at http://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/ where you can listen to me playing a selection of my finds from over the years with minimal inane chatter!

Cloudcast number two now on Mixcloud

Episode 2 of the Car Boot Vinyl Diaries Cloudcast is now on Mixcloud for your listening pleasure!  Use the widget below to listen, or follow the link to go to the page where you can find the tracklist and leave a comment/like.

This one features Donna Summer, David Bowie, Lee Hazlewood and lots more.

Car Boot Vinyl Diaries Episode 2 by Car Boot Vinyl Diaries on Mixcloud