Record Store Day

Today was Record Store Day.  This began in 2008 as a way to rally music stores around their product (er... music).  It is also an excuse for special, limited edition records to be issued by bands and labels looking to drum up interest in their flagging product.  In 2008 a handful of special releases were issued.  In 2011 there are over 100.  To paraphrase a certain midget, that gum you like has come back in style.  Records are back in a big way.  The truth is, they never went away.  But now they're back in force.  Vinyl had its best year since 1991.  Almost 3 million units sold, and that doesn't include 45's.  Why has this happened?  Why was Johnny's mobbed today like it hasn't been in years, if not ever?

Let's talk about the record at the top of the page.  You're wondering - is it one of this year's participants?  No, it's not.  This is a 1981 record by an Australian band called the Discounts.  As far as anyone knows this is the only thing they ever did.  The cover makes the point that "selling records in your shop will have a dramatic impact on sales".  This was clearly intended in a joking manner in 1981.  But by 2006 it probably seemed like sage advice.  If stores actually try to sell records to the public, they may buy them!  That's not really the beginning and end of the story.  Technology had to evolve enough to kill (or at least mildly maim) the compact disc.  The advent of music downloads made it feasible to create a vinyl package, insert a coupon for a download of the music, and sell the whole thing - for way more than a CD ever would cost anyhow!

This record is an entrant in Johan Kugelberg's top 100 D.I.Y. record list.  It's pretty spectacular stuff and I won't try to rephrase the Kugelberg description, "sub-sub-sub Blockheads DIY stumble".  There some inspired, carefully thought out lyrics : 

  "they make records in dark places, they make new ones every day"

  "you want a record - I've got a record"

When the guy runs out of things to say he just says "records records records".  For all the Record Store Days that happen, it's not likely that the Discounts will participate.  They said their piece in 1981.  But I'm not a jaded fool, if a 15 year old kid is walking out of Johnny's holding a copy of the reissued Bad Brains' "Pay To Cum" 45, something has gone right.  Here's a youtube link to the Discounts one and only moment.  Go buy some records.

Dexys Midnight Runners

I love this band so much I have their live concert film on Beta.  I keep a working Betamax so I can watch it.

Most people consider this band to be a one hit wonder and nothing more.  This is a common opinion in the U.S and it may even be true in the U.K., despite having had two number one and four total top ten singles.  I understand that "Come On Eileen" relegated them to CD compilations alongside "Too Shy", "Whirly Girl" and other 80's masterworks.  But there is a difference between understanding and acceptance.  

Dexys Midnight Runners had three distinct phases : Horns, Strings, Accountants.  The first singles and album, Searching For The Young Soul Rebels, are completely Northern Soul influenced horn-based songs.  The second batch of singles (including Come On Eileen) and album, Too-Rye-Aye, still have horns but are driven by string arrangements.  The last phase is hard to define but it will become clear why "Accountants" is the best descriptor if you keep reading.  In their career, Dexys Midnight Runners released thirteen singles and I have at least one copy of every one.  I have Kevin Rowland's pre-Dexys punk single by the Killjoys (it's great - see this) and a few records by The Bureau, the band the horns section started after working with Rowland became too challenging.

Now, maybe I have some kind of problem to have amassed the collection below.  Nevertheless, I will try to be objective.  I would say it's safe to call Kevin Rowland a very ambitious musician.  A lot of the original class-of-1977 punks (the Clash for one) went different ways pretty quickly once the initial fire went out of punk.  Morrissey was the singer for the Nosebleeds, Billy Bragg was in Riff Raff.  So no one can blame him for getting out of punk early - he clearly had other things in mind.  Another thing that is pretty safe to say about Dexys Midnight Runners is that there is no band that can really be compared to them.  All the other bands with horns at that time were aping the Specials and playing ska.  Not these guys.  Let's see what they did.

Dance Stance b/w I'm Just Looking
(Oddball R6028)

It may only be their first single but Kevin Rowlands has gone ahead and given himself a fake name ("Carlo Rolan") just for the fun of it.  Perhaps he didn't want his name on it if it bombed?  The A-side is pretty weak soul that was later re-titled and re-recorded as "Burn It Down" on the first LP.  The B-side though - that's the first real sign of life.  A great song that was also re-recorded for Searching For The Young Soul Rebels.

Geno b/w Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache
(Late Night Feelings R6033)

Ah, Geno.  The first classic, an ode to Geno Washington.  Watch this and try to tell me this is not a great song.  And the cover photo is spectacular.  This is probably the zenith of the Horns version of the band, though some of the album tracks on Searching For The Young Soul Rebels are very good.  The B-side is a cover of a 1968 Northern Soul single by the Bandwagon.  I can't really say I like the original or the cover all that much.  But with an A-side as indestructible as this, the B-side could be blank and it would be a great record.


There, There, My Dear b/w The Horse 
(Late Night Feelings R6038)

"There, There My Dear" is a very good example of the first iteration of Dexy's Midnight Runners.  Kevin Rowland does too much vocal goofiness in the first few verses but then it all comes together and forms a great horn-driven song.  "The Horse" is a pretty frantic and great instrumental that doesn't make it onto a proper album, just the 1983 odds-and-ends compilation called Geno.


Keep It Part Two (Inferiority Part One) b/w One Way Love
(Late Night Feelings 6042)

"Keep It" is even more guilty of vocal goofiness than "There, There My Dear" and it doesn't really work.  It's a slower song and doesn't go anywhere no matter how overly emotional and Scottish Rowland manages to make simple words sound.  This song was on the Searching For The Young Soul Rebels LP.  The B-Side, while not great, would be a better album track.  It's a better example of what made this phase of the band good.  The band busted apart after this single came out, with several members forming the Bureau.  One of those members, Mick Talbot, formed the Style Council a few years later with a lad named Paul Weller.

Plan B / Soul Finger
(EMI R6046)

Interesting things afoot here.  "Plan B" is a very good Northern Soul-inspired song, here recorded and released by the re-furbished Horns version of the band during a contract dispute with EMI.  The song is good and would easily fit in on Searching For The Young Soul Rebels.  "Soul Finger" is a non-album instrumental that is solid but not nearly as good as "The Horse".  "Plan B" was re-recorded by the Strings version of the band and included on Too-Rye-Aye.

Show Me b/w Soon
(DEXYS 6)

"Show Me" is a song recorded by the Horns but subsequently re-recorded by the Strings and included on Too-Rye-Aye.  What a great song and perfect in both incarnations.  It's up-tempo and a little ragged - right on the money.  "Soon" is a short, soulful song that was not released on an LP but was reprised partially on Too-Rye-Aye as an intro to the re-recorded "Plan B".  This is a great, great single.  It was originally issued with a two-sided insert and only the lyrics on the back of the sleeve.  Later issues of it did away with the insert and stuffed everything on the back in tiny type.  As a back-handed way of explaining that I have both variations, I scanned both versions above.

Liars A To E b/w ...And Yes We Must Remain The Wildhearted Outsiders
(DEXYS 7)

The last of the in-between singles, the A-Side here was also re-recorded for Too-Rye-Aye.  In this case, the 45 version is better than the LP version.  The song itself is great, very melodic and beautiful.  The LP version adds some irritating harmony vocals and a slicker production that takes away from the sincerity of the song.  The B-Side (what a great title...) is another instrumental that alternates between melodic, exhilarating and a bit of a jumbled mess.  All of it adds up to a perfect single, on a par with anything they did.

The Celtic Soul Brothers b/w Love Part Two
(DEXYS 8)

The first product of the Strings version of the band.  This single is credited to "Dexy's Midnight Runners & The Emerald Express".  This would mark the beginning of a lot of mucking around with the band name.  This song is the first song on Too-Rye-Aye.  It's a really good song that has all of the elements that made "Come On Eileen" so popular, just not pieced together in such a deliberately commercial way.  "Love Part Two" consists of Rowland talking over a piano about how the holiday season makes him sick.  Pretty much worthless.  No matter, they had another single up their sleeve...

Come On Eileen / Dubious
(DEXYS 9)

Everyone's heard the A-side once or twice.  If you are not a fan, you most likely once were but now can't get through it due to overplay.  "Dubious" is another pretty stellar rollicking instrumental.  Notice we're still including the Emerald Express in the name.  This is another name for the fiddle section.  The 12" version of this single includes the re-recorded "Liars A To E".

Jackie Wilson Said b/w Let's Make This Precious
(DEXYS 10)

The third single from Too-Rye-Aye.  Note the name change to "Kevin Rowland & Dexys Midnight Runners".  Incidentally, this is the name on Too-Rye-Aye as well.  This is my personal favorite in their discography.  The full title of the song is "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)", a SPECTACULAR cover of the Van Morrison song.  Absolutely phenomenal in every way.  I recently bought an extra copy of the 12" of this record at a flea market just because I couldn't let it set there and get destroyed by careless flea marketers.  The B-side is a song from Too-Rye-Aye that is almost as good and has a line about "guitars too noisy and crude".  As an FYI, the 12" includes a cover of "T.S.O.P.", originally done by MFSB and done tremendous justice by Dexys.  This record is so good I simply can't say enough about it.  If you have worn out "Come On Eileen" on your copy of Too-Rye-Aye, you should really do yourself a favor and listen to the rest of it, including these two songs.  If you'd like a copy of the 12", you know where to find me.

Let's Get This Straight From The Start b/w Old
(DEXYS 11)

The A-side must be an outtake from the Too-Rye-Aye sessions because it sounds exactly like the rest of the album even though it's not on it.  "Old" is an slower album track.  It's a nice song but it definitely belongs on the B-side.  I don't really know what happened with this song - it's certainly better than "Old" so why it was left of the album is beyond me.  We've finally settled on a band name here that makes it clear who's in charge.  By the way, the photography is done by a young Anton Corbijn.  The 12" replaces the studio version of "Old" with a much improved live version that almost answers my questions about why it's on the album ahead of "Let's Get This Straight From The Start".  The 12" also adds a live version of "Respect".  "R E S P E C T".  B A D.

The Celtic Soul Brothers b/w Reminisce Part One
(DEXYS 12)

Rather bizarre reissue of the first single from Too-Rye-Aye with a different mix and B-side.  The full title of the A-side is "The Celtec Soul Brothers (More, Please, Thank You)".  The people credited on the back are different than the people on the original DEXYS 8 edition of the 45.  Rowland has thoughtfully updated the band name.  The B-side is a new one.  There's a sequel to this song on the Don't Stand Me Down album called "Reminisce Part Two".  These songs both consist of Rowland telling a story from his youth over some toned down Dexys music with some singing on the outro.  Nothing to write home about.  There is a version of the single that comes out with a six-panel fold-out poster of, you guessed it, Kevin Rowland.  The 12" adds on a great live version of "Show Me".  This band was clearly a great time live.

This Is What She's Like b/w This Is What She's Like (Finale)
Marguerita Time b/w Reminisce Part One
(DEXYS 13)

You can now see why this was called the Accountants phase.  Out are the dungarees and scruffy look.  In are suits and sweaters and shaving.  The full-color picture is from the inside of the gatefold.  I don't actually have the regular one-record version of this single.  I only have the double 7" set, along with the 10" and 12" versions.  The song "This Is What She's Like" is very hard to deal with on the album because it has a two minute intro of Rowland talking, warming up his voice etc.  The song is good once it gets going and the single edits out most of the trash.  Rowland is careful to note that this is "An Extract From This Is What She's Like", as though it's his magnum opus and should not have been tinkered with by the record label.  He was apparently opposed to issuing any singles at all.   The B-side is more of the album version of the song, which totals over 12 minutes by the time it's all put together.  "Marguerita Time", the A-side of the second record is a part-Hawaiian, part-country, part-Irish, part-Dexys disaster that almost works at times.  It's a tribute to Kevin Rowland's talent that he could even come close to pulling something this ridiculous off.  The B-side of the second record is the same as on the second version of "The Celtic Soul Brothers" (DEXYS 12).  The 10" gives you the album version of "This Is What She's Like" with "Marguerita Time".  The 12" has the album version, an instrumental version (just what you needed) and "Reminisce Part One".

Because of You b/w Kathleen Mavourneen
(BRUSH 1)

This is another, better, attempt at the part-country, part-Irish, part-Dexys style first tried out on "Marguerita Time" on DEXYS 13.  Rowland's voice is not really smooth enough for it and it gets a little distracting.  The music is pleasant enough but that's part of the problem too.  Dexys Midnight Runners was never just pleasant.  It was soulful or raucous or excited or sad or something other than just plain old pleasant.   "Kathleen Mavourneen" is a traditional English song given a pleasant country-ish Irish arrangement.  No more Dexys to be found.  Last note - the name of the band is now "Kevin Rowland FEATURING Dexys Midnight Runners".  That was all.

Dexys Midnight Runners broke up after that.  Kevin Rowland went on to a failed solo career.  In the span of four years from 1979 to 1982, Dexys Midnight Runners issued eleven singles and two albums.  One song remains in most people's consciousness and that's fine.  I'll be over here watching them on my Betamax.

Need vs. Want and the Plimsouls

Linus brought home a permission slip today. It's for a thrilling field trip to the local supermarket to learn about the difference between needs and wants. Sounds like a good lesson to learn. I realized quickly that I should also probably attend this field trip.

When I was in high school it was "I need this record". As in, "that record is so good I need to get it". The first time I heard the Plimsouls it was in the film Valley Girl. At some point a few years later I decided I needed to get a copy of the song "A Million Miles Away" since it's basically the best song ever. Of course, by about 1988, finding a copy of this song was a near-impossibility. There were no downloads, no compilations of 80's obscurities, not even a friend with a copy on tape. So I looked. And looked. Around 1990, I came up with this 45.

A very plain looking 45 with the very perfect song and a decent B-side, "I'll Get Lucky".  Indeed I had.  With my need satisfied, I listened to it a thousand times, put it on tapes for all my friends, put it on tapes for the car etc.  Naturally, about a month later, I came across this.

Wow.  Much, much better cover.  Same B-side.  I most certainly did not need it.  I wanted it.  What was I to do?  It was cheap.  I bought it.   Because I wanted it.  This would be the first time I did this.  And by "this", I mean "buying something completely and totally unnecessary".  I actually remember telling myself it was frivolous and that I would not be doing it again.

So there I was literally DAYS later in a store in Philadelphia in the LP section.  Who would have thought this song came out as a 12"?

Totally the same right?  Well the cover of the 12" actually writes out the name of the B-side.  The same exact B-side as on the two 45 copies, by the way.  No matter, it was technically a different cover.  And it looked really great with a bigger cover.  I didn't need it at all, but boy did I want it.  I mean I really, really wanted it.  The bad thing is that I didn't even hesitate or pretend to debate with myself.  I grabbed it like the store was teeming with people looking for this thing and went straight to the register to relieve myself of five more dollars on this song.

A quick aside : this "when it rains it pours" happens all the time when you collect records.  I'll go years looking for a certain record and then find three copies in the span of a week.  And if the hunt has been long enough I will buy each copy.  For no good reason at all.

So now I'm up three copies of the Plimsouls song, well past the point of need.  It went quiet for a couple of years.  Early 1993.

Oh my.  Absolutely, positively one of the best picture sleeves ever made.  I was in my junior year of college and basically broke.  I spent $10 of my last $20 on it.  A divorce lawyer once told me, "Don't get too attached to money.  You can always make more of it."  I won't pause to scrutinize that advice too carefully but it appears I was following it years before I met him.  In some ways, despite having three copies already, I needed this record.  I'm not sure I would benefit from the "need vs. want" field trip.  I don't really think I could have handled the situations above any differently.

Brian Wilson

The other day, at the playground, I told my son that it was time to leave and to tell his sister the same. "Tell Madchen it's time to get your things and head to the car". This rarely works as planned but I feel like I have to keep trying. He nodded his understanding and slowly walked in her direction. Judging from the distance I knew he would need to cover before he could pass along the message, I knew he would not get the job done so I started to follow him. He started to wander off the path and I wondered where his mind had taken him. He wasn't headed in the direction of anything in particular, just deeply lost in thought. Watching him allowed me to conjure up the feeling of my own childhood daydreams. I don't remember exactly what I thought about nor do I have any idea what my peers were pondering. When I caught up with him I reminded him that we needed to go. He responded by telling me he liked a particular bush more than a particular tree. Fascinating. Apparently he was formulating a personal preference of the specific flora present in the park. When I thought about it later it seemed like that was probably what I was doing in my daydreams too. If not actively making decisions about preferences, the subjects of my minds gravitation spoke volumes about who I would become and what would touch me.

Even though I haven't written in this blog for a long time, I always think I'm about to start again and the idea is the same - to write about obscure music. I'm not sure if this entry is a promise of more to come but it is not about obscure music. It's actually about someone really really popular and extremely un-punk. If you had told me in high school that I would own a stack of Beach Boys records I would have been angry enough to argue with you. But the thing is, as much as Dazzle Ships is meaningful and moving to me, there is little chance that my children or their children will really discover its beauty. They will find their own beautiful things. There are a few things that will transcend generations. As much as seriously collecting records can be a serious waste of time, it, coupled with having my own children, brought me to understand fully the place of certain pieces of our (pop) culture.

I drove Madchen to gymnastics an hour ago and "God Only Knows" was on in the car. Everyone who knows anything knows this song is a centerpiece of Pet Sounds, the 1966 apex of the Beach Boys' career. As it went along, Madchen decided to let me know that "Daddy, this song is really pretty". Doesn't seem like a big deal? What I realized at that moment is the indestructible perfection of the recording which allows it to transcend any generational gap and keep it in the cultural consciousness for generations. The lyrics were written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher. Brian Wilson is the composer and producer of the Beach Boys' recording.

From Wikipedia
In Asher's own words, "The general tenor of the lyrics was always [Brian's], and the actual choice of words was usually mine. I was really just his interpreter."

So this is effectively Brian Wilson's thing all the way through. And, for my money, it's his single greatest achievement. This is not a new realization for me, I've thought this for years. I didn't exactly stumble upon this and it's a pretty common opinion. But what I realized today is that his gift to me (I'm being ego-centric) is that somewhere down the line, my great grandchildren will hear that same recording and probably feel the same way about it as Madchen did. Without ever knowing those downstream from me in my family tree, I may already know something tiny about them. I would love it if Dazzle Ships was on their playlist too but I have to be realistic.

Barbi and the Kens

A very with-it friend of mine circulates an occasional email list with links to mp3s from bands he is hearing a lot. I will listen to anything once and, sadly, I usually do. One day the list included a cover of "Walk On By" by Richard X. When I listened to it I immediately noticed that the female coldly speaking the words sounded awfully similar to Deborah Evans - of course you all know she was one of the female singers in the Flying Lizards, right? I emailed him to ask if it was her (I didn't use to be the most proactive googler) and he said "No - couldn't be." Pleased, I sat expectantly at my computer. After about ten minutes, another email appeared. "Wow it is her. Weird. Wonder where he found her?"

Now, since I don't have the three or four days needed to properly cover the Flying Lizards, I'm instead going to go on and on mindlessly about a band (this word may be a bit of a stretch) that employed a similar approach but yielded much less output. In all likelihood this band was a studio project of Bobby Orlando, AKA Bobby O, who founded the thoughtfully named O Records. To say this guy had his hands in a lot of stuff is an understatement. My favorite achievement of his, other than this record, is his production of the original version of "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys. Spectacular. But nothing of his can top the Barbi and the Kens record.




The cover is very nice. A very cold-looking woman in a very stylish-at-the-time sweater. I guess that's supposed to be Barbi? The back cover consists of a cast of names and credits that make little sense. This band had a drummer? OK - maybe on a couple songs. If their name is Barbi and the Kens why is there a guy named Klaus? Despite the long list of credited musicians, the record itself credits all the original songs to either "O" Music or Intersong Music. That plus a quick listen to this record will tell you all you need to know - Bobby O put together some stuff in his NYC apartment and got some girl to sing when he said to sing. And if anyone ever tells you how good this band was live I'd think twice about that loan they're about to ask for.

Everyone knows this band for the song "Just A Gigolo" - an original, not a cover. It was played on WLIR in New York throughout the early 80's and it showed up on some of those compilations of more obscure 80's songs. But there's four songs here so let's get to it. This is a weird example of a record where every song is better than the one before it. The two songs on the A-side, "Pay My Bills" and "Uptown Downtown Cruising" are decent, tight new wave songs. "Pay My Bills" is kind of lame though. "Uptown Downtown Cruising" is a better quirky new wave song that shows Bobby probably saw the B-52's a few times. Or at least heard "Rock Lobster". Also, both songs manage to sound alarmingly like the Flirts. Hmm - it says here on my Flirts records that Bobby Orlando wrote all their songs.

The B-side is where the money is on this record. "Just A Gigolo" leads off. Here's a link to someone's youtube link with the song. I know, that's a pretty low-rent way to get a song posted and I apologize if you thought this was some kind of upscale blog. Cool song and all. 80's hit. If you picked this record up expecting it to have an 80's hit and some filler (I'm raising my hand slowly...) you would be wrong. There is an essential new wave song on here and it's not the one on the compilations. "Not Your Steppin Stone" is indeed the Monkees cover. It's a good song to begin with but it is been drastically overhauled as if the instrumental half of the Flying Lizards had gotten an adrenaline shot while Deborah Evans went about her business as usual.

To be clear, ANY Barbi and the Kens record is a rare one but they were never worth a thing - no one cared. But, when the cool people elected to make synthesizers cool again, someone (not me) got smart and put an mp3 of this up on an ebay listing along with the words "minimal synth". $150 later it was its own mini-legend, with some people kicking themselves for not having picked up a few copies when they were free for the taking.

Here's a clip. Bobby O should really get the band back together.

1+2 er... One Plus Two - Watercolor Haircut EP

As a young lad, I became aware of a band called REM. They had put out a record called "Murmur" and they were from somewhere called Athens. I was in 5th grade - what did I know? I read about them before I heard them. They were the champions of something called "College Radio" along with another band called the Replacements. As it turns out, there was a lot going on in a lot of places in 1983 and the South was one of them. One band that came out of this frenzy was One Plus Two.

One Plus Two (or 1 + 2 - even they couldn't seem to decide - see above) was from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Their self-released 7" EP, Watercolor Haircut, came out in the late summer or fall of 1984. They went on to produce a demo tape, a 12" EP and a full-length LP, both on Homestead Records, Gerald Cosloy's pre-Matador label. For the EP, the band consisted of Holden Richards (guitar), Maryclyde Bridgers (drums), Eric Peterson (bass) and Andy McMillan (vocals). After the Watercolor Haircut EP was recorded, Peterson left to join the dBs and McMillan started Snatches of Pink with Michael Rank. They were replaced by Susan Kent on guitar and Rob (not Rod) Stewart on bass. Of the 6 people involved, it seems like Holden Richards was the driving force in the band, mostly because all the songs are credited to him.

The record consists of 4 songs. All are great examples of the sound that defined this new genre of music. I haven't said the word "jangle" yet but it's going to be hard not to do it. "Look Away" has shades of REM, Let's Active and Guadalcanal Diary. "Much More" starts off in the same way as those bands but gets a little punchier in the chorus. Probably this was pretty good fun live. "Over You" is another good one. The production (by Eric Peterson the bassist and Wes Lachot, who now runs Overdub Lane Recording in Durham, North Carolina) is good, actually, but it makes me wonder what could have been if they had been thrown in the studio with more equipment and experience. The slightly muted sound is very much like REM's at the time. But there's some potential for some seriously shimmering guitar that didn't quite come out. The last song, "Pictures" is not bad, but for me it's a step below the other three. Not quite as developed maybe but still not bad. Truth be told, I love this record too much to say anything bad about it.

When I came across across a copy of the Watercolor Haircut EP it proved to be a great artifact of American College Radio. Not just because of the music either. The copy had been delivered by Holden to a magazine editor / reviewer / writer named Steve. Steve (unless Steve's no longer with us he's got no excuse for letting this out of his collection) was asked to listen to it, hopefully review it well and send a copy back to 1+2 so they could add it to their ever-expanding press kit. You're so interested by now that you're wondering what was in the press kit? Luckily, I have scanned in everything that was stuffed in with this record when I found it. I guess it proves that Steve got it a little bit later than some others.















At some point during their Homestead stint, IRS Records (naturally...) put them on the MTV show/commercial they had called The Cutting Edge. I don't know what happened but One Plus Two didn't make it like REM did. Or even Let's Active or Guadalcanal Diary. But for me, this record is a moment frozen in time. Googling "Watercolor Haircut" will get you back about 10 active, non-ebay, links. It's almost like this record didn't exist. But it certainly does.

Holden Richards is still active in music. He has a website here. It's late and the dog is wondering why I'm not tucking him into bed so you'll have to do the legwork on the rest of the band.

Someone was kind enough to rip the Homestead LP, Once In A Blue Moon.

As I Was Saying...

When I started writing this blog I didn't have some grand idea about what I was going to do with it. Without thinking too hard I guess the idea was to write about ignored music. I did a little bit of that. I also wrote a few things that served two purposes. First, I related a story with some oddballs acting oddly. Second, I managed to brag shamelessly about some items in my collection.


Did I mention these things are in my record collection? Have you seen this? Or this? I guess not. Good thing I showed you or you'd never get to see it...


As much as I'd love to go on and on with this stuff, I'd eventually run out. Not before finding some way to work this into conversation...




...and reminding you that Pete de Freitas wasn't in the band yet when they recorded this, their first single, so it's actually fully autographed. I'd also find a way to explain, slowly, for maximum effect, that I have something really, truly awesome. Like what? Oh like this...




You : "Wait a minute - everyone knows the uncompromising, critically worshiped and massively influential Mission of Burma made 5,000 copies of that record, half in the color sleeve and half in the black and white sleeve. Why makes you think I'm going to care?"


Me : "Oh, I'm sorry. I meant to show you the other side."




You : "Oh please - you've shown me so many autographs at this point I'm numb to them. Why couldn't he write in the middle of the big blank space? And this isn't too hard to get anyway - I saw Clint Conley autographing records for someone backstage in the Mission of Burma documentary film"


Me : "Funny you mention that - that was me and this is the record he was signing. But I really meant to show you the record itself..."





So now that you know about how this relationship would have gone, I think we can all see it's best to end it now. Seriously, does any more need to be said about a band like Mission of Burma or the Psychedelic Furs or REM? Starting tomorrow, since it's too late right now, I'll get back to the point and write about records that no one ever noticed. Well, almost no one. No more of this high-fiving myself about how cool I am for having something so cool that you could never be as cool as me...

never

ever

ever

because you didn't find something so, so, so cool

one day

around 15 years ago

in the dirty back room of a store in Nowhere, Connecticut

you didn't find anything as impossibly, unbelievably cool as this...



OK, sorry, I'll stop. Mostly. Maybe. First up is the Watercolor Haircut 7" EP by 1+2.

PS - that's cool as you think it is. A Joy Division test pressing with a handwritten note from their manager and an original sticker for the first album.

Stopping again. Good night.

Equipment Problems

I am not an autograph hound. I also don't collect test pressings. But if one comes around, I'm not likely to refuse. While this attitude may make my girlfriend uneasy, it is true that there is a strong correlation between my need for something and the unusualness of it. What I'm saying is that I, like any collector, will jump on a good opportunity even if it's not exactly what I'm into at the moment. I doubt this is helping the uneasiness.

Autograph hounds know what to do. They somehow get 8"x10" glossies and know where to wait to get them signed by the person in the picture. They have a Sharpie at all times. Those of us who are more casual about it don't have it down pat. If I think I'm going to be in a setting where I could pursue a particularly interesting autograph, I will come prepared. Record jacket (no record needed), cardboard mailer to carry and protect the record and a Sharpie. I can be just as prepared as the regular autograph people. There's just one thing I can't seem to master : How to remain unflustered when interfacing with the person. I have probably done this about 20 times total. Not counting signing events - these don't count as it's akin to fishing in a stocked pond - each time has gone about the same. I usually fumble around with my words, the record sleeve, and the Sharpie. It's a lot like how I would envision myself in a cash-for-sex situation : One party is not really interested and feeling a little invaded while the other is bumbling, ashamed and humiliated.

Example
A few years ago I was invited by a friend to an art opening in Peekskill, New York. The artist was Richard Butler. He had apparently been trained as a painter from a young age. He was having his first opening at the age of 50 or so. Why the gap between his schooling and his first opening? He spent most of his life as the singer for the Psychedelic Furs. Sure, I like the Psychedelic Furs, but they were never my favorite band by any stretch. Didn't matter - this was an easy opportunity. I prepared myself by digging out a 7" sleeve that's pretty rare (Martin Hannett produced the B-side of the UK single), a Sharpie and some cardboard to protect it. No problem.

I met up with my friend and we went to the gallery with a group. My friend knows some people who know some more people and he was lucky enough to be on a distant-acquaintance basis with Richard Butler. Although I had a track record of choking badly, I was confident that the introduction and Richard Butler's diminished status due to the lack of activity in his music career would make for a smooth interaction. My friend introduced me, we all shook hands and the three of us started talking like old friends about the opening. Sounds good right? He kept talking. That voice is familiar, I thought. Uh oh. He sounds like that guy in the Psychedelic Furs. Then it hit home. My mind raced. This man's voice had been part of the soundtrack of my life since I was in elementary school. This is the man who sang "Love My Way", which was integral to a key scene in Valley Girl. After my brother's wedding in 1987, I sat on the floor in the hotel with some other kids and watched videos all night. "Heaven" was one. This is the man who sang "Pretty In Pink". John Hughes named one of his films after a song this man sung. This man, standing in front of me in Peekskill, New York, was part of the fabric of my existence. As this realization came crashing down on me, my friend did me a favor and told him I had brought something for him to sign. I clammed up and started scrambling to find the Sharpie. I found it, opened it, and handed it to him with the sleeve. He happily went about signing it. Here's the results.



Not so good huh? That's because I opened the thin side of the Sharpie. I realized it as he was writing. Feeling like an idiot, I thanked him and shrank away. After all this planning I had blown it. I had completely underestimated his impact on my life. He and his band meant a lot to me and it had completely snuck up on me.

I struggled for several minutes with the idea of re-approaching him, solo this time since my friend was off talking to someone else, and getting him to re-do his John Hancock. How pathetic is this? Not pathetic enough, I guess, since I soon had enough Diet Coke in me to make my move. I got over to him and he had a very different look on his face. "You want me to do that again?" He looked more than a little uninterested and plenty invaded. I was holding up my end of this awful interaction by feeling completely ashamed. The incredible tension was broken by the gallery agent came up to him. My friend had bought a painting - the first one to sell. Turns out a little cash helps everyone get what they want.

Changing Criteria

One question I get from the back seat on an almost daily basis is this : "What is your favorite song?" Tough question. I prefer the just-as-frequent discussions about my favorite color. That's blue. The answer to the inevitable follow-up, "why?", is "just because". End of discussion. So easy. Favorite song is impossible for too many obvious reasons to list. So here's a question worth some time : "What's your favorite record?"

A lot goes into what makes a great record to someone like me. Here's three records that are unquestionably great.



The Dils were a punk band from California. They put out not one, but two 7"s in 1977. The first was on What? Records. The second on Dangerhouse Records. The one above is the second. No titles, no sexy pictures to draw you in. Just a statement that sums up punk very succinctly. It's not important what the Dils look like. It's not important what the song titles are. If you buy this record, you will get two songs averaging 1 minute 39 seconds. There is no disco, no boring rock, no AM radio tripe. The songs : "Class War" & "Mr. Big".

Hey Mr. Big - you look so big to others. Hey Mr. Big - well I can see you're nothing.

Perfect.




This is a split release on the Matt Label and Land Speed Records from 1993. Small 23 were from Chapel Hill, NC. They were part of the scene that spawned Superchunk, Portastatic, Merge Records and much more. Small 23 included a young Eric Bachmann, who later went on to Archers of Loaf and Crooked Fingers. What's so good about this record? Great, non-retro, punk with hints of Superchunk, Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr. It took two labels to bring you this record. The two songs were recorded in two different recording sessions. The front and back cover have pictures of two different children sloppily eating spaghetti. Prior to this record they were called simply "Small". So, perhaps in some quest to improve their odds, they added the "23". They did it carefully, scrawling it by hand under the nicely printed "SMALL". They forgot to make the same adjustment to the back cover or either label on the record. Oh well. It's so good, I have two copies of it, just in case.




Hands down one of the greatest records ever made. Punk music is great, at times, because the bands truly have no intention (or prayer, for that matter) of commercial success. Nothing about this record could have helped them achieve any kind of commercial success or acceptance. Every last thing is incredible. The band's name is "Pink Dirt". A song called "Hooker". Did I mention it's from Norway? 1979? If you're thinking my copy is somehow missing its picture sleeve, you're wrong. This is it. They decided it would be best to just (carefully, as you can see) write the band name and song titles on white paper sleeves. In keeping with this approach, the band also decided to pass on printed labels and just write the letter "A" on side A and the letter "B" on side B. The music is driving punk, half derived from the British and half its own. The thing completely falls apart at one point and the singer gives you some thoughts on a popular religion. Radio ready stuff. Somehow someone stuck a name, address and phone number of a distribution company on the sleeve. This record is everything that makes punk great. A group of kids in Norway in 1979 decided the world needed this record in it, that they needed to be heard. And you should thank your maker that they did.

The three records above have their own charms and have their place in a discussion of great records. They would never win. Not when things like this exist.

Habit Forming Behavior

Some people commonly refer to record collectors as “addicts” as though we have something in common with substance abusers. At least I can take comfort that I have yet to see anyone apply the non-suffix “oholic” to the word “record”. Still, the implication of the word “addict” is clear. As much as many record collectors would dispute the similarities of drug addiction with their habit, there is a tendency we share with those who develop serious substance problems. At some point it starts to make a lot of sense to begin buying large groups of records and reselling them off individually in order to finance the pursuit of the few that are really needed. Sound familiar? Thankfully, while it can earn one the label “record scum”, this practice is not frowned upon by police. Aside from the same overall business model as drug dealing, there is another similarity : You can meet some truly fascinating people when you transact business. Since the re-distribution of records is not illegal, this typically occurs on ebay – an almost anonymous forum. That leaves most of the human interaction to the other side of the equation - the supply side.

One way to buy record collections is by looking on craigslist for people selling their collections along with other stuff they never use anymore. This usually amounts to someone who wants a dollar each or to sell the whole mess for a single price. My approach is to make sure it’s somewhere around 50 cents to a dollar a record, that they’re in decent condition and that there are minimal Broadway soundtrack or classical records. As long as it’s decent condition rock or jazz you can usually turn it around on ebay and make money on volume. And if you’re lucky you can get some good stuff that brings a bit more. I email the lister, ask a few questions and, assuming it looks good, set up a time and place to make the drop. I mean deal. I mean exchange.

Recently, I looked through some ads and came across and interesting one. What happened is a strange incidence of worlds colliding. The ad looked like this :

“100 records for sale – Beatles, Kinks, more - $1 each”

I emailed the poster and went about my business. I didn’t get a response so I figured someone else had made off with the stuff. Beatles records don’t last long. I was surprised to hear back from the guy about a week later, saying he had “just gotten to check his email” and to call him if I was still interested. I called him right away. He told me the records were in great shape and that he could meet that night. I got the address and made the drive to his house around 8PM.

No matter the condition of the home, I usually have a variation of the same thought as I walk into a stranger’s house with some cash to buy their records. I ponder what it’s going to be like for the police when they are trying to find my body or what’s left of it. They will see the email thread in my recent messages. The email address on the other end will be closed and will have been last accessed from some Apple store in a mall where thousands of people use the computers. The address will turn out to be the home of someone who was out of town when this whole thing went down. There will be no clues to the identity of the person who lured me to this home. This hasn’t happened yet. I suppose I won’t be able to let you know when it does either.

Anyway, the house was a nice, well-kept home on a residential street. There was a man standing in the front yard talking on a cell phone. He was about 40, dressed in slacks and a white shirt. I noticed that he appeared to be an Orthodox Jew. He looked at me and waved me to the house. Without saying a word to me, he led me into a mostly dark house and up the steps. We pointed in the direction of some records on the floor and walked into the next room. As I squatted down to pick through the records I looked around the room and thought for a moment that the decorating taste seemed a bit dated for someone his age. No matter – I forgot this as I started to look at the records. Some good stuff. Nothing great but good condition first pressings of the first two Elvis LPs, several nice condition later pressing Beatles LPs and some other common classic rock mixed in with some show tunes and junk. I have to admit I was a bit surprised to find rock and roll records in the home of an Orthodox Jew. I assumed their faith would have led them away from this kind of music. I only paid this a moment’s thought until I came across this :



Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables : the first LP from the Dead Kennedys. The record that single-handedly altered my musical taste and opened the door to another world. An early 80’s issue of Star Hits magazine included a quote from a pop star explaining that he didn’t understand why some people feel you “need to be covered in vomit” to play music and cited the Dead Kennedys as an example. I saved my allowance, bought a copy of this record and my life was literally changed overnight. But now the question loomed even larger : What is this doing in the home of an Orthodox Jew? More punk records followed – Cockney Rejects, GBH, Devo, Circle Jerks, Gang of Four.

As this was being uncovered in one room, I became aware of the man’s ongoing phone conversation. He was talking loudly now, not seeming to notice or care that I was within earshot. He was talking to a woman, explaining that he had no reason to live. He had lost his career, he was unable to see his children, he was massively in debt – “and everything else”. He explained that the “witch” had tricked him and that he was ruined because of it. I started to feel some sympathy. Then he said the magic three letters : “T-R-O”. Anyone who has been through a particularly nasty dissolution knows these letters. Temporary Restraining Order. She had tricked him into violating one and his life had spiraled downhill ever since. I felt sorry for him now. He went on for a bit longer while I sorted out the records I wanted.

He hung up and came into the room. It was very awkward as we both knew I had heard every word of his conversation. I clumsily said something like “I couldn’t help to overhear your conversation – sorry to hear that’s going on”. I let him know I had some firsthand experience on a similar situation and he looked relieved. He sat down and immediately opened up to me. He explained that when he and his wife (the “witch”) were getting divorced she filed a temporary restraining order against him because she wanted the house to herself even though he was living in the basement and didn’t cross paths with her. The TRO was granted (they have to be), he moved to a friend’s home and a deal was worked out so he could have visitation with his children from Friday to Sunday. Here’s where it gets interesting. “The witch – she, she put this thing in the visitation order that said I couldn’t approach the house on foot. And Friday is the Sabbath so, you know, I can’t drive. That witch.” So the guy decides to walk to what he thought was 500 feet from the house and wait for his kids. Turns out he misjudged the distance and the police showed up and threw him in jail for a couple days for violation of a restraining order. Wow.

I thought this was pretty awful. What a witch. But we’re just getting started with this one. He tells me that since he violated the TRO it became a full-on RO. Nothing temporary about it. Then he blurts out : “ I just got out of jail THIS MORNING.” Now my mind is racing in different directions. With one thought I deduce that the reason he had “just gotten to check his email” is because they don’t have an internet connection in the slam. With another thought I fleetingly think this could be the day I don’t make it out of the stranger’s house alive. I foolishly assume that this restraining order violation is the reason he was in jail earlier today. Not so fast. He says he was in jail today on “some child support thing”. Then he clarifies, “I owe $2,500 but they think I owe $25,000”. I mumble something about such a huge discrepancy being hard to understand and he clarifies for me :

“Well I actually do owe $25,000 but I don’t have to pay it yet. If you don’t have any means of income you can get a payment extension. And I was in PRISON for EIGHT MONTHS in the Tombs in Chinatown so I couldn’t work.”

Oh. Now I understand. Thanks for helping un-confuse me.

He continues. “I got behind in child support because of my legal bills. So I committed a crime to try to make ends meet.” Oh please tell me what crime. “I started dealing ecstasy.”

This is as good a time as any to remind you about something : Orthodox Jew.

He then explains that he’s a lawyer. “Was a lawyer”, he clarifies. Felony conviction = automatic disbarment. He can’t work in the only field he has ever known. He used to work at *******, one of the highest end law firms in New York City. He explains that if anyone should be disbarred it’s the guy who runs the place, since he’s got deep ties to the mob. He says he only sold to people at his office (who says lawyers are no fun?) until one of them set him up with a “friend”. The friend turned out to be the heat, the fuzz, the law as they say. Oops.

When charges were filed he found out that, because of the witch and her restraining orders, he wouldn’t get a suspended sentence and would serve prison time. He cut a plea deal that specified he serve his time in the Chinatown prison rather than one upstate. He made it very clear that he was an experienced lawyer who had had lots of clients. It was very important to him that he not be sent to ANY of the prisons upstate. Certain things happen there that do not happen in Chinatown. He said he is very happy he did not go upstate. Sensing that we were now pretty close friends, I asked “How was it?” He said it was not bad. The food wasn’t too bad either. I asked him what he did and if he did a lot of reading since this is always what I envision myself doing when I eventually go to prison. “I did a lot of reading,” he said. “Tons of reading.” Then he went on to say he was eligible for parole after three months but decided to stay for the full term. I had to ask why. He said that, since he was disbarred and didn’t have a plan for how to make money when he got out, he would stay in until he had a plan. It didn’t seem like he was any closer to having that plan in place since I’m currently his only means of income.

This went on for a while. He received a few phone calls from someone who I could hear moving around in the living room downstairs. By this point the whole night was so bizarre I didn’t think twice and asked him if he wanted to talk softer so the person downstairs wouldn’t hear. He was very frank, “That’s my mom – she’s deaf so we can say whatever we want.”

Eventually we got to the records. He pulled out the Gang of Four record (Entertainment! mind you) and said “This band was incredible. This is their best record. I saw them at Irving Plaza.” He got to the Circle Jerks record. “I saw these guys in Stamford.” Turns out he had seen a lot of the local punk bands in the 80s. Dead Kennedys. “My favorite hardcore band. I know I look like an Orthodox Jew. I mean, I am an Orthodox Jew. But this stuff is awesome to anyone.”

$40 later and I made it out alive. I wished him luck. He needs it.

Tam Box?

As I made the gradual transition from "music fan" to "record collector" my criteria for purchasing one item or another changed dramatically. Over time I became far more interested in buying music I had never heard (or even heard of) than music with which I was familiar. To apply this pattern when shopping for other things would likely make your friends very inquisitive. I know this from experience - I am guilty myself. One example would be when when my friend showed up in her brand new car - a "Kia". I was amazed. She was not poor, nor stupid. Yet when faced with buying a new car and given all the familiar choices (Toyota, Honda, Ford etc etc) it seemed she had actually sought out a mystery car maker. As much as I mercilessly made fun of her for this, I was slowly adopting the same approach to shopping for records.

I was seeking obscure punk records made between 1977 and 1983. You either have to seriously know your stuff or go with the information you have - which boils down to what you can discern from what you are holding in your grubby hands. And by the way, "seriously knowing your stuff" entails knowing the origin, appearance, pressing size and other details of literally thousands of records. In 2009 there are a lot of us who can do it. But in 1995 it was not like this for me. I learned to look at certain factors to make a decision.

1) Year made. The closer to 1977 the better. 1984 or later, beware.
2) Label. No major labels.
3) # of songs. The more the better. Short songs = punk rock.
4) No remixes, alternate versions or dubs
5) How "punk" it looks - especially if the band is pictured
6) Guitar, bass & drums only is best. Keyboards/horns - proceed with caution

Carefully observing these guidelines will save you a lot of money and space. It doesn't guarantee punk records since a lot of powerpop will slip in. Now, powerpop is a genre some punk collectors despise but since there are plenty of powerpop collectors out there, those records are still worth having to trade for better things. I got to the point where I could go through a pile of records that no one, including me, had heard of and pull out a bunch of decent records just by keeping these rules in mind. I realized how important it was to be vigilant about this. When you get lazy (and it happpens) you wind up with records you can't give away unless you can get some other idiot to buy the thing for the same reasons you picked it up. The word guideline is not being used carelessly. Despite all best efforts, sometimes you just get a dud. See below...

Case Study
I was in a record store in the East Village around 1999. I come across a total mystery. It is below (front and back covers)




OK so where do we stand with our rules?

1. Year made. I didn't scan the record but it was made in 1980. In NORWAY. 1980 in the US or the UK was not as special - but NORWAY for gosh sakes. Angry, drunk, freezing people make for great angst. A very big check mark for rule #1.

2. Label. "Strawberry". Not a major label - but a bad, sissy name. Hmmm.

3. # of songs. Two. The minimum. Not looking good.

4. Remixes etc. None. Little better.

5. How "punk" it looks. Off the charts. A drawing of an extended middle finger on the front. Singer in a punk-ish looking shirt and leopard print pants. Guitarist in the background in leather. Punks these days have a uniform. Back then they had no clue so the best approach was to look as offensively stupid as possible with whatever you could get from around your house or the local thrift shop. Great. And who in the world would put a drawing of the finger on the cover of their record unless they have foregone all hopes of commercial success. This record scored strongly in this category.

6. Instruments. Obvious red flag is the keyboard. No horns though.

The price was $3. I bought it and got it home. The record is horrific white-boy reggae. Turns out there was a mini-wave of white reggae in Scandinavia in the early 1980's. Who knew? I've been trying to trade it for 10 years. The joke is on me - everyone knows it's garbage. I was the one who didn't know it. Where did I go wrong? Here's a some things I didn't notice.

1. Stupid song titles - but not punk at all.
2. Typed letters - no band-member printing.
3. The keyboardist is listed first - bad bad bad.
4. 2 guitarists. Not a lot of punk bands needed a second guitarist. The Clash did. Black Flag had one for a bit. So did Minor Threat. But they never had a keyboardist. I should have known.

Live and learn.