#fromthedoctorscollection

[drrubberfunk]

As I’ve got a new album out, I’ve compiled a chart for Juno Records, featuring some of my favourite albums. Some are new releases, some older classics, some I’ve loved for years and some just recently discovered.

Click here to see and hear the selection, which artists or albums would feature in your list?

Photos by the amazing Emma Croman.

[drrubberfunk]

From The Collection - Part 7

Well, I haven’t done many of these album write-ups recently - maybe I should do some 45s instead, as they’re smaller ... for those of you who are wondering what this is all about, here’s Part 1, with a handy preface explaining my vinyl blogging motives.

Anyway, here's an album I picked up a few years ago and listened to a lot at the time, which is something I do with most new finds, but I’ve been re-visiting ‘Lady, Tell Me Straight’ recently and it’s still a great album to these ears. It’s a little different to the blues / jazz / funk albums I’ve posted so far, but feels like a soulful record to me.

I first came across Mike posting on the TapeOp magazine forums, which led me to his Bandcamp site. Back before the pound tanked and the USPS put their prices up, buying vinyl from the States was all the rage you know ...

There's a lot to love about this record, from the intimate small band recording - featuring pedal steel, trumpet and upright bass, among other things - to the carefully crafted and arranged songs. Great storytelling in the classic Americana tradition, timeless like the Band, Bruce Springsteen or Neil Young with amusing lyrics. Recorded on an 8track tape recorder with 2 microphones, there’s a wonderful ‘reach out and touch the band’ vibe, and it's a great lesson in how a 'lo-fi' recording doesn't have to mean 'badly recorded'. 

The artwork has the look and feel of a classic 60s jazz or folk record too, with the simple typography nicely complimenting the grainy monochrome cover image.

If you like the sound of this under appreciated gem I'd urge you to pick up the vinyl, still some available in Mike's Bandcamp store.

[drrubberfunk]

From The Collection - Vinyl Related Ephemera #1

After I’d written the Robert Cray piece, way back at the start of last year, I remembered that somewhere I had a collection of vinyl labels and pasted-up label mechanicals, which included these Robert Cray Band ‘Don’t be Afraid Of The Dark’ album labels.

I found them again recently - while searching for something else, obviously - so thought I’d share some pictures with you.

In November 1990 I happened to be in Sydney, Australia, staying with friends of family friends, whose father worked in the print trade. We were happily doing the tourist thing around the harbour and so on, but one morning he mentioned he was off to the EMI pressing plant in Homebush, which was in the process of closing down. He was going to look at the printing presses - used for printing the record labels - with a view to buying them. Needless to say, even with only a burgeoning record collection at this stage, I jumped at the chance for a nose round an actual vinyl pressing plant!

We didn’t get to see the record presses, but the print room was littered with piles of labels, and even a few paste-ups, which I helped myself to. As a memento y’know.

My uncle is a graphic designer, and had his own printshop when I was a kid, so I’d spent lots of time around a noisy print room, learning to use a scalpel, and the smell of ink, glues and solvents is a formative part of my childhood. It was odd to be there in a huge print room with no machinery running, but the smell was exactly the same. I remember feeling quite unexpectedly homesick.

I wish I’d taken some photos of the EMI factory (maybe I did, I lost all the prints from this trip sometime in my university years) but for now, enjoy the varied label art of these early nineties Australian vinyl releases and re-issues. 

The plant (or the presses at least) were re-incarnated as Vinyl Factory Australia in the noughties, but has since fallen silent again as far as I can gather. Happy to hear from anyone who can help fill in the gaps in the EMI Australia factory history between 1990 and now!

[drrubberfunk]

From The Collection - Remix Interlude #1

Whilst sorting out tunes for the next part of the riveting ‘From The Collection’ autobiographical odyssey that you’re avidly following here, I stumbled across this curio from the Rubberfunk Remix Archives.

I’d done a few remixes before this, some ‘on spec’, and at least one commissioned mix, but this was the first one to make it to vinyl. In fact, it was the first thing I’d had released on a ‘proper’ label - pre-dating ‘Harry The Guitar’ on Southern Fried Records by a good couple of months.

The Space Channel 5™ ‘Mexican Flyer’ 12″ is a proper oddity - a piece of 60′s big band library music, originally recorded by Ken Woodman and his Piccadilly Brass, with additional production then added by Dan The Automator, to be featured in a Sega Dreamcast game about a dancing space reporter from the future, and then remixed by me for the Silver Label imprint that Tommy Boy had just set up to release everything they liked that wasn’t hip hop. Needless to say, I was VERY excited to see my name next to Dan’s on the artwork. Tommy Boy and Dan The Automator?? Big-time fanboy business for me right there.

Props to Stuart Winterton and Glen Newsam at Tommy Boy for going out on a limb with an unknown producer. And paying me.

Check out the reply card - that ‘fix stamp here’ box was like a QR code for analogue emails back in 2000...

I didn’t ever get a Sega Dreamcast, or even a copy of the game, but the whole project was an interesting first excursion into the world of video game music tie-ins, more of which in a later post!

[drrubberfunk]

From The Collection - Part 3

In case you’re new here and wondering what the heck this is all about, have a look at Part 1 & Part 2 to get up to speed. Then enjoy Part 3 below!

April is a good month. Not only does it feature (mostly) improving weather conditions and my birthday, in recent years it’s become home to the annual Record Store Day. Now, my thoughts on the ins & outs, pros & cons and various other record industry machinations related to RSD are probably best kept to another post, but suffice it to say that I think Record Stores, or, as I like to call them, Shops, are the bees knees, and I try to visit them as often as possible, not just once a year.

Luckily for you, dear reader, I visited several record shops in April, including 2 I’d never been in before, and unsurprisingly I bought some records. Allow me to share them with you in words, pictures and via the wonder of my ever growing Spotify playlist that I’ve put together to accompany these posts.

Over the Easter weekend I managed to slip a bit of record shopping into a family visit to Christchurch in Dorset. Not having been for a while I was very pleased to find The Vault - a small, but perfectly formed, newly opened shop at the end of the High Street, with a pleasing selection of vinyl, both new and old. Sorely tempted by a lot of the recent Blue Note 75th Anniversary reissue albums, I opted instead to have a dig through the second hand selection and picked out a couple of LPs.

I decided recently that Ramsey Lewis is one of those people I don’t have enough albums by, but he’s released loads, so that gives plenty of scope for catching up. ‘Stretching Out’ by the Ramsey Lewis Trio wasn’t one I was familiar with, but with Red Holt on drums and Eldee Young on bass I didn’t need much persuading. The trio sound is killer, lively sounding drums and rocking double bass work that make me want to fire up the sampler and get chopping. 

Amusing sleevenotes too. Top marks to Cadet. Have a listen to the tracks I’ve added to my Spotify playlist - with headphones on for the full stereo effect, watch out for those bass drum hits though! 

Although this Eric Clapton recording from his 1979 tour of Japan isn’t perhaps one of his finest concert recordings, it’s an intriguing tracklist. A mix of the slow blues that has characterised most of his live career and hits from his 70′s ‘singer songwriter’ period - penned by both himself, and the likes of Mark Knopfler and JJ Cale (the intro to ’Cocaine’ gets an enormous cheer) - these are the more interesting tracks for me. Good solid band playing with him, and Albert Lee takes a turn on vocals. Plus, it’s gatefold and I didn’t have a copy on vinyl, which was a good enough reason to buy in my eyes. I’ve put a couple of the more mellow songs in the Spotify playlist, rather than the blues jams, I’m sure we’ll get to some more of those from Clapton & Friends in a future post.

The following weekend I found myself on an impromptu visit to Kingston Upon Thames, so naturally had to make time for a quick visit to Banquet Records. Some of you might know that I used to work here, about 15 years ago, in it’s previous incarnation as part of the Beggars Banquet chain of record shops. I enjoyed the social aspect of the shop back then, and it’s tremendously lively these days, with Jon, Mike and the rest of the staff always happy to make time for a chat about music & life and all that. Even when they’re madly busy - which is most of the time - but more so the day I called in, being as it was a week before Record Store Day. 

RSD stock was being sorted and piled high in preparation, but I was pleased to spot D’Angelo’s recent and much vaunted album release on vinyl. It got plenty of hype at the end of last year following it’s surprise early release, and rightly so, it’s a brilliant record. I’d stayed clear of too much online previewing though, preferring to wait until I could get my hands on the LP myself and dedicate some quality listening time. I’ve not been disappointed, and the gatefold design is as stylish as the music. Insert booklet is a nice addition too, handy if I want to sing along ... try it yourself with the tracks I’ve added to the ‘From The Collection’ playlist.

Record Store Day itself I made a late afternoon dash to Record Corner in Godalming - the morning rush was long gone when I arrived, and not having bothered to try and wade through the list of 600+ limited RSD releases beforehand, I was content to have a little dig through the racks and see what caught my eye. I’d also taken with me this vintage 1960s (50s?) Record Corner bag, unearthed when clearing my late Aunt’s house recently in nearby Farncombe. The guys in the shop were very pleased to see it, and although the owner wasn’t there, they promised he’d be thrilled to have it, as he’d worked in the shop since that era. Hopefully it’ll make a nice bit of wall art and a talking point in this long running shop. 

On the purchases front, I plumped for the Amorphous Androgynous LP on a bit of a whim and a passing recommendation from DJ Food and I’m glad I did.

Top quality Australian psych from across the last 40 years, and most of it artists I’ve never heard before. New music can be old music.

I also spotted a copy of the new Sharon Jones 45 on Daptone, and as a long time supporter of both artist and label I snapped that up. Never a disappointment.

Don’t forget you can listen to tracks from all these releases in my constantly updated ‘From The Collection’ Spotify Playlist.

This month, get out, find a record shop near you and enjoy a Record Store Month of your own!