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!