#recent finds

[ourladyofomega]

[thespliffbunker]

This is a public service announcement…with guitars!

Tom Verlaine

1979-Elektra

[crunchylittlemusiccircles]

A nice slow morning today, spinning this copy of Honky Château by Elton John that I picked up at an event last night. The best known track on this album is Rocket Man, but there's a number of others on here worth talking about; Mellow and Hercules are some personal favourites of mine.

[crunchylittlemusiccircles]

Once in a while, when I buy a second-hand record, I find something extra left inside by the previous owner. From newspaper clippings to handwritten notes, I always enjoy seeing these little windows into the history of the object and the story of the previous owners. That being said, this is definitely one of the more exciting instances. While playing this copy of Waterloo by ABBA that I picked up a couple of days ago, I heard something rattling inside the sleeve. It turned out to be a replica of a ticket to the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, which ABBA won with the title track of this album. This replica originally came as part of a different box set of early ABBA singles, and has somehow made its way into this record instead.

This appearance at Eurovision can now be considered the beginning of their rise to worldwide fame. Shortly after winning Eurovision, the single version of Waterloo quickly rose to number one in the charts in nine countries, and to the top ten in many others. After many more hit albums and singles, they remain a household name to this day. But looking at this ticket now, I am trying to picture what it must have been like to attend at the time; to watch ABBA for the first time as relative unknowns, not knowing what was to come.

[crunchylittlemusiccircles]

This evening I am winding down after a fantastic day by playing an album I found just this afternoon. The self-titled debut album from the Eagles is a relaxed feeling country rock album from 1972, and the second album I own from the band.

[crunchylittlemusiccircles]

My latest find was this copy of the 1961 West Side Story film soundtrack. I really enjoy this musical, and in particular have watched this film quite a few times. Naturally, I had to play this record as soon as I got home tonight. This is actually the third different version of the music from West Side Story that I own, the first two being from Alyn Ainsworth and his orchestra and The Dave Brubeck Quartet. The latter of these is an instrumental jazz interpretation of some of the songs. Other jazz artists have done their own versions as well, my favourite of which is by the Oscar Peterson Trio - I would love to find a copy of that version one day.

[crunchylittlemusiccircles]

Yesterday I had a couple of fantastic charity shop finds, one of which was the Little Shop Of Horrors Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. This film was not the first musical I had ever seen, but it was the one that turned musicals from something I kind of liked into something I loved. I still remembering bursting into uncontrollable laughter with the reveal of Steve Martin's character’s profession halfway into that song. This musical and film holds a special place in my heart, and I'm so excited to finally have a copy of the soundtrack.