And… the Tubular Bells! This album reminds me of a lot of things. I only bought a copy for myself around five years ago, but a copy was owned by my parents and I used to really enjoy listening to it. The B-side, in particular, with its sober voiceover announcing the huge variety of instruments […]
Author: simonminter
UNSANE: Unsane (LP, City Slang SLANG 015, 1991)
Unsane have the dubious honour of being responsible for the most unpleasant record sleeve in my collection. They would, I think, only be knocked off this grubby pedestal if one of the following scenarios came about: I owned other Unsane records – they’re notoriously gory and graphic I owned that Big Black record that came […]
THE ACTION SUITS: Fun Flies (7″, Wiiija WIJ52, 1996)
I picked this record up from HMV shortly after its release date. Yes, HMV. There was, dear reader, once a time when HMV stocked not only vast swathes of vinyl, but in some stores, a whole load of interesting and obscure vinyl. I seem to remember that before they moved en masse to a centrally-distributed […]
PINK FLOYD: Relics (LP, Music For Pleasure MFP 50397, ?)
I’m not sure when this record was released, and wasn’t Music For Pleasure one of those odd 1960s/1970s labels that pumped out all manner of product to fulfil whatever was currently in vogue? I’m sure I’ve seen (and, indeed, bought) lots of MFP records that would fall into the comedy/easy listening/’odd’ bracket. I have some […]
VARIOUS: Rubble Three: Nightmares In Wonderland (LP, Bam-Caruso KIRI 026, 1986)
Yet another volume of Rubble, the third that’s come up for examination here (the others being Volume 6 and Volume 9). On this one, there are a couple of better-known acts (The Pretty Things and Tomorrow) amongst the usual barrage of weird and wonderful-sounding artist names: The Brain Focus Three Bamboo Shoot Wild Silk Mark […]
PAVEMENT: Perfect Sound Forever (10″, Drag City DC004, 1990)
This record was something of a holy grail to me for some years, before I finally snagged a copy (for a very reasonable price, too) around five years ago on eBay. I was fully conversant with the tracks on the record for a long time in advance of my purchasing it, because of a tape […]
STRAWBERRY STORY: All For You (7″, Daisy Chain SRT8KS1422, 1988)
Strawberry Story were a very, very twee band who epitomised the late eighties/early nineties anorak/cutesy scene. Floral print dresses, high speed buzzsaw guitars, dinky female vocals and rat-a-tat biscuit tin drums were the order of the day. In hindsight this whole ‘scene’ (disparate though it may have been) was somewhat cloying and, in its own […]
Well, this is unfortunate.
Yesterday evening, at around 9.00 pm, my Technics SL-BD22 turntable ceased to be a functional part of my hi-fi setup. The old gal has been making creaking sounds upon starting up her motors for ages now, but finally the end of the line has been reached. The lights are on, but nobody’s home – literally. […]
FALCO: Emotional (LP, Teldec 6.26380 AS, 1986)
This album was given to me as a gift by my friend Moira, after she returned from a European holiday. I must admit that I haven’t listened to it more than once, as it’s not that good. I get the impression that Falco was – in his own mind, at least – much more than […]
MAXTON GRAINGER: Samosas! (7″, Kabukikore Special Editions KKSE02, 2003)
If you look very closely at the dog image on this record’s cover, you will notice that it bears the all-too-familiar pixellated look created by one of two situations: A JPEG that’s been saved at too low a quality A low-resolution image that’s been blown up in size. I suspect the first as the image […]