Free Records

As we hurtle toward the release date of the vacuum spasm babies' record, I'm going to break with tradition and for the most part talk about records released by other people. Whilst my brother in rock has his mind set on reaching a time when he's not troubled by actually owning music he can touch (CD or vinyl) and the only songs he has are stored on a computer chip and played back in alphabetical order, I continue to collect LPs as vigorously as budget and space will allow. I am not hugely rich in either area, so have strict criteria when mooching around charity shops and car boot sales. Number one, how much do I really want this record, and how often will it get played. If it's something I've been after, or I'm too curious to pass on, and know that I'll not neglect it after one spin, I'll take it, give it shelf space, and appreciate it. Number two, cost. I'm a charitable man, but who the hell is going to pay £2.99 for a 2nd hand LP that you could probably get in a supermarket on CD for about the same price, I've got a £1.50 limit for any charity shop purchase, unless it's a record clearly worth more, I walk away.

The building I work in hosts a reasonable sized record library, stacked high with CD's and vinyl covering a huge list of genres from the last 40 or 50 years. Like my brother, the owners of this library have spent a lot of time and money putting songs into a big computer, that then plays them back to people who listen in what it considers to be a pleasing order. In fact, the songs are tested in some fashion on members of the public to make sure that no one song will cause offense, or provoke a stroke from any of the older listeners.

Cut to the chase Charlie, I'm dozing off here.

They decided they wanted to make some space, and do away with the vinyl part of the library. You have to understand, that 90% of the records carefully catalogued and labled and sitting on the selves are sitting on the shelf gathering dust for a reason, and usually not worth a second look. Although in the same way that on a rare and special day flicking through records in a charity shop you'll find a Lee and Nancy album in amongst the Clannad, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tartan Party, and Holst - The Planets, I guessed that there might be a few gems hiding away in this library.

Word got out that you could take your pick of the vinyl, before it was sent elsewhere, although it was unlikely that most other folk in the office would be after the same kind of stuff as me, I decided to get in their quickly. Along from the section dedicated to 'songs from the countries', 'military', 'local humour' (Geordies from clubland) and 'Folk' sits the 'soundtrack' section. And again you need to dig deep and beyond 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit', 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' and 'Mermaid' before you found the stuff worth keeping.

I've listed the records that came home with me from this section for a permanent record.

Music from the Movie

A Man and a woman
Midnight Cowboy
The Shining
Trail of the Pink Panther
Sorcerer (Tangerine Dream)
Rollerball
Shaft
The Persuaders (basically a load of John Barry)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Exorcist
The Empire Strikes Back
Easy Rider
Manhattan

Along from that, sat complications, and when you got past 'Now 4', far too many 'Greatest Love' type things all featuring Bonny Tyler, 'Chart Attack' and a load of music that made the 80's so bad, a few more gems for the collection.

The British Psychedelic Trip Vol 4 (1965-1970)
The Decca Originals Vol 2 (1965 - 1969)
In the Beginning (early recordings of the superstars - i.e. Slade when they were The Inbetweeners, Bowie as Davie Jones etc.)
Dream Babies - Girls and Girl Groups of the Sixties (The Girls, The Crystals, The Honeys)
Death, Glory and Retribution - Rock Rarities including death disks, protest songs and answer songs (an odd mix of stuff from late 50's to late 60's)
Buddah in Mind (Buddah Records compilation, just brilliant)

And filed under misc.....

Astrid Gilberto - Once Upon Summertime
Fairport Convention - Heyday (BBC Sessions 1968-69)
The Tornados - greatest hits
The Lovin' Spoonful - greatest hits
Harmony Grass - This is Us.

Someone beat me to the soundtrack to 'Enter the Dragon' and my buddy Steve got into the 7" section for his jukebox before I had a chance to check it out, and I'm pretty sure he made off with the 'Top of the Pops' albums he's missing, but enjoyable and quite surprising set of circumstances means I've enough to keep my busy for a couple of weeks.

Mrs Bravo will be getting a compilation tape in the next 48 hours, let me know if you want a copy.

Meanwhile vacuum spasm babies continue to smile at the good reviews for the album that have been popping up, and laugh at the bad ones. We're designing posters for the record shops who will be stocking it, and working out how to play the live set quiet for the instore the label have sorted out for us.