EYE ON EBAY-------Morally worth more than the radio station

Capitol Radio, that vituperative blurt aimed at the radio station sounds much rawer and vital than the version that appeared on The Cost Of Living EP if I recall correctly. I have the original version taped off of a John Peel show circa 1978 and despite the rather inadequate media on which it's preserved it still retains a startling ferocity. One of the Clash's finest moments. Sold for £65.70.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270337707839&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

EYE ON EBAY

Apparently this single by the Lemons is rare indie twee. I feel like an acidic rugby ball-shaped fruit for not knowing anything about it. Help me somebody.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190279324900&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

EYE ON EBAY------Seasick melodies

Nancy Sesay And The Melodaires are not conversant with the convention of creating a tune. Need I offer more praise than this to insist you make yourself familiar with them. I snatched this from an ignorant dealer at Reading record fair about two years ago for £10. I found an extra copy in the Greenwich MVE about four months ago for £5. Here it sold for £28.99. Note the sellers misspelling of Nancy Sesay.

The Homosexuals had a hand in this. For more of their unique interferences see below.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260337433527&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=016

EYE ON EBAY-----Sara Pops!

A high price for this off kilter wedge of avant garde genius. Sara Goes Pop are Homosexuals related hence the final sale of £62.10. I paid half that when I won it on ebay about a year ago.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260337436652&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=016

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 feb 20

1 Flying Colours : Abstract Art
2 Pocketbooks : Falling Leaves
3 Elephant Noise : Remember The Big Time
4 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
5 Sarah Goes Shopping : Once I've Seen Him
6 Cold War : The Machinist
7 Aerial FX : So Hard
8 Small World : First Impressions
9 Field Mice : I Can See Myself Alone Forever
10 Pale Fountains : (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
11 Carrots : Doing Our Part
12 Suntime Glorious : Sexual Health
13 Evening Outs : Channel
14 Queue Dance : Not The One For Me
15 Fallover 24 : Pessimistic Man
16 3 Leez : T.K.O. Mine Yopper Song
17 Miracle Mile : Breaking Down The Barriers
18 Northern Portrait : Crazy
19 Clamber : Choose The Way
20 Sema 4 : Capital City

Green numbers indicate new entries.

The Hermit Crabs - Feel Good Factor

I DREAM OF KEEN

Nothing much to glean from this Keen sleeve. The back has a painting by Nicci Hastings. It's a close up of a clown, jovial and heavily made up. Does that help? Released on Scaredy Cat records in 1990 the Sad EP contains four pleasant pop ditties with female vocals. Were they an all girl band? They excel in the art of mimicry on On Your Knees which sounds like Politics by Girls At Our Best; it even has the audacity to steal one of the lines from the chorus. They appear to have been based in Morden, that dull suburb where the Northern line gives up.

They released another single called Feline Groovy which C86 collectors salivate over. I have been dribbling in desperation for it for some years now. All copies are rumoured to reside in Japan. If you believe there is a missing link between Dolly Mixture and Heavenly then I think I may have found the proof.

keen waiting.mp3 -

EYE ON EBAY------Sarah, the rare and the rarer

Here's a selection of Sarah records which sold recently on ebay.

First up the reasonably rare Come Get Me by the 14 Iced Bears. This is the fifth release on the legendary label by a band represented on several labels during their existence.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190279644358&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

Here is the Orchids very fine single I've Got A Habit. This is the Bristol based label's second release and I remember paying £18 for this in MVE nearly twenty years ago. Poor old Vanbrugh had to part with £77.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190279642848&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

And finally the single that started it all. Sarah 1, the utterly essential Pristine Christine by the Sea Urchins. Many would argue that Sarah never equalled this debut release. This fell a few pence short of £70. That's £70 well spent.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170295202052&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=007

THE NOBLE ART OF SCAVENGING

The girlfriend and I ventured into the deep middle class recesses of the home counties a few weeks ago. We wandered the discovered paradise that is Windsor, never to be a wasteland despite the volatile nature of the economy. We forgot the camera so I cannot entertain you with an amusing pictorial. Little was rescued from charity shops. A number of Inspiral Carpets 12" and a Pooh Sticks one sided live LP on Fierce were spotted and denied access to T.Rev Towers.
I'm no fan of live LP's and having seen the Pooh Sticks live I had little inclination to part with £3.99 for the honour of being transported back to that shambolic night many years ago.

We waved goodbye to the jewel-encrusted citizens of Windsor with a two fingered salute which was encouraged by the infernal road system which was certainly designed by a cartel of cyclists.

Eventually we arrived at Henley, adjusted our boaters, and mingled among the rowing elite. Our only discoveries were made in Oxfam where a quartet of posh teenage girls amused us with their gentle fondling of LP's, oohing and aahing over the pretty artwork as one said to another, "be careful, you might break it," despite the vinyl still being in its sturdy sleeve. Records are not as fragile as false eyelashes, girls. Leaving youth to pet the records I discovered Sabre Dance by Love Sculpture, wanted for the superior B side, and Tied Up With Mary, unfortunately not a tribute to the pleasures of bondage, by the very wonderful Patsy Ann Noble. A fabulous piece of pop backed by a robust mid-tempo moody number called Green Eyed People which is not a dismissive ditty about people cursed with emerald eyes but a sophisticated indictment of those that revel in the sin of jealousy. K hovered around the bookshelves and found a collection of Richard Brautigan's writings and with our treasures we repaired to the pub.

EYE ON EBAY

I like Hypstr66. He's the man from whom I won the Evening Outs single. We completed the transaction in a car park in Walthamstow. It was most clandestine though he did invite the girlfriend and I to the pub for a drink. He could certainly afford to buy us one. But we had to hurry off to a party and so declined his kind offer.

Anyway he scooped £43 for You're A Rebel by Metropak which I picked up for £1.99 in a local charity shop a couple of years ago. Metropak followed this single with the inferior Here's Looking At You 7" before changing their name to Pak and releasing one more single. Found the second single in a charity shop too.

(An Evening Outs update. Since I parted with an incredible amount of cash for aforesaid record the little beast has made ebay its natural habitat. It sold for just over £100 a few weeks ago and currently two sellers have it up for auction. One has it a reckless starting price of around £250.)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160311209427&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006

EYE ON EBAY------Keys please me

Rather surprised that this single by the Keys gathered in £42.30 for the seller. I picked it up in MVE last year for £3 (smug smile). I also own an LP by them which I confess I have yet to play; it has been lost among recent purchases which are cluttering up our hall.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330304136351&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=014

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 feb 13

1 Flying Colours : Abstract Art
2 Elephant Noise : Remember The Big Time
3 Pocketbooks : Falling Leaves
4 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
5 Pale Fountains : (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
6 Sarah Goes Shopping : Once I've Seen Him
7 Suntime Glorious : Sexual Health
8 Queue Dance : Not The One For Me
9 Evening Outs : Channel
10 Field Mice : I Can See Myself Alone Forever
11 Fallover 24 : Pessimistic Man
12 Aerial FX : So Hard
13 Clamber : Choose The Way
14 Miracle Mile : Breaking Down The Barriers
15 Small World : First Impressions
16 World Of Pooh : Stones Of Judgement
17 Northern Portrait : Crazy
18 Sema 4 : Capital City
19 Some Average Prophecy : Goodnight England
20 Bad Actors : Are They Hostile?

Green numbers indicate new entries.

EYE ON EBAY

Ipman 13 strikes again. Everybody knows that the Incredible Kidda Band generate wild bidding especially when this single turns up with a picture sleeve. £437.28 was the final price which is probably more than anyone from their home town Nuneaton earns in a month.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270319597952&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

Meanwhile back in the UK the Northatitsheight reels in £115 for their second single released under the name Kidda Band.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230317462429&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=013

EYE ON EBAY-------Keeping an eye on the Ball

Ed Ball having guested on a Turntable Rev video now pays a visit to ebay in the form of the Times. Pop Goes Art was the first LP released on Whaam! and is very sought after. It comes in a spray painted sleeve designed by Ed's brother Andrew. Sold for £101.60.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220332847473&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=012

More Ball. O Level released two seminal diy singles. East Sheen was the first and Ed Ball featured on it along with other members of the TV Personalities. Crude and defiantly ugly sounding yet strangely beautiful I had no choice but to buy this at the time as I lived in East Sheen. In the chorus O Level declared they would burn East Sheen down but they never did although late one night after returning from a Marc And The Mambas gig I saw the local timber yard ablaze. As far as I know O Level was never asked to explain their whereabouts. There are three versions of the sleeve and this one is the second rarest; it's also the sleeve my copy lives in.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190281530432&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

SONIC REDUCERS

Four feral lads from Bury recorded this single in early 1978. Here we see them regaled in the armour of youth, leather and denim, bar one poor soul who has not yet received his dole cheque clad only in a v neck jumper. The premises outside which they lurk is Vibes record shop which rather than shoo them away invited them in and even financed this jagged effort. A limited edition of a 1000 singles were pressed, which these days would be an over production. Things Go Wrong/We Are Normal are raw and ragged and positively sizzle with potential. The four men involved were Graham "Raggy FC" Holden on vocals, Doug Hoyles on bass, Roy Tynan on guitar and vocals and Graham Barstow on drums. Tynan had the temerity to turn down an invitation to join the Fall reasoning that Mark E. Smith was a control freak.

Undeterred by a lack of urgency from the public for more Reducers product Vibes put out a second single, Man With A Gun, anyway. Not quite the equal in splenetic splendour as their first release it was still a fine accomplishment.

Then the men from EMI came calling and things did go wrong. Crazed keyboards roamed the land and in acts of mock castration brutally prised guitars away from their loved ones. Men who once stalked the stage like actors from an Osbournesque landscape now sheepishly hid behind tinny synthesizers. Empty Mindless Idiom released the Reducers third and final single Airways, an execrable synth pop confection, and the band were reduced to zeros.

reducers things go wrong.mp3 -

EYE ON EBAY

A couple of Low Down Kids releases surfaced on ebay. An Y Trwynau Coch comp and a Singles comp. These are getting harder to find and if I hadn't been concentrating on other auctions I would have made a bid or two myself. I was lucky to pick up the two Low Down Kids various artist comps at the Birmingham record fair a couple of years ago. Essential purchases as many of the singles featured are extremely difficult to locate. Does anyone own or has anyone ever seen the Brent Ford And The Nylons single?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300286500915&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300286500704&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020

Turntable Revolution Record Collection 22

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 feb 6

1 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
2 Pale Fountains : (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
3 Queue Dance : Not The One For Me
4 Pocketbooks : Falling Leaves
5 Evening Outs : Channel
6 Clamber : Choose The Way
7 Fallover 24 : Pessimistic Man
8 Suntime Glorious : Sexual Health
9 Elephant Noise : Remember The Big Time
10 Field Mice : I Can See Myself Alone Forever
11 Miracle Mile : Breaking Down The Barriers
12 Bad Actors : Are They Hostile?
13 Sarah Goes Shopping : Once I've Seen Him
14 World Of Pooh : Stones Of Judgement
15 Some Average Prophecy : Goodnight England
16 Da Biz : On The Beach
17 Modernaires : Fait Vos Jeux
18 Sema 4 : Capital City
19 Northern Portrait : Crazy
20 Aerial FX : So Hard

Green numbers indicate new entries.

EBAY-------THOSE THAT GOT AWAY

Firstly the Stolen Picassos which was stolen from me. The seller lists it as an LP. With four tracks? Are they an Australian Yes? They are purported to be twee indiepop. Has a twee indiepop song ever exceeded five minutes?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270339775324&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=017

Next up the B Team single which I've been courting for two years and it still hasn't accepted my proposal to come live with me. Final price £64.53 a little too high given that it sold for under £50 a few months back. Be away with you.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=200306923076&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=010

The Extras single has featured on ebay before. Always attracts attention. Wonder what it sounds like. Anyway I bid a hesitant £36. Got swept away.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120368723437&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=002

Far superior to their other single the Cybermen EP with the classic Cybernetic Surgery eluded me once again. I was elsewhere when the auction ended and left a rather hopeful £46 bid which failed.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=310118921563&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=021

I have the A side of the 021 single on a comp so I tentatively and absurdly chucked £15 at it. It went for £49.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270339055252&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=017

Again I have the A side of the Zoot Alors single but am wondering if the B side is half as good. After finally finding Abstract Art by Flying Colours I was absolutely underwhelmed by the five minute instrumental on the B side. My £29.99 bid failed spectacularly.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120370245685&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=002

EYE ON EBAY---------More piss, vicar.

Ipman 13 must be buried under an avalanche of cash. The Grout single on the wonderfully named Urinating Vicar records brought him another huge payout of £763.57. Only a hundred copies pressed, what you get is basic no frills punk judging by the two tracks I've heard, Cremation At Belsen and Fast Cars (not the Buzzcocks song), which are all energy and endeavour if not that tuneful. The EP was reissued a few years back if you're not prepared to dip into your pension money.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270317435166&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

EYE ON EBAY----------Shake Yer Pyramids

The Tammys single is one of the best girl group singles. Completely bonkers, it could have been a writing collaboration between Spike Milligan and Neil Innes. Egyptian Reggae, Walk Like An Egyptian, they are indistinct hieroglyphics in comparison to Egyptian Shumba which should have a pyramid built in its honour. Not surprising then that it soared to a final price of £230. My friend Jeanette Leech who is an avid girl group collector could only seethe in frustration as it blew her budget into the Nile.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150324732490&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005

EYE ON EBAY--------Out of Peel's box

I think I'm correct in claiming this was one of the records that John Peel always kept in his record box. The seller, the indefatigable Ipman 13, seems unaware of this but I imagine some of the bidders weren't, driving the price up to a mouthwatering £86.54. The Galactic Symposium was from Nottingham and they tinkered with such classics as Pink Floyd's Money and that homosexual anthem YMCA. Apparently the experience is akin to listening to Brahms and Liszt simultaneously at the wrong speed. Accomplished musicians were involved but they all decided to play instruments that they hadn't mastered hence the cacophonous result. Low Down Kids released a whole LP of their disturbing music in 2005.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270311227170&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

EYE ON EBAY

This intrigues me. The Stripes single attracted 18 bids. The successful bidder sacrificed £265 to own this mysterious item. I want information. Is it as good as Abstract Art by Flying Colours? It may well have been comped as the seller claims but I can't find it on any of my comps.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160310452879&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006

EYE ON EBAY--------Let's be 'avin' you....

Norwich, the return. Obviously when it performed so well recently it was inevitable it would surface again. A higher return this time for the comp which features the Higsons. I await its arrival in MVE for a tenner; I can always rely on the ignorance of the MVE staff.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160310257206&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006

Turntable Revolution On YouTube

EYE ON EBAY--------Crocodile bite not so soft.

Among intelligent men it is an indisputable belief that Dirty Dancing is a dreadful film. That's not remarkable but this is: the Suede Crocodiles single selling for £331. Does the winning bidder expect the world to end within the next few weeks? Last time this had an outing on ebay it sold for just over £90. And to think I saw it in MVE fifteen years ago for a £1.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=200303246375&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=010

EYE ON EBAY

Currently nuzzling up to the no.1 slot in the Turntable Revolution chart this sounds like it stumbled out of a 1950's revue written by Helen McCookerybook. Queue Dance was active in the mid eighties and this single and two tracks on the Paper Boats In Puddles comp are, as far as I know, their only recorded output. This is the second time the 7" has appeared on ebay in recent weeks but the 12", which I own, has declined to enter the auction ring. Queue Dance centred around two people, Nick Goddard on guitar, bass, vibraphone, keyboards and drum machine and Jo Bourne on vocals and additional percussion, lazy girl.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=400025370861&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=027

EYE ON EBAY

Rarely seen with a picture cover, and given the quasi Penthouse poses the four brazen young men with milky bar-coloured chests are striking that's a boon, the Spider single entraps a punter for a respectable £103. Dressed identically in sham glam they resemble stylish bin men. According to 45 Revolutions both songs, Back To The Wall and Down And Out
(both titles imaginatively expressed in a single image on the pic sleeve!) are fine examples of powerpop glampunk.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120368904595&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=002

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 january 30

1 Pale Fountains : (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
2 Queue Dance : Not The One For Me
3 Evening Outs : Channel
4 Miracle Mile : Breaking Down The Barriers
5 Fallover 24 : Pessimistic Man
6 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
7 World Of Pooh : Stones Of Judgement
8 Clamber : Choose The Way
9 Modernaires : Fait Vos Jeux
10 Bad Actors : Are They Hostile?
11 Suntime Glorious : Sexual Health
12 Friends Ahoi : Grandstand Girls
13 Sema 4 : Capital City
14 Da Biz : On The Beach
15 Whips : Nationwide
16 Statistics : Dumb
17 Ember Days : Plaza
18 Ninotchka : I've Got Wings
19 Some Average Prophecy : Goodnight England
20 Northern Portrait : Crazy

Green numbers indicate new entries.

BETTER THAN RETAIL THERAPY

Sarah Goes Shopping released, as far as I know, just two singles on Crystal Clear records. Where they came from, who they were, these are questions I can't answer. Singer Sarah , let's call her that, utilises her delicate vocals to transport you to a charming land where Trixies Big Red Motorbike sell out gigs at the O2 and Dolly Mixture occupy five of the slots in the top ten of the singles chart. This is what Lily Allen might sound like if she were Woody's daughter rather than the roguish Keith.

Released in 1985 to a torrent of tumbleweed-like indifference Sarah and her consumerist urges parked themselves on the street accompanied by a wicker basket, a paving stone's distance away, as if its presence and function was a profound embarrassment. If you saw her busking outside Woolworths I hoped you dropped a handful of pick n' mix into her basket and then went and bought this four track EP. If you didn't you have no right to listen to this track.

sarah goes shopping once Ive seen him.mp3 -

EYE ON EBAY

I know little about this record. A 1985 release it secured a handsome price for Strike Up Matches. I'm convinced Love Ambassadeux has appeared on ebay before and not reached such a high price. Anyone wise to who they were or what they sound like get in touch.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=220327682391

EYE ON EBAY---------Pump up the wheels

New Cross New Cross, this EP is so good they named it twice. Whereas their abilities are stretched a little too far for a whole LP, the Desperate Bicycles brand of low fi eccentricity suits a six track EP. By now the eddies of originality they had sent rippling through pop's stagnant pool were beginning to, if not capsize a few lifeboats, at least make them rock. None of the six tracks on this EP can steal the yellow jersey from The Medium Was Tedium but there's no lack of flirt and flounce amongst the ire and outrage aimed at the status quo (not the band). Another one from the Ipman 13 collection and fetched him a high price of nearly £60.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=270297030275

And here's what their fascinating, if flawed, LP sold for.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=110324965133

WHAT I WON ON EBAY

Unisex is one of two superb LP's by Blueboy, the other being If Wishes Were Horses. I have both on CD but the CD version of Unisex is faulty so when the vinyl version appeared I manned the keys. Often this dallies around the £30 mark but a recent glut of Blueboy material softened the market and I pinched it for a reasonable £21.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=270310152179