Monday, February 23, 2009

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.

7 comments:

45 Revolutions said...

Shambolic?? Hard to believe! Unless it was Southampton Labour Club, or Bristol Tropic Club. Or a couple of others maybe. Perhaps a handful more than a couple. But mostly it was a tight well-oiled machine, I swear.

Rupert Cook said...

I think I saw them at Bay 63 in London. It was an oily night but the machine was flawed.

45 Revolutions said...

I quite enjoyed that one! A recording from that night of Hue handing out singles to the crowd (Slade, Suzi, Sweet... Splinter etc) was used on a later 12". As extras on a 12" go, that's a good 'bonus', right?

Rupert Cook said...

Definitely. How did I miss getting a Splinter single?

JamesTrash said...

What was the one-sided live LP? Both 'Sticks live LP's I have are two-sided ("Orgasm" and "Trade Mark Of Quality"), am I missing something? There was a one-sided comp of the singles box. Anyway, £3.99 for either live LP is a nice price. "Trade Mark" is a bit shambolic, but 20 odd minutes of 'fake' John's Children is fine by me. That wah-wah fueled version of "Young People" beats the later studio version, though the Peel Session take probably nails it.

45 Revolutions said...

James, there's a reissue of "TMOQ" which is one-sided (the side is etched).

Rupert Cook said...

Just to confirm, it was TMOQ reissue.