TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 jan 15

1 Hardy Boys : Plink Plonk Fizz
2 Form : Watch Out
3 Hardy Boys : Let The World Smother You
4 Next Time Passions : Not Here Anymore
5 Cold Comfort : Really Really Don't Mind
6 M J Hibbett : Clubbing In The Week
7 Nightingales : Devil In The Detail
8 Cavalcade : Voices
9 Codeine Velvet Club : Hollywood
10 M J Hibbett : Fucking Hippy
11 High And Dry : Rising Waves
12 Aces And Eights : Hard Luck Stories
13 Baby Jane Holzer : Nowhere
14 Days : Jigsville
15 Sex Clark Five : You Left The Light On In Your Eyes
16 Shattered Dreams : Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained
17 Up And Running : Johnny And Marie
18 Dislocation Dance : Violette
19 New Walk : Shape Of Things To Come
20 Allo Darlin' : Henry Rollins Don't Dance

Green numbers indicate new entries.

EYE ON EBAY-------Put out more flags

Pleasant indiepop 12" by No Flags Etc. shifts for £30.30. They have a CD out where this single and more can be experienced.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180453320634&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

EYE ON EBAY--------An expensive addition to the wardrobe

It's the What To Wear EP. Now I can report this little accessory fell at £93.74. Draped on the record deck it'll take you to the hinterland of weird and you'll find very little to go with it. Four tracks make up the Casual But Smart 7" and I was smart enough to pick it up as a buy it now for about £7 a couple of years ago. What a saving I made!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120517633528&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

EYE ON EBAY------Expensive library book

A 7" record that Clive Culbertson engineered by the Faders stretched into three figures, selling at £103.50. Cheatin' c/w Library Book is apparently a raw rock belter. Is it? Mr.Culbertson has his Time To Kill on ebay right now with one day to go before the auction ends, currently selling at £85.27.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120519073391&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 jan 8

1 Cold Comfort : Really Really Don't Mind
2 Cavalcade : Voices
3 M J Hibbett : Clubbing In The Week
4 Form : Watch Out
5 High And Dry : Rising Waves
6 Next Time Passions : Not Here Anymore
7 M J Hibbett : Fucking Hippy
8 Baby Jane Holzer : Nowhere
9 Nightingales : Devil In The Detail
10 Sex Clark Five : You Left The Light On In Your Eyes
11 Days : Jigsville
12 New Walk : Shape Of Things To Come
13 Aces And Eights : Hard Luck Stories
14 Shattered Dreams : Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained
15 Up And Running : Johnny And Marie
16 Dislocation Dance : Violette
17 Codeine Velvet Club : Hollywood
18 Black And White Lovers : Best Years Of Our Lives
19 Allo Darlin' : Henry Rollins Don't Dance
20 Royston : Snake's Song

Green numbers indicate new entries.

The Hardy Boys - Plink Plonk Fizz

EYE ON EBAY----From the Mike Read collection.

Sympathy is extended to Mike Read who recently had to auction thousands of records to help stave of bankruptcy. Among the mainly sixties and seventies pop items was this effort from Wasteland, their second single, a follow up to their Want Not EP. £93 was the final total, no doubt devoured by Mike's bankruptcy black hole, which is a high price; perhaps its provenance helped it attain such a healthy return. I've seen it sell for under £60.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120515791021&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 jan 1 2010

1 Cold Comfort : Really Really Don't Mind
2 Cavalcade : Voices
3 M J Hibbett : Clubbing In The Week
4 Baby Jane Holzer : Nowhere
5 M J Hibbett : Fucking Hippy
6 High And Dry : Rising Waves
7 Sex Clark Five : You Left The Lights On In Your Eyes
8 New Walk : Shape Of Things To Come
9 Next Time Passions : Not Here Anymore
10 Up And Running : Johnny And Marie
11 Days : Jigsville
12 Nightingales : Devil In The Detail
13 Black And White Lovers : Best Years Of Our Lives
14 Dislocation Dance : Violette
15 Aces And Eights : Hard Luck Stories
16 Allo Darlin' : Henry Rollins Don't Dance
17 Different Eyes : Open The Box
18 Shattered Dreams : Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained
19 Read All Over : Outside To The Other World
20 Royston : Snake's Song

Green numbers indicate new entries.

EYE ON EBAY----Overcooked indie from East Anglia

One wonders if the sole bidder of this item knew the legendary Potting Sheds featured on this comp, pleasantly named Burn It To A Crisp, a practice witches suffered at the hands of suspicious yokels in East Anglia, oh, only several decades back. Subtitled A Taste Of The Norfolk and North Suffolk Indie Scene because hey, "we wouldn't want any of those talentless South Suffolk sorts spoiling our buzz with their inferior indie", it is liberally littered with inferior indie. At the time though, circa 1990, this probably had pre-grunge kids yelling insults and bragging about Insanglia (as opposed to Madchester) across the fens as the rest of England took a giant-sized E and floundered on the dancefloor like a broken Bez. Sold for £4.99, about what I paid for it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130355464110&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 dec 25

1 Cavalcade : Voices
2 M J Hibbett : Fucking Hippy
3 Baby Jane Holzer : Nowhere
4 Sex Clark Five : You Left The Lights On In Your Eyes
5 Cold Comfort : Really Really Don't Mind
6 Black And White Lovers : Best Years Of Our Lives
7 Allo Darlin' : Henry Rollins Don't Dance
8 Up And Running : Johnny And Marie
9 Days : Jigsville
10 Dislocation Dance : Violette
11 M J Hibbett : Clubbing In The Week
12 Different Eyes : Open The Box
13 New Walk : Shape Of Things To Come
14 Royston : Snake's Song
15 Royston : Gerald's Eyes
16 Read All Over : Outside To The Other World
17 Corvettes : Love To Hate You
18 Different Eyes : Uncomfortable
19 Girls At Dawn : Every Night
20 35 Summers : I Didn't Try

Green numbers indicate new entries.

HOW DID THAT GET TO NO.1?

Recently I was asked how I composed my chart. There's little thought behind it. I don't call in votes from distant outposts of the world or listen interminably to the top 20 considering who should be leapfrogging whom. Those records featured are usually things I've purchased in the last month or two or occasionally records I've rediscovered or returned to with a new passion. The only criteria that has to be met is that the track had to be available as a single.



Meanwhile in the "other" chart, the one that used to matter so much to me when I was growing up in the seventies, all manner of dullness abounds. Peppered with urban nonsense, infantile pop and misogynistic rap there is little for a forty something, who once featured on TOTP when Glenn Medeiros was no.1, to get excited about. In other words music is no better or worse than it was twenty years ago; and when I say featured I mean I was in the crowd dancing in a way that suggests I had no other desire but to rupture my dignity. In recent years we've had an abysmal crop of no.1's from the utterly talentless Eric Prydz to the shrunken twig-in-a-leotard Madonna with bloodless versions of American Pie and some lazy rewrite of an Abba song. Ah but thirty years ago........compare the chart in the first week of the eighties to now and I assure you the quality gap will astound you. You'll be out scouring ebay for a functioning Tardis. Alas those days are long lost.



So giving nostalgia a firm nudge let's crawl cautiously into the present. Last year as we donned our sequinned dresses and manned our phones to vote for some Strictly Pole Dancer with the X Factor a mighty wind blew in from protest corner on Facebook. The monster Cowell and his charisma-vacuum X Factor winner had to be stopped from assuming poll position in the chart in xmas week. Oh how we manned the barricades and painted placards. The song picked to obviate the great crime of stealing the xmas no.1 was Killing In The Name Of by Rage Against The Machine. The timid little swizzle-stick Joe McElderberry or whatever his name was had no chance against a song with the refrain, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me." Never mind that both songs were risible the fact that Rage encouraged rebellion was a crowd pleaser. One could picture all the meek little workers raising their voices to a murmur masquerading as a whisper as their bosses walked by, their hearts powered by that insurrectionist refrain as they hurriedly went about their mundane tasks. Oh liberty, we shall grasp thy nettle! Like fuck, they did!



And where was smiling Joe McNickberry? Cowering behind Cowell? No, patiently waiting to snap up the first no.1 of the new decade. Make a statement by all means but do it well. Pick Hitsville UK by the Clash, the irony would be lost on those outraged by a swear word or nine but those in the know would smile and those who weren't would like the nice tune. Better still desert the charts, don't save the xmas no.1, save instead the health service or the hippo. Be useful.



But let us not forget that all the money spent on propelling Rage to no.1 went to a charity. So it's hard to hate them, nearly as hard as it is to like Joe McBeriberi. I'm not sure which charity benefitted from Killing In The Name Of's triumph but I hope it's one that helps with sufferers from Tourettes.


So the cry of the self-righteous has been heard, if only temporarily. Let's go further I say. Let's ensure that every no.1 this year is in direct opposition to the banal bilge that spurts forth from the behemoth-like record companies; those giants that are manned by earless accountants. We can do it. A download costs about 79p. In a year that's little more than £40. All we have to do is pick a song. I nominate Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've). The Buzzcocks never had a top ten hit, this musical felony can now be rectified. Suggest some yourselves.



Anyway my xmas no.1 will be posted very soon. Those who wish to influence the chart positions be aware that I'm very susceptible to bribery. A Wee Cherubs single will ensure a single of your choice will vault up the chart at a supersonic rate. A Candy Ranch single will buy you a no.2. And Feline Groovy by Keen will see you reign upon the summit of the Turntable Revolution chart indefinitely, emperor of all you observe, dismissive of the petulant jostlings below.