Tuesday, December 13, 2011

He who whispers loudest.

It's been a pleasant wander around the last few remaining bookshops in west London, stopping off in Waterstone's to peruse the laughable tome that is XFM's 1000 best songs. I wonder if it would have been such a poor effort if Capital radio hadn't sullied the XFM brand. Can anyone seriously consider the Wonder Stuff's Size Of A Cow as their best moment? Practically every previous single was superior to that nonsense which one suspects was written around a title dreamed up over a failed evening of cow-tipping. Further proof of the inadequacy of the compilers is the choice of I'm Free as the sole representative of the exceedingly disappointing Soup Dragons. They started their career brightly with such jaunty ditties as Swirling Round The Garden, Whole Wide World and Hang Ten before descending into the darkened cellar of ordinariness in order to gain public recognition, which worked for a brief time. The real question is if either of these groups could squeeze but one song into a top 1000.

Having evacuated those thoughts from my troubled mind I'll return to the mysterious case of Tac-Tix and probably their only 7" release, Whisper On The Street/See The Love, which generated enough interest to sell for £165 though there were only three bids. They hailed from Guildford apparently and released this in 1988 on the R.E.Good label. Seller Strike Up Matches has a good pedigree with C86 devotees but judging by the sleeve this could be as big a dud as the Y Do I single.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Johnny Solo can now afford to buy a boat.

It's been a while since the Johnny Solo single has appeared on ebay or so I thought until I did a bit of research. It was on in July and sold for £5.99. Now a few months later it returns and sells for £110. The cheap one was listed under reggae/ska, this latest was in the punk/powerpop category. Did that make a difference? Yellow Dinghy is, I think, their only release on 7" and I'd like it myself to add to my list of "yellow" songs : I Like Yellow Things, Alone In My Yellow, Mellow Yellow, Yellow And Red, The Colour Yellow..............................

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Stereotypes---------It's a record!

Unbelievably a couple of years back this single was available as a buy it now from a usually very clued-up dealer. For how much you ask? £200. Yesterday it sold for £1,020. This is the highest price I've seen paid for a punk single by a fairly anonymous outfit. Legendary it is though and I wonder who shelled out a grand for it. The Stereotypes released this four track 7" on Hinterland, their own label, and it's crude no-nonsense punk but with this artifact it's not about the quality, it's about the scarcity, probably only a hundred pressed. Tracks are Parisian, Telephone Affair, Countdown and Champagne Suicide.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Cypress, Mine! as expensive as a tin mine

Returned in time for that ho ho ho time of year. An obscure Irish band Cypress, Mine! rarely appear on ebay but avid indiepop fans get all in a tizz when they do. This 7" sports three tracks, Justine, Sounds Like Rain and Funny Street. I'd hazard a guess that this is probably bound for Japan as it is usually only oriental magpies that pay £296.54 for a single.