TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 march 28

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
3 Alphabeat : Fascination
4 Hit Parade : Autobiography
5 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
6 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
7 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
8 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
9 Wave Pictures : Now You Are Pregnant
1o Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
11 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
12 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
13 Fischers : Down The Days
14 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
15 Poems : I Am A Believer
16 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
17 Indelicates : 16
18 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
19 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
20 Perfect Stone : Little Girl Purple

Green numbers indicate new entries.

WHAT I WON EBAY

Having received two amazing indiepop cd compilations from a fellow collector in Canada I felt I had no choice but to bid for one of the bands featured thereon. Late last year I won a Potting Sheds 7" and their East Anglian Inspiral Carpetishness seduced me. The 12" appeared on ebay about a week after I received the two cd comps and I was prepared for rampant bidding. Indeed some familiar names laid down their money but only one sent waves of anxiety pulsating through me; his name, Atichon. We've traded cyber blows before and we've both experienced fabulous financial outlay due to the unchecked enthusiasm of the other. It was a cordial battle and neither of us harassed the other into parting with an avalanche of coinage. Well, the final total fell far short of three figures.

COVENTRY RECORD FAIR

The dungeon of England, that's the midlands. Dank hunched streets doused in sooty grime. Pallid youths sweat in terror as the sun tickles their stubble. It's an unconfirmed statistic that a flannel hasn't sold in Wolverhampton since Neds called it a day. The Germans tried to cancel Coventry out back in the forties, ten years later the town planners tried to finish the job. Despite the cruel fate meted out to it the city has a surreptitious charm that seeps into the consciousness like a benign infection. Why am I pondering the twisted beauty of the big C? To avoid reliving the dull hour spent browsing through twenty boxes of mediocre vinyl and CD's. That hour was only enlivened by the overhearing of a rascist rant from one stall owner that was more hideous than any 1950's architecture. It was so vile it drove me out of the room and into the welcoming arms of the British Heart Foundation. There for a meagre 25p each I picked up four 12" singles: two Raw Herbs; Da Vincis; and Let's Make Some Plans by the Close Lobsters.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 march21

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Hit Parade : Autobiography
3 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
4 Alphabeat : Fascination
5 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
6 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
7 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
8 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
9 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
10 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
11 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
12 Wave Pictures : Now You Are Pregnant
13 Indelicates : 16
14 Fischers : Down The Days
15 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
16 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
17 Poems : I Am A Believer
18 Perfect Stone : Little Girl Perfect
19 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
20 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 march14

1 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
2 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
3 Hit Parade : Autobiography
4 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
5 Alphabeat : Fascination
6 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
7 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
8 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
9 Indelicates : 16
10 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
11 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
12 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
13 Poems : I Am A Believer
14 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
15 Fischers : Down The Days
16 Perfect Stone : Little Girl Purple
17 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
18 Watch With Mother : Suzanne
19 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
20 Wallflowers : Thank You

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TOP THIRTY CHARITY SHOP FINDS

6 Commotion Upstairs : EP

Usually I heap praise on my local PDSA when it comes to unearthing an unexpected gem but this time let me congratulate the British Heart Foundation. Rarely do they entertain the noble 7", if they do it's usually three or four they've chucked in with the 12"'s. On this day though the stunted cousin of the 12" had its own little box tucked away beneath a panoply of skirts. Commotion Upstairs was at the very front bearing a little red sticker with 50p scrawled on it. Obsequiously it winked at me, begging me to whisk it away from the dull company it was forced to consort with. Tiring no doubt of the incessant chatter of women sifting through A-line skirts it was anxious to be liberated. I felt the price was right and scooped it up. My insouciant attitude to thrift proved a benison as several months later a copy appeared on ebay and netted a lucky seller £102.

WHAT I LOST ON EBAY

It came down to a face off with old enemy Atichon for the one and only Relations LP. I pushed him gingerly above £35 then denied my rasher instincts and snapped shut the metaphorical wallet. I couldn't persuade myself to pay more.

EYE ON EBAY

It was a difficult moment watching Nobodies Home by Newsflash grasped by the greedy hands of old rival Picheux 89. Having nobody to extort money from and doubting that declaiming my Larkinesque poetry at the underground station would procure the necessary funds to compete in the ensuing struggle for this musical morsel I played the part of observer. No surprise to see this rarity generate a bulky £122.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 march 7

1 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
2 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
3 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
4 Hit Parade : Autobiography
5 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
6 Alphabeat : Fascination
7 Indelicates : 16
8 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
9 Poems : I Am A Believer
10 Fischers : Down The Days
11 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
12 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
13 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
14 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
15 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
16 Explained Emma : When My Heart Rings
17 Yeah Jazz : Julie And The Sealions
18 Wallflowers : Thank You
19 Perfect Stone : Little Girl Purple
20 Watch With Mother : Suzanne

Green numbers indicate new entries.

WHAT I WON ON EBAY

At last I have the set. Having obtained Obscure Independent Classics volumes 2-5 over the years number 1 has not only eluded it me it's never even grinned teasingly at me. It made its debut on ebay and then who appeared? Gothic Darkwave of course, surfing on a tsunami wave of funds, a rogue, a rapscallion, a minion of the devil; possibly, or perhaps a timid soul festering in fruitless labour who carves a morsel of pleasure from the edifice of his drab life by snatching remote records from cyberspace. With a second to go I outbid....Nykobing, an old adversary. Mr.Darkwave did not stir from his Gormenghastian outhouse. Soon the famous Cordelia cat will be mewing at my letterbox.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20

1 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
2 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
3 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
4 Poems : I Am A Believer
5 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
6 Hit Parade : Autobiography
7 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
8 Indelicates : 16
9 Fischers : Down The Days
10 Alphabeat : Fascination
11 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
12 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
13 Scarlet Downs : Windows
14 Wallflowers : Thank You
15 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen
16 Screen Gemz : I Don't Like Cars
17 Driscolls : If Only
18 Club Hoy : On And On
19 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
20 Coral : Jacqueline

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 February 22

1 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
2 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
3 Poems : I Am A Believer
4 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
5 Screen Gemz : I Don't Like Cars
6 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
7 Wallflowers : Thank You
8 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
9 Scarlet Downs : Windows
10 Coral : Jacqueline
11 Hit Parade : Autobiography
12 Ebony Bones : We Know All About You
13 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
14 Life Studies : Girl On Fire
15 Rumblefish : Mexico
16 Fischers : Down The Days
17 Indelicates : 16
18 Aston Hall : My Daily Sun
19 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
20 Wave Pictures : We Dress Up Like Snowmen

Green numbers indicate new entries.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20

1 Poems : I Am A Believer
2 Los Campesinos : The International Tweexcore Underground
3 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
4 Wallflowers : Thank You
5 Coral : Jacqueline
6 Screen Gemz : I Don't Like Cars
7 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
8 Ebony Bones : We Know All About You
9 Those Dancing Days : Hitten
10 Rumblefish : Mexico
11 Scarlet Downs : Windows
12 Aston Hall : My Daily Sun
13 Life Studies : Girl On Fire
14 Manhattan Love Suicides : Keep It Coming
15 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
16 Indelicates : We Hate The Kids
17 Hardy Boys : Wonderful Lie
18 Irregulars : Against The Grain Of My Life
19 Hit Parade : Autoboigraphy
20 No Flags Etc. : Don't Bring Me Back

The green numbers indicate new entry.

I DON'T WANT TO GO TO GREENFORD

But I did anyway. Since the closing of the charity shop with the giant basement I have been reluctant to trawl through the unwanted detritus of Greenford. It's not a prepossessing place consisting as it does of little more than a tip and a busy crossroads; with the A40 obligingly placed within puking distance for rapid exit. The first charity shop has a vigorous stench, a sort of soaked-through old carpet odour. Poor old Penny McLean, her LP has been brutalized by some clumsy brute and appears quite unplayable. Soon though a BMX Bandits 12" is found and Greenford is pleading with me for redemption. A vast collection of horrific rock records reveal their mucky faces to me in the Cancer Research. I scuttle away. Fara delivers three CD LP's at a bargain £1: Little Ones : Sing Song; a Kill Rock Stars compilation called Mollie's Mix; Pram : Sargasso Sea. The strangest encounter was with 50 or so 78's that appear to have never been kissed by a stylus. They all came from the one shop, long since extinct, somewhere on the Uxbridge Road. The majority of them are all the same song except for Cocktails For Two by, um, I forget. My hapless memeory.

ANNIE AND THE AEROPLANES

Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be interviewing the singer of this lost band. One infectious pop single and a few cassettes that seem to turn up in Vienna. Obscure but not too obscure to escape the attentions of Turntable Revolution.

The All Time Indie Singles

To qualify for the list below the artists have to be British, the songs have to be on single format, must be on an indie label and failed to reach the top 75. This is a fluid list. My favourites change by the minute. Already I'm wondering why Lovelee Sweet Darlene is not in the top 20. Time span 1980-1999.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 70 INDIE RECORDS

1 Orange Juice : Falling And Laughing
2 Field Mice : When Morning Comes To Town
3 Orange Juice : Felicity
4 Smiths : Hand In Glove
5 McCarthy : Keep An Open Mind Or Else
6 Company She Keeps : The Men Responsible
7 Heavenly : Our Love Is Heavenly
8 Desert Wolves : Speak To Me Rochelle
9 Sea Urchins : Pristine Christine
10 Siddeleys : My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon
11 Dentists : Charms And The Girl
12 Popguns : Waiting For The Winter
13 Field Mice : An Earlier Autumn
14 Orange Juice : Blue Boy
15 House Of Love : Destroy The Heart
16 McCarthy : The Well Of Loneliness
17 Beloved : This Means War
18 Heavenly : Hearts And Crosses
19 Talulah Gosh : Bringing Up Baby
20 McCarthy : This Nelson Rockefeller
21 Razorcuts : Big Pink Cake
22 1000 Violins : If I Were A Bullet
23 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
24 Heavenly : Atta Girl
25 Marine Girls : On My Mind
26 Shop Assistants : Safety Net
27 Melons : Fast Lane
28 Razorcuts : I Heard You The First Time
29 My Bloody Valentine : Lovelee Sweet Darlene
30 Jeremiahs : Driving Into The Sun
31 Heavenly : So Little Deserve
32 No Flags Etc. : Don't Bring Me Back
33 Dolly Mixture : Remember This
34 Wolfhounds : The Anti-Midas Touch
35 Chairs : Size 10 Girlfriend
36 Train Set : She's Gone
37 Desert Wolves : Love Scattered Lives
38 Trash Can Sinatras : Obscurity Knocks
39 Grow-Up : Joanne
40 Heavenly : P.U.N.K Girl
41 Field Mice : Sensitive
42 County Fathers : You Think It's So Funny
43 Avo-8 : Fame
44 Siddeleys : Are You Still Evil When You're Sleeping?
45 Greenhouse : Mad As Love
46 A Chocolate Morning : If You Want Me
47 Huggy Bear : Her Jazz
48 Siddeleys : Sunshine Thuggery
49 Waltones : She Looks Right Through Me
50 Hardy Boys : Wonderful Lie
51 Aztec Camera : Just Like Gold
52 Orchids : Tiny Words
53 Bob : Convenience
54 Friends : You'll Never See That Summertime Again
55 Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes : You'll Never Be That Young Again
56 Soup Dragons : Pleasantly Surprised
57 Blind Mice : It's Not Heaven
58 Close Lobsters : Firestation Towers
59 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
60 Pale Saints : She Rides The Waves
61 Felt : Primitive Painters
62 Blueboy : Popkiss
63 Popinjays : Monster Mouth
64 Orange Juice : Lovesick
65 Bloody Marys : Stain
66 Harrison : There Is No Refrain
67 Clamheads : Crack On
68 Hit Parade : Autobiography
69 Bodines : Heard It All
70 Wild Indians : Love Of My Life

VANISHING VINYL

My favourite local charity shop is PDSA. It has presented me with several sought after nuggets over the years. So it is hard to relay this story without a tremble in my fingertips. In I went and hastened to the back of the shop where the vinyl ekes out an existence. I am a little confused, it seems the vinyl has wandered elsewhere. I spin wildly around the shop, I investigate nooks, I peep into crannies. In my despair I nearly hurl some absurd videos at the glass display behind the counter where one vinyl LP reclines majestically (I think it's some nonsense by Cliff Richard). I circuit the shop twice, flailing helplessly at skirts and kicking out at shoes. It's gone. All the vinyl has gone. This happened once before and it did come back. I hold this thought close to my heart and somehow don't collapse in a heap outside. There's always tomorrow, or next week, or next month............

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20

1 Poems : I Am A Believer
2 Coral : Jacqueline
3 Los Campesinos! : The International Tweexcore Underground
4 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
5 Wallflowers : Thank You
6 Ebony Bones : We Know All About You
7 Rumblefish : Mexico
8 Aston Hall : My Daily Sun
9 Screen Gemz : I Don't Like Cars
10 Irregulars : Against The Grain Of My Life
11 Hardy Boys : Wonderful Lie
12 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
13 Features : She Makes Me Blue
14 Almost Charlotte : Sleep
15 Rasca Cocous : Vanity
16 No Flags Etc. : Don't Bring Me Back
17 Life Studies : Girl On Fire
18 Boy Friends : Boyfriend
19 Company She Keeps : What A Girl Wants
20 Joy Division : Warsaw

Green numbers indicate new entries.

WHAT I WON EBAY

I became a little disappointed with later releases on Sarah records. My devotion faltered around the Sarah 80 mark. Now I'm making up for my former reticence and attempting to obtain those missing numbers. Autobiography by the Hit Parade appears fairly regularly on ebay but it rarely sells for less than £12. I'm very pleased to win it for £8.50.

WHAT I LOST ON EBAY

I'm a victim of cowardice when it comes to bidding for the Model Mania single on the wonderfully named Boob records. I stall well short of its final sale price £101.

CHELTENHAM RECORD FAIR

The Scavenger rarely roams westward but after studying Record Collector in search of record fairs in new territory he and his scavenging sidekick opted for a root around Cheltenham. The record fair was the main attraction but Cheltenham has an excellent record shop close to the main part of town plus a few charity shops. The fair was mildly diverting. I found a single by Scarlet Downs which was a reasonable £5. One dealer showed me his punk wares and he impressed me with the utter belief he had in his ambitious pricing. They're Back Again, Here They Come by the Cigarettes was a staggering £80. I couldn't imagine the kind of nicotine high I'd have to be on to part with that much for what is admittedly one of the best singles of the punk era. It usually sells for around £50 on ebay. I knew he was unsound when I saw he'd priced Stupid Guy by the Paranoids at £15. I saw it with two other dealers and it never bruised double figures. I left with the one single, sidekick Kathryn left with three CD's: Early Morning Hush compilation; Luke Haines:Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop and Nara Leao:Nara 67. The charity shops yielded nothing for me but Kathryn found an LP featuring the Mike Sammes Singers called Sammes Session.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20

1 Trout : Sunrise Highway
2 Irregulars : Against The Grain Of My Life
3 Rumblefish : Mexico
4 Aston Hall : My Daily Sun
5 Almost Charlotte : Sleep
6 Coral : Jacqueline
7 Hardy Boys : Wonderful Lie
8 Ebony Bones : We Know All About You
9 Poems : I Am A Believer
10 Sarah Goes Shopping : Summer Blues
11 Boy Friends : Boyfriend
12 Rasca Cocous : Vanity
13 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring : A Question Of Trust
14 No Flags Etc. : Don't Bring Me Back
15 Features : She Makes Me Blue
16 Innocents : One Way Love
17 Joy Division : Warsaw
18 Screen Gemz : I Don't Like Cars
19 Gags : Sex Ist Schau
20 Los Campesinos ! : International Tweexcore Underground

The green numbers indicate new entries.

WHAT I FOUND IN WALTON

Cancer Research always has a sizeable stock of LP's and singles. Rarely anything startling turns up. Finding a Zoomiz single last year was greeted with moderate glee. I had it already but I bought it for launching into the ebay arena. Today I uncover a 12" by the Clay People. It's from 1987, is on Hectic records and mentions a chap called Ray Davis on the dull sleeve. Interest tweaked I part with 75p. This Ray Davis helped mix and produce it. I play it and it ponderously crawls from the speakers. An unobtrusive little morsel, not suitable for the gourmet palate. Wreaths And Seashells is the best track but that title promised so much more. Hectic Babble is neither hectic nor cannon-spat chatter. Mark E. Smith could have worked wonders with a title like that.

HOW DID THAT GET TO NO.1?

SPECIALS : GHOST TOWN

It was 1981. Britain was ablaze. Uprisings were afoot. The country was in the grip of a twisted Cromwellian vortex. Disaffected black youth took to the streets. Certain newspapers declared Enoch Powell a modern prophet and demanded his vindication. Thuggish police bullied communities. This of course didn't happen in East Sheen where I was reaching out from puberty to embrace the sophisticated adult world. I was itching to man the barricades, a Molotov cocktail in one hand and a copy of this single in the other. I remember the video, a car racing through dark streets, the Specials inside, cosying up to one another in a defensive paranoiac huddle. Jerry Dammers and co. zoomed into the zeitgeist and became, for a few weeks in July, the spokesmen for an eruptive generation.
I was working in a record shop in Clapham at the time and I remember this well dressed business woman walking in and asking for Ghost Town. She looked like she spent her evenings musing on the merits of Mahler whilst sipping wine and flicking through old opera programmes. She seemed a little affronted to have to purchase a record that span at a dizzying 45 rpm. Brazenly, in defiance of all her middle class reserve, she declared how remarkable Ghost Town was. I, a lowly scallywag who had recently touched a Dire Straits LP and forgot to wash my hands, nodded in agreement. I like to think that she lived in Brixton and was struck down by a flying bin.
This amazing record, this beautiful lament for a dying Britain, remained atop the chart rubble for a revolutionary three weeks. Why for those three glorious weeks was the British public suddenly struck down with such good taste? Hazardous audacity it may be but I think this is, and always will be, the greatest no.1 ever. World order was restored when MI5 installed Green Door by Shakin' Stevens at no.1 at Ghost Town's expense.

EYE ON EBAY

Stocking Clad Nazi Death Squad Bitches by the Bleach Boys sells for £63.86. I am radiating in a warm wave of smugness as I purchased it last year for £20 from Davids in Letchworth.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A RECORD COLLECTOR

First rule, don't be disheartened. You will walk into a charity shop and spy a mountain of vinyl and pound signs will pirouette before your eyes. Nonchalantly you'll wander over and study the first record. It'll most likely be a James Last LP or Paul Young's No Parlez. If it is a Matt Bianco 12" think yourself blessed. It's not worth anything but it's more encouraging than being confronted by Mrs Mills's chubby cheeks. I once found Matt Bianco singles in at least five charity shops on the same day. They were all different. I had no idea Matt Bianco had been so prolific; I had no idea a record company could be so tolerant.
As you begin to forage there will be gasps of recognition as the musical carnage of the 80's is offered up for your inspection. If you're lucky some lesser lights of the 70's or 90's may appear. If you're really lucky you might find one indie record. It won't be worth anything and you won't want it but it'll be a talking point when you describe the day to your friends. Under the influence of despair you'll even start rummaging through cassettes. Unless you find something by Judith Durham say no to tapes. This is the real life of the scavenger. If you can't cut it, leave it to those who can.

ANOTHER LOCAL SCAVENGE

Braving industrial strength winds I ventured westward to Twickenham. Scene of many a decent find in the past I expected to be buried under an avalanche of C86 rarities. I have always been wary of the Cancer Research after they valued a harmless Abba LP at £20. Maybe some lunatic had run in with a price gun and wreaked unknown havoc before being chased out. Wariness this time was replaced with weariness as I flicked through a wasteland of Dave Edmunds LPs. Luck, I can't hear you knocking. Then right at the back I found a Yeh Yeh Noh Peel Sessions 12". At first I suppressed a full throated yeh, then I uttered an indifferent yeh, then I muttered noh; I already had everything it had to offer. I realized my excitement was simply due to the fact that I'd encountered Pasadenas 12"'s and Marcella Detroit CD singles and so my joy reflex was prone to jolt at any titbit that didn't stink of corporate. Nothing and five other charity shops were just as parsimonious. But the Trinity Hospice never lets me down. In there some years back I fell upon an LP by Adam Best called Wall Of Sound and more recently Dogs by the Who. This time I liberated the rather more prosaic Wannadies vinyl LP Be A Girl. All in a wet day's work.

WHAT I LOST ON EBAY

A rather half-hearted attempt to procure the Originals 7" on Rutland records sees me shunted into second place by him again, Gothic Darkwave. I just wasn't prepared to pay more than £8.19 so I paid the price, or rather Gothic Darkwave did. With a tag like that shouldn't he be chasing death metal groups?

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