Turntable Revolution Record Collection 8

WHAT I WON ON EBAY

Despite forgetting to log in to ebay as I press the bid button I still manage to win the Newpolitans single with two seconds to spare. Seems to be a good tactic, maybe I'll try it again if I can take the stress.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 june 6

1 Penny Candles : Taj Mahal
2 Autumn Leaves : You Didn't Say A Word
3 Astronauts : All Night Party
4 Snowbirds : Love Will Come My Way
5 Estelle : American Boy
6 Daniel Johnston : Fish
7 Strange Idols : She's Gonna Let You Down Again
8 Penny Candles : Making The Most (Of It All)
9 The School : All I Wanna Do
10 Excel : If It Rains
11 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
12 Fragile Friends : The Novelty Wears Off
13 Jetset : Judy's Toy Box
14 Vampire Weekend : Mansard Roof
15 Nautical William : Love House
16 Youth Group : Sorry
17 Potting Sheds : Happy Again
18 Thanes : Hey Girl (Look What You've Done)
19 Vampire Weekend : A Punk
20 Der Plan : Gummi Twist

Green numbers indicate new entries.

Turntable Revolution Record Collection 7

WE PAY POUNDS - THE SEQUEL

Greeted with the acrid aroma of piss is not something one expects of Oxfam. One does expect a Julia Fordham artifact. Someone equipped with an unkind mind might suggest there could be a link between the two. Fordham's single was called "Where Does The Time Go?"A more apt title might be "Where Did My Career Go?" Fordham seemed to be forever popping up on breakfast TV or Pebble Mill back in the eighties and early nineties much to the bemusement of the hosts who clearly had very little idea who she was and often looked worriedly around for security. She looked as though she had been chiselled from an iceberg, gleaming white and radiating emotionlessness. She should have been a dinner party shoo in but back in those days Sade had that market cornered. Imagine it, the party is gently warming up, lively friendly chatter is being exchanged and then the hostess says "Darling, shall we put on that new Julia Fordham CD?" Guests cough, one or two keel over feigning illness, others make excuses and scurry for the nearest exit, then the boyfriend quickly pops in a Sade CD and the evening is rescued . As she sang before an audience of OAP's on Pebble Mill she probably wondered if any of them would live to see her guest on Wogan. Maybe she did and if she did why didn't she do an Ollie Reed or Grace Jones? A violent drunken outburst might have shunted her one top twenty single ( "Love Moves (In Mysterious Ways)" no19 in 1992 ) into, for her at least, the unknown, the top ten. That dizzying achievement was never hers. My twisted imagination pictures her starring in a Phoenix Nights special.

A more rewarding encounter in Cancer Research where I picked up LP's by the Who (Tommy) and the Liverpool Scene (Amazing Adventures Of) for £1 each. And a Jacques Brel LP was scooped up for a £1 in British Heart Foundation.

YOU PAY THOUSANDS, WE PAY POUNDS

As Wob would have it in his song extolling the merits of charity shop delving over traipsing around your local souless shopping arcade for some designer tat. Eschew your lazy ways, surrender your permanent place on the sofa and discover some real British talent, as opposed to the lukewarm losers ITV and BBC serve up on their "talent" shows, and go see Wob live. Buy a CD if you must, and for his sake I suggest you do, but do not deprive yourself of the pleasure of experiencing his energy and charm in his favoured habitat, the local pub. He can actually sing, he is often beset by strange urges to sing show tunes while tuning his guitar and it's almost like being in a West End theatre. His dexterity on the guitar is equally sublime. Last night in the Evening Star in Brighton he displayed his virtuosity on the ukelele and though I had a nasty attack of the Formby's (I was about to rush out and clean the nearest window) I forgave him.

And the charity shops. Brighton has been good to me of late. Fingers filthy and brow beaded with sweat as I raced against sunday shopping hours I uncovered a few glories. A Wild Poppies 12", a single by Robyn Hitchcock horrifically titled "Eaten By Her Own Dinner", 7"singles by Linda Smith, Kieran Halpin, Orange Cake Mix, Reverb and Aislers Set. And the fabulous find of the day, a 12" by Reflection AOB signed by the band. An ebay seller had it listed for £179 a few weeks ago, then when it didn't sell he relisted it for £199! Brazen idiocy, surely nobody will cough up that for it?

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 may30

1 Snowbirds : Love Will Come My Way
2 The School : All I Wanna Do
3 Strange Idols : She's Gonna Let You Down Again
4 Penny Candles : Taj Mahal
5 Astronauts : All Night Party
6 Autumn Leaves : You Didn't Say A Word
7 Excel : If It Rains
8 Estelle : American Boy
9 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
10 Penny Candles : Making The Most (Of It All)
11 Vampire Weekend : Mansard Roof
12 Potting Sheds : Happy Again
13 Vampire Weekend : A Punk
14 Youth Group : Sorry
15 Daniel Johnston : Fish
16 Youth Group : Catching And Killing
17 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
18 Fragile Friends : The Novelty Wears Off
19 Inflatable Boy Clams: Skeletons
20 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears

Green numbers indicate new entries.

Turntable Revolution Record Collection 6

Turntable Revolution Record Collection 5

Turntable Revolution Record Collection 4

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 may 23

1 School : All I Wanna Do
2 Snowbirds : Love Will Come My Way
3 Excel : If It Rains
4 Strange Idols : She's Gonna Let You Down Again
5 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
6 Astronauts : All Night Party
7 Penny Candles : Taj Mahal
8 Potting Sheds : Happy Again
9 Autumn Leaves : You Didn't Say A Word
10 Vampire Weekend : Mansard Roof
11 Youth Group : Sorry
12 Estelle : American Boy
13 Youth Group : Catching And Killing
14 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
15 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
16 Vampire Weekend : A Punk
17 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
18 Helen And The Horns : Footsteps At My Door
19 Penny Candles : Making The Most (Of It All)
20 Sundress : Waiting

Green numbers indicate new entries.

Turntable Revolution Record Collection 3

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 may 16

1 Excel : If It Rains
2 The School : All I Wanna Do
3 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
4 Snowbirds : Love Will Come My Way
5 Potting Sheds : Happy Again
6 Strange Idols : She's Gonna Let You Down Again
7 Youth Group : Catching And Killing
8 Astronauts : All Night Party
9 Youth Group : Sorry
10 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
11 Helen And The Horns : Footsteps At My Door
12 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
13 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
14 Black Kids : I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance....
15 Sundress : Waiting
16 Vampire Weekend : Mansard Roof
17 Starlets : Happy Camper
18 Autumn Leaves : You Didn't Say A Word
19 Fischers : Down The Days
20 Alphabeat : Fascination

Green numbers indicate new entries.

THE DAY I MUGGED MVE

I've been a regular at the Notting Hill, Berwick Street and Camden MVE's or Record & Tape Exchange for over twenty years. Some of the staff have been there nearly that long. With one or two of them I'm on grimacing terms. Yes, the majority of them are surly and indifferent so it's always a pleasure when I am rewarded due to their ignorance. A few months back I was flicking through the 50p singles in the Camden MVE when I came across the Screen Gemz 7". Not to be located in Record Collector's Rare Record Guide the poor "experts" in MVE had no knowledge of its value. Though it rarely appears on ebay a copy had sold on there just the week before for £230. That had a picture sleeve, unfortunately mine didn't. What was even sweeter was the fact that I had bid unsuccessfully for it and here it was in my grubby paws with its pretty green MVE sticker, so much easier to remove than the red stickers which have scarred a number of my sleeves, for the budget sum of 50p. A few weeks earlier I had reeled in a haul of five or six Marsh Marigold singles from the 50p shelves and received a quizzical stare from the man who served me. Then last month the staff were in a quandary when confronted with something on the Shinkansen label. Was it dance music? Unlikely, they reasoned, as there were three people in the band. I resisted the temptation to enlighten them.

Turntable Revolution Record Collection 2

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 may 9

1 Potting Sheds : Happy Again
2 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
3 Youth Group : Catching And Killing
4 The School : All I Wanna Do
5 Excel : If It Rains
6 Youth Group : Sorry
7 Snowbirds : Love Will Come My Way
8 Helen And The Horns : Footsteps At My Door
9 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
10 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
11 Strange Idols : She's Gonna Let You Down Again
12 Black Kids : I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance....
13 Astronauts : All Night Party
14 Sundress : Waiting
15 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
16 Starlets : Happy Camper
17 Alphabeat : Fascination
18 James Dean Driving Experience : Dean's 11th Dream
19 MIA : Paper Planes
20 Fischers : Down The Days

Green numbers indicate new entries.

WHAT I LOST ON EBAY

Astonishing cash is flung at Ember Days' Plaza 12". Came with a lot of paraphernalia like posters and photographs which probably convinced Joymorp to part with £80.96. Minus all those gewgaws and maybe it would have stayed in my price range.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 may 2

1 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
2 Youth Group : Sorry
3 Potting Sheds : Happy Again
4 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
5 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
6 Youth Group : Catching And Killing
7 Sundress : Waiting
8 Black Kids : I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance....
9 Starlets : Happy Camper
10 James Dean Driving Experience : Dean's 11th Dream
11 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
12 Helen And The Horns : Footsteps At My Door
13 MIA : Paper Planes
14 Alphabeat : Fascination
15 Wake The President : Remember Fun?
16 Amazing Space Frogs : (I'm Into) Necrophilia
17 The School : All I Wanna Do
18 Youth Group : Forever Young
19 Fischers : Down The Days
20 Hit Parade : Autobiography

Green numbers indicate new entries.

Highlights of my record collection

WHAT I WON ON EBAY

Patience Atichon is a valuable virtue. You paid twice what I did for the Penny Candles which I finally won last night. According to my records I scooped it for its lowest price. A seasoned ebayer knows that when an uncommon item wrestles a hefty sum from a twitchy buyer said item suddenly becomes a tad more common, usually within a month. As the auction finished I was at the cinema enduring emotional fatwa watching Persepolis. Disney be damned, this is an animated film that really moves one.

EYE ON EBAY

An ebayer called Burghskin parts with £452 for a rare punk record by a band called the Rebels. The A side is called Suicide which would be my option if the girlfriend ever found out I spent that much on one 7" single. It's on Rigid records, probably the band's own label, and the seller says there were only 250 pressed. He bought it in a shop in Sunderland in 1980, the year it was released. Some of the Rebels went on to play in Red Alert.

WHAT I WON EBAY

One second to go and I snatch a 12" by Fragile Friends. It was all down to my keyboard summer school course that made me so fleet of finger. This record rarely appears on ebay and when it does hearts quiver with excitement, at least among the three or four who have it high on their wants lists. A 7" by them has yet to surface and when it does expect pulses to pulsate.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 april 25

1 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
2 Youth Group : Sorry
3 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
4 Sundress : Waiting
5 Starlets : Happy Camper
6 Black Kids : I'm Not Gonna Teach You How To Dance...
7 MIA : Paper Planes
8 James Dean Driving Experience : Dean's 11th Dream
9 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
10 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
11 Wake The President : Remember Fun?
12 Youth Group : Catching And Killing
13 Alphabeat : Fascination
14 Potting Sheds : Happy Again
15 Youth Group : Forever Young
16 Girls Aloud : Can't Speak French
17 Kings Have Long Arms with Candie Payne : Big Umbrella
18 Amazing Space Frogs : (I'm Into) Necrophilia
19 Hit Parade : Autobiography
20 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos

Green numbers indicate new entries.

1956 AND ALL THAT.

Inspecting my local charity shops had become something of a chore of late. The high yield of collectables that appeared a few years ago had dried up. So wandering into the Cancer Research while the girlfriend had her eyebrows trimmed was more a force of habit than an urge directed by excitement. The shop had never been that generous with goodies, my last find being Cambodian Rocks Volume 1 for £1; cheap but not rare. Few 7" 's but a reasonable array of 12" 's, most of which had fled eastern Europe around the time of the Prague spring (1968). I ignored the parade of Polish artists and the classical box set which I suspect was planted there simply to beef up the skimpy selection. Suddenly I was confronted by six men with radiant smiles wearing suspiciously folky clothes. They were trapped in a narrow passage in what appeared to be a hamlet in Greece or some country where men with violins lurk in corners in restaurants. My attention was captured only by their name, Omega Red Star, which nullified the naffness of the cover. Sleevenotes on the back advanced the idea that they offered something new to pop music. Judged by their attire could one gainsay that declaration? They had toured Britain in May 1968 and left western musicians bewildered in their wake. I'm sure the myriad styles of the Beatles' White Album was due to thier influence. And they came from Hungary. That last fact, proudly emblazoned on the front of the sleeve, was why I parted with £1.
Belgium is often cited as a country where no one of any import was born. Maybe so if one discounts Rene Magritte, James Ensor, Jacques Brel and Audrey Hepburn. In comparison let's consider Hungary. Do any names spring to mind? Mr. Biro and Franz Liszt. Quite frugal unless you google.
Omega Red Star, what a musical goulash. Prog folk, toytown-psych pop. If anything reeked of rarity this did. Crestfallen communists take note, this piece of Hungarian aural theatre last seen on ebay securing a capital sum of £130. Mono version of course, which my copy happens to be.

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 april 18

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
3 Starlets : Happy Camper
4 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
5 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
6 Sundress : Waiting
7 James Dean Driving Experience : Dean's 11th Dream
8 Black Kids : I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance....
9 Wake The President : Remember Fun?
10 MIA : Paper Planes
11 Alphabeat : Fascination
12 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
13 Taken By Trees : Lost And Found
14 Girls Aloud : Can't Speak French
15 Hit Parade : Autobiography
16 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
17 Colour Of Love : England's Dreaming
18 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
19 Youth Group : Forever Young
20 Kings Have Long Arms with Candie Payne : Big Umbrella

Green numbers indicate new entries.

THE HORROR OF HAYES

It's crap. A horrendous London outcrop that is in a state of listless decay. It is as if one is entering a vortex of aesthetic indifference where stunted ideas are celebrated as cultural totems. Gormless groups drift along the pavement tensed with the pointless energy of dumb youth. I have a friend who lives here, subjected to the tantrums of the unwanted local children, circling his house like witless hyenas, screaming and violently booting balls at houses and cars. A charity shop fizzing with unsavoury odours is a sanctuary of sorts. Defeated and damaged the vinyl sprawls awkwardly beneath a ledge of commonplace CD's. A Crickets LP is as mottled as a month old lettuce leaf. Nothing to be rescued here. A miserly slice of salvation appears in the form of a Helen And The Horns 12". Not quite Helen of Troy the glossy Helen McCookerybook, once of Brighton cartoon punkers the Chefs, offers up a jumpy lounge number called Footsteps At My Door. In this locality it is more likely to be the bailiffs than Xavier Cugat marching up the uneven pathway.

Sorry by Youth Group

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 april 11

1 Youth Group : Sorry
2 Wave Pictures : I Love You Like A Madman
3 Jeremiahs : Wipe Away Your Tears
4 Alphabeat : Fascination
5 Los Campesinos : Death To Los Campesinos
6 Alphabeat : Fantastic Six
7 Starlets : Give My Regards To Betty Ford
8 Starlets : Happy Camper
9 Hit Parade : Autobiography
10 Taken By Trees : Lost And Found
11 James Dean Driving Experience : Dean's 11th Dream
12 Those Dancing Days : Those Dancing Days
13 Girls Aloud : Can't Speak French
14 Sundress : Waiting
15 MIA : Paper Planes
16 Wake The President : Remember Fun?
17 Legendary Hearts : Everything I Have
18 Inflatable Boy Clams : Skeletons
19 Colour Of Love : England's Dreaming
20 Youth Group : Forever Young

Green numbers indicate new entries.

Singles on picture parade

My Brand New Website

Take a look at my New Website. Tell me what you think.
http://turntablerevolution.weebly.com/