TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 mar 6

1 Flying Colours : Abstract Art
2 Patsy Ann Noble : Tied Up With Mary
3 Carrots : Doing Our Part
4 Toys : My Mind Wanders
5 Comet Gain : Books Of California
6 Cold War : The Machinist
7 Small World : First Impressions
8 Elephant Noise : Remember The Big Time
9 Dancette : Going Green
10 Pete Green : Everything I Do Is Gonna Be Sparkly
11 Aerial FX : So Hard
12 Pocketbooks : Falling Leaves
13 Sarah Goes Shopping : Once I've Seen Him
14 Go Sailor : Fine Day For Sailing
15 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
16 Northern Portrait : Crazy
17 Clay People : Wreathes And Seashells
18 Evening Outs : Channel
19 Golinski Brothers : Bloody
20 Field Mice : I Can See Myself Alone Forever

Green numbers inicate new entries.

THIS REPLICA

The girlfriend went on a reconnaissance mission to deepest East Anglia at the weekend. She was officially on a hen weekend but she was secretly scouting for lost pleasures inscribed on shards of plastic. Straying from the battalion of boozy women she stumbled on a dusty junkshop where sunlight hissed in corners like shrivelled snakes. From the vinyl detainees she liberated a single by This Replica from 1988 on the evocatively named Fenrock label. This is the second release on Fenrock; she also returned with Fen 01, Why You Lie by Nutmeg.

This Replica consisted of Darren Walker on vocals and lead and rhythm guitar, Lyndsey Paxton on keyboards, Chris Scurrah on bass guitar and Jim Thorby on drums.

On the cover they appear to be posing in a playground in the grip of deep and original thoughts, perhaps contemplating the onslaught of impending fame that would whisk them away from East Anglian drudgery. Their dreams turned out to be as flat as the fens; but they do have a MySpace page and are still looking for the signpost to success amidst the early morning Norfolk mists.

this replica tunnel vision.mp3 -

EYE ON EBAY--------Kiwi on drugs

Here's an example of antipodean antipathy, the Steroids' Mr.Average sells for a decidedly non-average £163.34. Looks like they were based in my father's home town of Wellington on New Zealand's north island. Completely unknown to me but pricks my interest as it originated from the ancestral home on my paternal side.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=250374581972

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION GIG

May 22 at the Windmill in Brixton should be the first Turntable Rev gig. Featuring the Understudies and My Raining Stars. I still haven't sorted out a headline band. I have tried to get Ed Ball and the School but they are unavailable. The School are playing at the Cavern in Liverpool that night.

Are you a headline act? Are you of a indie/powerpop nature? That is if you sound like Orange Juice, Buzzcocks or Heavenly I'd be interested. Even if you only sound a little like them. Or if you sound like, or indeed are, any band on the Fortuna Pop, Cloudberry, Moshi Moshi, Elefant, Siesta, Wee Pop or Matinee labels get in touch.

WHAT I LOST ON EBAY

A tentative bid and all was lost. Admittedly I have no idea who Harvest were or what they sound like but the words powerpop caught me in its crab-like claws and I wriggled to break free. Which I did and it was not me that paid £92. This single appeared on ebay a few weeks back and sold for just over £100. Have I missed out on a classic?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110355280191&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=001

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 feb 27

1 Flying Colours : Abstract Art
2 Carrots : Doing Our Part
3 Small World : First Impressions
4 Pocketbooks : Falling Leaves
5 Elephant Noise : Remember The Big Time
6 Aerial FX : So Hard
7 Sarah Goes Shopping : Once I've Seen Him
8 Patsy Ann Noble : Tied Up With Mary
9 Cold War : The Machinist
10 Dancette : Going Green
11 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
12 Pete Green : Everything I Do Is Gonna Be Sparkly
13 Northern Portrait : Crazy
14 Comet Gain : Books Of California
15 Field Mice : I Can See Myself Alone Forever
16 Evening Outs : Channel
17 Pale Fountains : (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
18 Toys : My Mind Wanders
19 Fallover 24 : Pessimistic Man
20 Clamber : Choose The Way

Green numbers indicate new entries.

EYE ON EBAY-------Seller not amused

Bidders failed to put a smile on the face of Romarocket despite offering him £7,192.19 for God Save The Queen on A&M. The reserve was not met and this Sex Pistols rarity will be remaining where it is for now. I wonder what his reserve was. I'm guessing £8,000.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320344261659&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

EYE ON EBAY-------Morally worth more than the radio station

Capitol Radio, that vituperative blurt aimed at the radio station sounds much rawer and vital than the version that appeared on The Cost Of Living EP if I recall correctly. I have the original version taped off of a John Peel show circa 1978 and despite the rather inadequate media on which it's preserved it still retains a startling ferocity. One of the Clash's finest moments. Sold for £65.70.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270337707839&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

EYE ON EBAY

Apparently this single by the Lemons is rare indie twee. I feel like an acidic rugby ball-shaped fruit for not knowing anything about it. Help me somebody.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190279324900&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

EYE ON EBAY------Seasick melodies

Nancy Sesay And The Melodaires are not conversant with the convention of creating a tune. Need I offer more praise than this to insist you make yourself familiar with them. I snatched this from an ignorant dealer at Reading record fair about two years ago for £10. I found an extra copy in the Greenwich MVE about four months ago for £5. Here it sold for £28.99. Note the sellers misspelling of Nancy Sesay.

The Homosexuals had a hand in this. For more of their unique interferences see below.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260337433527&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=016

EYE ON EBAY-----Sara Pops!

A high price for this off kilter wedge of avant garde genius. Sara Goes Pop are Homosexuals related hence the final sale of £62.10. I paid half that when I won it on ebay about a year ago.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260337436652&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=016

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 feb 20

1 Flying Colours : Abstract Art
2 Pocketbooks : Falling Leaves
3 Elephant Noise : Remember The Big Time
4 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
5 Sarah Goes Shopping : Once I've Seen Him
6 Cold War : The Machinist
7 Aerial FX : So Hard
8 Small World : First Impressions
9 Field Mice : I Can See Myself Alone Forever
10 Pale Fountains : (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
11 Carrots : Doing Our Part
12 Suntime Glorious : Sexual Health
13 Evening Outs : Channel
14 Queue Dance : Not The One For Me
15 Fallover 24 : Pessimistic Man
16 3 Leez : T.K.O. Mine Yopper Song
17 Miracle Mile : Breaking Down The Barriers
18 Northern Portrait : Crazy
19 Clamber : Choose The Way
20 Sema 4 : Capital City

Green numbers indicate new entries.

The Hermit Crabs - Feel Good Factor

I DREAM OF KEEN

Nothing much to glean from this Keen sleeve. The back has a painting by Nicci Hastings. It's a close up of a clown, jovial and heavily made up. Does that help? Released on Scaredy Cat records in 1990 the Sad EP contains four pleasant pop ditties with female vocals. Were they an all girl band? They excel in the art of mimicry on On Your Knees which sounds like Politics by Girls At Our Best; it even has the audacity to steal one of the lines from the chorus. They appear to have been based in Morden, that dull suburb where the Northern line gives up.

They released another single called Feline Groovy which C86 collectors salivate over. I have been dribbling in desperation for it for some years now. All copies are rumoured to reside in Japan. If you believe there is a missing link between Dolly Mixture and Heavenly then I think I may have found the proof.

keen waiting.mp3 -

EYE ON EBAY------Sarah, the rare and the rarer

Here's a selection of Sarah records which sold recently on ebay.

First up the reasonably rare Come Get Me by the 14 Iced Bears. This is the fifth release on the legendary label by a band represented on several labels during their existence.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190279644358&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

Here is the Orchids very fine single I've Got A Habit. This is the Bristol based label's second release and I remember paying £18 for this in MVE nearly twenty years ago. Poor old Vanbrugh had to part with £77.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190279642848&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

And finally the single that started it all. Sarah 1, the utterly essential Pristine Christine by the Sea Urchins. Many would argue that Sarah never equalled this debut release. This fell a few pence short of £70. That's £70 well spent.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170295202052&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=007

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.

EYE ON EBAY

I like Hypstr66. He's the man from whom I won the Evening Outs single. We completed the transaction in a car park in Walthamstow. It was most clandestine though he did invite the girlfriend and I to the pub for a drink. He could certainly afford to buy us one. But we had to hurry off to a party and so declined his kind offer.

Anyway he scooped £43 for You're A Rebel by Metropak which I picked up for £1.99 in a local charity shop a couple of years ago. Metropak followed this single with the inferior Here's Looking At You 7" before changing their name to Pak and releasing one more single. Found the second single in a charity shop too.

(An Evening Outs update. Since I parted with an incredible amount of cash for aforesaid record the little beast has made ebay its natural habitat. It sold for just over £100 a few weeks ago and currently two sellers have it up for auction. One has it a reckless starting price of around £250.)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160311209427&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006

EYE ON EBAY------Keys please me

Rather surprised that this single by the Keys gathered in £42.30 for the seller. I picked it up in MVE last year for £3 (smug smile). I also own an LP by them which I confess I have yet to play; it has been lost among recent purchases which are cluttering up our hall.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330304136351&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=014

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 feb 13

1 Flying Colours : Abstract Art
2 Elephant Noise : Remember The Big Time
3 Pocketbooks : Falling Leaves
4 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
5 Pale Fountains : (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
6 Sarah Goes Shopping : Once I've Seen Him
7 Suntime Glorious : Sexual Health
8 Queue Dance : Not The One For Me
9 Evening Outs : Channel
10 Field Mice : I Can See Myself Alone Forever
11 Fallover 24 : Pessimistic Man
12 Aerial FX : So Hard
13 Clamber : Choose The Way
14 Miracle Mile : Breaking Down The Barriers
15 Small World : First Impressions
16 World Of Pooh : Stones Of Judgement
17 Northern Portrait : Crazy
18 Sema 4 : Capital City
19 Some Average Prophecy : Goodnight England
20 Bad Actors : Are They Hostile?

Green numbers indicate new entries.

EYE ON EBAY

Ipman 13 strikes again. Everybody knows that the Incredible Kidda Band generate wild bidding especially when this single turns up with a picture sleeve. £437.28 was the final price which is probably more than anyone from their home town Nuneaton earns in a month.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270319597952&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

Meanwhile back in the UK the Northatitsheight reels in £115 for their second single released under the name Kidda Band.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230317462429&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=013

EYE ON EBAY-------Keeping an eye on the Ball

Ed Ball having guested on a Turntable Rev video now pays a visit to ebay in the form of the Times. Pop Goes Art was the first LP released on Whaam! and is very sought after. It comes in a spray painted sleeve designed by Ed's brother Andrew. Sold for £101.60.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220332847473&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=012

More Ball. O Level released two seminal diy singles. East Sheen was the first and Ed Ball featured on it along with other members of the TV Personalities. Crude and defiantly ugly sounding yet strangely beautiful I had no choice but to buy this at the time as I lived in East Sheen. In the chorus O Level declared they would burn East Sheen down but they never did although late one night after returning from a Marc And The Mambas gig I saw the local timber yard ablaze. As far as I know O Level was never asked to explain their whereabouts. There are three versions of the sleeve and this one is the second rarest; it's also the sleeve my copy lives in.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190281530432&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

SONIC REDUCERS

Four feral lads from Bury recorded this single in early 1978. Here we see them regaled in the armour of youth, leather and denim, bar one poor soul who has not yet received his dole cheque clad only in a v neck jumper. The premises outside which they lurk is Vibes record shop which rather than shoo them away invited them in and even financed this jagged effort. A limited edition of a 1000 singles were pressed, which these days would be an over production. Things Go Wrong/We Are Normal are raw and ragged and positively sizzle with potential. The four men involved were Graham "Raggy FC" Holden on vocals, Doug Hoyles on bass, Roy Tynan on guitar and vocals and Graham Barstow on drums. Tynan had the temerity to turn down an invitation to join the Fall reasoning that Mark E. Smith was a control freak.

Undeterred by a lack of urgency from the public for more Reducers product Vibes put out a second single, Man With A Gun, anyway. Not quite the equal in splenetic splendour as their first release it was still a fine accomplishment.

Then the men from EMI came calling and things did go wrong. Crazed keyboards roamed the land and in acts of mock castration brutally prised guitars away from their loved ones. Men who once stalked the stage like actors from an Osbournesque landscape now sheepishly hid behind tinny synthesizers. Empty Mindless Idiom released the Reducers third and final single Airways, an execrable synth pop confection, and the band were reduced to zeros.

reducers things go wrong.mp3 -

EYE ON EBAY

A couple of Low Down Kids releases surfaced on ebay. An Y Trwynau Coch comp and a Singles comp. These are getting harder to find and if I hadn't been concentrating on other auctions I would have made a bid or two myself. I was lucky to pick up the two Low Down Kids various artist comps at the Birmingham record fair a couple of years ago. Essential purchases as many of the singles featured are extremely difficult to locate. Does anyone own or has anyone ever seen the Brent Ford And The Nylons single?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300286500915&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300286500704&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020

Turntable Revolution Record Collection 22

TURNTABLE REVOLUTION TOP 20 feb 6

1 Northern Portrait : I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
2 Pale Fountains : (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
3 Queue Dance : Not The One For Me
4 Pocketbooks : Falling Leaves
5 Evening Outs : Channel
6 Clamber : Choose The Way
7 Fallover 24 : Pessimistic Man
8 Suntime Glorious : Sexual Health
9 Elephant Noise : Remember The Big Time
10 Field Mice : I Can See Myself Alone Forever
11 Miracle Mile : Breaking Down The Barriers
12 Bad Actors : Are They Hostile?
13 Sarah Goes Shopping : Once I've Seen Him
14 World Of Pooh : Stones Of Judgement
15 Some Average Prophecy : Goodnight England
16 Da Biz : On The Beach
17 Modernaires : Fait Vos Jeux
18 Sema 4 : Capital City
19 Northern Portrait : Crazy
20 Aerial FX : So Hard

Green numbers indicate new entries.

EBAY-------THOSE THAT GOT AWAY

Firstly the Stolen Picassos which was stolen from me. The seller lists it as an LP. With four tracks? Are they an Australian Yes? They are purported to be twee indiepop. Has a twee indiepop song ever exceeded five minutes?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270339775324&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=017

Next up the B Team single which I've been courting for two years and it still hasn't accepted my proposal to come live with me. Final price £64.53 a little too high given that it sold for under £50 a few months back. Be away with you.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=200306923076&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=010

The Extras single has featured on ebay before. Always attracts attention. Wonder what it sounds like. Anyway I bid a hesitant £36. Got swept away.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120368723437&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=002

Far superior to their other single the Cybermen EP with the classic Cybernetic Surgery eluded me once again. I was elsewhere when the auction ended and left a rather hopeful £46 bid which failed.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=310118921563&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=021

I have the A side of the 021 single on a comp so I tentatively and absurdly chucked £15 at it. It went for £49.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270339055252&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=017

Again I have the A side of the Zoot Alors single but am wondering if the B side is half as good. After finally finding Abstract Art by Flying Colours I was absolutely underwhelmed by the five minute instrumental on the B side. My £29.99 bid failed spectacularly.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120370245685&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=002

EYE ON EBAY---------More piss, vicar.

Ipman 13 must be buried under an avalanche of cash. The Grout single on the wonderfully named Urinating Vicar records brought him another huge payout of £763.57. Only a hundred copies pressed, what you get is basic no frills punk judging by the two tracks I've heard, Cremation At Belsen and Fast Cars (not the Buzzcocks song), which are all energy and endeavour if not that tuneful. The EP was reissued a few years back if you're not prepared to dip into your pension money.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270317435166&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

EYE ON EBAY----------Shake Yer Pyramids

The Tammys single is one of the best girl group singles. Completely bonkers, it could have been a writing collaboration between Spike Milligan and Neil Innes. Egyptian Reggae, Walk Like An Egyptian, they are indistinct hieroglyphics in comparison to Egyptian Shumba which should have a pyramid built in its honour. Not surprising then that it soared to a final price of £230. My friend Jeanette Leech who is an avid girl group collector could only seethe in frustration as it blew her budget into the Nile.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150324732490&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005

EYE ON EBAY--------Out of Peel's box

I think I'm correct in claiming this was one of the records that John Peel always kept in his record box. The seller, the indefatigable Ipman 13, seems unaware of this but I imagine some of the bidders weren't, driving the price up to a mouthwatering £86.54. The Galactic Symposium was from Nottingham and they tinkered with such classics as Pink Floyd's Money and that homosexual anthem YMCA. Apparently the experience is akin to listening to Brahms and Liszt simultaneously at the wrong speed. Accomplished musicians were involved but they all decided to play instruments that they hadn't mastered hence the cacophonous result. Low Down Kids released a whole LP of their disturbing music in 2005.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270311227170&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

EYE ON EBAY

This intrigues me. The Stripes single attracted 18 bids. The successful bidder sacrificed £265 to own this mysterious item. I want information. Is it as good as Abstract Art by Flying Colours? It may well have been comped as the seller claims but I can't find it on any of my comps.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160310452879&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006