Dick’s Picks: Fresh from immersing himself in some fine French Poetry Anthologies (see last week) our resident vinyl guru ‘Mr A’ is now chillaxing the old grey matter and settling down with the OST to legendary cinematic turkey (or should that be duck?) Howard the Duck……. Some background, Howard the Duck […]
Dick’s Picks: This week Dick has chosen this seldom-seen slice of vintage British folk from Rosemary Hardman, if you’re a fan of Anne Briggs, Vashti Bunyan, The Trees, Jackie Whitren, Brigitte St. John et al, read on….this may well be exactly what the folk doctor ordered…. Rosemary Hardman – who, what, […]
Dick’s Picks: ‘Tabu, I’ – Impossibly rare 1963 Italian ‘Mondo Film’ original soundtrack vinyl LP by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino… What’s a ‘Mondo’ Film? A Mondo Film (from the Italian word for world) is a little known genre that mixes up elements of documentary or reportage with a liberal dash of good […]
Dick’s Picks: “If you’re looking for a littlle ’70s vintage ambient-ethno-jazz-fusion – then Jon Hassell’s ‘Earthquake Island’ is your one-stop shop”…. Jon Hassell? A highly acclaimed American trumpet player and composer who you may already be unwittingly familiar with; that’s his treated trumpet (more of which later) on records by David […]
Dick’s Picks: “I don’t know, you wait around for one vintage cold-wave synth classic and then…..” Paul Nova – what do we know? Hailing from the West Midlands, Paul Nova (possibly not his real name) was, like many other budding musicians of his generation, given a right-royal, motivational kick up […]
Dick’s Picks: Vintage 1970 Cult Mod/Psych 7″ vinyl single by future TV star Paul Nicholas….. Paul Nicholas – really? Yes really…….this highly sought after (and really rather good) cult Mod/Psych 7″ vinyl was released by none other than Paul Nicholas. Those of a certain age will remember him starring in the […]
Dick’s Picks: Wonderful slice of mid-’70s eccentricity (it’s Vivian Stanshall, whaddya’ expect?) from the ‘ginger geezer’ himself….. VIVIAN STANSHALL For those not familiar with the self-styled ‘ginger geezer’ here’s a bluffers guide to…born in 1943, grew up in Essex, went to Walthamstow College Of Art along with fellow alumni Ian Dury […]
Dick’s Picks: Hard-to-find, rousing soul ’45 from UK all-round entertainer Kenny Lynch (yes, Jimmy Tarbuck’s mate!) Kenny Lynch Kenny…where do we start? Lynch grew up in Stepney, East London as one of 13 children; his sister Gladys (stage name Maxine Daniels) was also a jazz singer of some note. After leaving school at […]
Dick’s Picks: Paul McCartney gets all roaring twenties with this trad/swing jazz inspired ’45 released under the Country Hams moniker…. Country What? In downtime from a mid”70s Wings Nashville recording session the idea was mooted of an album of Macca songs that had been left off previous albums or had […]
Dick’s Picks: Little known (but heavily sampled!) ’70s jazz fusion banger from Billy Cobham Billy Who? Tut, tut – weren’t you paying attention in jazz fusion class? Hailing from Panama, the mighty sticksman Cobham first came to prominence as one part of Miles Davis ever-shifting line-ups before joining the Mahavishnu […]
Dick’s Picks: This week Dick has decided to spread the word about this classic slice of British 1980s vintage post-punk from the Young Marble Giants….. Young Marble Giants – who, what, where, when? Formed in Wales in 1978 from the ashes of previous band ‘True Wheel’, the Young Marble Giants comprised […]
Dick’s Picks: Hard-to-find rock ‘n’ roll/beat nugget from King Size Taylor & The Dominos King Size who? It weren’t just them bloomin’ Beatles who got the rock ‘n’ roll bug in that there Liverpool at the tail end of the ’50s you know. Kingsize Taylor (did he like a roll […]
Dick’s Picks: A vintage slice of doo-wop-flavoured-rock’n’roll from the Hollywood Flames has had Dick cutting a rug around the office this week….. The Hollywood Flames A hugely popular US vocal group who regularly hit the R&B and pop charts, they peddled a neat line in Doo-Wop style close harmonies with […]
Dick’s Picks: Vintage slice of German synth-tronica from Harald Grosskopf…. Harald who? Born in Germany shortly after World War II, Grosskopf like many others of his generation, was inspired to pick up an instrument once the Beatles hit big. After an early spell as drummer with beat group ‘The Stuntmen’, […]
Dick’s Picks: Classic slice of vintage UK agit-prop-punk from the short-lived Crisis…. Crisis what Crisis? Err, this Crisis were a short-lived UK punk five-piece forming in the ‘white heat’ of 1977. Hailing from that hot-bed of political unrest that was/is Guildford (just kidding, we know you can’t choose where […]
Dick’s Picks: An oft-overlooked slice of vintage U.S. singer-songwriterisms that takes a gentle stroll around folk, jazz, funk ‘n’ soul from the little-known Shawn Phillips….. SHAWN PHILLIPS Rumplestiltskin’s Resolve What is this strange beast we see before us? Is it a regular evening in round Rick Wakeman’s circa 1976? A […]
Dick’s Picks: Vintage ’60s Big Band Jazz With a Freaky Twist from Don Ellis…… Don Ellis Now here’s a man with pedigree; born in 1934 Ellis was an accomplished trumpeter who got his first musical ‘posting’ with Glenn Miller’s war-time swingers. Fast forward to the late ‘50s and Ellis was living […]
Dick’s Picks: This week’s pick is this rare and original Smiths Rough Trade era artwork, ‘cos “not everything has to be a record right?” The Smiths Unlike most bands who, when looked at retrospectively, can be seen to who have had either a) a great beginning b) a purple patch […]
Dick’s Picks: A long lost ’80s U.S. post-punk LP from former member of cult American industrial act ‘Factrix’….. Bond Bergland Bond Bergland was none other than a trombonist who played with the Boyd Raeburn orchestra (aged just 16) before joining Stan Kenton in the late ’40s and early ’50s….errr, hang on, […]
Dick’s Picks: A little known ‘sleazy disco’ underground smash recorded by a former porn-star-come-daytime soap opera actor – hey ..what’s not to like? Dennis Parker – who? Dennis Parker was a man of many names, born Dennis Posa (1946), he would later use the performance name Wade Nichols in a long-standing […]
Dick’s Picks: This week our man Dick is sticking to familiar territory with this so-bad-it’s-good psychedelic cash-in from the always opportunistic Saga label….. A Bit of background The Saga label was a pioneering independent run by enigmatic Marcel Rodd; a business maverick that thought nothing of running a new record […]
Dick’s Picks: A German LP from 1970 made using a Revox Tape Recorder and some primitive electronics – what’s not to like says Dick….. Tangerine Dream The classic line-up of Tangerine Dream (Edgar Froese, Christopher Frank, Peter Baumann) achieved huge success in the mid 1970’s as part of Richard Branson’s […]
Dick’s Picks: Question – Which French band like to hide behind masks and are partial to a little bit of electronic music with vocoders? Answer – Daft Punk…….don’t be stoopid…..ladies and gentlemen we give you ‘Les Rockets’….. Les Rockets – who, what, why? This truly bonkers group formed in Paris in […]
Dick’s Picks: This week our resident vinyl guru ‘Dick’ has decided to get a little metaphysical on yo’ ass with a selection of French poetry anthologies, ‘wot no rock, metal, prog or psych’ I hear you ask, what’s that got to do with music and why should we care? […]
Dick’s Picks: This week our high priest of vinyl ‘Mr A’ has chosen to shine his multi-coloured spotlight on a little known psychedelic curio by Timothy Clover. Timothy What? Who? Check the LP sleeve, nope still not clear… ….so is it Timothy Clover? The Cambridge Concept? Or even The Bean […]
Dick’s Picks: With this week’s pick Dick has really upped the ante, offering for your delectation this so-rare-it-hurts 1970 vintage Brit-pop-psych 7″ vinyl single on the cult ‘Spark’ imprint from the super mysterious Sir Ching I, for full condition/price info on the website please click here – be warned, it’s […]
Dick’s Picks: This week’s pick from our man Dick is this bizarro 1978 children’s LP entitled ‘Scouse The Mouse’ featuring Ringo with Donald Pleasance, Adam Faith and Barbara Dickson Scouse The Mouse – What Is It? Firstly, for any non-UK readers a ‘scouser’ is a slang term for a Liverpudlian. The […]
Dick’s Picks: With this week’s pick Dick has chosen this Sci-Fi inspired disco long player ‘A Dance Fantasy’ by Montana and thereby single-handedly managed to combine two of his greatest passions; Disco and Sci-Fi! You can find out more about this LP at eil.com but for now read on…. Montana / ‘A Dance […]
Dick’s Picks: Tasty limited edition Japanese 180g vinyl reissue of the cult Brit ’60s jazz banger that is ‘Brew’ by the Collin Bates Trio Collin Bates Trio – who? Details about the Collin Bates Trio are, like the record itself, difficult to come by! Here’s what we know, Collin Bates […]
Dick’s Picks: More witchcraft related shenanigans from our man Dick as he waxes lyrical about this top-slice of modern acid/folk/psych from Sexwitch…. Sexwitch – a bit rude isn’t it, what’s it all about? Firstly, let’s just say that while ‘doing a bit of google research’ into this LP on more […]
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