June 6th
Foetus Interruptus-Fin-Thaw
Record shops are
increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Sadly. They’ll become stuff of
legend and myth within the next couple of decades. I’ll be sitting my
grandchildren on my knee and telling them tales of hours spent browsing for
strange flat, round 12” artefacts just in order to listen to music. They’ll
listen wide-eyed and incredulously about the hours wasted in vain attempts to
get hold of “rare” songs imported across the ocean from America in numbers of
less than the fingers of one hand. They’ll be staggered at the exorbitant
prices that used to be paid for just one record and that generally music was so
difficult to obtain. Maybe they’ll see recorded music as a bit odd in itself. (Recorded
music, after all, is just a blip that’s only been around for 100 years or so.
By the end of the 21st century it may be looked upon as a
technological and cultural dead-end. Like a harpsichord).
(Let me tell you
a story).
Anyway, I’ve
spend many, many happy hours in record shops up and down the U.K. (And many
costly hours as well). I can’t actually
remember the last time that I spent any significant period browsing ,but I have
a feeling that those days are gone forever. I’ll start from the North and work
my way down South in respect of the most memorable record shops that played
such a large part in my life.
1. One Up
Records, Aberdeen.
This would have
been in the early 1980’s when I worked for a while in the Granite City. There
was a Virgin store in Aberdeen which was ok, but One Up was a small indie store
just off Union Street in the city centre. It was slightly similar to Probe
Records in Liverpool (more of that soon), but staffed by dour-as-fuck Scots and
therefore a much jollier retail experience than Probe. One Up was, I think,
next door to a café-which was useful. It must have previously operated as a
different sort of shop as all the walls were at weird angles; which wasn’t
conducive for housing racks of vinyl records. Having said that, they had a
great selection of really indie stuff-lots of records from the USA and post
punk singles from around the world. If you’d heard, say a 7” single played on
Peel’s show by an unpronounceable Polish hardcore band on a Wednesday night,
then One Up would have it ( or know of it and be able to get it for you), via
some circuitous route from Gdansk across the North Sea by the following week.
There were plenty of singles I got from there purely on the basis that they
seemed obscure and therefore which I hoped they would be the next-big-thing. (Never
worked out like that). Two other facts; there record bags were cool and if you
hung around long enough they’d always make you a cup of tea).
2. Probe
Records, Liverpool.
I’ve already
gone on at length about Probe so I won’t reiterate things too much. However, it
was a little wonderful trove of records in Mathew Street, Liverpool and staffed
by the most fucking miserable condescending bunch of know-alls in the whole
retail sector. There is an apocryphal story (which rings so true) about a
hapless punter who wandered in off the street one day and asked in all
innocence, “Do you have Phil Collins’ new album?” “Yes”, came the reply. “Can I
have it please then?” “Er, no.” That
just about sums it up. But, for their selection of records, it couldn’t be
beaten and that’s why I spent many hours in there browsing away, and many
pounds that I couldn’t really afford crossed the counter into their coffers.
(Unlike in Aberdeen, you’d never get a brew from them).
3. Penny Lane
Records, Liverpool.
Although they
must have had a shop in the actual Penny Lane, this one was in the city centre.
I think that it’s now an opticians. Maybe bad sight has increased at the same
rate as record shops have declined. Penny Lane was up a flight of stairs on the
first floor above some sort of fashion shop. It was a bit like Probe (indie
shop but not so much indie (music)), but it did have a really good selection of
reggae albums, including loads of dub, and what seemed to be the whole ECM
catalogue on vinyl. When New Order played the State Ballroom in Liverpool, the
only place you could get tickets from was Penny Lane. The shop suddenly closed
down-it must have gone bust- one day it was there and the next it was gone. I
wonder what happened to all those unsold ECM records.
4. Virgin
Records, Oxford Street, London
Not the megastore
Virgin, but a strange little Virgin store that co-existed at the same time as
the megastore was growing. It was halfway down Oxford Street in a sort of
arcade of shops and must have been forgotten about by Branson as it seemed to
be a bit of throwback. It only appeared to have in stock weird rock albums from
Germany and Japan and obscure old hippy albums although there was a section of
industrial oddness- which is where I got hold of the first Foetus album, “Deaf”
(which is now worth a fortune and which I sold for buttons ages ago. Grr). I
could never have imagined of being able to go into any of the Virgin megastores
and being able to buy a Foetus record.
I wonder what they were thinking of.
"Totally Shuffled" is available here as a Kindle book (bit of a massive tome; 600 or so pages)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA
and here as a paperback (Part 1:The First Six Months)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Totally-Shuffled-Listening-Broken-iPod-/dp/149495687X
This is what it ("Totally Shuffled", the book) is all about:
One track per day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553.
From the obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex).
From the sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse).
From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music to The Monkees.
From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz, classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between.
This is what I listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to hear any more music again.
Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated.
Some artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of critical kicking.
There’s memories of spending too many hours in record shops, prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that I’d completely forgotten about.
But with 40 years of listening to music, I realised that I’ll never get sick of it.
I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but I’ll never fall out of love with music.
The Full List of all the Artists
Like me, there must be some artists you love, some you don't love and some you've probably not heard of.
Or never want to hear again.
But that's the way it goes with nearly 10,000 tracks to shuffle through at random.
These are the artists in the order they shuffled up on my iPod, starting on January 1st and finishing on December 31st.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA
and here as a paperback (Part 1:The First Six Months)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Totally-Shuffled-Listening-Broken-iPod-/dp/149495687X
This is what it ("Totally Shuffled", the book) is all about:
One track per day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553.
From the obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex).
From the sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse).
From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music to The Monkees.
From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz, classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between.
This is what I listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to hear any more music again.
Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated.
Some artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of critical kicking.
There’s memories of spending too many hours in record shops, prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that I’d completely forgotten about.
But with 40 years of listening to music, I realised that I’ll never get sick of it.
I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but I’ll never fall out of love with music.
The Full List of all the Artists
Like me, there must be some artists you love, some you don't love and some you've probably not heard of.
Or never want to hear again.
But that's the way it goes with nearly 10,000 tracks to shuffle through at random.
These are the artists in the order they shuffled up on my iPod, starting on January 1st and finishing on December 31st.
January
The Clash/ Half
Man Half Biscuit/ Steinski /Carl Smith with the Carter Sisters & Mother
Maybelle
Big Star/ The
Upsettters / AC/DC /Buddy Holly/Wilco/Joy Division/High Rise
Bulgarian State
Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir/Jackie Brenston
William &
Versey Smith/Boards of Canada/Randy Newman/The Blue Nile/The Chords
Wire/Steely Dan/Mercury
Rev/Sigur Ros/Massive Attack v Mad Professor
Steve Reich/TheSugarcubes/U2/A
Sudden Sway/Laura Cantrell/Genesis
Mbuti Pygmies of
the Iruti Rainforest/The Sisters of Mercy
February
Holy Fuck/
Swans/The Sundays/My Bloody Valentine/Ja-Man
Charles Wright
& the 103rd Street Rhythm Band/Juana Molina/Sparklehorse/ The
White Stripes
New Order/Dennis
McGee & Ernest Fruge/Beethoven/ You.May.Die.In.The.Desert
Kate
Bush/Cabaret Voltaire/Blind Lemon Jefferson/Bill Drummond/Gong
The Hold
Steady/Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston/ Sunn O)))/Crass
Jelly Roll
Morton/Grandmaster Flash/Led Zeppelin/Status Quo
March
Karen Cooper
Complex/Spiritualized/Professor Longhair/Coldplay
Dee
Clark/Prince/Teenage Jesus & The Jerks/Jeff Buckley
Young Marble
Giants/Rovo/Lazy Lester/She & Him
Voodoo Ceremony
in Haiti/Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers/The Woodentops
Tinariwen/Blind
Blake/ Arctic Monkeys/Van Morrison/Burial/Boozoo Chavais/Teenage Fanclub
Mogwai/Nirvana/Girls/Skip
James/The Lemonheads/Air Traffic Controllers
A Gril Called
Eddy/ Aztec Camera/Goldfrapp
April
Evil Gazebo/ The Durutti Column/Cymbals Eat Guitars/Swell Maps/Warren Smith
The Go-Betweens/Fats Domino/Joanna
Newsom/Dave Dudley/Fleetwood Mac/Lightnin Hopkins
Neil Young/Chin Up Chin Up/The
Jesus Lizard/Mel & Tim/XTC/Faron Young/Electro Hippies
Rev. Gary Davies/ Robyn
Hitchcock/Lee Perry/Fuck Buttons/Portastatic/The Jesus & Mary Chain
Blind Willie Davis/The
Misunderstood/ The Art of Noise/The Feelies/Francoise Hardy
The Rolling Stones
May
Dracula’s Daughter/American Music
Club/Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Echo & the Bunnymen
Link Davis/Television/This Mortal
Coil/Elder Curry/Vampire Weekend/Scritti Politti/Battles
Immortal Technique/Pavement/Jad
Fair/The Everly Brothers/Impact All Stars
Hambone Wille Newbern/The
Zimmermen/Chic/Buzzcocks/Ellis Regina & Toots Theilman
The Silver/Lights In A Fat
City/Althea & Donna/Phew!/Eddie & Ernie/Sly & The Family Stone/
The Parliaments/The Ruts/Muddy
Waters
June
Captain Beefheart/Emmylou Harris/Jimmy
Rodgers/Bob Dylan/Lush/Foetus Interruptus
Johnny Cash/Lattie Moore/Satan Alfa
Beel Atem/Freddie Hall/The Ravens/Robert Parker
David Sylvian/The Stone
Roses/Charlie Parker/SonnyBoy Williamson/Steve Earle/Tiny Bradshaw
Lonnie Johnson/Blind Alred Reed/Southside
Johnny/The Showstoppers/L/Roy Orbison/The KLF
Tony Bennett/The Chantells/The
Nightingales/Luciole
July
Some Chicken/The Meters/Kris
Kristofferson/Rev A W Nix/The Flaming Lips/Big In Japan/Morphine
The Greenhornes/Ron
Sexsmith/DoMaJe/Girls At Our Best! /The Masterdon Committee
Umm Kulthun/Alton Ellis & The
Flames/James Brown/Brownsville Station/ The O’Jays
Jimmy Lewis/Tom Archia/Big
Youth/The Smiths/The Fuckers/Nat King Cole/The 012/Group Doueh
Louis Prima/Jonsi &
Alex/Carolina Buddies/Jerry Lee Lewis/Lori & The Chameleons/Dogie O’Dell
August
Frank Sinatra/Roy Head/Lara &
the Trailers/King Solomon Hill/Central African Pygmies
The Beach Boys/The Pixies/ Billy
Ward & His Dominos/Shep & The Limelites/The Adverts
Los Campesinos!/Elmore James/”Do
you ever have a night when you don’t dream about The Fall?”
Aramic Wedding Chants/Camille/The
Anemic Boyfriends/Trinity/Prefab Sprout/Bobby Marchan
The Grateful Dead/A Certain
Ratio/The Beta Band/The Bell Rays/ DJ Food/
Booby Saffron & The Postal
Bargains/Miles Davis/Anne Peebles/Marvin Rainwater
The Manavishnu
Orchestra/Culture/Clannad
September
Gormenghast/Tammy Wynette/Wah!
Heat/Mississipi John Hurt/The Henchman/Elvis Costello
The Velvetones/Mott the Hoople/
Armando/Walter “Kid” Smith /Junior Parker/Sandy Denny
The The/The Pilgrim
Travellers/Muslimgauze/The Marvelettes/Elf Power/Ry Cooder
Johnny Burnette Trio/Big Amos/Johnnie
Taylor/Ronny Jordan/Brahms/John Coltrane/ O V Wright
The Fall/George Jones/The Gang of
Four/Pink Floyd/Mickey Lee Lewis
October
Young Fresh Fellows/ the
passage/System Fucker/The Bays/Molton Rock/De La Soul/Muse
Popol Vuh/Schubert/Curtis
Mayfield/Joe South/The Beat/Sleepy John Estes/Bruce Springsteen
I Roy/Soledad Brothers/Roshell
Anderson/Louis Armstrong/The Nitecaps/The Clovers
Clarence Ashby/Emitt Rhodes/Black
Uhuru/Gram Parsons/Chuck Willis/Johnny Fortune/
Blind Willie McTell/Dinosaur
Jr./Charles Brown
November
Billie Holliday/Rocketship/Johnny
Dove & the Magnolia Playboys/MGMT/Chrome/Blue Angel
Little Axe/The Delgados/Mahler/Novem/Siouxsie
& The Banshees/Charlie Mingus/The Monkees
P J Harvey/Riley Puckett/Roger
Miller/The Sonics/Louis Jordan/The Raincoats/Paul McCartney
Tampa Red & Georgia Tom/ The
Upholsterers/Kristina Bruuk/Green Bailey/The Blue Orchids
Harry Pussy/Shostakovich/The
National/Don Covay/K T Tunstall
December
Bill Monroe/Sonic Youth/Electric
Light Orchestra/Johnny Adams/The Cocteau Twins/Squeeze
The Latin Playboys/The Cherry
Pies/Stevie Wonder/Toussaint McCall/Eva Cassidy
Howling Wolf/Crowded House/Stanley
Winston/The Velvet Underground
Pat Metheny/Elbow/Alternative TV /Long
Gone Miles/The Pernice Brothers/Paddy McAloon
Al Green/Talking
Heads/Radiohead/AMM/Smokey Robinson & The Miracles/
Big Black/Joni Mitchell/Madonna/The
Birthday Party/Honeyboy
No comments:
Post a Comment