Other people's blogs are invariably as boring as hell - self-centred, random, rambling or just plain pointless...
we don't like to break the pattern, so this is Fruits de Mer Records blog...and you're welcome to it
(yes, it's that moment when I drone on about the last 12 months - probably best you click onto another site at this point....)
W(H)ITHER THE INDEPENDENT LABEL MARKET?
The latest market near King's Cross was a pale (not to mention cold and damp) shadow of the Spitalfields events I've been along to - I'd guess less than 20 labels represented (although some stalls seemed to be joint-ventures) - and the advertised 'craft beers' consisted of one van; maybe things picked up in the afternoon.
Still, it was a good excuse to meet up with Jack Ellister and Heyday Mail Order's Nick Leese and his lad Jude - and the nearby pub that we escaped to served a really good bitter from the 360 Degree Brewery, so all was not lost.
Oh, and I managed to pick up a white label of the Fire Records reissue of The Groundhogs' 'Blues Obituary' (by pick up, I mean buy - but we vinyl junkies have our own secret and impenetrable language, you know)
LATER THE SAME DAY...
...back home to a quiet night in front of the TV, currently enduring 'Devil Girl From Mars' - a 1954 British attempt at sci-fi, with an awful lot of attempts at acting - the closest to entertainment coming from watching John Lawrie and hoping he will say, "we're all doomed" at some point (he must have said it under his breath many times during the filming)
THIS COULD BE THE LAST TIME
(sorry, that was the band Dick Taylor left, to create The Pretty Things) We're off to the O2 tomorrow to see the last-ever gig by Britain's finest as a full electric band.
Will it be brilliant? almost certainly.
Will it bring a tear to my eye? Almost certainly.
AS LUCK WOULDN'T HAVE IT
We don't release a full-run single for about 11 months, so that even Record Collector's Ian McCann bemoans the lack of them in his monthly column; then we release four at once and for the first time in 10 years (maybe!) RC doesn't have a singles review page!
I just hope it's a minor aberration on their part, it's been one of the few magazines still around where a 7" can get a write-up (Shindig being the notable exception).
....the good news is that I now have it on very good authority that the singles column will be returning to Record Collector very soon - phew, they ARE serious about music after all!
MEET IN THE VEG?
another rather nice compilation double LP that's kind of sneaked out via Sainsburys and can be found loitering between the fresh veg and Christmas toys (or it can in our local); tastfully put together (once again) by Bob Stanley, who pushes the boundaries of the genre by including songs by Jethro Tull and Peter Hammill.
MERRY PIGGIN' CHRISTMAS
A pork scratchings advent calendar - a great idea for a black country lad like me, but I'm up to day 7 and so far all the packets are the same - I rather hoped there would be a bit of variation in there somewhere (with or without hairs?). Still, there's no such things as a bad scratching, I always say
BOOTLEG OR NO BOOTLEG?
Craig Palmer and I paid a visit to the VIP London Victoria record fair last weekend. Putting to one side the fact that it could fit in the toilets at Utrecht's November fair (if only they'd organise a container lorry to bring some of the stalls over from the Netherlands), the most interesting stall for me was selling live recordings from the late sixties, on vinyl, from the likes of Hendrix and The Who; new releases, they look legal but I really don't understand the copyright situation - I've been told that live recordings from 50 years ago are fair game IF they haven't been officially broadcast or released previously, but that doesn't seem to cover some of the stuff I've seen; do different rules apply to non-UK recordings?
AN ENGLISHMAN'S HADDOCK IS HIS CASTLE
FdM club member Dave Lovatt spotted that we've recently moved to a new, improved FdM Towers - we'll be having A BYOB party soon (bring your own bream).
TODD-ALY BONKERS
Just in case anyone still thinks we've ever had an original thought round here, I thought you might like to check out a 7" single from Todd Dillingham, released many years before the Dr. Sardonicus festivals were even thought of. What's worse, Todd even used the 'bream' pun.
It is, of course a sheer coincidence that we latched onto the same idea - just like Led Zep had never heard 'Taurus'....
Club memmber Till Woolf has just sent me a photo of his copy of the single - it makes mine look like it spent some time under water!
FdM 'CRUISE TO THE EDGE'
Just putting the finishing touches to our answer to the annual Yes cruise (apparently they're chartering a bigger ship for 2019 as there are so many variations of the band to fit in); all-inclusive tickets will include endless Newcastle Brown, endless canapes (pork scratchings), endless FdM stalls and endless Sendelica gigs (only joking, Pete!).
YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH
whatever your political persuasion, whether you're in or out, or sitting on the barbed-wire fence, this very good....
YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH 2
Back from a few days away and determined to get the FdM SHOP up-and-running for the December singles, I kick-started the new and therefore flaky PC and nothing happened...for a long time; then nothing happened for even longer.
Four hours of waiting, quietly cursing, dusting down my old trusty PC, cursing more loudly, then dusting down an even older printer as it's the only one in the house 'old faithful' will talk to.
At least a week of inactivity while waiting for urgent surgery on the bloody machine beckoned when for some strange reason, I unplugged the mouse I use (oh yes, I'm that old school) and everything started working normally again. It was the £10 mouse that was was buggered.
I hate the internet, computers, rodents, downloads, streaming, the winter, etc, etc.
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
I had a bit of time on my hands and decided to see how much music we're actually releasing in 2018...
I reckon there's the best part of 8 hours of music that's never been released on vinyl before, about three hours of music released on CD for the first time, and two hours of video!
Bloody ridiculous, when you think about it - best not.
WHICH CAME FIRST....
...the band or the fan?
NICE PAIR
I mentioned to Liz that I thought comparatively few duos had made it big in the music business. Her instant response...
"Peter, Paul and Mary?"
WOULD YOU CREDIT IT
When the copies of 'The Three Seasons' arrived, designer Dale Simpson noticed that the wording on the spine had disappeared - very odd as it's on the artwork, along with everything else. Too late to do anything about it, of course, but I wonder if the printers will find a long thin pile of 700 credits gathering dust in a corner of the factory one day.
STAR BAKER
Belated thanks to Steve Hallam, who turned up at our 10th birthday bash in Glastonbury with a cake. shame he didn't tell me it was made out of cardboard as I lit the candles when we got home and burned the house down.
Still, it's the thought that counts...
WHO-A-BLUE
'Who's Next' on the Track label - £24.99 from HMV - no bonus tracks, no inserts, no nothing - just blue vinyl...£25!!!
...and yes, of course I bought a copy - Liz was in M&S spending money, what else could I do?
EARLY CROSSLEY
god only knows what it sounded like, but it looks bloody good (no, I don't own it - wish I did!)
That reminds me, I must dig out the VW Camper Van record player that I bought from Amoeba Records in Los Angeles many years ago, that you put on the edge of a disc, switch on and it goes round and round following the groove, playing the record badly and at wildly varying speeds; not something to try out on your Vertigo swirl collection.
JUST ONE CORNETTO
'Cornetto' is how the vinyl colouring is described for the new album by Yawning Man. A US band, purveyors of the 'desert rock' sound that I may have mentioned once or twice is getting played a fair bit at FdM Towers at the moment.
The album's released by the Italian 'Heavy Psych sounds' label, if you want to check it out.
VILLAGE GREEN
Went along to the Kinks 'Village Green' exhibition in the Proud Gallery in London with Craig Palmer.
Just about worth 30 mins of your time if you're passing - it's free - but it's a bunch of prints and signed stuff for sale rather than a 'proper' exhibition; wouldn't have taken a lot of effort to make it more interesting for people who love the album rather than having money to burn.
NICE TOUCH
Promo CDs for the Touch 7" just arrived - got to admit I got more than a bit of a buzz from seeing the FdM logo alongside the one for 'Touch'! We're not worthy, but I'm not letting on
SPOOKY
If it's real, it's a bizarre bit of sponsorship and if it's fake it's very nicely done by someone with a fair bit of time on their hands!
IT'S LEMON O'CLOCK
I've been introduced to the music of Jeremy Morris and The Lemon Clocks - US musicians who span 60s psych to 70s power pop, and have been doing it quietly for at least 10 years, taking in elements of 70s Floyd and even Queen along the way! Some of the music doesn't really fit with FdM but there's an innocent fun to all of it that's strangely attractive. More to come, I think.
THE SAUSAGE SANDWICH
As I was eating a couple of rounds of cold sausage sandwiches this morning (brown sauce, of course) I had a Viz moment, but there really is no substitute for the real thing
CAR WASH
I was thinking as I wiped the worst of the debris off my car before a trip up to Birmingham to see the (once) mighty Villa, no-one cleans their cars any more. Growing up, Sunday morning in our road everyone with a car was out washing, waxing and polishing it within an inch of its failed rustproofing. Then car-washes came along and the streets were suds-free...now no-one even bothers with drive-throughs. The pride and joy has become just another utility.
Just saying.
THAT'S NOT VERY NICE, NICK
Spotted on facebook by nick nicely, he had to send me a screenshot - thanks, Nick, very thoughtful
A SPINAL TAP MOMENT
The best laid plans...and FdM plans are never that well laid out to start with...I ordered a stencil for a cunning new project and it came back not only spelled incorrectly but about 1/5th the size I asked for.
HOT SUMMER NIGHTS
Another US 'coming of age' movie, but this one is a bit different - the soundtrack includes songs by Can, Jonathan Richman and...nick nicely! Nick's 'Hilly Fields' is there in all its glory - I'd claim that FdM had made it to Hollywood but, to be fair, the original track was licensed to us by Cherry Red.
ENJOYING STRANGE FRUIT
If you've been with the label for a while, you might remember the 'Strange Fruit and Veg' compilation CD and the packet of equally strange seeds that came with it. I don't know if you had any luck with your seeds, but three or four years on I'm still picking alpine strawberries grown from my pack - in fact, they're thriving in the damp and cold of October.
THIS IS THE DESERT
I seem to be a late arriver at a ball being held by leading exponents of a genre called 'desert rock' - I've seen the phrase used in reviews and enjoyed a couple of bands for whom the 'desert' label had been attached, but I didn't realise it was a whole movement in itself. I'm going to investigate further but, if you're interested, check out Naxatras and Yawning Man for starters.
TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF
Sad to hear that Steve Bruce has got the boot - a far better manager than we deserved when he joined, and he could so easily have left us in the lurch during the summer ownership shambles but stuck with the club.
However, the current run of results, and the style of play, hasn't been good enough and it's important to get someone in place before the traditional pre-Christmas fall-out of managers means all the best options have gone before we get into the hunt.
Someone with Championship experience would help, but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE - not Mick McCarthy.
THIS IS THE END
...that's the band called The End, not to mention Captain Beefheart, Spirit and The Action on a new double LP 'Alternative Sixties' on sale in Sainsburys, for £15. Some lapses in taste on there too, but it's still a nicely bizarre thing to find in a supermarket in 2018.
SHOULD HAVE GONE TO SPECSAVERS
a mint copy of the 3LP version of 'Who - Live At Leeds' labelled at £25 at the local record fair...I've always fancied a copy and you can't argue at 25 quid.
Handed it to the dealer..."that'll be £75"; back in the rack it went, I'm not a fan of haggling over prices and I knew my powers of negotiation wouldn't get me close!
WHO ATE ALL THE PYES?
...far better were these two Pye LPs FROM 65/66, both look virtually unplayed and at a fiver each made me very happy, and I'll be even happier when I play them.
AT HOME WITH RAY AND DAVE
An early sight of covers for the projected Kinks reunion album? OK, maybe not.
I REALLY SHOULD...
like some artists, they but I just struggle with most of their recordings - cf. Procol Harum (lyrics just a bit too clever for me), Frank Zappa (I always suspected he was taking the piss, even when he wasn't), Rush (Jon Anderson on helium); i wonder if other people have similar mental blocks?
16th DREAM ON VINYL?
Too early to be included under the 'FdM News' section, but fingers and other appendages are firmly crossed that the recordings of all three nights of the 16th Dream festival will prove to be good enough to spawn an album sometime next year - early signs are really encouraging, starting with a spellbinding cover of 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes', by Elfin Bow that just shimmers in mid-air
THE SEVERAL AGES OF MAN
I read somewhere recently that people over the age of 30 stop listening to/appreciating new music. I must admit that it's been a while since a whole new genre has grabbed me, and I don't think I'll be starting a 'Grime' shelf in the FdM Towers man-cave, but I was well into my 30s when I 'discovered' electronica/chill-out/D'n'B/ambient/trip-hop/dub techno/the FAX and Apollo labels/etc, etc and I was over 50 before Andy Bracken and I embarked on the Fruits de Mer adventure. What next? I keep trying to get into modern jazz, without a huge amount of success, although the phrase 'pastoral jazz' and early/mid sixties soundtracks by UK jazz groups feel like areas worth further investigation.
GRIPE OF THE MONTH
Record shops that get in touch to ask about the possibility of stocking the label and then never bother to reply to my wonderfully positive, generous and accomodating reply. I can handle rejection, but it would be nice to get a 'Dear John' letter
Q. WHEN IS A FESTIVAL NOT A FESTIVAL?
A. When bands who are invited to play the 17th Dream Festival (or more precisely, when their managers are approached) double their usual fee - presumably thinking they are going to be playing in front of thousands of mud-splattered revellers (never typed that word before!), rather than 150 or so of bitter-downing music fans.
Look out for the 18th Dream Of Dr. Sardonicus Soiree...
THOSE WERE THE DAYS...
Happened on a couple of images of 19th century miracle cures...they'd certainly take your mind off a tickly cough (not sure about the asthma cigarettes I also found an ad for).
I assumed that we had the USA to thank for both products but I'm reliably informed that the industrial production & commercial exploitation of heroin was originally down to Germany, and the name 'Heroin' was invented by Bayer.
The research lab of Bayer actually developed the process to synthesize two quite similar substances; heroin was seen as the one with big potential, as a cure for almost everything...there was even 'Heroin Wine' for sale; the other substance they found wasn't thought to have any particular use - it was later called Aspirin...
BOXING CLEVER
Enjoyed reading a very, and rightfully, positive review of a 7x7" psych box set, which had the one caveat - the reviewer's box was number 1,277 while the box proudly proclaimed "limited to 1,000 sets"; I guess it didn't say they were sequentially numbered (thinking about it, I had an issue with the 'White EP' set a few years ago, where the printers produced too many sleeves and didn't use up the low numbers first!)
HORSEFEATHERS
I can't appreciate the album myself, but there's something encouraging about the local Sainsbury's stocking Patti Smith's LP
GIVE IT A REST
My apologies to anyone who suffered from this on the Friday evening at the 16th Dream festival - we'll try to name and shame next year, but why anyone would want to spend good money to see bands play live and then try to talk over the top of them is beyond me - especially when there's loads of space upstairs from the Cellar Bar to shout to your heart's content
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD FAIR
There seem to be fewer around every time I look - with London particularly bereft (with the notable exception of Spitalfields' Friday markets) - so I'm going to make the effort to go along to our nearest regular fair this weekend. It's in Guildford, which also has a couple of decent second hand shops and a proper street market.
...I can report back on a very pleasant hour or so at the fair - came away with a really nice copy of Big Jim Sullivan's 'Sitar Beat' on Mercury and 'Prince Heathen' by Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick on Fontana (and stared long and hard at a couple of not-cheap Czech psych LPs from the 60s - wish i knew more about them, didn't take the risk). But why do dealers insist on cramming so many albums in a box that it's impossible to look through them?
A BIG HELLO TO BIG VLADIMIR STOJKOVIC
...who is the last Panini 2018 World Cup sticker that I needed to fill the album one of the kids bought me for my birthday and has been another source of obsessive focus and irritation over the last 5 weeks as I attempted to collect all 670-odd bloody stickers.
Thank god it's four years to the next one
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FRUITS DE MER
Festivalgoers in Cardigan who overspent on the FdM stall got more than they bargained for - but not a lot more
FREE...AND YOU WERE STILL RIPPED OFF
10-colour pens and fish bone bottle-openers - just a couple of the giveaways on the FdM stall at the 16th Dream festival for people who dug deep for their FdM vinyl.
we're all heart
MAD FISH
Thanks to Jonathan White for a surprise gift - he saw a bizarre and unhappy-looking fish in a shop window in Cardigan and thought of me - it's the thought that counts
YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLD WHEN...
...a couple of days after the NHS write to offer you a free bowel cancer test, a brochure for mobility scooters turns up in the post - I had to laugh, but not a lot.
SF SORROW BOX-SET
The new set had just arrived at FdM Towers - and it's all kinds of wonderful - and bloody essential, even at £75
TASTE THE DIFFERENCE
There's still a copy of the Small Faces' first LP on Immediate sitting on the shelf in the local Sainsburys - it's just very odd to see an album like that in a supermarket (there's a copy of The Zombies' 'Odyessey' there too).
I've already bought one copy, but there's something so wrong with it not being snapped up I'm half-tempted to buy another! (when I bought my copy, a guy in a Who t-shirt gave me a thumbs-up and a nice little chat ensued - you don't get that in the ready-meals aisle...well, I don't anyway)
NORTON CANES - FAME AT LAST!
Norton Canes Services have been voted England’s best motorway service station.
Now this might not mean much to you but I grew up in Norton and it’s the first time I’ve heard the village mentioned on the radio in 60+ years.
There’ll be much celebrating going on tonight in....er....I don’t think there was anywhere there to celebrate in when I was a kid
THE ULTIMATE SESSION...LAGER
I have seen the future and it's...Sainsbury's Basics lager!
OK, before you completely disown me, give me a moment...it's bloody hot, we're all very thirsty, best bitter gets too warm too quickly, all cheap lager tastes pretty much the same and 5 or 6 pints in and you're knackered.
I recently discovered Sainsbury's basics lager - 2% proof! OK, so it's not a proper pint and for god's sake don't tell Mantle Brewery about this blog, but...it doesn't taste of lemonade, it tastes a bit like lager (maybe lager and soda - I'm not doing a great sales job here, am I?), but it tastes more like lager than 0% efforts and it's...
£1.10 for 4 440ml cans!!!
Next time you're near a Sainsbury's, why not give it a try - it's an acquired lack-of-taste, the main flavour is the tin it comes in, but you've got very little to lose...at £1.10, it's cheaper than cheap pop!
NINKASI
...and while I'm blowing any pretentions of being a real beer drinker, I've found a craft beer that's cloudy, too strong, flavoured with fruit...but actually tastes ok!
The Wild Beer Co's 'Ninkasi' is 9% proof, has apple juice in it, is in a silly bottle, only seems to be available from Waitrose and is overpriced - but other than that, it's worth a try
PRETTY THINGS - ON BBC 6MUSIC - TONIGHT!
The Pretty Things are on Mark Riley's BBC 6Music show tonight (July 17)
you should be able to hear them after the event
HERE
THREE STEINS...
THE FdM WORLD CUP COMPETITION IS OVER!
total number of goals scored - 195.
And the winner is...
...Peter Green, who wins a set of Fuchsia double LP test pressings.
Congratulations, Peter, and for the rest of us, there's always 2022.
DON'T PANIC!
Pretty Things at the Half Moon tonight - and yesterday evening I thought it was about time I printed out the e-tickets that I ordered months ago.
No sign of them...anywhere.
Am I sure I booked? Yes. Do I remember getting confirmation? Maybe.
Old-age doubts creep in...various emailed cries for help follow and despair sets in, then a mate emails me back to say he's got them as he ordered them for me!
I really shouldn't be allowed out on my own (and soon won't be)
PAST IT
Great to catch up with The Past Tense's resident crate-diggers Ken and Andy last night, for the handover of 150 copies of the band's 'Remember The Days' 7", which will be dished out free and completely gratis to everyone at the 16th Dream festival; thanks chaps!
STICK IT
one of the kids bought me a Panini World Cup sticker book for my birthday - a serious error of judgement as I am now completely hooked on filling the bloody thing as their inheritance goes out of the window...681 sodding stickers!!!
What a total rip-off, only a fool would fall for this marketing scam, etc, etc...meanwhile, if you have any swaps, please let me know
THE RETURN OF THE GIANT HOGWEED
best wishes to Sendelica's Pete Bingham, who has been attacked by Giant Hogweeds in his back garden and is in a right old state as a result - get well soon, Pete
NEARING THE END IN THE WORLD CUP
TIME TO ROLL AROUND IN AGONY
Fruits de Mer Records' World Cup competition has reached the last four games (and by strange coincidence, so has the World Cup).
183 goals scored so far, which might suggest a final total of around 190-210, depending on penalty shoot-outs goals - remember that goals scored in extra time and in penalty shoot-outs will all count towards the final total.
And if all this means nothing to you, well i guess you've not entered the competition in the first place.
ORGANISING A PISS-UP AT TWO BEER FESTIVALS
Two beer festivals within two miles of each other on the same weekend - good planning for starters.
One has been taken over by craft IPA fans, so it's when you CAN see through a pint there's something wrong with it, the other felt a bit like a PTA fund-raiser (with apologies to all PTA members), with the beer tent set up more like a tombola stall.
The world's going to hell in a basket, I tell you.
LIFE ON MARS...
...was the name of the evening entertainment at the hotel we were staying at recently with a few of the kids/grandkids. I was intrigued but not overly hopeful as it was scheduled to follow the kiddies' disco. 'Life On Mars' turned out to be the songs of Bruno Mars, sung by a group led by James Corden with a charisma bypass and Miranda Hart on speed, backed by a Norwegian death metal band, with Robert Plant guesting on rhythm guitar. Now I've been known to have some pretty weird dreams after an evening eating too much cheese, but this was definitely up there and it it was no dream.
HAVE YOU NOTICED...
...a distinct lack of references to Aston Villa in this blog lately? I wonder why...
RAMBO WHIPPY?
for some bizarre reason, that's the name given to the ice-cream van we saw the other day.
In some parallel universe, I guess it makes some sort of sense
AN EVENING AT HOME AT FdM TOWERS
Just in case you wondered what Liz and I do to relax between packing and posting records and annual trips to Cardigan...
FRUITS DE MER'S WORLD CUP COMPETITION
Every four years, we run a World Cup competition (well, we ran one four years ago and now seems as good a time as any to run another one - at least it diverts attention from the England games).
This time, the prize to the winner is a set of two test pressings of the absolutely-essential Fuchsia debut album reissue that we're releasing at the end of July. There are only 10 sets in existence!
The competition is open to everybody - not only FdM club members - but I want to make sure the TPs go to a good home so you must get the first question right to get into the competition proper...
Question 1 - what UK label did Fuchsia's debut album first appear on? (if you're really stuck, you'll be able to find the answer here http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/fuchsia.html )
Question 2 - exactly how many goals will be scored in all this year's World Cup games in total, including extra time goals and penalty shoot-outs (latest betting seems to suggest it will be around 150, but who knows?)
Tie-break Question (if more than one person gets questions 1 and 2 correct) - what will the score be in the Final, at the end of the game after any extra time and penalty shoot-out
Answers to ALL THREE QUESTIONS must be emailed to me by 7pm on Friday - when the Spain v Portugal game kicks off. (If you don't have my email address, it's fruitsdemer7@hotmail.com)
go on, have a go!
I'VE GOT A BIKE...
Liz recently said she was thinking of trading in her old car for a pushbike; this seemed like a rather silly idea at the time, but I'm having second thoughts...
IF FdM BUILT PLANES...
...and it would probably arrive in kit form, with a bunch of stickers to apply yourself
NEVER SEEN TOGETHER IN THE SAME ROOM...
...Ossie Ardiles and Freddie parrot face Davies. Draw your own conclusions.
THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK
Thanks to Craig Palmer for sending me the link to this mad ebay listing of a savaged Siouxsie And The Banshees LP - the ebayer says the dog really did eat it - you can see for yourself
HERE
SF AT SAINSBURYS
First it's SF Sorrow, now Sainsburys have released exclusive coloured vinyl reissues of the first Small Faces LP on Immediate, and Ogdens Nut Gone Flake!
Other than the coloured vinyl, the two releases look extremely dull - single card sleeves, no extras - but you've got to admire the supermarket chain for at least one of their buyers having impeccable taste!
(They've also got The Zombies' classic 'Odessey And Oracle' on colour vinyl, but it's a poor relation to the recent Newbury comics splatter vinyl release)
START 'EM YOUNG
One happy winner of a Record Collector magazine LP in RC's lucky draw our 10th birthday gig in Glastonbury. Thanks again to everyone at Record Collector for continuing to support FdM
THE SUN NEVER SETS ON ASTON VILLA....
...but it got pretty gloomy yesterday evening in Wembley. Felt like our team didn't turn up until the second half began and even then we just couldn't keep the momentum going.
Looking on the bright side, if we played like that in the Premiership, we'd get bloody slaughtered every week.
ROXY MUSIC BOX-SET
I had a moan a while back about a 'deluxe' box-set of the first Roxy Music album being released for an outrageous £120+, and not even a sign of vinyl in there; well, I'm pleased to say Amazon now have it on sale for a rather more reasonable £55 (thanks to Craig for spotting this). Not exactly a bargain, but at least it's now worth a look - and you can look at it
HERE
NB actually, you can't - looks like the offer's over
NIL-NIL TO THE VILLA...
...nil-nil to the Villa...etc, etc
after a thrilling 0-0 end-to-end (ok, side-to-side) draw at Villa Park, we're on our way to Wembley for the Championship play-off final against the mighty Fulham (you don't know how long it's been since Villa fans have had anything to get excited about).
I'll be there with my lads Chris and Nick, so be prepared for FdM being offline this weekend while we celebrate/drown our sorrows.
Big weekend for Coventry too (obviously not AS big) but good luck as well to Andy Bracken's team.
WHO'S FOR SOME LAZY JOURNALISM?
Depressingly shoddy journalism and silly people to been seen on BBC TV this morning (and the odds are the Beeb are the least-worst broadcasters on the subject)...'shoppers' interviewed outside stores that are due to close bemoaning their demise (could it have something to do with you not going inside and spending your money?), other 'shoppers' interviewed ridiculing the stores for having clothes that no-one they know would ever buy (M&S is still the UK's biggest clothing retailer) and the chain's Chief Exec stating they urgently need to up their game online to compete (Primark don't sell online and they seem to be doing ok) - and the BBC interviewer didn't take him to task.
There was a time when journalists would attempt to get under the skin of a story, and TV wouldn't be padded out with pointless voxpops.
NOW WE ARE 10
with thanks to the very silly Steve Hallam, who made a card and a cake for the Glastonbury gig, and to Steve, Kev, Lizzie and Craig for all their help on the day
GLASTONBURY, HERE WE WENT...
Away from the gig, we had a few interesting encounters - with an unbelievably rude pub manager in the George & Pilgrims, a seaside resort where someone had drained the sea away and with a severed hand and DIY vampire-killing kit in our B&B (sadly we missed the lesbian nuns meeting there on Sunday evening). Somehow, being back in Surrey seems a bit tame in comparison.
GLASTONBURY, HERE WE COME...
Sea, sun, sand...who needs them when we've got Tir na nOg, The Honey Pot, Magic Bus and much more to look forward to?
PACKING IT UP
300+ parcels packed and posted in two days, FdM Towers now looks slightly less like the storeroom of a totally-disorganised record shop and a bit more like the home Liz thought we wer esupposed to be living in.
Mind you, as fast as the boxes of Goldfish/Permanent Clear Light vinyl were disappearing from the hall, I was replacing them with more boxes of vinyl and t-shirts for our May 12 gig.
I've promised Liz a brief respite before the July vinyl and 16th Dream goodies arrive
MOLOKO+ CASSETTES
Just got my copies of the Eggs In Aspic cassette version of the Moloko+ 'Bit The Hand' 7" that we released at the start of the year (it's a long story)
very nice they are, too...hang on, I'm turning into Yoda
WORLD'S WORST...
I'm sure I've volunteered this before but 'The Durrells' has to be the worst primetime 'drama' of the 21st century - ham-acting, dreadful writing - everyone involved should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves; while I'm on a roll, BBC Radio 5's Dotun Adebayo has to be up for a similar award - I don't think I've ever heard anyone quite so in love with the sound of their own voice on the BBC; I also just sat through most of a dire 90s film called 'The Shadow' - never has a knighted thespian (Ian McKellen) been given less acting to do, when almost anything could have helped drag the film out of the mire.
Moan over, I'd probably kick the cat, if we had one.
ELO ELO
I don't really like ELO post-Eldorado - all a bit too safe and radio-friendly - but this double pic disc was only £20 in Sainsburys and I couldn't say no, although I really did try
IF IT AIN'T STIFF...
...while I was in Sainsburys, I noticed they're now selling Viagra as a non-prescription, over-the-counter drug.
Blimey, and I thought they were pushing things by stocking vinyl
THE LORD TAKETH AWAY...AND GIVETH
My new/latest PC blew up yesterday. What is it with me and technology? I reckon it's something to do with me being highly-charged, although Liz says it's because I'm static most of the time.
A bit of a disaster as I don't have a load of stuff backed-up, following a BT Internet disaster (don't ask), so it was a huge relief when some eagerly-awaited print jobs for Glastonbury (ie long-overdue print jobs) turned up later in the day - as I can't get to the artwork to get them printed elsewhere, in any case.
FLIPPING RSD
If you joined a queue, I hope you got everything you wanted...if you avoid RSD like the plague, I hope you're feeling suitably self-righteous and wealthy this morning...and if you wait for your wants list to appear on ebay or discogs, give it a few days and the prices will tumble(...except for the one you really, really want)
PARANOID AD
One day, The Damned get used for a commercial, next it's Ozzy! Admittedly it's for a Nissan Scrabble Error ...
OH NO...DEADLINES
late-April vinyl due to arrive in 10 days time (maybe 12-14!) and then our Glastonbury gig on May 12 - time to get my act together, I suppose (thanks to Fran for the image!)
JET SET
Schizo Fun Addict have a new album coming out on Sugarbush Records later this year - more news on that asap - meanwhile the band's Jet Wintzer is currently working on his version of 'Desert Island Fish', using it as (in his words) "a forum to talk about the first record I ever bought which took me on a journey as a boy into rock and roll mystery and I have never come back from it and never will" - looking forward to it!
FRUITS DE MER ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE RSD 2018 RELEASES
...only joking
CURTAINS FOR NICK DRAKE
Well, maybe that'll be next, meanwhile I spotted these being advertised...
The T-shirts? well OK, but Nick Drake hoodies?
Look, I know he was a shy, retiring bloke but hoodies??
A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS
I don't think is a Photoshop job, but even if it is...
NEAT NEAT NEAT AD
Just saw a Heineken commercial that uses the Damned song as its soundtrack - boring ad but a great song, so any excuse to post a link to the band playing it on 'Supersonic' back in the day...
THE LAST POST
Just read a complaint on Facebook about the high charges from one of the UK's leading mail order shops for posting an album and was reminded of the £7+ charge from Rise Above Records for posting a single album. Within the UK, it costs £2.95 via the Royal Mail to post a parcel weighing up to 2kg (that's 4 or more albums); add around £1 for packaging and the rest is a handling charge and/or profit, depending how you look at it (of course, sending a parcel by recorded delivery costs more). But how Amazon Marketplace manages to get the cost of sending an album from the USA to the UK down to £1.26 is one of life's mysteries.
VINYL TO THE PEOPLE?
Interesting little article in the latest issue of Record Collector about a guy called Larry X who has a van with the logo 'The Record People' and apparently drives around setting up a stall flogging rare records, in odd places. Now this sounds like a great idea to me - taking vinyl to the masses - not relying on record fairs, where the clientele tends to be a bit..er...repetitive, or on a 'proper shop' where the running costs are so high.
But I can't find anything about Larry, or The Record People, on the web - can anyone help?
BOX SET PRICING GONE MAD?
I can't make heard or tail of some of the reissue box-set pricing going on at the moment:
Love - Forever Changes 50th anniversary release -
4CD/DVD/LP, plus a 12" x 12" hardbound book - £43.73
Roxy Music - 1st album - 3CD/DVD, plus a 12" x 12" book - £110.25
Yachts - Suffice To Say - 3CD set in a slipcase - £19.99
Spirit - It Shall Be - 5CD set in a clam box - £34.99
- the Love set looks sensibly-priced, the Roxy set outrageously so.
Meanwhile, yesterday HMV in Kingston had the Stones 'Satanic Majesties' 2LP/2CD set on sale in-store for £49.99, compared to £120+ via Amazon.
TWO FLEW OVER...
Thank god there weren't any FdM releases or gigs in the last week or so - Liz has had flu for the last couple of weeks and I've had the man-flu version, which only lasted a week, wasn't half as bad but was still enough to put me right off my beer.
Thank god we haven't got proper jobs
LUSH
Just read that this 3LP set of covers is the responsibility of the boss of LUSH bubble bath stuff - he's a big psych/vinyl fan and it's a bit of a personal obsession/folly...good on yer, mate!
Worth checking out
here
RSD OR NOT RSD 2018?
Not, in my case.
Not because of my unswerving, grumpy old git attitude to RSD, (I went along to Resident last year and quite enjoyed it, despite the frostbite) but because we'll not be near a record store.
As usual, there are a handful of releases that are 'must-haves' for me, along with hundreds by artists I've never heard of, or have heard and never want to hear again. But as the novelty of vinyl wears off for a new generation, and the realisation of fake collectibility kicks in, the whole thing will gradually implode like black tulips, classic cars, hedge funds, Jose Mourihno.
But the shame of it isn't that the big record labels are going to kill the goose that laid, etc - that's their problem - but that they're doing such a poor job of appealing to vinyl junkies who'd love to support, or at least forgive RSD its sins, if only they'd do a proper job of issuing/reissuing some great music on vinyl on the day - some of the music that has been jammed onto the end of countless CD reissues, decently packaged, maybe?
MUSIC TO LISTEN TO
I'm beginning to realise that my taste in music is edging even further towards the enjoyable, with only rare trips into the challenging or impressive-for-the-sake-of-it. So it was a very pleasant surprise to find the Tones, Drones and Arpeggios two-part series on BBC 4 and discover a piece I'd heard on Radio 3 the best part of 50 years ago and was amazed by, was 'Piano Phase' by Steve Reich. A link to the BBC progammes is here
PSYCHEDELIC CLASSICS?
Two interesting programmes from the BBC in a week?
Well, any show that begins, "Are these the most psychedelic pieces of classical music?" has to be worth checking out....
here
I'M NOT BITTER
Our local has just put Hobson's Mild on the pump. Only 3.2%, so it makes a session beer seem like barley wine, but the first four pints went down alarmingly quickly and I found myself reminiscing with anyone who'd listen about under-age drinking in the early 70s, when mild was basically the slops - and dirt-cheap too - happy days!
SENDELICA and the SOFT HEARTED SCIENTISTS
A new album from Sendelica and an old one from the Soft Hearted Scientists (but its first time on vinyl) - just to prove FdM doesn't have a monopoly on vinyl releases....
check them out
here
and
here
"do you think Fruits de Mer will still be going in 10 years time?"
"you must be joking"
(Jo and Olivia show their appreciation and respect for FdM's early efforts)
SELF PRESERVATION SOCIETY
Am I wrong but has this 3LP set sort of escaped rather than being released, rather like an FdM record? And does it has some great covers of tracks from the 60s and 70s? Yes it does.
Worth checking out
here
UP YOUR BRUM
Just back from a weekend in Birmingham. Why, you ask? Good question - we went to see the mighty Villa play, but the game was called off about 6 hours before it due due to kick-off, by which time we'd already spent an evening in the throbbing metropolis - Liz took this photo of Broad Street (party central for locals) at 8pm on Friday night
QUORN TO SECRECY
I've just eaten a cold quorn frankfurter; dear god, what mad bastard came up with those, and why didn't someone tell me how disgusting they are, surely there should a warning on the packet?
JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU'VE HEARD EVERYTHING...
...and you're starting to get a bit bored with searching youtube/facebook, you find this...Blue Peter's Valerie Singleton with a song written by Peter Starstedt!
Only marginally more strange than Solomon 'She Wears My Ring' King covering a song by Ramases, backed by 10cc...
...or this Japanese cover of 'Kites' that Todd Dillingham has just sent me!
STICKER THERAPY
I've spent most of the last couple of days printing cover and record labels for the new Moonweevil LP.
There's something quite relaxing and vaguely therapeutic about putting labels on records - or there is for the first 50 discs (there were 150 in total...).
I keep telling myself the arts & crafts movement isn't dead (then I remind myself they're only stickers)
DOC COX
Just remembered a record fair in Guildford many years ago - Doc Cox (aka Ivor Biggun) from 'That's Life' had a stall - nice bloke, I bought a couple of 1960s US acetates by unnamed psych bands from him - I wonder what happened to them (and him, for that matter).
GETTING INTO GARAGE
The new vinyl racks are in place, but I've now got my eye on the garage as I reckon I've bought myself 12 months extra space at best - but least because Liz has told me to get my boxes out of cassettes out of the loft - and they're not going in the dustbin, that's for sure.
Who puts their car in a garage these days, anyway?
SPITALFIELDS FRIDAY MARKETS...
...seem to be the only record fairs in the London area of any size over the next few months. They run on the first and third Friday of the month and are definitely worth the occasional visit (even though whoever owns the market have cut back on the number of pitches available to make space for more bloody fast food stalls
A WEIGHTY ISSUE
140gm vs 180gm pressings (or even 200) - does it make any difference to sound quality? Although I've tended to follow the trend towards 180, the pressing plant I usually use tell me there's no sound difference (except perhaps slightly less risk of warping); they do say there's less risk of background noise by sticking to black vinyl - but I ignore that advice too
MOAN ON THE MONTH...PART 2
...record dealers who cram the boxes of vinyl so tightly, it's impossible to browse through them.
Next month, old men who complain about the most trivial of things...
THE TRAPPINGS OF FAME
What is the fascination we have with the lives of our heroes? Years ago, walking round Bob Marley's old home in Kingston I could hardly contain my derision when the guide said proudly, "...and this was Bob's food mixer"; I read in Mojo the other day that Neil Young had auctioned off a load of stuff, including a bunch of spare fuses, which sold for $50; and yet...a few weeks ago, Liz and I stood outside the wholly unexceptional terraced houses John Lennon and Paul McCartney grew up in, as part of a bus tour, and found it all strangely moving
I SAID, SHE SAID, AH CID: THE EXPLOITO PSYCH WORLD OF ALSHIRE RECORDS
a new 3CD set from Cherry Red/Graprefruit, documenting the Alshire label's warped/bargain basement version of psychedelia. I was going to recommend it as the first CD is excellent - featuring The Animated Egg and 101 Strings; but it doesn't so much go downhill as drop off a cliff from there, and comes to a less-then-earth-shattering conclusion on CD3 with a young lady having an asthma attack while listening to the theme to 'The Love Boat' while a cricket rubs its legs together half-heartedly in the background; don't believe me?
...good booklet, mind
MOAN ON THE MONTH...
...grown-ups who ride their bicycles on the pavement - they're a menace and it shouldn't be allowed (unless they still need stabilizers). Next month, grown men on push-along scooters...
BRUTAL KUK, ANYONE?
When I went down to pick up the test pressings for Ilona V's four track EP yesterday, I was in for a big surprise...Ilona had turned into Brutal Kuk, a Norwegian death metal band (the translation of their name is pretty literal).
The real Ilona TPs will arrive next week, meanwhile, are there any fans of Brutal Kuk out there....?
FREE FOR A FIVER
Just picked up a 3CD 'best of Free' set for £5 in Sainsburys. I was never a big fan - too heavy on the vocals for me at the time - but at that price, i'm prepared to give them another chance
THERE COMES A TIME IN EVERY VINYL-OBSESSIVE'S LIFE...
...when their shelves simply can't cope with any more vinyl; there is, of course, only one answer - stop buying records until you've been through what you have, clearing out all those albums and singles you never play, don't know why you bought them, simply never play...
...only joking, the new shelves arrive in a couple of weeks' time
CURSES, FOILED AGAIN
once again, FdM's original thinking proves to be far from it...Jeff Newman recently picked up a copy of the White EP and noticed our incredibly witty use of beetles on the inside cover - only he'd done the same thing about six years earlier with a mix CD he'd put together!
MORE SELF-PUBLICITY
the new issue of R2 includes a monthly feature called 'Read The Label', and this month the label is...
Yes, I've been the chance to tell the world (R2 readers, anyway) how wonderful FdM is - and I've never been one to turn down the opportunity
..AND THEN TO SOUTHPORT
...to share in FdM club mate Pete Banahan's 70th birthday bash - thanks Pete!
A quick namecheck for Southport's vinyl emporium Quicksilver - well worth a visit.
It would have been a great weekend had Pete not included in his guided tour of Southport a visit to the strip of beach where Red Rum used to be trained. I could explain how Red Rum robbed the finest horse ever to grace Aintree of the adulation he deserved in the 1973, but I'd end up weeping into my pc, so I won't
GOING UP THE 'POOL
OK, wrong 'pool but we had a great couple of days in Liverpool - Beatles museum, Magical Mystery Tour bus, Beatles tribute band in the Cavern - all oddly moving for an old cynic like me, has any band anywhere created a legacy like this?
OPEN 24/7...BUT NOT EVERY DAY
Our latest jaunt - up North - started with the great sight of the 24/7 greasy-spoon outside Waterloo shuttered up (open again today, though)
WE'VE MADE IT BIG IN RC
The latest issue of Record Collector includes a great big colour ad promoting our summer festival - part of the magazine's annual sponsorship of the event (thank you, RC).
I hope you've booked your tickets by now!
HAPPY MAHOGANY TO ALL DYSLEXICS
(sorry about that)
We're back from seeing in the New Year in Edinburgh - as holiday resorts go, it was cold, wet, windy and the tide went out a long way - but it did have lots of real pubs and real beer. Visited a couple of the record shops but came away empty-handed - they're worth checking out and I was tempted to return to one of them to part with some cash on our final morning but I thought better of it as the guy running it couldn't even be bothered to manage a, "morning" when I entered an empty shop and tried to start a conversation (we're all in this together, you know).
Here are our ramblings from 2017.... PREVIOUS BLOGGINGS
All copyrights reserved 2018
www.fruitsdemerrecords.com
...hear the tracks.. ..buy the vinyl.. ..smell the fish...
www.fruitsdemerrecords.com
...hear the tracks.. ..buy the vinyl.. ..smell the fish...