Confessions Of A Vinyl Collector

Another couple of weeks have passed and of course there is a little more vinyl saved for posterity.

I took a ten pound note down to the local second hand book and music shop last Friday, bought three paperbacks for a pound each to get me through break-times at work (2 Robert Ludlum books and an Arthur C. Clarke short story collection in case your interested) and with the remainder bought 3 excellent condition vinyl albums.

Uriah Heep - Sweet Freedom : In a superb gatefold sleeve with a nice ‘extra’ cardboard page within is a nice looking package even if the cover isn’t of the heights of The Magician’s Birthday for instance. A good album, released during their most successful era of the early seventies when David Byron provided the voice of the band. The highlight of which, for me anyway, is the song Stealin’ - a song I recently discovered thanks to it’s inclusion on the recent Tesla’s covers album.

Status Quo - Rockin’ All Over The World : A further investment in reassembling the Quo collection, this is an original issue with lyric inner sleeve. So much of Quo’s early works was reissued on the cheap Vertigo PRICE label, however I’ve just about managed to secure original issues of most of their 70s work now. This was a bit of a watershed album though as Quo used an outside producer and moved away from the out-and-out boogie blues-rock somewhat, going a little further along a long road to becoming the British institution they are today.

U.F.O. - The Wild, The Willing & The Innocent : Time for a bit of Paul Chapman era UFO in the collection I thought especially as I’ve enjoyed a lot of UFO stuff recently following their headlining performance at the Chepstow Castle weekend. In actual fact the shop has 4 or 5 U.F.O. albums as well as just about a complete set of early Uriah Heep albums all in at least very good condition so a revisit in the near future is tempting.

I also made a couple of online purchases recently using the excellent www.musicstack.com network.

Tesla - Psychotic Supper : I wasn’t actually aware that this was released on vinyl but happened to be browsing musicstack and noticed it with a seller I’ve used before. Another fine album from a band who seem to just stick to what they do and do it consistently well. I think this completes the Tesla vinyl LP set for me now unless someone knows of vinyl issues of Bust A Nut, RePlugged and Into The Now? They were all after the vinyl era though so somehow I doubt ‘proper’ versions exist.

Status Quo - Live! : The definitive Status Quo live album without a shadow of a doubt. 2LP gatefold issue with picture inner sleeves it captures the best of Quo up to ‘76, their most influential years in my opinion, in concert at Glasgow’s old Apollo Theatre venue. Superb versions of Forty Five Hundred Times, Junior’s Wailing, Is There A Better Way and Roadhouse Blues amongst many others and one of the most heartfelt introduction, by Jackie Lynton, ever captured on tape!

I’ve also managed to add a couple more 7″ picture cover singles of The Beatles 20th Anniversary reissue programme from eBay. Difficult to get hold of these in decent condition but I’m gradually moving towards a complete set. More about this lot when it 100% complete.