Faced with ten days off work over Christmas, what is a Vinyl Addict supposed to do other than prepare for the festivities by taking a day off work a couple of weeks in advance of the holiday season, and clear off to Cheltenham, meet up with a fellow sufferer, and rescue some vinyl from the shelves of, as it turned out, more than one Spa town shop!
First up of course was Vinyl Vault. Probably the best stocked vinyl seller I know of, with the black gold still outnumbering compact disc by a long, long way, I did my usual here and bought some of the higher priced but excellent condition stuff then topped it up with a trawl through the half marked price stuff. Of course this is then further topped up with a search through the boxes of 80s albums that seem to be hidden away awaiting my next visit!
Paul Kossoff with Black Cat Bones – Paul’s Blues… still sealed, this 3LP set in lavish packaging captures the
earliest material available from the then future Free guitarist. Kind of disappointed that the whole “Barbed Wire Sandwich” album isn’t included too but despite being low-fi recordings Kossoff’s talent shines.
The Allman Brothers Band – The Road Goes On Forever… or possibly “The Album will go on Forever” as Nick called it. An opportunity to sample a band I’ve not heard much from yet, this 2LP set being subtitled “a collection of their greatest recordings”.
Ted Nugent – Double Live Gonzo… this one goes back to the Peacedogman Live Albums feature earlier in the year when I had to pit Nuge’s effort against AC/DC’s “If You Want Blood”. Inevitably ‘DC won the day on that occasion but the spotlight hogging antics of Nugent stayed with me and a proper gatefold copy was a must own at some point!
Aerosmith – Aerosmith… at some point it becomes essential to forget about the MTV era ‘Smith (around “Pump” I reckon) and go back to the early stuff. Rootsy rock ‘n’ roll that proves vastly superior to the later Desmond Child stuff a single listen will make the uneducated realise that for all the big production videos and polish of latter years, they’ve never written a better ballad than side one, track three… “Dream On” .
Aerosmith – Rocks… same argument as above I guess, only this time its material like “Back In The Saddle” and “Last Child” that shines brightly.
Little Angels – Too Posh To Mosh, Too Good To Last… very much a collection filler this one as the jewels of the Angels’ output lies elsewhere. Nevertheless this post split release collects together the earliest independent release from the band and adds some remixed and unreleased stuff for good measure, and is at least worth a listen.
Bachman Turner Overdrive – Four Wheel Drive… the continuation of an appreciation that started to build up when I wrote about “Not Fragile” a while back. BTO’s are worthy of so much more than being “them that did ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” and their brand of no-nonsense hard rock sits well with me.
Ironhorse – Ironhorse… and hopefully this 10 track release from 1979 from the band that featured a post BTO Randy Bachman will prove just as favourable as his previous band’s output. Despite the distinctly dodgy sleeve!
Hustler – Play Loud… an interesting one this given that I’d never heard of them before (it’s a 1975 release) but an in-store comment that “this should be up your street” along with a few promising tracks sampled on the shops turntable indicates it could be a good buy. British heavy boogie-rock? Fair assessment?
Into the hidden 80’s boxes then for the never ending effort to regain my youth by owning both all the albums I used to have and all the album I wanted during my formative years!
Salty Dog – Every Dog Has It’s Day… this one I used to have on cassette but it’s long since gone and quite honestly I can’t recall the quality of the content. Of course, being a turn of the decade release (it’s actually a 1990 issue I notice – and a promo which is nice!) the fact it’s on a major label “Geffen”, is no guarantee of quality.
Giant – Last Of The Runaways… although this album simply oozes quality! One of the finest melodic rock releases out there I’ve owned this on CD since release. I actually nearly passed on this given a very clear visual mark that looks like a pressing fault, but they threw it in for free and to my pleasure it plays fine. I saw Giant live on this tour at Woughton Arts Centre… it’s in my memory as a good gig but as far as what actually happened or was played on the night is lost in the mists of time.
Great White – Great White… the first album by the Americans? I think so although the white logo on black cover sleeve I’ve never actually seen before. A 1984 release on EMI America indicates it might be an import I guess as I can only remember some of these tracks from the “On Your Knees” EP.
Gorky Park – Gorky Park… remember these? The Russian band who played the Moscow Peace Festival along
with Ozzy, Scorpions and Bon Jovi etc? Who were heavily pushed for a while and benefitted from the input of Bruce Fairbairn,Mike Fraser and Jon Bon Jovi on this 1989 album? Who covered The Who’s My Generation on the Hear ‘n Aid album (it appears on this album too indicating perhaps a lack of decent material)? Who disappeared without trace soon after (but apparently soldiered on in their own land until 2001!)…. quite looking forward to hearing this!
Europe – Europe… the début album from the pin-up act of the later 80s. Still in their formative years, ie. wanting to be like UFO, Deep Purple et al rather than shiny toothed, big haired Top Of The Pops act, but with a promise easily audible in cuts like “Seven Doors Hotel” and “In The Future To Come”. As with the next album, I’ve been looking to get vinyl copies for a while now.
Europe – Wings Of Tomorrow… the further fruition of the then four piece band and still my favourite release from them. A real step up in quality from the début with the original “Open Your Heart” so much better than the re-recording and stuff like “Treated Bad Again”, “Stormwind” and the instrumental “Aphasia” arguably never bettered. Look out for a reissue of this on Lemon Records in January 2010 – I know ‘cos I wrote the sleeve notes!
David Coverdale – White Snake… ol’ Cov’s first post-Purple outing and obviously an album title he thought would make a half-decent name for a band. A very laid back album I find this to be with the original version of “Blindman” and obvious candidate for the best on the piece.
Q5 – When The Mirror Cracks… I remember the title track of this 1986 album being put on a mix tape a mate
made up for me. I can unfortunately remember little else (except that a Grand Prix track and Marillion’s “Grendel” were also on the tape but that’s irrelevant) therefore took a bit of a punt on this.
Dokken – Tooth And Nail… only the second Dokken album I’ve ever bought but I like the sort of directly descended from Van Halen way they go about proceedings. I’ve already spun this one and whilst nothing hits me as up to the level of Unchain The Night in terms of catchiness it’s decent melodic hard rock for sure. ”Heartless Heart” being an interesting title I thought!
Not too bad a haul I thought there, and with a few Cds traded in I got out of the shop only about £70 lighter which was a result better than expected. Beginning to think about a decent meal on the 100 mile drive back home with the £30 left in the wallet, we instead wandered into a new Independant a few streets away. Catering more to the younger, more extreme end of the rock spectrum I think with System Of A Down blaring away they also had a few racks of second hand vinyl of varying condition but all priced at a £1 each. Half an hour or so later I had the following bagged up…
Derringer – Sweet Evil… a 1977 release that again I’ve written about in the past. I rated it a 2 on a Peacedogman forum review and can recall it being okay but a bit workmanlike. ie. nothing special but nothing to really knock it for either therefore worth a pound!
Robin Trower – For Earth Below… now the same man’s “Bridge Of Sighs” is a classic piece of blues rock 33rpm-ery isn’t, it so realistically there must be something on this 1975 follow up to tickle the taste buds… mustn’t there?
Steve Gaines – One In The Sun… a lost solo album by the tragically lost Skynyrd guitarist that apparently only surfaced in 1986. It’s actually a promo copy with the one-sheet, a copy of the cassette cover and the cd cover also inside the sleeve but the fact much is made of the L.S. connection and it only appeared on the independent FM revolver label means it might not prove as good as his offerings with the Southern Rock greats.
The Firm – The Firm… a classic example of the parts not adding up to anything like what it should have delivered yet I have a strange fondness for the single “Radioactive”. Another that I haven’t heard in a long time though so ready for a listen. ”You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” indicates a lack of good enough self-written material at the time though doesn’t it?
Bachman Turner Overdrive – Freeways… see above! The sixth studio album from the Canadian rockers originally released in 1977 when virtually nobody was listening anymore. Actually that may be a bit harsh as it did make the lower reaches of the US Top 100 but saw nothing like the success of earlier releases… doesn’t mean it’s bad though!
Little Feat – The Last Record Album… another punt into the unknown from a band who I should have heard
more from. The fact it’s described as the last album of the band’s “classic period” bodes well for it being a pound well spent.
Rush – Presto… I’ll be honest and admit I rarely reach for anything other than the underrated début, “2112″ or “Permanent Waves” when in a bit of a Rush mood so it’s high time I broadened my horizons. I do have quite a few of their albums actually but little of the later stuff but I don’t hold great hopes of this challenging the other three as my Rush go to albums.
So just £7 left me thinking I’d done quite well, especially as I still had a couple of notes left in my pocket. A quick look in the British Heart Foundation put paid to that though as firstly three Little Angels 12″ promos popped up demanding purchase (funny how these turn up just after my involvement in the reissue of the band’s Polydor début) followed by a couple of other albums that I’ve been looking out for over the months…
Bon Jovi – Keep The Faith… generally my opinion is that I can pretty much take or leave Bon Jovi after the first four albums but I must say I have rarely seen this on vinyl and certainly never for as low as £2.99. By now I reckon they’d decided that the pop charts were where the money lay and there is certainly some radio oriented fluff on here but Keep The Faith is worth owning in any format for one song alone, “Dry County”. Richie Sambora’s finest moment and a candidate for best guitar solo ever.
Fish – Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors… now this is a quality album to end on! The formidable Scotsman’s first post-Marillion output and still one of the finest releases to bear his name. Really, this deserves as much attention as both “Misplaced Childhood” and “Clutching At Straws” in my humble opinion and will make a welcome accompaniment to some festive relaxation during the holiday period.
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