Β-otherSide Records proudly presents the new album from Dimitris Karras and the Skull & Dawn band entitled “Funeral ceremony” in a hand numbered edition of 200 vinyl copies .The release contains 7 new songs plus an exclusive for vinyl bonus track,a traditional song which was remixed from the Skull & Dawn band. The songs are written from Dimitris Karras and the instrumentation was made from the Skull & Dawn band, according to their dark, folk-country sound, under the supervision of Konstantinos Stergiou (Misuse). In this "dark" album there is a collaboration with the Helen & Souzanna Vougioukli vocal duet and the Cretan folksinger Haralambos Garganourakis and the artwork was created by Nicky Mousadakou.
By the time that The Damned arrived at Chiswick in 1979 they had
released four singles on Stiff and given one away, two LPs had been
issued, one of which they weren’t keen on at the time and the other was
already regarded as seminal. There had been a couple of line-up changes,
Stiff had relieved themselves of their services; they had all formed
different bands and then reformed as the Doomed due to legal matters
over the name. Next, manager Rick Rogers and their publisher Rock Music
recorded two new songs, ‘Love Song’ and ‘Burglar’ and wacked them out as
the legendary ‘Dodgy Demo’ which was mostly given away at gigs. At a
packed gig in London Chiswick Records were persuaded to sign them up,
despite rumours of raucous behaviour on their part.
The A-side of the ‘Dodgy Demo’ was picked as the first single and
Eddie (of Hot Rods fame) Hollis elected as producer. Eventually, after
new vocals were recorded and remixes were made, the single finally was
issued on 27 April 1979, distributed through EMI. In a shameless attempt
to exploit the fan market, the single was issued in four separate
picture bags, each featuring a different band member taken at a photo
session by Alan Ballard. The shameless marketing worked and the single
charted, eventually peaking at 20 in May, helped by two wildly over the
Top of the Pops appearances. So far so good.
Over the summer an album was started and eventually from that came
the second single, edited from the album: ‘Smash It Up’. Everyone
thought that this was to be the break-through record as it had
everything that a hit record needed. However Auntie BBC did not like the
title, despite the humorous and obviously tongue in cheek nature of the
lyrics. It still made it to #35 and over the years became the great
Damned anthem, capable of turning a ballroom into a seething mass of
colliding bodies. So, within six weeks of ‘Smash It Up’, single 3, ‘I Just Can’t Be
Happy Today’ was released. In the wake of the ‘Smash It Up’ ban there
was some nervousness about the middle 8 lyric and a new one was recorded
for the promo version in the hope that it would not suffer the same
fate. ‘I Just Can’t Be Happy Today’ was given some play and there was a
Top of the Pops appearance that helped the record to sneak into the
charts.
Into a new decade and there was some thrashing about of the ‘what to
do next’ kind. The 60s provided one answer in the shape of a cover of
Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’. Truth to tell, the flip ‘Rabid Over
You’ was the better A-side, but given the past history of banning, why
bother even trying with a title like that? (These were more innocent
days, children.) A dispute ensued and the record was withdrawn in the
UK, only getting to test pressing stage. Ho Hum.
It was 1980, synths were becoming all the rage and there was a young
programmer/musician called Hans Zimmer who had worked with Buggles on
their 1979 hit ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’. He was in the studio with
another Chiswick band, the Radiators, when the Damned co-opted him for
their epically titled ‘The History of the World, Part 1’. But that did
take some time and money to make, and eventually it came out in
September of that year credited as “Over-Produced by Hans Zimmer”. An
epic work that cost epic amounts of money but slightly lacking the sales
to match. But then art is often hard to contain and Hans Zimmer did
make good use of the training exercise and went on to score such films
as Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and various Pirates of the Caribbean
movies, so at least he made a bob or two out of it all. It’s still a
great record – and definitely epic. The single was featured on the next album, but no other single
A-sides were pulled from it at the time. Instead the festive season got
the better of everyone and, with a tip of the hat to the Marks Brothers,
‘There Ain’t No Sanity Clause’ became the final Damned single on
Chiswick, some 19 months after the release of the first. What a short
strange trip it was.(By Roger Armstrong)
Golden Pavilion Records is a new label that
reissues rare and often overlooked late 60's and 70's psychedelic,
progressive, library sound, acid-folk & art-rock music. Having a target
to "make this music available to the discerning listener, as close as
possible to its original format",their releases so far have pleased many record collectors worldwide by presenting great recordings on high
quality vinyl in limited run.Some works with contemporary
artists were also welcome.FounderAntonio Barreiros has more to say(and to do in the future) so keep reading.
What
motivated you to start a label?
Being very
interested in vinyl records, especially worldwide psych, folk and progressive
music from the late 60’s to the late 70’s, I came across innumerous obscure and
little known gems that changed hands between avid collectors for hefty sums.
Most of these records had never been reissued and in many cases little was
known about the musicians behind it. So it came as a logical step to create a
label that would primarily focus on reissuing long lost recordings. The
motivation lay in the possibility of bringing back and preserving some of this
music while sharing it with a wider audience.
When and how
did it start?
Golden
Pavilion was formed in February 2010 and started with threesimultaneous releases
in June 2010.
Was it a
financial struggle?
Yes. Licensing and producing vinyl records
with an attractive packaging isn’t exactly cheap and the turn-around can take
some time, so it’s important to be very aware of all costs involved and to have
a good idea of how a particular release will do in the market.
What other
labels influenced you?
I always
enjoyed the classic UK labels such as Harvest, Vertigo, Deram, Neon, Nepentha,
Island... Most of what I heard was on these labels so, yes these labels
influenced me. Also relevant was the artwork often elaborate and unique.
Who are your
competitors?
I hope no-one! Seriously I think there are
some great people behind some great labels with a similar focus to Golden Pavilion but personally I never perceive them as competitors. We are all
musical archeologists bringing out lost gems from the past, and together we
leave a body of work which I wish to believe leaves an imprint in people’s
choices. Not only the rediscovery of lesser known records from the Psychedelic
and Progressive era, but also the joy of having and playing vinyl, made today,
also and hopefully more and more, from contemporary bands.
Why the
name?
The name is
a tribute to Yukio Mishima’s novel “The temple of the Golden Pavilion” which
gives us a fictional account of the burning of the Golden Pavilion of
Kinkaku-Ji in Kyoto. In Mishima’s novel, the temple represented the height of
beauty and in itself something unattainable to the main protagonist. To me Art
is beyond the artist. It’s an expression that escapes him and that lives in its
own realm.
What’s your
guiding principle?
In life or
just the label? I would say you have to trust your instinct. And that applies
to life in general!I always
work better when my heart is in it, and this has been the case with each and
every release. So I guess it sums it up: The guiding principle is to love what
you do and discipline yourself.
Can you sum
up your label’s output ?
The first
release was GINO PERTOT. A lost recording from the mid 70’s Austria. With a
clear Nick Drake influence (and tribute) Gino recorded this album in a
tumultuous period of his life and it also served as a turning point for him.
It’s very Viennese in the fact that it dwells between dark undertones and an
almost hopeless joyfulness. At the same time EXPERIENCIA (An unknown Portuguese
band with a South American flavour in their music) and DRAGON (A Belgian band
who got overshadowed by MACHIAVEL and ended up releasing their album in the UK)
were released.
Then came PANTA REI (Sweden), UNIVERIAZEKT (who are none other
than the mythical French band MAGMA), MARIO GARCIA (Brazil/Uruguay), ART BOYS
COLLECTION (One of the rarest Austrian flower-power mod’ish LP’s), YVES
RAKOTOMALALA (Originally from Madagascar but living in France, he recorded this
in only 200 copies, sounding very much like a lost NEIL YOUNG recording), and then the second DRAGON album (originally
recorded only as a demo), Followed by a contemporary Russian band called
VESPERO who gives us a breed of floating Space-rock with clear Krautrock
undertones, Then LIFE (Sweden and one of the rarest from this country), BOB
THEIL (in a newly designed gatefold cover including an exact replica of the
rare EP) and PLUS (One of the funkiest recordings out of Belgium, that ranks
right along PLACEBO, with some psychedelic and progressive touches as
well). After this came the TIME WASTERS
(a very obscure small release from the UK), followed by a brand-new MARK FRY
recording (MARK FRY who recorded the legendary “Dreaming with Alice” in Italy),
This was followed by the first ever blues record from Italy: THE BLUES RIGHT
OFF, a band from Venice with the Danish guitarist CLAES CORNELIUS, and then
EDITION SPECIALE, a groovy French progressive combo somewhere between the likes
of YES, GONG and MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA). The rare Italian library recording by
STEFANO TOROSSI called “Feelings” followed, best described as a jazzy-funk with
a lounge feel, and just recently the elusive sole recording by the Swiss band
called “HAND” as a 40th anniversary deluxe package.
How
important is the look and packaging of your records?
It’s very important. I see many labels out
there reissuing some legendary albums without much concern for the visual
appeal. It all starts with the quality
of the image itself, the resolution and the colour balance. We always try to
make an exact replica of the cover and usually produce an own design for the
labels. The records are almost always shrink-wrapped and we use high quality
covers and vinyl. When master tapes are available, we re-master the sound in a
professional studio using a vintage Neumann VMS 70 / SAL 74B / SX 74 cutter
head and avoiding, whenever possible, going through too much digitalization.
Of which
release are you the most proud?
I am
particularly proud of releases that have brought a new awareness to the artists
concerned. Gino for example, has picked up his guitar again and started
composing some songs. Bob Theil has come together with some other musicians in
Spain to record new material. The band “Plus” has seen a warm welcome of their
music in Japan with a Japanese company releasing the same album on mini-lp.
What are
your future plans for expanding the label?
Recently I have been restructuring the Golden
Pavilion concept and started a partnership with Seattle-based record label and
distributors Light in the Attic. Furthermore all our releases are entirely produced
in the US.
How do you
survive through the years?
How does anyone survive through the years..:)! I’m reminded of this sequence in Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors”
where Doctor Levy, a brilliant philosopher exposes his inspiring ideas and
later on commits suicide leaving behind a simple note: “I’ve gone out the
window”.To answer
your question: This is primarily a labour of love. I would probably be better
off selling oranges, yes, but this is what I love doing and I am convinced
there is room for growth. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes
spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and
summer again. (..)There will be growth in the spring! (Being there)
How do you
find new acts?
Sometimes
it’s an accident, one band leads to another.. Sometimes friends recommend a
project. Raven for example, a US band related to MICAH, is one of my upcoming Spring releases and it
was recommended by my good friend Tove in Norway. I had not heard of the band
before and I think almost no-one must have heard of this recording since it
remained unreleased for almost 37 years.
Some of the projects have been on my wish list for years, and some I
just happen to stumble upon. I also do receive emails on a weekly basis from
all kinds of bands searching for a label. Some of them are actually very good
but don’t really fit the direction intended for the label.
Our next output,
up until summer 2013, consists mainly of 4 albums. The first is a well kept gem
of the Italian library scene. It’s called ARAWAK, and this will be our first
record produced in association with Light in the Attic. The second is RAVEN, as I mentioned before.
Then comes a fantastic US prog LP by PENTWATER and this will be followed by the
loner folk record “Take me home” by BERT KEELY. Later in the year we will have
a very special project which I cannot talk about for the moment, but this will
be an unusual release to say the least. There are several other projects still
waiting to be released and the list is growing constantly...
(As told to High Fidelity Stories) contact :www.golden-pavilion.com)
SonLosGrillos areMarta Rodríguez and
Mauricio Mora and they come from Valencia,Spain.At the end of 2010 they released their debut album,a fragile and dreamy bouquet of songs,presenting a blend of much unlike influences.New folk?Not exactly.Early this year,their new album is already out,coming true with a little help of their friends.Marta,tells their story so far.
Would you like to introduce yourselves?
We are quiet people,we like music and we live in a rural area (we have 2 children).Mauri has been playing since he was 16, his first band had a style West Coast and then collaborated with different musicians, rock and roll bands.For my "sonlosgrillos" is my first band "professional" and I say in quotes because we do not live of music, but I sang the way i was singing since childhood.
How did you come together to form SonLosGrillos?
Through mutual friends I met Mauri.I knew he had a small studio at home and I wanted to record some songs.Of those songs and another songs of Mauri did our first album.
How would you describe your music?
Acoustic music, sweet music,sometimes a bit psychedelic ...folk?I guess our lifestyle influences our music.We make quiet music.Is difficult annoy your neighbours with our records.
Can you refer to some of your influences?
I guess all the music we hear influences us and listen to many different styles of music.Traditional folk & blues,West Coast as Grateful Dead, Moby Grape .... English folk like John Martyn, Pentangle, the first Donovan...American Folk as Judee Sill, Joni Mitchell ...Bebop and West Coast jazz and many current groups, since some more commercial as Wilco or Fleet Foxes to those who make a more traditional folk as Meg Baird or Fern Knight...and not forget the South American music.
Tell us the story of getting your name.
On summer evenings the crickets sing very strong in this place.Sometimes we wonder What's that sound?,The answer is "Son los Grillos"(are the Crickets).In Spanish the word "Son" has to do with the sound (like "Son Cubano") ... It's a pun. Our name is written all together "Sonlosgrillos" (Arethecrickets).
What are you doing for living?
We work mainly in summer,we live in a tourist town,we have a stand of handmade crafts on the beach.From June to September we worked hard and the rest of the year we are very calm ...time to make music and enjoy family.
What is the feedback you get from people who listen to your music? People of different tastes and ages like our music and the feedback is always positive.
Which was your first live as SonLosGrillos? Can you recall some moments of it?
It was in the pub of a friend.It was exciting, most of the audience were friends.We did not have any recital prepared, but there was an opportunity of playing and we did.It was a very nice and helped us strengthen our project was coming.
Do you have live performances in a regular basis for promoting your work or you have gigs only in festivals so far?
We do not do many live concerts.Not easy to find places to play,we are a disaster to promote us.We need a manager ...but right now there is not one.
Which way do you work a new song?
Differents ways sometimes separately, sometimes together.Most of the ideas come on the sofa.
Can you make a short sum of all tracks from your new album?
The album has a circular concept.The title aside from being the name of a song says a lot of the album.The first and last songs are longer and more complex and the central songs are shorter and acoustic...more luminous .It's like an emotional journey as the cycle of a daybetween darkness and light.
There is a Mellow Candle cover in your new album and a Bob Theil participation as well.Will you tell us a few things about?
The cover of Mellow Candle was commissioned by a friend who has a radio show ("Islas de Robinson").We really liked this song and decided to include it on the album. Bob is a good friend,excellent musician and a great person.He came to visit us and we did not lose the opportunity that collaborate on the album.
The vinyl edition of your debut album is really impressive.Tell us a few things of making this great cover.
The owner of the record label "Monterey" wanted to do a special edition beginning an idea of our,a common friend (clothing designer) made silkscreen and paint them with watercolor one by one.They want to do something special and...they did!
Do you listen to new artists or bands?
Of course!There are many good musicians,making excellent music. Today with internet can be found hidden treasures anywhere in the world.
Is there a new folk scene in Spain?
I assume you mean the bands making the anglo-saxon folk style of music to mid 60,like us.There is a very important movement of folk worldwide,also in Spain But we must not forget that Spain has a long tradition of folklore and very different by region (as in many other parts of the world).The north of Spain is more celtic music, south is closer to flamenco and arab roots music.There are groups that are doing what might be called folk including the characteristics of their region and their own dialect and this is a very interesting way.It may not look our case, but if you listen to our song "Rejoice" find elements of what is here (in Spain) called "Jota".
Are you going to release “Darkness Turns To Light’ on vinyl as well?
The vinyl is in manufacturing,maybe when you read this the record is ready.
Do you buy vinyl records or cds? Have you a favourite record store?
We prefer the vinyl...sounds better!Do not have a favorite record store,we buy online and in second hand stores.We love looking discs in a garage sale,sometimes find wonderful old records. What’s your point of view about the future of music business and which will be internet affection?
It Is clear that the internet has affected to record sales.On the other side today we have access to all kinds of music and discover bands that would otherwise be impossible.The negative can be that there is a saturation of music and it is often hard to hear a whole album.When we were little and our parents bought a vinyl we listened to hundreds of times.But the music business has always been the same,few groups make much money and there are thousands that are unknown. We, as independent musicians Internet gives us the opportunity that people will listen.Another issue is the sound quality.Today listening the music worse that 40 years ago.Make a record requires substantial technical work and at the end of this listening to an mp3 in a mobile phone.I have nothing against this but certainly something we're missing.
Which are your future plans?
We will do some concerts to present the new albumand start preparing new songs. continue making music and enjoying life.
Would you like to add anything else?
Many τhanks for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful blog.Blogs like this are doing an excellent job in the diffusion of independent music.Κeep in touch!
(As told to High Fidelity Stories) contact :sonlosgrillos.bandcamp.com
In response to the great popularity of the cd editions of Jazz Noire and Drink Up – Light Up!,
and to meet the demands of vinyl collectors, Fantastic Voyage now
releases highlights of both compilations as 2LP vinyl editions, limited
to 500 copies.
Jazz Noire is your soundtrack to the mean streets of Los
Angeles in the post-war 1940s. This 28-track 2LP presents studio recordings by the era's most famous
musicians, many of whom were based in, or were habitus of the bars and
theatres of The City Of Angels. For music-lovers, Jazz Noire constitutes
a fascinating survey of the evolving jazz scene in a period when big
band swing was losing ground to smaller jazz combos and the bebop style
was developing. It was also the time when what is now known as rhythm
& blues was in its infancy. Many of the finest performers of the era
are showcased here on studio recordings chosen both for their quality
and their ability to evoke the dramatic mood of classic film noir. The
cover and insert text of Jazz Noire have been carefully designed to pay
homage to the hard-boiled, lurid detective fiction of the period, the
perfect packaging for a compilation which will appeal both to L.A. Noire
devotees and also to those looking for an atmospheric survey of the
immediate post-war jazz and R&B scene.
"Jazz
Noire Tales Of Dope, Booze & Sleaze" follows
2011's hugely-successful Jazz Noire collection by letting the same team
return to those sleazy dives and bars, this time homing in on the dope,
drink and dubious characters to provide a vivid picture of high-seeking
low life between the 1930s and 1950s. The music on Drink Up - Light Up!
evokes that time when orchestras swelled, brass sections exploded like
fireworks and blues dripped off piano keys onto booze- and tear-stained
barroom floors, staggering cast including names like the Reefer Man and
Snuff Dippin' Mama. Along with his usual knowledgeable annotation,
compiler Dave Penny repeats Jazz Noire's scene-setting movie themes and
finales with Wild Weed, Reefer Madness, D.O.A. and The Man With The
Golden Arm. All told, just the ticket after a summer of Lycra-clad
Olympic water-wielders! 50 prime examples of atmospheric jazz and
R&B 1932-1954, bookended by classic film noir themes. Big-name
artists include Sarah Vaughan, Cab Calloway, Dinah Washington, The Ink
Spots, Charles Brown, Jack McVea, Jimmy Witherspoon, Wynonie Harris and
Joe Liggins. Compiled by early popular music authority Dave Penny.
Packaged and annotated to celebrate lurid 1940s pulp fiction.
This story remains one of the music world’s most unusual tales of the
1970s: an obscure debut LP by a Detroit singer-songwriter becomes a
source of hope and inspiration to the anti-Apartheid movement in South
Africa. Now, the story of Rodriguez and his cult album Cold Fact is the basis for Searching For Sugar Man,
a riveting documentary by filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul. The soundtrack
begins with the otherworldly “Sugar Man” and acts as a primer to this
long-overlooked musician’s fusion of gritty funk, political poetry and
blissful psych-folk.
Back in the late ‘60s, Rodriguez was discovered in a Detroit bar by
renowned producers Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore. They recorded a 1970
album that they believed was going to secure his reputation as one of
the greatest recording artists of his generation. Instead, Cold Fact bombed, and despite the release of a second LP, entitled Coming From Reality
and produced by Steve Rowland, Rodriguez drifted into obscurity, even
being subject to some fantastic rumors of a dramatic onstage death. Cold Fact took on a life of its own when a bootleg recording
found its way into apartheid-era South Africa. Banned by the
government, the album became a country-wide phenomenon over the next two
decades, and the soundtrack to a resistance movement of liberal African
youth. Back in Detroit, working in construction and renovation (he also
ran for mayor), Rodriguez was totally unaware that he was not just a
folk hero but a household name thousands of miles away. Decades later, two South African fans, Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman and
Craig Bartholomew-Strydom set out to find out what really happened to
their hero, and their investigation led them to a story more
extraordinary than any of the many myths they’d heard. Their story forms
the basis of Searching For Sugar Man.
Both sides of the story, Rodriguez’s life in Detroit and the
subsequent impact of his music in South Africa, proved fascinating to
Stockholm-based documentary filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul. His short
documentary films for Swedish Television’s international cultural weekly
show Kobra became the basis for such films as Men Who Stare At Goats (George Clooney) and The Terminal (Tom Hanks). The evolution of the financing, production, and filming of Searching For Sugar Man is as fascinating and complex as the life of Rodriguez himself. “I describe myself as ‘musico-politico’,” Rodriguez said recently.
“I was born and bred in Detroit, four blocks from the city center. Back
then, I was influenced by the urban sounds that were going on around me
all the time. Music is art and art is a cultural force. As far as my
work from Detroit comparing to the South African Apartheid, the
similarities echo. The placards of the 1970s in the United States read
things like: We Want Jobs and Stop the War – I was looking at the music
from a working class perspective that was relevant, as it turns out, to
the kids in South Africa.” Rodriguez receives royalties from the sale of this release.
Reinhard Probst is a music fellow and record collector who lives and works in Vienna,Austria.We met a couple years ago during summer holidays and since then we are in touch in a regular basis exchanging thoughts and information about our common passion:music.As i consider him a mastermind of the global psych scene of all eras, i asked him to be the first collector who would be presented here in a new circle for the blog and has to do with people that love and collect music and especially vinyl lovers.Rei, thanx a lot!
What do you collect and why?
I´m collecting mostly psychedelic music from the 60`s till now.The reason for that kind of music are my first impressions whenI listened for the first time Jimi Hendrix when I was 10 years old, in autumn 1967 - I still do - but I think this was the basis for all coming afterwards. But I`ve listened over the decades all styles of music (Jazz, Rock, Folk, Soul, Disco, Punk, Metall, etc.). But music with soundeffects, sitar or special instruments was from the beginning on my favorite style (for example: Beatles's Tomorrow Never Knows was much better for me than Eleanor Rigby or Yellow Submarine).My first records I bought from my pocket money were cheap soldout 7”es (Beatles Stones, Who, Doors) – I couldn`t afford LPs in the 60´s.In the 60`s and early 70`s I got my wish LPs on birthday, easter, x-mas from my parents, uncles and aunts, grandpas and grandmas… And when my parents and me visited their parents in Germany I always came back with some vinyls – I remember when my grandpa went in a shopping center with me in early 1969 – I saw the new album Book of Taliesyn from Deep Purple – I was so happy when we went out – I got it!The first LP I bought from my own money was Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile on Karussell-records in 1971. I still have it in my collection and on the innersleeve is written nr. 1……I had luck to have some years older friends. They already had some of my favorite records in their collection – so I recorded many vinyls on my tape-recorder…and bought the vinyl sometimes some years later. Reinhard Probst
How big is your collection?
I invite you to count them...It changes always - but in the moment I think about 4200-4500 CDs,2500 LPs, 400 singles, 500 tapes and maybe about 150 music DVDs and 200 music videos – my maximum on vinyl were about 4000 LPs in the 2nd half of the 80`s – but I sold a lot of records to have more money for CDs – don`t laugh about that – this is a very tragic episode in my life…
What do you think itʼs worth?
Haha - no idea - besides the worth changes from year to year! And the value is not so important for me as the music itself.
How and where do you store it? All is in my small 60 squaremeters apartment which is full up to the ceiling...it`s a problem in the future for me...I often think about that – I would like to sell 300-400 CDs and about 150 useless vinyls from the 80`s to get more space again - curiously most of these 80`s records are for the birds, so I keep them at home and hope to get the money I´ve payed for eventually in the future. Only the industrial music from the 80`s reaches higher prices – but I already sold most of them too early. Maybe I will sell a part of my huge comic collection,which is in the bedroom – so I would get more space for vinyl…
Whatʼs the rarest or most unusual item in your collection?
There are many rare original records... for example: JIMI HENDRIX: Electric Jimi Hendrix on Track records, THE DEEP: Psychedelic Moods on Parkway Records , TAROT by Walter Wegmüller on Kosmische Kouriere... and and… The most unusual vinyl is maybe ZACHHILL & MICKBARR Vol.2 (limited edition of 27 copies) which comes in 2 metal plates with 4 screws to open und it has a weight of 4,3 Kilogramm!
What elusive gem are you still looking for?
CAN: (the original) Monster Movie on Scheisshouse records (which I sold in 1983 for 35(!) euro – what a pain to think about that) – in the meantime I think it`s about 2500 euro…I´m not sure If I can or will afford..
How do you track stuff down?
In the 60`s & early 70`s I got all music magazines (Bravo, Pop, Popfoto, Musikexpress and Rennbahnexpress) for free, because my mother was working as an accountant in a shop for magazines and she got all magazines which weren`t sold during the week, but without the title page. But I got a lot of music informations…. From 1975 on I got selling lists (first from Austrian sellers, later from Germany, England, USA). Till the 90`s I studied nearly every evening the lists and ordered records, I couldn`t find in the shops in my hometown.In the early 80`s the record fairs started in Vienna – the best chances to get the stuff I was looking for. I also visited some record fairs in Germany and in London . I went one or two times a year to London for some days, where I found records I didn`t know of the existence. Since 1999 (my computertime started) I get a lot of newsletters from different shops from all over the world, I read magazines like Record Collector or Good Times, I talk with friends and collectors and I follow every important information. Today with internet collecting is much more easier than it was in the 70`s or 80`s. In these times it was often a test buying - now I very often can listen to an interesting record online and decide if I buy it or not.
Have you got a favourite record store?
My favorite store in Vienna doesn`t exist any longer….It was called “Why Not Records” – which was specialized for rare and unusual records – specially for 60`s & 70`s – I even worked there from 1979 to 1987 beside my job as socialworker – was a great time…My other favourite shop was called “Ton um Ton” – the last rarities shop in town. The owner Reinhardt Bugl and very good friend of mine died in 2004 on a heartattack….Since that I´m an online buyer.
How often do you listen to the stuff in your collection?
Every day! Between minimum of 2 hours to maximum of 14 hours –I would need much more time to listen…but I need also time for my wife.Fortunately she likes more than 90% of my music… what a happy man I am!
Is there a visual side to collecting for you?
Of course I bought records in the last decades which had a psychedelic cover – most of them were good – but sometimes I was wondering, because cover art and music didn`t fit together – on the other side thereexist expressionless covers with brilliant music inside…
How do you think youʼll eventually dispose of your collection?
NEVER! I take my collection into the grave…hehe!
Whatʼs your all time favourite record,regardless of value or rarity?
JIMI HENDRIX: Are You Experienced? (Mono - Track records)
