Ah, Saturday, day off, or should I say afternoon and evening off as the morning wasn’t available. So there was a small record fair, a couple of blocks away from us which we managed to get to by 3 PM, it seemed late but when we got there it hadn’t opened till 2 PM. It was right in the centre of town, but there was no sign outside to attract passers-by, how is that even possible? (I happened to have noticed a poster the other day.) Well, up on the fourth floor in the live room where we watched Don Letts stand behind a turntable were a few stalls and not the best selection of records. Mainly things I have mixed with things I don’t want, but I did pick up The National’s I Am Easy To Find (2019) which I got from a lovely couple, stallholders Tiago and his partner Sofia. He told me it’s too mellow for him, I told him that’s what I’m after. It’s a triple vinyl record in a triple gatefold with three different coloured vinyl records, these days if you don’t like the music you can always marvel at the packaging.
From there, Olivia wanted to show me a new record store she’d found close by in the centre. Nice folks in there in an arty place with a venue downstairs that they showed us and books upstairs with records new and second-hand in the middle. I bought a German compilation of Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell (1970), a nice reissue of Shocking Blue’s At Home (1969) and the bargained-priced Sandie Shaw covers album Reviewing the Situations (1969). I have the original album, but this has an extra disc of unreleased songs including Heaven Knows I’m Missing Him Now, which was the inspiration for Morrissey to write the Smiths classic Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now (1984). On the original disc, groove to the Led Zep song Your Time is Gonna Come (1968) and The Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil (1968). Where next on my day off? Tubitek of course where I picked up an album I had ordered, the Steven Wilson remix of Gentle Giant’s Interview (1976).
Music today has been Soft Machine’s Other Doors (2023) starring John Etheridge on guitar and Theo Travis on instruments you blow into and keys. John Marshall plays the drums and Fred Thelonious Baker is on bass, although ex-bassist Roy Babbington guests on two tracks (he’s 83). Anekdoten played a gig in Italy with Soft Machine and we had breakfast together, haha, we also jammed with Theo Travis. Classic.
Follow this link for the new Arktik Lake single Bright Sunny Days, I sing and play guitar, co-write and co-produce. Check it out, lots more information on the Bandcamp page.
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