Another purchase from Harborough Market, this is the second Velevet Underground album, without the dulcet tones of Nico or the artistic gudance of Andy Warhol. I wasn't previously familiar with this album so was unsure what to expect. What I didn't expect was the abysmal quality of the recording. The ear soon tunes in, but it's a shock at first, and made me wonder if it was my copy. Wikipedia talks of the speed of its recording, and the use of new effects equipment leading to

Among the King Crimson bootlegs at Harborough Market (mostly live shows and suchlike) was this official release from the 1990s 'Double Trio' set up of two trios of guiar, bass and drums - Fripp, Gunn, Mastelotto v Belew, Levin, Bruford. It says 57 minutes of improvised music and poster on the sticker. Does anyone old enough to enjoy the Mighty Crim really want a poster of their heroes? One folded down to the size of a CD? I thought not. So, how to sum this up? The only previo

The second of the Lutterworth haul of Ry Cooder albums is this one from 1982. The more I listen to Cooder the more I come to believe that I'm not as convinced by his music as I am by he himself seeming to be a good egg, and this is a fairly lacklustre outing. UFO Has Landed In The Ghetto is a futuristic (for the 1980s), proto rap piece, which is a solid, if uninspiring song, while covers of Dylan's I Need A Woman, Curtis Mayfield's Gypsy Woman and Carl Perkins' Blue Suede Sho

There's a lovely chap who sells CDs in Harborough Market, and if you buy anything more than a couple, the cost seems to add up to somewhere between half and two-thirds of what conventional arithmetic would suggest. For cash, obviously. So it's always a pleasure to purchase from him, and he's been particularly good recently on old prog favourites. I can't remember if I ever owned this on vinyl, but I certainly knew it well from teenage years. While not the first Genesis album,

I bought this album on vinyl in the late 1980s from the excellent Reckless Records in Soho's Berwick St, and was captivated at first listen. John Peel had championed the band, and this was their first album release on a major Western label, although about 30 albums had previously been released in Zimbabwe, and a couple in UK on the DiscAfrique label. At the time I, rather pretentiously, would offer the opinion that the future of pop music lay in the African continent and we'd

Zappa is like a very itchy wound. Unfortunately, I can't help scratching it, and too often it becomes poisonous, and leaves me feeling worse and a little grubby. But sometimes it's very satisfying. I have history with this album, having previously owned it on double cassette. I picked it up from a short lived second hand record shop in Deal, owned by a chap whom I uncharitably knew as 'Harry the Robber'. The name stemmed from the one time I carted about 50 LPs which I never l

On a recent visit to Lutterworth - I know, this jet setting life that you all envy - I happened upon a charity shop which seemed to have recently adopted a new policy of sorting out the interesting stuff from the dross, and charging a little more for it. Included was some kind donor's Ry Cooder collection, so I snapped this and two others up. It's an early Cooder album of American traditional / older blues songs, which, while nothing amazing happens, provides forty minutes of

It's been very quiet on here for a couple of weeks, and there's a backlog of recent purchases to be dealt with. One of these is this album (for which Oxfam charged a ...er... realistic price), effectively three archive sessions (from 1975) from the punk/garage band which spawned both Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys. Most of the main players of the band are no longer with us. First to go was Peter Faulkner, tragically young in 1977, while David Thomas, who spent a lifetime leading

This was a cheap purchase from Harborough Market a couple of weeks ago, continuing my frugal examination of the Lambchop back catalogue. My first grumble about this one is the CD packaging, while the tracing paper biro sketch of what appears to be a sex orgy (one side too graphic for Discogs to show), unless it gives some basic details about the album, it's style over function. This album seems a bit heavier in country and western themes than previous albums, alongside a few

My introduction to this was the 1975 Ken Russell film, which we all dashed to see on release, and it was only later that I borrowed (and of course, taped) the album from a friend. I picked the CD album up in a sale much, much later - this version being the 1996 reissue. I think it still stands up today, even if only as a naive attempt by a young man to do something a little more than the standard ten song album, and create something bigger than the band had previously done. F

A couple of quid in Harborough Market was the asking price for this 30th anniversary reissue (issued 27 years after in 2002!) of the mighty Crim's live album from 1975. Recorded in Asbury Park, NJ and Providence, RI during the band's USA tour, this was released following Fripp's disbandment of the group in early 1975. Opening with an excerpt from Fripp's No Pussyfooting collaboration with Eno as the band take the stage, we kick off with a splendidly raucous version of Larks T

This is yet another solo Paul Weller album in poor condition, which was clearly pennies in a boot fair long ago. Given the state of the digipack, I was more than a little surprised to find it plays perfectly. I've previously suggested that, like me, lots of 1970s Jam fans bought the Weller albums, but weren't convinced by them. This album hasn't done much to convince me. Don't get me wrong, there are some lovely songs here, but nothing with the impact of a Going Underground.

Another Wednesday afternoon at Harborough Market, and another interesting selection of CDs at a mere £3 each, starting with this. Taj Mahal is a name I've heard as being 'influential', but never previously investigated. However, convinced by the presence of Ry Cooder, I decided to take a chance. This is a straightforward album of blues standards. I'm not particularly a fan of blues music, but when it's as well done as this, I'm finding it irresistible. From the start, Sleepy

This is the second of Scott Walker's solo albums (as the name implies) and one which I own as part of a Classic Albums 5 CD set. As on the previous album, Scott, this collection contains a mixture of covers, interpretations and a couple of original songs. While Walker's voice is so lovely that it would be worthwhile listening to him singing a shopping list in monotone, some of these songs have much more impact than others, the weakest being only memorable for Walker's deliver

This is one I've long enjoyed as a performance, but never really listened to the individual songs in any depth. The premise is that this is a small cabaret/jazz club performance just Tom and a small band, doing a live show, a few songs and lots of spiel and jokes between them. This is only partly true. Certainly it was recorded as live, in front of a small invited audience in the Record Plant studio in Los Angeles, but in two sessions across four days. Nevertheless, it's a ma

I have no idea where or when I picked this up, but it was certainly a deliberate replacement for the LP plus 12" I bought from the record stall in Folkestone Market round about the time of release. This CD is a 2001 reissue, with a plethora of additions to the original album. I've long admired Pete Wylie, self-styled Part Time Rock Star, Full Time Legend, and will defend his ability to write a classic pop song to anyone. He is also capable of writing some ...er, less than cla

This is the Velvets' third album and their first without founding member John Cale, who had been replaced by Doug Yule. I don't recall buying this (but I assume by the usual route - cheap in charity shop / boot fair), nor ever previously listening to it. It's a much gentler album than the debut (the only other one I know), with all the songs written by Lou Reed. Opener Candy Says is a decent song, although I don't find Doug Yule's delivery convincing, and it's followed by the

I've seen Theo Travis perform under a number of guises. Firstly guesting with In Cahoots and Hatfield And The North at the Mean Fiddler in London in 2005, as sax player for Gong in 2009, and more recently in his current day job with Soft Machine. But the best performance of all was upstairs in Pizza Express in Maidstone, in a small dining crowd, purchasing this CD from the man himself after the show. I didn't get it autographed, mostly because I didn't want to and because his

I've no idea where or when I picked this up. It's Richard Thompson's first solo outing following the personal and professional break up with Linda Thompson, and falls fairly and squarely into the folk-rock genre, accompanied as he is by several Fairport friends, as well as John Kirkpatrick on accordion and concertina, which play a big part in this album's sound. Sadly, there isn't too much to get excited about. Nothing's awful, but really strong songs are few and far between.

Back in the olden days, when CDs were expensive, and video rental was a thing, a couple of video shops also rented out CDs (£1 for 3 days as I recall). It's from one of these that I first encountered this album in the early 1990s, and when I saw it cheap, eventually snapped it up. Dark isn't the word for this album. Dealing with the seamier side of his psyche, and not pulling his punches, Matt Johnson provides heartfelt music with uncompromising lyrics on the dysfunctional si