News

Greetings Sorry Staters. Thanks for clicking on the ol’ newsletter again this week. It’s been a busy one for us. Last Saturday was Record Store Day and a good day for the store. Thanks to all of you who came out in person or bought something from our webstore. Participating in RSD is quite a financial investment for small independent stores and a bit of a gamble, so we appreciate you guys choosing us to snag those hot titles for you.

Gig wise, we’ve been busy too. Last Saturday was the benefit gig to help the innocent people affected by the war in Palestine. Thank you for turning up and supporting that. Terrific sets from the bands. Then this past Monday we were delighted to host our friends Deletar from France on the Raleigh leg of their current East Coast tour. They’re great—on and off stage. We couldn’t be happier to have their record on our label. Cheers to Ultimate Disaster and Paranoid Maniac and Shaved Ape and Meat House and Starving Bomb and Scarecrow for the great sets they played. Tonight (Thursday) we see Collate play with our good friends De()t supporting. Good times.

If that wasn’t enough for my diary, this Sunday I will be spinning records at a local art space’s fundraiser event which should be fun and then in addition to my weekly radio show Worldy on The Face Radio we will also participate in International Jazz Day with a special program broadcasting early on Tuesday morning at 8 AM. Any of you reading into Jazz might want to tune in. Not only to our show but to the host of other great presenters that will be broadcasting throughout the day.

For my pick this week, I am going to pull one from the RSD releases that I was glad to get a copy of. It’s the album Burned by Electrafixion. Originally released in 1995, this is the first time on vinyl. Electrafixion were the band formed in 1994 by Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant of Echo And The Bunnymen after they had buried the hatchet and resumed their friendship. Things had been frosty between the two ever since Mac left the Bunnymen back in 1988. The group would carry on, releasing the underrated Reverberation album in 1990 sans McCulloch, but the lack of interest in that record and the fact that McCulloch had a solo album out competing with it meant the end of the Bunnymen. The tragic death of drummer Pete de Freitas in 1989 from a motorbike accident also hastened the end of the original group. By the time they came back together those five or six years later, the musical landscape had changed a fair bit. Grunge and alternative rock were ruling the airwaves, and Sergeant was looking to play a bigger guitar sound to match the times. That being said, Electrafixion are not Metallica or Nirvana. Perhaps a bit of The Cult or other cowboy boot rock types would be a closer comparison, but despite all that as soon as you hear Mac sing, you think Bunnymen. That’s who they are, and that’s what they’re going to sound like. Indeed, the project only lasted for the one album as the guys soon realized that they were still writing songs that sounded like the Bunnymen, and when original Bunnymen bass player Les Pattison returned to the fold, they were all set for a reformation. The first new material from the boys seeing release in 1997 towards the tail end of the Britpop years. McCulloch and Sergeant have since kept the good ship Bunnymen sailing and have been touring this very year.

Back to the Burned album. There were a couple of singles lifted from the album, which included live versions of some songs. A four track E.P. titled Zephyr preceded the album, which contained the song Burned, which doesn’t appear on the album despite the title. It’s a good song, too. I had the CD of it and the album on CD when they were released, and now having finally got the album on vinyl I need to find that E.P. on wax too. I do have the 7” single to the track Lowdown, which is one of my favorite songs from the record. Honestly, there isn’t a bad song on the record in my opinion, although I admit to being biased. I liked the record when it came out and almost thirty years later, it still hits the spot. Glad to have it on vinyl now.

The memorable cover art incidentally came courtesy of Anton Corbijn, the Dutch photog known for his work with U2, Depeche Mode and later to direct a film on Joy Division.

Also, of note (for me at least) is the fact that two of the songs were co-written by Johnny Marr. His hand is most noticeable on the song Lowdown. He and McCulloch had been toying with the idea of forming a group together, but in the end it was just his songs that carried on into Electrafixion. Probably only enough room for one guitar god in the group.

Alright, gotta leave it here. Check the record out if you aren’t familiar with it, especially if you’re an Echo fan. I think you’ll like it.

Cheers - Dom

Greetings Sorry Staters. Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter and for all your support. Whether that’s from reading this, using our webstore or visiting us in person. It means a lot. You guys treat us so well. One of you even calls on each of our birthdays to wish us the best. How nice is that? Talking of birthdays, one of the gang, Seth, celebrated the other day (soz I couldn’t come out) and had people over. He took the opportunity to give Daniel this totally amazing diorama of the Sorry State store that is so f’in cool. Like a fantastic, detailed doll’s house but full of miniature punk and metal records instead. We’re still figuring a way to display it at the store, but will post pictures once we have it installed properly. Nice one Seth.

Another busy week for us at the store made especially so by Record Store Day, which will have happened by the time you are reading this, but right now it’s Thursday for me writing and we still have several boxes of RSD titles to be delivered. This year the day falls on 4/20, which should make it fun if you live in a part of the country where enjoying the herb won’t land you in jail. For those of you reading outside of the United States, I understand how confusing it is to look at America and figure out how life and citizens’ rights can change drastically depending on which state or even county one lives in. Trust me, it’s a major head fuck for many of us and now with the attack on women’s rights going on it’s just getting worse. Please dear God can the voters make all this Maga shit go away in November? Please.

Back to Record Store Day. Without getting into a big debate about the pros and cons of it, I still feel there is cool stuff getting released. As a music lover first and foremost, and someone who’s preferred listening format is vinyl records, I appreciate when an unreleased piece of music is made available or when a super rare and hard to find record gets repressed. If they do it right and keep the price accessible, then what’s not to like? Anyway, did you find something cool for yourself? I’ve got my beady eye on one or two things, so we’ll see whether I’m able to snag something once the day is done. It does seem that there are a few things we ordered where we didn’t get as many copies as we wanted. Such is the case with more and more stores getting in the game. No big deal.

In other store news, we recently acquired a decent cassette tape collection. Jeff teased with a glimpse of some last week. Lots of cool Metal, Indie, Alternative and hip-hop titles and covering the 90s era where vinyl versions of some of these either don’t exist or were pressed in small quantities and can be tough to find. Tapes, although having their own shortcomings, can sound great and for the most part are a cheaper way to collect music than vinyl records. We’ll be putting these guys out on the floor as space permits over the next week or so. Local tape heads come through and check them out. I snagged one by female rapper Antoinette that I didn’t know about from 1989 called Who’s The Boss? I liked it. Good funk sample-based stuff similar to Salt ‘N’ Pepper and MC Lyte. Recommended. There were also a ton of cassette singles which I am still trying to match covers with tapes. I found a Public Enemy Fight The Power taken from the Do The Right Thing soundtrack. Cool ‘cos it has the extended version on it.

Vinyl wise, we got a bunch of cool stuff in this week. Obviously, the latest Taylor Swift was top of everyone’s want list, but in addition to that I can highly recommend the Montaña record. These guys are from Spain, and you can read all about them in Jeff’s staff pick elsewhere in this newsletter if you haven’t already. Cool post-punk stuff.

My pick for you though is the reissue of the Aspirations album by Australian punkers X. A killer record that will fit right in with your Saints, Radio Birdman and Victims LPs. We just got in a repress of this record from the good folks at Dirt Cult Records.

X were from Sydney and formed in 1977, recording their debut in late 1979 for a 1980 release. Original pressings have been tough to score over the years, but several labels have kept it in print, so finding one isn’t too tough, but due to the quality of the music any version has become desirable, hence this most recent pressing being made available to satisfy the marketplace. I don’t own an original,but have a repress from the early 00s. To be honest, I only discovered the band for myself in the 90s from hearing the single I Don’t Want To Go Out on a compilation. My radar was already tuned to the Australian scene, although my preferences were for the 60s groups in the main. However, anything like Radio Birdman and The Saints from the punk era hit the spot too.

X chose their name at the same time that the Los Angeles X were forming and both bands were unaware of each other. The Australian X was formed by bass player Ian Rilen, who left Rose Tattoo (he would rejoin them later in the 80s), and guitarist and vocalist Steve Lucas, guitarist Ian Krahe and drummer Steve Cafiero. The band played the Sydney scene and quickly became popular with those clued up on the punk music coming from the UK and USA. Krahe became known for his guitar playing style whereby he didn’t use a pick and would bloody his hands thrashing away. He would sadly pass away before the band recorded Aspirations. So as a three piece and with Lobby Loyde of Rose Tattoo producing, they recorded their debut, apparently in five hours. Loyde would end up in the producer’s chair for X’s second and third albums later in the 80s. Most people seem to agree that their second LP At Home With You from 1985 is their strongest record, but there is something about the raw, short and sharp impact of their debut that appeals. It is short too, just over a half hour but in the world of punk that almost seems like a double album opus. My favorite track is I Don’t Want To Out, which has a great funky bass line and a funny vocal chorus. That cut was selected for a single release and good luck trying to find one of those. There are a lot more good songs on the album: opener Suck Suck followed by Present and then Simulated Lovers are all worth the price of admission. They even make like The Jam and throw in a cover of the Batman theme for good measure.

If you dig this period of the band and like good Aussie pub rock/punk, then definitely check out Live At The Civic ’79, which was released by Dropkick Records 2004. It’s a good quality recording done for radio at the time. In addition, Dirt Cult have put out a 7” E.P. called Hate City that has tracks recorded as early as 1977 and are the only ones to feature the original four-piece line-up. We have a few available along with the current repress of the Aspirations album. Check ‘em out. My only complaint with the current reissue of the album is the changed artwork and the lack of any insert with band and track information. Not that you need a full bio necessarily with the internet, but some details and some photos might have been nice. Still, the music is what counts, and Aspirations is a great punk record worthy of any collection and this version will deliver the sounds to you if nothing else. The artwork change was apparently sanctioned by only surviving member, Steve Lucas, so it is with reason and not bad, but I prefer the original.

Okay, I must stop here and get this in before deadline. Thanks for reading.

Cheers - Dom

Hiya Sorry Staters. Nice to have you join us for this week’s newsletter. It’s been one hell of a week here and across the country. Basketball, eclipse, nut job Magas enacting horrendous one hundred plus year old laws controlling the rights of women to have autonomy over their own bodies, you name it. It’s all going on. Wacky stuff.

Last week, as Jeff spoke about in the newsletter, we received a visit from Zander Schloss, bass player in the Circle Jerks, who kindly hooked us up with tickets for the show. I was looking forward to going, but left the shop that night to find my car with a flat tire, and by the time I had the donut on I was in no mood or shape to deal with everything that seeing a show at The Ritz involves. All reports back were that it was a killer time.

Then, to cap the weekend off for me, I woke up Sunday morning with a swollen eyelid, which got progressively worse all day. By Monday morning, I looked like a wasp and a bee had a stinging competition on my eye. I think it is getting better now and hopefully by the weekend I’ll be back to normal. Ha!. Normal. What is that?

Tons of cool shit coming through the store again this week. We got new stuff, used stuff and reissues of old stuff. We’ve all been digging the three albums by Dead Ends. My favorite is the first, but read Jeff’s deeper dive into how these records sound and the story behind these guys.

For my pick this week, I would like to recommend a cool reissue we got in from General Speech. It’s the short-lived band Puncture and their 1977 one-off single for Small Wonder (the label’s first release) called Mucky Pup b/w Can’t Rock & Roll (In A Council Flat).

The other day Usman was talking to us about the song Mucky Pup and how he had thought it was an Exploited song, only to learn it was a cover. Indeed, the tune was covered by The Exploited for their Punks Not Dead album. In Usman’s defense, the song is probably best known from this version and because it wasn’t stuck at the end of the record, why would you think it was a cover? My exposure to the song came via the B-side, which I can recall hearing on a John Peel show back in the day. That was confirmed just the other week when I pulled up Peel shows on YouTube for something to listen to and I heard that song. I’ve always wanted a copy of the 45, but even though Small Wonder pressed at least three thousand copies, it has been in demand and commands a decent price. I’ve got both sides of the 45 on two different compilations, though. A Small Wonder singles collection and a KBD type boot called Neighbor Annoyer.

I like Mucky Pup, but for me it is the B-side that is the winner. I like the humor of it, perhaps. Also, the use of a wonky keyboard and the synth sounds that are on both tracks add a little something extra. Both songs are great and a classic example of what the kids in Islington were up to in the late 70s. Good stuff. Small Wonder, the label and shop based in Walthamstow, East London, was like Chiswick Records and the shop Rock On. Along with Stiff Records, these three independents released countless seminal early punk singles. But I don’t need to tell you guys that.

There’s not too much to say about the band. They only put out this one single, but gigged regularly for the year or so that they were together. Guitarist Jack Stafford changed his name to Jak Airport and played with X-Ray Spex and enjoyed some success with them. On the Bored Teenagers website, bass player and vocalist Steve Councel talks a little about what the others in the band got up to post Puncture. Click here to read that brief piece.

We have a few copies of the reissue here in stock. I’m not sure how limited they are, but as with all these things my advice is to snag one sooner than later.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters? Can you believe it’s April already and Easter has happened? We’ve already had a taste of summer with a blast of warm weather here this week. May we have a few weeks of spring please? March Madness is about to conclude on Monday and unfortunately our NC State Wolfpack didn’t make it to the final, but played great all the way and we’re very proud around here. Unless you follow Duke or Carolina, that is. Ha! Not that I follow college sports too closely, but being local, I’ll get into the spirit of things.

John Scott mentioned the other week that his musical choices are largely informed by the current weather, and I think many of us can agree on that. I know personally that as soon as the sun is out and the temperature rises, my record selections often favor more tropical fare shall we say. Although I have never been a surfer, I have always had a soft spot for surf music. In particular, the tougher edge surf guitar sound that also combines a sci-fi space-age element. If it sounds like Batman with a theremin and Star Trek theme vocals, I’m interested. Add a cover with rocket ships and aliens on it, even better. We have all that and Elvis on my recommendation for you this week. It’s In Space by The Hamiltones on Swimming Faith/Big Neck Records. Not to be confused with the R&B group of the same name that hail from here in North Carolina.

The Hamiltones come from Buffalo, New York and have a demo tape dated from 2015, so have been around close to a decade now. Their first full length LP, Dracula Invitational, 1791, was released in 2021 and In Space is their second. Just like that first LP, which was the soundtrack to a fictitious Dracula movie, this album is also a soundtrack to an unmade movie. As the title suggests, this one concentrates on space and aliens rather than vampires. Musically, the palettes are similar. Surf guitar a la Dick Dale, The Ventures etc. but mixed with some sci-fi sounds of the sort you’d find on soundtracks to drive-in B-movies from the 50s and 60s. I do the band and the record a disservice by breaking it down quite so basically, but you get the gist.

Perhaps because retro reissue label Sundazed Records used to be based in Coxsackie, NY and served the local populus with good surf and garage records for over two decades, there are more than a couple decent surf combos from the area. Who knows? Buffalo has an active music scene representing many stripes of the rock ‘n roll beast. Indeed, Hamiltones main man John Toohill wears many caps himself, chief among them being the brainchild behind HC Noise band Science Man. That’s probably his most recognizable band, but not the only one. He’s also in Ismatic Guru and Brute Spring to name two other projects. These are more synth-punk and industrial sounding, with some weird psychedelic stuff mixed in.

Back to The Hamiltones and this record, In Space. As I mentioned, it’s a soundtrack to an imaginary film about moon people, music made in space, and a CIA cover-up plot involving aliens and Elvis. The package to the record is ace. The outer jacket apes an old Phase 4 Stereo LP with suitable images of the moon and a space capsule. Inside the gatefold, we are treated to a cartoon painting of a wild party scene on the moon featuring go-go dancing Barbarella alien girls, flying saucers, laser shooting astronauts and assorted alien characters. Even Dracula makes an appearance. Besides the record, which features an awesome synth tone locked groove that could play in a new age crystal shop all day and no one would notice, there is a manilla envelope purporting to be a CIA file. On opening, we find a secret dossier and a seven-inch single with sounds from The Moon People. Listeners are encouraged to play the record between the two sides of the LP to enjoy the full experience. I gotta say, I love shit like this. It appeals to me on so many levels and I certainly don’t consider myself any kind of authority on sci-fi and alien conspiracy theories or surf music, really. It’s the music that’s the main sell here, and that delivers handsomely, in my opinion. This could have come out in the 60s or any time after, and checks all the right boxes stylistically and more. No matter how much of a sci-fi or surf fan you are, I think you’ll find plenty to like and enjoy on this platter. Easier for you to listen and decide yourself, so hit this link here to check it out. Say hello to the Silver Surfer for me when you hang ten past Saturn’s rings and don’t stare directly at the sun during the eclipse.

Later - Dom

Hiya friends. I hope you are all doing well and had a happy Easter. I miss being a kid and going on Easter Egg hunts. Back in the day, my sister and I would eat our body weight in chocolate eggs and bunnies. Apart from one year when our dog ate all our booty while we were having lunch. He ate everything, wrappers and all and amazingly wasn’t sick. LoL. Good times.

Anyhow, we appreciate you checking in with us again this week. Between all the hot new slabs coming through, new and used, it’s a good time to visit the store in person or do a little online shopping. There aren’t many better ways to spend your dough than on music if you ask me, other than spending it on your loved ones and giving to charity.

A few weeks back, I recommended the soundtrack to the cult teensploitation movie Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, which I hope was a good steer, especially if it was new to you. This week I am going to stay in the soundtrack section if that’s alright. Along with music library records, soundtracks are still one of your best picks for discovery: fresh, cool music and sounds that perhaps you haven’t heard before. I could go on and list numerous reasons soundtracks appeal and why music lovers and record collectors seek them out. Ignore at your loss. Anyway, the other day as I was going through my soundtracks, I stopped to look at the one for Cornbread, Earl And Me. It’s an American film from 1975 that sports music composed and produced by Donald Byrd and performed by jazz-funk group The Blackbyrds. It’s damn funky in places. I hadn’t listened to it in a good while, but had recently just watched the film for the first time and now I feel I like the music even more, which is one of those appeals of soundtracks. As we are amid March Madness and have three local teams in the sweet sixteen (at the time of writing) it seems an appropriate time to pick a basketball related record. I will just add that, although I don’t follow basketball too closely and am an in no way what-so-ever an athlete that plays, I always appreciated the game. Back in my school days, we had a couple of cool gym/sports teachers and one time they took some of us kids to go see The Harlem Globetrotters on a visit to Britain. It was a cool experience and stuck with me. Later, when I came to America, I began following The Lakers, but not too seriously. But I digress…

If you are unfamiliar with the film, I highly recommend you watching it. The story is set in an urban environment like Chicago or a similar city, where a local kid, Cornbread, is a budding basketball player destined for success, fame and fortune. He is played by real life basketball star Jamaal Wilkes who, at the time of filming, was Rookie of the Year in the NBA and playing for the Golden State Warriors. He went on to win a championship with them in 1975, the year the film came out, and a further three with the Lakers in the 80s alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

In the movie, his character is friends with two younger boys, one of whom was played by Laurence Fishburne, making his film debut. It’s quite an impressive debut also. In the film, during a heavy rainstorm, the friends challenge Cornbread to see how quickly he can run home from the corner store they are sheltering in. I don’t want to spoil the plot for you, but a mix up in identity results in Cornbread being shot by the police and the rest of the film deals with the fallout from that in the community and how it affects the lives of the young friends and his family, etc. It’s very emotional stuff and sadly, as we all know, still happening today.

I did like the film and if you have seen and enjoyed similar films such as Claudine and Cooley High, which were released at the same time, then I think you will like it also. Those two films have great soundtracks also, with Curtis Mayfield producing Claudine and Cooley High, sporting a nice selection of Motown classics along with original music from Freddie Perren, who was a Motown staff producer.

Here in the store, whenever we get a Blackbyrds album, or a Donald Byrd record, they don’t stick around long. For good reason, as they are good. In recent weeks, I have been hearing them a lot as I know John Scott likes them and he has been playing them. The soundtrack for Cornbread, Earl and Me came out right in the middle of a great run for the Blackbyrds. That same year, their classic album City Life had been released and would be followed the next year by Unfinished Business and the year after that by Action. I like Action a lot and can recommend any of their 70s albums without hesitation. If a good dose of jazz-funk is what you are looking for, then you’ll find plenty of it on these albums.

The City Life album, which contained the much-sampled hit Rock Creek Park, is probably the best remembered album from the group that was formed in 1973. They were Howard University students inspired by jazz trumpeter and already legendary Donald Byrd, who wanted to take students from the academic world and expose them to the real world of music and life. They took their name from an album Byrd had released previously on Blue Note Records. That album and many of Byrd’s classic 70s records were produced by the Mizell brothers, Larry and Fonce, who were themselves Howard alumni.

Production and composition for Cornbread comes from Donald Byrd himself. The record is a mix of jazz-funk with a couple of ballads and 70s cop crime theme moments like the cut Riot, which RZA sampled for a Ghostface Killah track. Bass player Joe Hall shows his funky chops throughout, and his intro to the song One-Eyed Two Step would have Howard from The Mighty Boosh in jazz-funk bass heaven. If you know what I mean.

Overall, a fun listen and a good album, one that possibly gets overlooked when folks talk about the group’s music. Should be easy to find a copy, although we haven’t had one come through here recently, despite getting most of the other albums by the group regularly.

Alright, back to it. Thanks for reading. If you get the chance, watch the film if you haven’t already, and definitely get the Blackbyrds music in your life.

Cheers -Dom

Hey there Sorry Staters, I hope things are well with you and thanks for taking the time to catch up with us here. Daniel works ridiculously hard on getting the newsletter out to you and packing it with as much vital, cool, interesting and fun stuff as possible each week and all of us here are proud to contribute in any way possible. I look forward to reading my colleagues’ picks and reviews each week just as much as you all do. I hope that is not a vain assumption and is true. I must apologize for my lack of contribution last week (and even as I write potentially this week) as I have been going through some stuff and it just has made writing and thinking straight even more difficult than normal. I end up junking more “staff picks” than I end up finishing. I have a bad habit of writing what looks more like diary entries and self-examinations than reviews and opinions on records. No one wants to read my laundry list of woes and problems. We all got ‘em. So best just shut up and try to keep carrying on.

Easier said than done sometimes, as I can get trapped in the dark corners of my mind very easily and spiral ever deeper and darker if I dwell on things too much. What always brings me back from the edge though is the reminder that all around the world there are people and animals who have it much worse off than I do, and that I should be extremely thankful for what I have and for where I live, etc. Although news stories about bad things aren’t good for the mind and can make you sad, we need reminders that others have it much worse off. The situation in Ukraine and Gaza and the poor people there, especially the innocent children who are suffering is just awful. It’s always the children who suffer the most in these wars and such. Those who survive will carry the scars for the rest of their lives. The psychological impact is huge and will be a heavy weight on their backs as they proceed through life. Not the ideal way for anyone to enter adulthood.

Children suffering in times of war is not the best lead-in to a staff pick, but for this week this is how it is going down as I wanted to talk about the album Help, a charity album released in 1995 by Go! Discs to raise funds and awareness for War Child, a charity set up in 1993 to bring aid and relief to the children caught up in the then ongoing war in Bosnia and the former Yugoslavian countries.

The other week, whilst over at my DJ partner Matt’s house to do our radio show Worldy, I was flicking through some of his records and saw that he had a vinyl copy of the Help album. I didn’t realize that it had been reissued in 2020 to mark the 25th anniversary. The original 1995 vinyl pressing isn’t that hard to find nowadays with Discogs and the internet, but over the years I have rarely seen a copy in a shop, especially here in the States. I do still have my original CD copy that I bought with the track listing cut out from the NME, as at the time of producing the artwork the tracks and sequence had yet to be determined. More on that in a second.

I would argue that not only is Help the best charity album ever, but it is also one of the best documents of the musical landscape in Britain and Ireland during those heady Brit Pop years. Add the compilations made of the Later… With Jools Holland TV show where acts performed live and in the round with the other guests watching and one done for Radio One’s Evening Session with Steve Lamacq and Jo Wiley as prime sets of 90s UK Brit Pop bands.

In 1995, the British music scene was flying high, literally and metaphorically. Other than one or two older and established artists, notably Sir Paul McCartney, every artist and act that participated on Help were at their respective peaks and in their purple patches of creativity.

The idea was to have all the acts record their contributions on a Monday and have the album in the shops by Saturday. Inspired by John Lennon’s Instant Karma and the concept that music should be made and released quickly like newspapers. Easier said than done, of course, and to be successful, something that required many, many people to be on board and coordinated and working together. Back in 1995, this was even more difficult than it would be now. Electronic communication and advances in recording that we take for granted now simply didn’t exist then. It was all done the old-fashioned way, through phone calls and meetings, in recording studios, in art studios, in the press and on television. Not forgetting the manufacturing and distribution parts too. Quite the undertaking and that it happened at all is amazing, but that it turned out so good is down to the commitments from the artists and the incredible hard work and hustle from the people behind the scenes.

For the 25th anniversary of Help, a documentary podcast was made that detailed the whole process from idea to physical reality and interviews are done with the key players and most of the artists. It is a good listen and recommended. I learned so many interesting facts about who had a part in making it happen, who were the driving forces behind it and stuff like having to get the RAF involved to fly the albums to Europe to get them there on time. I mentioned having to cut the track listing out of the paper. That was because there wasn’t enough time to get the finished sequence printed on the artwork or even inserted after the fact. So, when you bought the CD on that Saturday, 9th of September 1995, it was a bit of a mystery listen. The music press and Daily Mirror gave free pages that following week to print the track listing for people to cut out. Seems so strange that that had to be considered and worked out, but back then graphic design and artwork was still done by hand and photographed. Modern computer apps could have that done in a second now. Talking of the artwork, the cover was done by John Squire of The Stone Roses and the back cover art provided by 3-D from Massive Attack. Liner notes were written by Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic.

Almost all the music for Help was indeed recorded that previous Monday at studios around Britain and other locations around the world, with just one or two exceptions. Finished tracks were then mixed and sequenced by Brian Eno. In conjunction with the album, there were also two single E.P.s that contained further tracks by additional artists like Black Grape and Dodgy and P J Harvey, who were not included on the original twenty track album.

There were lots of exciting and exclusive tracks on the record. Coming out after that summer where the news had gone silly over the Blur vs Oasis war, it was a big deal to have both bands on the same album together. The Oasis track was a reworking of a B-side that featured celeb friends Johnny Depp and Kate Moss on vocals.

The Manic Street Preachers covering Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head was the first fans had heard anything from them since the disappearance of band mate Richey Edwards and the death of their manager. Their Everything Must Go album would come out the following year.

Radiohead amazed everyone with their contribution. Their track Lucky was the first clue where they had gone sonically and would be central to OK Computer, the album they would release almost two years later. It said something about them that they would give away their best material at the time to a charity record. Regardless of whether or not you are a fan, this track blew people’s minds when they heard it here first.

I’ve always loved The Boo Radleys, and in 1995 they were riding high on the success of their hit Wake Up Boo. They wrote a great song especially for the record and apparently it was one of Brian Eno’s favorites.

Sinead O’Connor just made the deadline and fortunately so because her cover of Ode To Billy Joe is sublime. A definite highlight.

Bowie loving Suede do a nice job covering Shipbuilding, the Elvis Costello & Clive Langer song written about The Falklands War and released by Robert Wyatt originally.

Orbital named their song Adnan after an actual war refugee that returned to the area and was later killed.

The Charlatans and The Chemical Brothers mark their friendship with their first professional collaboration on Time For Livin’.

Stereo MCs sound just as cool and contemporary now as they did then. Their track Sweetest Truth is a marvelous modern soulful tune done only the way they could at their best.

The album also featured a new track from the great KLF under the guise of the One World Orchestra. They rework the theme to The Magnificent Seven and add samples including vocals from DJ Fleka from Serbian radio B92. Despite its creators not being that proud of the finished track in so far as musical quality, it was used as a jingle on Serbian radio and later a theme tune that became attached to the resistance as a protest anthem so went on to have a life of its own.

I was working on the ships during this time and was sailing around Italy and visiting Venice. It was hard to comprehend then that just hours from where I was, there was a war going on and so much terrible suffering happening to people. The world up to then had been almost ignoring the conflict. It seems shameful in retrospect that the media was more concerned about who was better between Oasis and Blur than the fact that children were being shot by snipers. Thankfully, through organizations like War Child and the success of the Help album things changed and much needed relief was provided. The Help album alone raised well over a million pounds. One note about that, the British Chart compilers wouldn’t include the album on the charts, as it was a compilation. It made number one on the compilations chart and would certainly have charted on the regular album chart if included, and probably would have made number one too. That decision to leave it off undoubtedly cost the charity thousands in lost sales.

As did also the inexplicable decision by Radio One not to play the single E.P., which caused it to stall at number 51. Nonetheless, the album was a huge success and not only raised money that was put to great use but put the conflict and suffering of the people there on to the front pages of the papers and into the TV news programs. Finally.

Subsequent albums have been released for War Child since then. In 2002, there was 1 Love released with the NME. That had various bands and singers cover their favorite songs. I would be lying if I said I liked everything on this one, but there are one or two good takes for sure. The follow up to Help called Heroes that came out in 2009 isn’t bad. That one has current artists covering songs by older classic artists. There are some nice versions on there. Beck doing Dylan. Lily Allen doing The Clash’s Straight To Hell with Mick Jones. Hot Chip taking on Joy Division and Yeah Yeah Yeahs covering The Ramones. All good takes in my opinion.

2003 saw the release of one called Hope, and in 2005 there was an album titled A Day In The Life. Again, these feature a variety of artists playing originals and doing covers. I admit that I am not familiar with these last two and don’t own them, but they both have artists that I like, so I’ll be checking out both collections in the future.

Regardless, they are all for a great cause, and if you can buy one or donate to the charity directly, you’ll be helping a child somewhere and that’s never a bad thing. For the vinyl lovers out there, it appears that all five of the War Child albums are available on wax, having all received recent pressings. I think I might pick up the Heroes one myself next.

Okay, I need to stop here and get this over to Daniel so that I don’t miss the deadline again. Thanks for reading and I hope someone might enjoy discovering or rediscovering some of this music. It seems crazy that almost thirty years have passed since the release of Help. Sadly, the world still has the same problems that needed addressing then. All we can do is stay informed and try to support good causes, whether they are local or global.

Before I go, I discovered a Channel Four TV documentary on Help which you can watch here.

Cheers- Dom

Hello, hello Sorry Staters. How’s it going? Good to be back with some words about stuff for the newsletter. I was a bit under the weather last week and couldn’t get it together in time to include a recommendation for you. My apologies. Not that there isn’t ever something cool in the store to talk about and I probably have one or two records lying around my apartment that I could tell you are good. I enjoy talking about records and nerding out over shit with friends and customers in the store and spinning them out at gigs but have always struggled to put thoughts on to paper. I really admire my colleagues here at Sorry State for their ability to write interesting pieces. I try. I watch Jeff here just tap tapping away at the keyboard and five minutes later he’s written a killer review on something and meanwhile I am staring at a white screen. LoL.

This week my listening has been all over the place. We had some big orders delivered recently packed full of interesting and cool records. Third Man Records continue to release good stuff for instance. We got some cool Jazz and Soul titles that they have and some new things too. I’m currently getting into Hotline TNT whose latest album, Cartwheel, they have released. I’m way late for this party so y’all are probably up on them already, but if you aren’t and 90s Shoegaze is your thing, then you might want to check ‘em out. They don’t hide the influences at all and go as far as referencing Teenage Fanclub on the record’s hype sticker. Yep, this is exactly what the record sounds like. Early Fannies mixed with other Creation Records bands, particularly My Bloody Valentine. Normally I stay away from newer bands when they are so obviously ripping a certain sound. I’m not into cosplay and civil war re-enactment either. However, I do have a soft spot for this genre and absolutely adore Teenage Fanclub, so Cartwheel hit the right notes for me. Certainly not reinventing the cartwheel, but there are some good tunes on the record.

What I really want to highlight this week though are a series of killer mixtapes that we got in from World Gone Mad. On actual tape. Very cool. Some of the titles I believe we stocked before, but there are a couple of new ones. I’ve stated many times before how much I love compilations, and a carefully curated mixtape is the best thing going for any music lover. These are all collections comprising rare and underground punk, darkwave, post punk and other alternative sounds from singles released mostly in the 1980s. Each one concentrates on a different part of the world and country. If you are hungry for music that you probably haven’t heard before or own on other compilations or as original singles, these tapes are for you my friend. Tons of great obscure tracks that outside of their own countries and within collector circles have rarely been heard.

So far I have listened to the Polish, Yugoslavian, South American, Japanese and Finnish ones. There’s one from Russia, Greece and Columbia that I still need to check out at the time of writing this. The Japanese one is a double tape and has a lot of great stuff on it. Its scope is the entirety of the 1980s and stops in 1991. I recognized a few names like OXZ and Inu, but most of the records were new to me. Working here with Usman has several perks, but one of them is that he knows his Finnish and Scandinavian punk better than anyone and so has hooked me up with some killer tapes himself. I’ll need to compare the World Gone Mad one with his.

So far I would say the Polish one has been my favorite overall, but there’s so much cool music spread across all of these that the Internationalists like me out there will probably want all of them.

There’s something very pleasing for me hearing somewhat familiar musical styles sung in a language I don’t speak. Often lyrics can get in the way of the emotion of a song, so when you don’t understand the words your brain can just concentrate on the music. Usually, you’ll be feeling the song in the way the artist intended, but sometimes you’ll make up your own meaning to the lyrics and interpret the song in a different way and individual to yourself. Or something like that. I guess the point is, don’t be afraid of stuff you don’t understand and know. There’s more to the world than just Los Angeles, New York or London. Obviously. As cool music lovers with refined tastes, you all knew that and don’t need me telling you, but if you fancy a trip around the planet without getting your passport out, these tapes are the perfect way to do it.

I’ll need to compare the track listings with other compilations like the Bloodstains series to see whether there is any overlap, but even if there is, these are mixtapes and not just straight forward compilations. Aaron at World Gone Mad, who I believe compiled all of these, has put a lot of effort into the track flow and sound quality. Just stick ‘em in the deck and press play. Old school. I wish I still had a tape player in my car to blast these on my commute.

My apologies for not giving you a deeper dive into all the tracks and telling you cool factoids about the artists. I’d be lying if I told you I knew much anyway. Like I said, almost all these tracks are new to me and are obscure even for much more seasoned collectors than myself. But don’t worry about it, take a chance. I’d say perhaps start with the Japanese one, the Polish one, and the Finnish one first and then if you are needing more go for the Yugo and South American next. We’ve got the Greek one running right now and it has some good stuff so far.

Gonna leave you there and make sure I don’t miss the deadline this week. Thanks for reading and as always, thanks for your support.

Cheers - Dom

Hi Sorry Staters. How are things? Mustn’t grumble right? We all could run down a shopping list of woes most weeks, but nobody wants to hear that, so we’ll just assume and pretend that the world is doing great despite the evidence to the contrary and keep calm and carry on.

This past week was both Mardi Gras and Saint Valentine’s Day. I didn’t celebrate the latter but had fun spinning some funk and soul records from New Orleans to mark Fat Tuesday on the radio show I do. Here at the store, there has been plenty to keep my mind occupied and stimulated music wise. We’ve been getting lots of cool records across a wide spectrum of genres. Personally, I listen to and enjoy all sorts of stuff and can easily switch from punk to bluegrass to funk to hip-hop to disco to jazz to prog to psych and back again. Depending on my mood of course. But variety is the spice of life as they say.

This week Daniel and I bought a bunch of 70s, 80s and 90s soul, funk, disco and pop records from a nice lady whose husband had been a DJ. We managed to find a few interesting and fun things. A lot of Prince. Some Madonna rarities. A lot of picture sleeve 12” singles and a few cool electro boogie singles from the early 80s. I have been particularly digging that latter genre recently. I’m finding more and more great tracks on singles and albums from that period that I either wasn’t aware of or had overlooked. Particularly pleasing for my point of view is that for the most part these records aren’t too expensive or out of reach. Sure, there are plenty of electro and disco records that command top dollar, and rightfully so, because they are brilliant and/or rare, but most records made during this era were pressed in the thousands, tens of thousands, millions even. Meaning that they are out there and findable. These days it seems a lot of music lovers and record collectors are putting too much concentration on the holy grails and ignoring the low hanging fruit. They could be feasting but choose to go hungry. Ha.

However, I get how the appeal of a 12” single isn’t shared by all. Just like a 7” single, especially without a picture sleeve, some folks just find them too much work to appreciate and when digging for records too daunting and overwhelming. It’s true, you do have to put more effort into playing singles and in that respect it’s why 12” singles ultimately ended as they began, as a DJ tool. It’s in that original concept of creation that you find the magic. Much better sound (usually), extended mixes, remixes, dub mixes, instrumentals, acapella versions and maybe an exclusive track. For Deejays they’re obviously perfect, but for fans and collectors just as desirable and essential in my opinion.

As I write this piece it is Sunday and minutes to deadline, so I had better get on with it. We had a great Friday and Saturday at the shop whilst I was working and honestly, I got rocked on Saturday. I counted over thirty people at once in the store a few times and it was busy almost the entire time, although with little lulls. Anyone who works retail knows what I mean. One minute the place is packed and then it’s like a bell goes off and everyone checks out at once and the place empties. Quiet for a moment and then off we go again. I love that we were able to make so many people happy with their purchases. Records aren’t just groceries or pharmacy items; they are life itself and represent the most important things in our existence. Seeing the pleasure in people’s eyes when they are getting a cool record and talking to them about it is absolutely the best feeling for me and why I do this.

There were so many stories like that this week. It’s so cool and why record stores are to be loved and cherished. To coin the title from the book on Bomp! which succinctly puts it “saving the world one record at a time”. Greg Shaw is an American hero just like Billy Miller at Norton and music lovers owe so much to them both. They’re certainly my heroes. Both backed it should be noted by amazing women partners. There might be something in that old saying. Ha! Looks like it works well for people I know and I sure as hell do not know how to look after myself, but that’s another story. Going back to the 12” singles, a lot of those did make our shoppers happy and so I feel good about that, and it backs up my feelings on the subject. If you are reading this and are local, there are still lots more goodies to be found and I still have a small batch left to process that will hit the floor next week.

As for me, I too had a record moment over the weekend. I’m literally about to be buried in records and certainly not short of anything to listen to at home or at the store, but did finally cross a long time want off the list. One of our friends brought in a small but interesting and varied collection of records to sell and both Jeff and I found something we had coveted for years amongst them. This particular dude always brings us good shit. As do many of our cool friends. We thank you all and are glad that we can provide a place where your treasures can be passed on to others to enjoy and help us keep the lights on and put a few bucks in your pocket at the same time. You may hear from Jeff or Daniel about the record that they both wanted, but the one that made my eyes light up was the soundtrack to the 1970 film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. Released by 20th Century Fox, directed by Russ Meyer and written by Roger Ebert.

This cult movie has been well documented over the years in articles and podcasts and deserves a deep dive if you are unfamiliar. The story behind it all is quite fascinating. I would highly recommend you watch the movie first and foremost if you haven’t already. Not to give away too may spoilers, it’s a terrific kitschy spoof follow up to the 1967 hit film Valley Of The Dolls that tells a similar tale of three young women coming to Hollywood in search of fame, this time as musicians in a groovy rock band. Given free reign by the studio, who only demanded it be made as cheaply as possible and that it pushed the R rating to an X, director Russ Meyer, he of Vixen, Mudhoney, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and many more cult classics, along with Chicago Sun-Times film critic turned screenplay writer Roger Ebert, put everything plus the kitchen sink into the picture. It’s got it all: sex, drugs, music, violence, satire, all in glorious 1970 color with everyone dressed mod and groovy. The violence aspect and the brutal climatic ending of the film baring clear and intentional reference to the Manson murders the previous year that had shocked Hollywood and the world. Sharon Tate was one of the three stars in the original Valley Of The Dolls, of course.

The soundtrack is cool and features songs that the fictitious band called the Carrie Nations perform in the movie. Also featured in the movie are real-life band Strawberry Alarm Clock, who play themselves and have a couple of songs on the soundtrack album. The dreamy theme to the film is performed by soft-pop group The Sandpipers. Production and song writing comes from noted composer Stu Phillips, who had scored the music to Ride The Wild Surf in 1964 and had founded Colpix Records, which had hits from everyone from Nina Simone to The Monkees. He also made a series of easy listening records during the 1960s for Capitol Records credited to the Hollywood Stings Orchestra that cover The Beatles and The Beach Boys. In the 70s, his credits would include The Six Million Dollar Man and Battlestar Galactica, so he was no slouch.

The best songs on the soundtrack are the songs that the girls sing in the band. Here is where it gets interesting. The songs were lip-synched by the actors in the movie, but were really sung by Lynn Carey and Barbara Robison. Lynn Carey from Los Angeles began her career as a model and actress and developed into a good blue-eyed soul singer who made some decent records with Canadian Neil Merryweather in the early 70s. Their first is under their own names, but the next two came out as Mama Lion. The die-cut cover to the one called Preserve Wildlife is pretty great and must have influenced Tori Amos and Belle And Sebastian in their choices of album artwork. Go Google it and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Barbara “Sandi” Robison was born in Las Vegas and began singing on the Los Angeles folk scene and later became the singer with pop-psych group The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, who had regional hits but never really got big outside of California.

However, when it came time to releasing the soundtrack album, there were legal disputes over royalties which resulted in Lynn Carey not being able to appear on the record. Her vocal parts were then hastily re-recorded by another singer named Ami Rushes, who apparently now renounces her pop star past and is a Christian Gospel minister and singer. So, in the movie you hear Lynn Carey with Barbara Robison, but on the record it’s Barbara with Ami. There is a promo 45 that came out with two tracks from the movie and the label lists Ami Rushes as the artist. I’ve never seen a copy of this in the wild, but would love to find one. Some people have suggested that the album versions are not just the same backing tracks with new vocals, but new recordings all together. Certainly, the consensus is that the movie versions with Lynn Carey singing are the better takes, but the soundtrack versions don’t completely suck in comparison.

In the early 2000s, Harkit Records put out a version of the soundtrack that had those movie versions along with other songs and cues that were in the film but not on the soundtrack. Finally, fans were able to hear what they had heard in the film. I’m glad I picked up a copy of that release when it came out, and although I have some complaints about the sound quality, it did complete the missing elements and came with a nice poster.

On playing back the copy of the original, it seems that I might have to deal with sound quality issues with this too. It sounds great, but I did notice a couple of moments of distortion and in a couple of spots (luckily between tracks) a weird sound is heard for a split second. I assume this is a manufacturing issue and I will need to find another copy now to compare. Also, another deciding factor in me buying this copy is that the previous seller had plastered three different stickers on it stuck down with super glue. On trying to remove them I slightly damaged the artwork. Luckily, I was able to fill it in with black marker as it was over an all-black area of the jacket and at a glance you would never tell. LoL. Little tricks you can use. Regardless, I felt more than compelled to take this copy after that.

Of the tunes, the two that stand out are the rockers, Find It and Sweet Talking Candyman, along with the hippy Come With The Gentle People. These links are taken from the movie and if you watch them, they’ll tell you more about the music and the film than I ever could.

Thanks for reading and hopefully we’ve steered at least one of you to something you’ll enjoy. Cheers and see you next time -Dom

Hey there Sorry Staters! What’s happening? We appreciate you stopping by and taking a read of the newsletter. Always.

So, last week I tempted fate by mentioning football and right away my Reds go and have a terrible day at the office. Typical. I’m sure that raised a laugh from some of you out there reading. That’s okay, trust me I see the funny side too.

Anyway, this week there were some interesting new arrivals awaiting me when I came to work after my weekend off. I’m not sure whether my colleagues will touch on any of them, but the one that I would like to talk about is a compilation of the singles released by the independent punk label Groucho Marxist Record Co:Operative from Paisley, Scotland in the late 70s/early 80s. The label only put out four singles, but packed a lot of quality and variety across those eight sides of vinyl. When I was back in Glasgow last year visiting my cousin, we drove past Paisley as it is so close and just the other day, I was looking at a photo of the Walrus Fountain in Paisley that my cousin took. Couple that with a recent listen to The Vaselines and I was perfectly primed for some good Scottish pop and punk sounds. This compilation did not disappoint.

GMRC was run by a printer named Tommy Kayes, who was a member of a Clyde side anarchist group. Local politics, police suspicion and ties to Rock Against Racism were the main influences and driving forces behind the label and the bands that they recorded. Across the four singles, eight different bands/artists are represented, the first two singles being various artists EPs.

Musically, the sound is D.I.Y. punk and typical of the try anything approach that similar labels and bands were adopting across the land. XS Discharge come across like a mix of The Clash and Buzzcocks with a dash of Public Image Limited for good measure. Defiant Pose sound like The Undertones and could easily have been on Good Vibrations. Mod Cons kick the collection off with a humorous but true song about the state of 70s council housing. It’s a catchy number and you could see it being a hit if the lyrics were about girls or something other than damp flats.

Other than the shorter run, GMRC share a similar aesthetic as labels like Good Vibrations and a host of other independent labels that were circumventing the mainstream and doing it for themselves. As I began writing this piece in the store, Jeff and I were listening to a couple of Crass comps which collected all the demo tape submissions that they received from around the country. They’re called Bullshit Detector and are worthy of adding to your collection if you don’t already have them. There are quite a few gems across the two volumes we played, but we thought the second set was the better. If we had to pick. I love all these regional compilations that document the scenes outside of London and the other major cities. So much creativity and talent on display and, when outside of the mainstream, often weird. Weird is good of course and so is being able to say whatever you want without fear of being censored. Songs about real-life issues, politics etc. is what you get, and that’s exactly what infuses every tune that GMRC released in their brief two-year lifespan. A quote from Tommy taken from a fanzine interview perfectly sums up the label’s philosophy: “No way do we cater for happy consumers, who clock in the following morning, content because they had a fun night. We are anti-specialists: you don’t need big promoters to organize gigs, IPC to publish fanzines, professionals to take photos, record companies to make records, lawyers to tell you what’s right from wrong.”

Every track is a winner here and based on prices for the original singles that’s just not the opinion of a few shut-in collectors. They are not completely out of reach though, especially if you live in the UK and can find a local dealer, but perhaps this comp will increase interest and more people will be on the hunt now. Or not, you never can tell. I admit ignorance to the label and the songs, but I am sure more seasoned punks out there are long aware of these great records. Clearly, the good folks at Sealed Records were and many thanks to them for the great job that they have done on this release. The record sounds good first and foremost, so good job there, but the packaging is the hero here. You get a whopping 40-page 11x11 booklet included which is full of press clippings, photos, essays, track information and zine interviews. Very cool and informative. Get this one in your cart pronto. We have a few copies in stock currently, but you don’t want to sleep on this one.

Okay, that’s it from me. Thanks for taking the time to read the newsletter. I’m sure my colleagues came through with their writings. I’m not blowing smoke when I say that I look forward to reading what they are into each week, as they always educate and entertain me.

Peace and love - Dom

What’s up everyone? How was your week? Hopefully good. Another rollercoaster one for me which saw me crying into my cornflakes in despair over my life one minute and then crying with joy the next as the Reds notched up another impressive victory. Wild mood swings for sure, which demand vastly different soundtracks.

Here in the store, I have been enjoying listening to some of the hip-hop albums and 12”s we recently bought. There are still lots more good titles to snag if that’s your bag and you are local. Besides the hip-hop 12”s, check out some of the disco singles we have too. I love a 12” single personally. They seem to be somewhat under appreciated by the wider record buying public, but I always found them great value for money and an indispensable DJ tool. You typically get at least two versions of the main tune, maybe a non-LP B-side and the best part, an instrumental version. Particularly for hip-hop, I often find myself loving the beat but not liking the rap. Language and use of certain words being the prime reason. Often with 12”s you’ll also get a clean or radio mix included, especially if it’s a promo. With prices on albums ever climbing, a closer look at whether there is a 12” single might be an option and a way to get some of the music you are looking for. I used to suggest to people on a budget to look for a cassette version of records that were getting expensive, but even that doesn’t seem to be much of a help these days. Prices on in demand albums are high for tapes too. We scored a small collection of cool things recently and there were some good tapes in amongst them, including a Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique which we played in the store yesterday. Sounded great too.

We had a bunch of cool things come in the last week or two. Some have already sold out, so I don’t want to talk about them here but if we restock this Cumbia compilation called Sonido Tumi Vol. II ever again, then join me on grabbing a copy. We got in just a few and Jeff and I were digging listening to it in the store. We had the first volume a while back and as of now, just like that first volume, the track listing on the second is a mystery. I believe someone at Mississippi Records is behind compiling these comps. I understand the mystery and under the counter nature of things, but it would be kind of cool knowing who the artists were and what the song titles are.

I’ve been digging the 45 from London’s Violin that is out on Iron Lung. Good sounding HC. We have an album from them on La Vida Es Un Mus and I believe the “group” is essentially a one-man band with a drummer. Good tunes and well recorded and still currently in stock if you fancy checking it out.

It’s no secret that I am a big Jimi Hendrix fan and never need an excuse to listen to his music. We recently bought a collection that had a lot of Jimi and have sold a good amount of them already. In amongst the sealed copies of Electric Ladyland girls cover albums were quite a few of those quasi-legit live records and studio outtakes. After his death, until his family finally got control of his estate, it was the wild west as far as Hendrix records were concerned. So many different versions of the same thing with different covers and varying quality. During his lifetime, Jimi recorded constantly. Whether it was in the studio or at home or live on stage, there was tape running. Before he became famous in his own right, he played as sideman for several top R&B and soul artists, including the Isley Brothers.

One artist that he played with was Curtis Knight, and it was with him that several studio recordings, known as the PPX sessions, were recorded by producer Ed Chalpin in late 1965 and early 1966. It was the legal repercussions of signing a deal with Chalpin before moving to England that resulted in The Band Of Gypsys album being recorded and given to Capital Records as settlement for that earlier contract. Jimi and the group with Curtis Knight, called The Lovelights and later to switched to The Squires, were also captured on tape playing live in Hackensack, New Jersey at a club called George’s Club 20 at the end of December 1965 and in January 1966. Just a few months before Chas Chandler saw him and whisked Jimi off to London, England and stardom. These live recordings have appeared in many forms over the years with different covers and track listings and more recently were given a redux by Hendrix’s main recording engineer Eddie Kramer for Experience Hendrix’s sub-label Dagger Records. It’s cool getting the performances properly packaged with correct liner note details etc. Kramer cleaned up the sound a little and removed audience noise, some of which were dubbed after the fact, and the studio postproduction that Chalpin did at the time.

In among the albums we bought in the collection was a German version of the George’s Club 20 tapes and to my ears it sounds great despite all its technical limitations and “crappy” sound. The show itself is killer and may or may not have been recorded on Boxing Day (December 26th) 1965, depending on which source of information you take. The set is Blues and R&B numbers. Great versions of Driving South by Albert Collins, I’m A Man by Bo Diddley, and Killin’ Floor by Howlin’ Wolf. Jimi is already the star of the show and throws in a lot of his party tricks, playing with his teeth, behind his head and delivering blistering solos. The second side finishes up with covers of Ray Charles’s What’d I Say and Bright Lights, Big City by Jimmy Reed. Like most bands playing club gigs like this at the time, their sets would be mostly covers of current hits and classics. Curtis Knight sings most of the tunes, but Jimi (or Jimmy as he was still known as then) can be heard joking and providing backup vocals. It’s easy to see why Chas Chandler and everyone else for that matter were so blown away by Jimi. His playing, looks and personality were unmistakable and so unique.

When the remastered version of the George’s Club 20 tapes was released a few years back, I wrongly assumed that I had all these recordings already and didn’t need them. Even some reviewers seemed less than enthusiastic and talked about the sound quality etc. Sure, the quality isn’t studio level and there are better sounding live recordings out there, but as a document of his pre-fame era, this stuff still kicks ass. If you are a fan, you should check them out. Here’s a link to hear Driving South. Then if you liked what you heard and you see one of these records titled Early Hendrix or Live In New Jersey in your record store, you’ll know what you are getting. I’ll be on the lookout for the Dagger Records version now as I want the songs left off my single disc version and to hear them without the overdubs. Plus, the superior packaging with photos and liner notes.

As we celebrate African American History month this February, there’s plenty of great music to get inspired by and to enjoy, but for a taste of a typical Friday or Saturday night, mid 1960s, in a club there’s probably not a better example than these recordings.

Thanks for reading. Cheers and see you next time.

-Dom

R.I.P. Wayne Kramer

Hi folks! What’s going on? It’s been another fun filled week here at Sorry State Industries. We’ve been buying some good used records, including a nice collection of hip-hop records that will hit the bins this week and next. There have been a bunch of new arrivals and restocks from some of our favorite labels. Then there has been the legendary North Carolina weather. From pipe freezing temperatures in the teens to short sleeves and 70s within a couple of days. Nice.

I’ve been dealing with the struggles of life recently and it’s been affecting my mood. Thankfully, I have work, music, and football to keep my mind occupied and distracted. That always does the trick. There’s never a dull moment here at SSR and my Reds are still top of the league and have already booked a trip to Wembley for a cup final in what will now be our manager Jurgen Klopp’s final season. However, this past week, the news of two music legends passing saddened me. In case you didn’t hear, we lost soul and jazz singer Marlena Shaw and lead singer from sixties girl group legends The Shangri-Las, Mary Weiss. Both ladies are cultural icons and their contribution to popular music cannot be overstated.

Marlena Shaw recorded for the Chicago based Cadet/Chess label in the late sixties, releasing the classic The Spice Of Life album in 1969, a Charles Stepney and Richard Evans production that has her great version of California Soul on it and the immortal Woman Of The Ghetto among others. Sounds that hip-hop producers would use years later. In the 70s, Shaw switched to Blue Note and released a series of credible and entertaining jazz-funk records before moving labels again to Columbia where she recorded some good disco influenced albums. Marlena continued to record and perform throughout the 80s and 90s and her live album from 1987 helped relaunch the new era of Verve Records. Like a lot of people of my generation, I discovered her music through samples in hip-hop. When DJ Blue Boy had a hit with Remember Me in the late 90s, everyone knew Marlena Shaw’s name. That record sampled her singing from the original Cadet record and a later live recording captured at Montreaux.

I’ve found most of her records in the wild over the years, including the Spice Of Life album and the key singles from it. There is still one of the 70s Blue Note albums I need though. Fingers crossed it will find its way to me soon. Fingers also crossed I can find the copies of the records that I do have. My storage has gotten a bit out of hand recently and finding records I know I have has become a problem. I couldn’t find all my Marlena records, but they’re there someplace.

Mary Weiss’s career in music began as a teenager in Queens, New York in the early 60s, where with her sister Betty and friends, twin sisters, Margie and Mary Ann Ganser, they formed the Shangri-Las. With the help of Brill Building songwriters and producers like Shadow Morton, they notched up a series of hits between 1964 and 1966 on Red Bird Records. Songs like Leader Of The Pack, Remember (Walkin’ In The Sand) and Give Him A Great Big Kiss literally helped define the Girl Group sound. They switched labels in 1966 to Mercury and continued with lesser success until 1968, when they broke up. The musical landscape was changing so fast in the 1960s and successful formulas dated very quickly. Not that the Girl Group sound and the legacy of the Shangri-Las ever diminished. The music is timeless, and it doesn’t matter what age you are, these teenage melodramas about love are still relevant.

After the breakup of the group, Mary Weiss, still barely out of her teens, switched gears and professions. Through her husband she got into interior design and industrial furnishing, something that she made a successful career at. There were a couple of one-off reunions over the years, but essentially from 1989, Mary did not sing at all. As she herself said, not even to the radio in the car. Then, a few years into the new millennium, she was coaxed out of retirement, resulting in 2007’s Dangerous Game album that was released on Norton Records, the perfect label for her comeback. On the album she is backed by The Reigning Sound and main man Greg Cartwright contributes on song writing duties also. Respectfully keeping an authentic “retro” feel to proceedings, the resulting album is a real treasure and a terrific comeback. Despite not having performed for years, Mary sounds fantastic, and the record not only has The Reigning Sound backing her but also features Miriam Linna and Billy Miller on some backing vocals. It was on Norton after all.

I was still living in New York then and remember the excitement surrounding this record coming out. For fans of the Shangri-Las and the girl group sound, it was a big deal having Mary back. I recall going to one of the early shows, which may or may not have been at the awesome venue Magnetic Field. My memory is a little foggy. I left the city shortly after, but will always associate this record with my living there and my experiences, especially with it being on Norton, a label dear to the hearts of all record collectors of a certain disposition. The album serves as a love letter from a previous time.

I’ll admit it had been a while since I last played the album, but I’ve listened to it a few times this week, including twice here in the store where it received a thumbs up from both Jeff and John Scott. So, if you don’t trust my cloth ears you might take their word for it. LoL.

As always, thank you for reading and thank you for your support.

Cheers, Dom

Greetings guys, how’s it going? Thanks for taking time to read the ol’ newsletter. We had a lot of fun looking back at our favorite releases from 2023 in our last one. Hopefully you enjoyed reading and it served some purpose. If just one of you found something new to you that you are digging, then we can be satisfied, but hopefully there are a few more of you than just one. I know I cast a wide net in my tastes and some things might not be for all, but variety is the spice of life and all that. I know I left a bunch of things out and that certainly wasn’t because I didn’t like them, but I figured my colleagues might pick some of them and we set our limits to just ten. I chose not to include our own label releases, but damn we are proud of everything that sported an SSR catalog number last year. 2024 is already beginning with a bang, with our two newest releases hot off the presses and in store. Click for more details on Deletar and Fugitive Bubble and get ‘em in your lives.

Alright, back to this newsletter and what the heck to write about? We are not (always) trying to hype stuff to sell you, but rather take pleasure in just talking about music and steering you in the direction of interesting stuff and this week will be one of those from me. I tend to write about things that are resonating with me at the time rather than just pull random “cool” records off the shelf and try to come up with something just for the sake of it. I’ve never been able to plan DJ sets in advance because of the way my brain works like that. I make decisions in the moment based on the current vibe and circumstances, which for me makes it fresher and more interesting. It also means having to bring a lot more records to gigs to select from, and with my aching back that’s not as easy anymore. I can see why a lot of folks went digital. Vinyl gets heavy.

So, I enjoy watching old movies. A lot. I pay for cable TV primarily to keep getting the Turner Classic Movies channel as that’s almost all I watch. I particularly like Westerns and WWII films and Film Noir. Robert Mitchum is one of my favorite actors. Another favorite, due to watching him with my Dad, is John Wayne. I know both guys wouldn’t pass the PC police these days, and there’s no doubt Wayne said some dodgy shit and people certainly have their opinions on whether he should have served during the war, but as an actor portraying a character, there’s no denying his charisma. Over the past few weeks, I’ve watched films about Pearl Harbor, one of my favorite Christmas films, Three Godfathers and last night another western with him and Mitchum. A film called El Dorado from 1966 which was produced and directed by the great Howard Hawks. It’s a decent movie with Mitch and Duke being the reason to watch rather than a great plot, but interestingly some scenes of Wayne from this film were reused in his final film The Shootist as flashback scenes.

Anyway, this morning I woke up and fancied listening to some reggae and flipped through a few things I had to hand and stopped at one by John Wayne called Boogie Down. Naturally after just watching Wayne the gunfighter, I had to hear Wayne the DJ, backed by Sly & Robbie with The Aggrovators and produced by Bunny Lee. LoL. Obviously not the same Wayne a.k.a. Marion Morrison but rather the Wayne known to his mother as Norval Headley from Jamaica.

This album Boogie Down is a top-notch rub-a-dub reggae record. Released in 1983 on the Vista Sounds label out of the UK, it’s the only full length credited to Wayne, but he had a career lasting through the 90s and is on a ton of singles either solo or with other performers.

With the pedigree present on this album, it had to be good. Sly & Robbie with The Aggrovators in their prime and Bunny “Striker” Lee at the controls. It’s a fun album in the rub-a-dub style and cut right before the digital era, so retains the feel of a classic 70s reggae record. If you see it, I highly recommend picking it up. There is a recent reissue out there, but otherwise just that original pressing.

As I was listening to the record, sipping my coffee, I attempted to continue reading a book that Daniel lent me ages ago and which I had left unfinished. It’s a book on The Clash which delves into the political climate of Britain and America during their time, and it’s fascinating reading. The historical aspect really interests me, and the author gets into the true nature of Thatcher and Reagan’s relationship and talks about how particularly Reagan’s whole presidency was pure theatre and a massive PR exercise with the White house fully concentrating on keeping whatever narrative that served them going and spending almost all their time doing that instead of doing actual helpful shit. Sound familiar? Pretty much the Republican playbook ever since.

The irony of the US Republicans who drape themselves in the flag and talk about the constitution and conservatism is that they are now the opposite of that. It’s all show and a distraction and deflection from what they are up to. Which is of course a huge problem and threat on democracy and the very foundations on which America was founded upon.

After the reggae record finished, I stuck on an album that I have by the actor John Wayne where he gets all patriotic. I think he was being sincere on it, but in the post MAGA world now, all these overtly patriotic, flag waving type of things come off badly. Which is a shame because the American dream should be a good thing. Normal patriotic citizens who are proud to be American shouldn’t have to feel ashamed or feel that by displaying Old Glory on their porch makes them a Trump supporting racist. I’m an immigrant to America who came to chase the dream too. I’m finally going to try and get my citizenship this year. A few hurdles in my path over the years stopped me. As I listened to the Duke reading the poems that looked mostly to be written by his son, I couldn’t help but get a little emotional myself. I believe in the true America and want to be a part of the rebuilding and uniting part of the population. Becoming a citizen will give me a vote and I can use that to be a part of the solution and not the problem.

Wasn’t intending on getting into a political conversation with my staff pick, but there you go. We live in charged times. What can I say? Fuck Trump. Listen to good reggae records and watch western movies. Thanks for your support and see you next time.

Cheers - Dom