A sad story of vinyl records I foolishly sold, often for less than a pint of beer

This is probably the saddest blog post I've ever written. Ok, so it's no sad on a global scale of human suffering, but on a personal level it's quite sad for me. It's about some of the vinyl records I foolishly sold in the past, for what often turned out to be for less than a pint of beer. Some I have managed to replace at a reasonable price, others for a more substantial price, and others still allude me. There are also some which, although worth a hefty sum of money today, having sold I can happily live without.

I'm going to start with Aphex Twin. At one stage I had most of Richard D James' material on vinyl. I was more than pleased a couple of months back to pick up an original 1992 pressing of Selected Ambient works 85-92 which remains one of my all time favourite albums.

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92

I've been less lucky on Selected Ambient Works volume II, where I used to be the proud owner of the triple vinyl version on brown vinyl. I'm not sure I'll ever be replacing this one as prices on Ebay currently start at over £300. Even the 2017 black vinyl, reissues seem to go for a fortune.

Surfing on Sine Waves by Polygon Window is another I sorely miss. Thinking about it, I used to own all of the vinyl releases in Warp's Artificial Intelligence series at one stage. I didn't own the coloured vinyl versions of these, with the exception I think of Incunabula by Autechre.

Next up is P J Harvey. I used to own most of the early albums and singles on vinyl and these are probably some of the ones I miss the most, in particular the debut album, Dry. I never owned the impossibly rare, limited edition version with the extra demos album, which now seems to command a price tag of £150 an upwards on Ebay.

P J Harvey - Dry, Too Pure records, c.1992

I did however manage to pick up copies of 1995's To Bring You My Love and also the 12" of Fifty Foot Queenie recently, but the bulk of the P J Harvey vinyl back catalogue still alludes me.

At one stage I had a fairly impressive collection of vinyl that was released on Manchester's Factory records, although not some of the crazily rare stuff like the Factory Sampler. Wisely, and thankfully, I held on to my Joy Division vinyl, but parted with the rest. Of all the Factory vinyl I did sell, it was only really A Certain Ratio that I regretted, and thankfully I've been able to replace all of that, including most recently their debut single from 1979, All Night Party. and debut album, To Each from 1981.

A Certain Ratio - To Each, Factory records, c.1979

As an aside on Factory records, I managed to miss out on Durutti Column at the time but have been able to track down a few of their original vinyl releases, although unsurprisingly not the original, highly sought after, first pressing of The return of the Durutti Column with the sandpaper sleeve, so I made do with a 1981 repressing instead.

The Durutti Column - The Return of the Durutti Column, Factory records, c.1980

Moving on to the Britpop era now, I used to own the first three Oasis albums on vinyl but don't actually miss them and am happy to listen in a more digital format. From that era though, albums that I did miss and managed to track down again were 1977 by Ash, Expecting To Fly by The Bluetones, and the debut Elastica album.

Elastica - Elastica, Deception records, c.1995

Gene - Olympian, the 1995 debut album by Gene remains missing from my collection but hopefully not too hard to track down.

Finally a short section on some of what I'll refer to as the second wave of punk where I had quite a few 7" singles of this era, some great and have stood the test of time, others less so. Most of these went a long time ago, but I'm still pleased that I have the UK Decay ones.

A selection of 7" singles from the second wave of punk

Before they were famous (I prefer their earlier stuff)

This post was inspired by the fact that none of my friends realised that bands like The Human League and Dead or Alive had recorded anything before they hit the big time. The singles below a a handful of my favourite tracks by bands that would go on to be huge stadium fillers but that, in my case, I prefer their earlier stuff.

Let's start with The Human League who probably entered most people's consciousness in 1981 when they released their third album, Dare, and the various hit singles that came from it. I'm not necessarily saying I don't like this period of The Human League, but I find their earlier, less commercial recordings more appealing. Heralding from the industrial heartland of Sheffield, home to other electronic / experimental bands like Cabaret Voltaire, their first single, Being Boiled, was released on the Fast Product label way back in 1978. A very different sound to what they would go on to produce in the 1980's, but an essential slice of post-punk / synth-pop.

The Human League - Being Boiled, Fast Product, c.1978

The Human League also released a 12" single on Fast Product, The Dignity of Labour Pts. 1-4, with early pressings coming with a free flexi. Despite its seeming rarity there are plenty of these available on Ebay at the time of writing this post. 

The Human League - The Dignity of Labour, Fast Product, c.1979

Although they signed to Virgin records after these releases, the success of their first few singles on Virgin was still minimal, although they did secure a Top of The Pops appearance with Rock and Roll Part 2,  taken from 1980's Holiday EP. I cannot claim to have heard them during their stint with Fast Product, but I was introduced to them by a school friend who has a copy of Empire State Human, released on Virgin records in 1979, and then again in 1980 where it troubled the UK charts at number 62.

The Human League - Empire State Human, Virgin records, c.1979

Let's swap artists now and now and move on to Dead or Alive. A band I cannot claim to having heard before they were famous, although I was aware of the name, but one whose back catalogue I discovered recently. Their first 2 singles, I'm Falling and Number Eleven, were released on Liverpool's Inevitable records, home to other Liverpool bands like Wah! Heat (more about them later), Modern Eon, and It's Immaterial. The single I'm going to feature here however, is their 1982 12" single, It's Been Hours Now. I could have chosen any of the first three as they are all excellent, but I wanted to shine a little light on the chap at the top right hand of the front cover, Wayne Hussey, who would of course go on to be part of The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, via Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls.

Dead of Alive - It's Been Hours Now, Black Eyes Records, c.1982

No, 'I prefer their earlier stuff' post could possibly be complete without mentioning Ultravox, or should I say Ultravox! Many people will be aware of Ultravox following the success of their hit single, Vienna, but if I'm honest it leaves me a bit cold. Each to their own, but I much prefer the period from 1977 to 1979 where their vocalist was John Foxx, when they relased 3 stunning albums, Ultravox!, Ha1 Ha! Ha!, and Systems of Romance, none of which troubled the UK charts but they did secure a John Peel session in 1977, which as far as I'm concerned is more worthy by far than having a hit.

I'm going to choose their first single release for this post, Young Savage, from 1977, mainly because it's about as far away as you could possibly get from their later, post John Foxx, sound. Becoming increasingly hard to track down, this one will set you back a pretty penny on Ebay.

Ultravox! - Young Savage, Island records, c.1977

Next up we have stadium fillers, Simple Minds. However it wasn't always that way, and their early records are quite different from the songs that would make them superstars. Prior to signing to Arista records, and then Virgin records, Simple Minds released two wonderful singles in 1979 on Zoom records, Life in a Day and Chelsea Girl.

Simple Minds - Life In A Day, Zoom records, c.1979

Simple Minds - Chelsea Girl, Zoom records, c.1979

I was going to stop there with Simple Minds but didn't feel I couldn't move on without mentioning their  classic 1980 singles, I Travel and Changeling, both released on Arista records, and still largely escaping the wider public's attention. I Travel was released in both 7" and 12" formats, with early copies of the 7" coming with a free, two track, flexi disc. All versions of this release are now becoming increasingly hard to find out in the wild, although there are several on Ebay.

Simple Minds - I Travel, Arista records, c.1980

Simple Minds - Changeling, Arista records, c.1980

Having mentioned Wah! Heat above and their association with the Inevitable label, they now get their turn here. A band that somewhat confusingly changed their name from Wah! Heat, to Wah!, and then to The Mighty Wah!, and had their mainstream success with hits like The Story of the Blues, Come Back, and later with Sinful as Pete Wylie and the Oedipus Wrecks, but prior to that, as Wah! Heat, they released a couple of great singles on Inevitable records. Better Scream was released in 1979, and Seven Minutes to Midnight was released in 1980. Both brilliant songs which received acclaim in the music press at the time and featured on John Peel, for whom they recorded a session. Their debut album, Nah=Poo - The Art of Bluff, released in 1981 on Eternal records, is also a bit of a lost classic. Both of the singles turn up in the wild from time-to-time at reasonable prices, and are also fairly easy to find on Ebay.

Wah! Heat - Better Scream, Inevitable records, c.1979

Wah! Heat - Seven Minutes to Midnight, Inevitable records, c.1980

And finally for this short post, we move on to ABC. Yes, ABC, although not perhaps as most will know them. Prior to forming ABC, Mark White and Stephen Singleton were part of a Sheffield, electronic new wave / minimal synth band called Vice Versa. They released a couple of singles as Vice Versa, the first was Music 4 in 1979 on Neutron records, which is pretty much impossible to find unless you have deep pockets, and Stilyagi, in 1980, by which time Martin Fry had joined the band. Music 4 is listed at anything between £30 and £200 on both Ebay and Discogs. Stilyagi seems to go for less but still commands a hefty price tag.

Well, once again this was a post that could have continued for considerably longer, but it's now past my bedtime so I'll end it here. Other worthy contenders might have been Tubeway Army before their massive Are Friends Electric hit; the first single by The Police, Fall Out, from 1977; anything by The Psychedelic Furs prior to them hitting the big-time with Pretty In Pink, in particular their first two singles, We Love You and Sister Europe, and of course not forgetting The Leyton Buzzards (occasionally The Buzzards From Leyton) who released some quite impressive punk and new wave singles before morphing into Modern Romance.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more posts in the hopefully not too distant future.

It's all about the b-side (a journey through some of my favourite b-sides)

Back in the days when vinyl was king, and I was spending all my pocket money and paper round money on records, there was nothing more exciting than going into town after school and coming home with a handful of 7" singles where typically I had only heard the a-side, and then being completely blown away by the track, or tracks, on the b-side. For today's post I've decided to share a few of my favourites, along with their cover artwork.

I'm going to start with one of my absolute favourite tracks, Pssyche, by Killing Joke. The a-side of this 7" single, Wardance, is mighty enough, but the b-side, with even more angry, snarling energy is, to my mind, even better. It was released on the Malicious Damage label in 1980. Early copies included a reproduction army call up paper with the words 'Killing Joke' stamped across it. It's had a recent re-release as a red and black splattered 12" vinyl single on Killing Joke records, with 3 versions of Wardance and 2 versions of Pssyche. As with all recently pressed vinyl it will set you back over £20. The 7" version of the single is quite hard to track down. Ebay has a few copies, most without the call up insert, at various price points.

Killing Joke - Wardance / Pssyche, Malicious Damage records, c.1980

The only problem with my first choice is that is makes it hard to follow, but I like to think I've managed with this next track. The Prisoner, was the b-side to White Man in Hammersmith Palais, by The Clash, released, in four different colour sleeves, on CBS records in 1978. There are of course plenty of other worthy Clash b-sides, but I've decided to restrict myself to one per band for this post.

The Clash - (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais / The Prisoner, CBS records, c.1978

Next up we have another band, The Jam, who had a string of great b-sides to choose from and it wasn't an easy choice. Perhaps Butterfly Collector would have been the most obvious, but instead I've decided to go with See-Saw, which was the b-side to their 1979 release Eton Rifles. A bitter-sweet love song, which lyrically reminds me of The Who's So Sad About Us which The Jam also covered as a b-side appearing on their Down In The Tube Station at Midnight single from 1978.

The Jam - Eton Rifles / See-Saw, Polydor records, c.1979

Moving on now to the first band I ever saw, The Rezillos, although I think by the time I saw them they had morphed into The Revillos. The b-side I've chosen here is Mystery Action which was the b-side to their 1978 single, Destination Venus, released on Sire records. Both outstanding tracks, but for me the b-side nails it. Their first studio album, released on Sire records in 1978, Can't Stand the Rezillos, is an incredible debut album and worth checking out if you've never heard it.

The Rezillos - Destination Venus / Mystery Action, Sire records, c.1978

Next up I've chosen Leyton Buzzards and the b-side to their 1979 single, Saturday Night Beneath the Plastic Palm Trees single, Through With You. This is a great piece of snarly punk rock. If only they had continued in this vein, but seems some of the band had other plans and formed Modern Romance (who won't be featured here).

Leyton Buzzards - Saturday Night Beneath the Plastic Palm Trees / Through With You, Chrysalis records, c.1979

Before forming Shriekback, former XTC member, Barry Andrews, released a couple of solo singles in the early 1980's, the Town and Country EP and Rossmore Road. Both are great singles but I'm picking the b-side of Rossmore Road, with its wonderful title of Win a Night Out With a Well-Known Paranoic

Barry Andrews - Rossmore Road / Win a Night Out With a Well Known Paranoic, Virgin records, c.1980

Again this is one of those blog posts which could go on for considerably longer, but I'm stopping here with My Mind Ain't So Open, by Magazine, which was the b-side of their 1978 debut single, Shot By Both Sides.

Magazine - Shot By Both Sides / My Mind Ain't So Open, Virgin records, c.1978

As always, many thanks for reading and I hope you liked the post.