My head is going round in circles ...

It's been easy for me to avoid getting caught up in Record Store Day. Without a dedicated independent record shop in Cambridge it's not really been on my radar. Heffers, predominantly a bookshop, has maintained a small offering but for 2015 they have been joined by two vinyl-only retailers in the city - Relevant and Lost In Vinyl. I can cycle (this is Cambridge after all) to the former in under 5 minutes and so I took more interest in this year's releases than ever before.

Thankfully there wasn't too much on the list that appealed and so I wasn't tempted to join the queues that reportedly started forming outside Relevant at 4.15am. Sure, I could see some good titles on there - some that I already had (Otis Blue; L.A.M.F; Roger The Engineer; Don't Stand Me Down), some that I could see the appeal of should you be so inclined (the Creation Artifact boxed set; and the album that went on to top that week's vinyl-only chart, The Holy Bible) but there was only one title on the list of 550 exclusive products that truly caught my eye: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces, predominantly due to the fact that it came with the circular sleeve.

Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake - Record Store Day 2015

This is something I've kept half-an-eye out for a while and I wasn't going to get an original copy on the cheap. Buoyed by the fact that I'd just picked up some bargains in local charity shops (amongst them Bowie's Young Americans; Madonna's Immaculate Collection; a few Nancy Sinatra singles and a selection of new wave 7-inches such as Jilted John and Rock Lobster) I felt I could justify picking it up.

In doing so I was reminded that my brother had this, and if I recall correctly had bought it at Tower Records somewhere around 1985. Which in itself surprised me - that far after its release they were still producing the, presumably expensive, circular sleeve? Checking on Discogs I can see a 1980 reissue and expect it was that, but bear in mind this isn't something that was solely released as a tie-in to a one-day event. It was released in that sleeve as someone presumably decided it should be available again rather than just re-issuing the rather unsatisfactory square sleeve with the circular image.

On further reflection and again in the mid-80s, I bought The White Album in my local Our Price and it came with the inserts. A few years later I was on the other side of the counter in that exact same shop in my first full-time job; vinyl sales were tailing off and we had a gradually dwindling range but I can confirm that The White Album still came with the inserts as late as 1990. Maybe EMI over-printed back in 1968. I can't say the same for Sgt Pepper, and although we did still stock New Order's Blue Monday 12" it was no longer being produced with the die-cut sleeve. I don't recall Their Satanic Majesties Request being stocked but if it was I'm certain it would have been in a similar sleeve to the copy I picked up cheaply around four years ago.

Otis Redding - Otis Blue

Otis Redding
Otis Blue
Atlantic
99p + £3.50 p&p
Filed between Redd Kross 'Teen Babes From Monsanto' and Otis Redding 'Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay'


As noted previously I last owned a copy of this approximately 25 years ago. One key difference being that would have been a 1980s mid-price reissue; here I've managed to acquire an early mono copy, possibly even a first pressing. Marvellous stuff.

Stevie Wonder - Original Musiquarium I

Stevie Wonder
Original Musiquarium I
Motown 428009
£1
Filed between The Velvet Underground 'Loaded' and Wreckless Eric 'The World According to Wreckless Eric'.

Thanks to my age my early knowledge of Stevie Wonder places me in the era of ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’. They may have both been huge hits but they’re hardly classic/creditable and, even after appreciating the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover of ‘Higher Ground’ I’ve never really investigated his back catalogue any further.  

This collection carries further examples of schmaltz ('Isn't She Lovely', 'You Are The Sunshine Of My Life') but thankfully the four sides are handily arranged into loose themes with sides 1 & 3 being those most likely to trouble my turntable.

Otis Redding - Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay

Otis Redding
Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay
Stax
£3
Filed between Redd Kross 'Teen Babes From Monsanto' and the Rolling Stones 'These Satanic Majesties Request'.

Damn you Otis for forcing me to use a cliché, but here goes ... you wait for one Otis Redding LP to come along and two arrive at once. Right, that’s that out of the way ... and indeed, no sooner have I secured a copy of ‘Otis Blue’ (which I haven’t owned for approximately 25 years) do I then stumble across a copy of this 1968 post-death cash-in collection on the mighty Stax label. One of several 60s vinyls I’ve bought recently where a visual inspection suggested I should leave well alone – plenty of surface marks, some that look like they could be genuine scratches but which when played, bar some background clicks, are absolutely fine.

An 80s or 90s pressing in similar condition would be one to avoid. The last ‘new’ release I previously bought on vinyl was ‘The Second Coming’, the no-longer-hotly-anticipated second album from the Stone Roses. Despite being issued across two discs (both rather flimsy) the sound quality was appalling  - feel free to make your own joke there - and it was clear that the industry had stopped trying to produce decent vinyl pressings. A decision now seemingly reversed with the rise of 180 gsm pressings as standard, one wonders when the humble cassette tape will re-capture people’s imagination ....