Just thought I would fill you in on 4 7" singles I've brought in recently. There's some Tom Petty, some Tom Verlaine and a new single from Part Time. Commentary and youtube playlist after the jump.
Today I picked up two Tom Verlaine singles: "The Funniest Thing" b/w "One Time At Sundown" and "Cry Mercy Judge" b/w "Circling." Both are taken from the excellent Flashlight (1987). They were one pound apiece at Music and Video Exchange in Nottinghill Gate. After a brief spruce with a microfiber cloth and deionized water visual inspection was very promising indeed. Although both had a fair layer of the usual detritus (mainly paper dust I would venture), they retained a good lustre even before cleaning. I would grade sound and appearance of both including the sleeves an EX.
The other day I found a copy of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers single "Anything That's Rock N'Roll" b/w "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" The A-side of course is taken from the band's eponymous album of 1976, probably most famous for "American Girl." The B-side is a live take culled from the so-called Official Live Bootleg, a promotional record made by the band's label that captures an early gig in 1976. Now this 45 came from Oxfam on Streatham High Road for £2. It had some gouges on the playing surface, after cleaning with the aforementioned method it did reveal a fair lustre. It played as well or better than could be expected on both sides and I would grade it G- though on a generous day a G.
The new record I received was Part Time's "Visions of the Future" b/w "I Won't Be Your Little Secret" direct from Loglady Records in California. Very satisfyingly presented with a solid A-side. Part Time is one of my revelations of 2011. I really recommend you check out his album What Would You Say (2011) on Mexican Summer Records it's an excellent record. He also has a very active youtube presence: http://www.youtube.com/user/tokori623.
One minor issue I had was that the paper inner sleeve seemed a bit tight on the record but loose in the picture sleeve. Mail ordering records can be fraught at the best of times and this is no one's fault but I can't help feeling that the inner sleeve is not the best of fits on the record. I get the feeling that there was some rubbing in transit because the record arrived with a heavy static electric charge. It is tight and either I inadvertently tore it returning the record or it was torn on the other end when putting the package together. I'm still very satisfied with my purchase, though. This is more a general point that vinyl packaging these days tends to have skimpy inners--like the dreadful centre hole sleeves that many records including supposedly 180gram lp pressings come with. It's the market as a whole though, certainly not something to single Loglady out for.
In a future post I'll go more into detail about the inner sleeves I use as well as cleaning and other technical issues I face when playing vinyl. I'm excited to say that my next review will be of Cloud Nothings' Attack on Memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment