If, by any remote chance, you read yesterdays blog and resolved to get yourself over to Holt for the Vaults promised Christmas lights soiree, then I apologise that you will have encountered a silent Vault from about 17.50 onwards. I did blast out a full side of Yabby You dub reggae at close to max volume from 17.30 while I was completing the monthly stampface rollover, but in that time only one youth popped in for some Iron Maiden, which was not quite what I had in mind, and it had been a long day and I did not feel much infused with festive spirit, so I deserted my post and headed home. A special discount will be yours if you were affected by tonights (non-)programme, as they nearly say on TV in days like these. It had been a busy day too, what with the need to play-test a new collection, beginning with a valuable first pressing of The Stones Decca debut, from 64. Its ironic that the first press, complete with that special side 2 matrix number in the dead wax, is distinguished by a shorter version of Tell Me than the second press, so given that this is the only Jagger/Richard original on the album, you are actually getting less of the Glimmer twins for your money, if you think about it. Great album, of course, right from those first snappy bars of Bobby Troups Route 66. By the time of 66s Aftermath, also acquired today, every song was a Glimmer twins original, but the problem with this album is that there are simply too many of them. At well over fifty minutes, this album is far too long for whatever the mastering constraints then prevailing, with the result that the album has a muffled feel, sonically speaking, with the inevitable pops and crackles in well-loved copies failing to be drowned out by the snap of the groovy grooves. Following this Stones double, we had a number of Fabs platters to test out, in the shape of the relatively unloved With The Beatles, the under-rated Rubber Soul, the over-rated Revolver and the ludicrously good Sergeant Rutter & The Lonely Darts Club Band, as Neil Innes called it. We also enjoyed Dylans stunning 62 debut, and his greatest 70s album in Blood On The Tracks, as well as Leonard Cohens Greatest Hits, Fleetwood Macs Rumours, and Nina Simones self-titled Marble Arch album (featuring her take on Wild Is The Wind, the song made famous by Bowie on Station To Station). Seeing as I missed the great Holt Christmas lights switch-on, though, and seeing also as I failed to mark the recent Dylan Thomas centenary, let me finish by regaling you with my favourite all-time Christmas song, especially given that Holt Vinyl Vault will once again promise to deliver you all another Slade-free Yuletide: https://youtube/watch?v=r9IKnVVRsmk
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 20:59:15 +0000
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