I bought Mrs YorkieUK a copy of the album "Tons of Sobs" - the first album by Free. It is a pre-production copy and has an extra track called Visions of Hell which was never on the final release. The seller - very reputable dealer - assured me it was one of only 2 copies known to exist. I bought it around 20 years ago I think. What the value could be is anyone's guess.
I used to own a large amount of LPs from the early 60's to the early 90's - until some motherless s.o.b. nicked the lot while I was on holiday........
Although I can't technically say I own it yet, a CD by Living Dead Lights is currently winging it's way from Hollywood, USA. They're a kind of punky thrashy tattooed early Gn'R type of band and I'm rather fond of them - even though I'm old enough to be their Granny............
I would have said Elbow's albums but it seems like their are a few Elbow fans on DS so I feel much happier... Only 4 teachers in my school have heard of them.
Johnnyboy - You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve. Brilliant record from 2004.
I don't own it myself but I have heard it before -- it's a cracking song, isn't it?
My own "I bet nobody round here owns this" pick:
Blazin' Squad -- Standard Flow
Yes. Blazin' Squad. Bear with me on this one
This was before anyone actually knew who Blazin' Squad were, and it was a low-key 12" vinyl release in 2002 on what purported to be an underground record label, Weighty Plates (although personally I now suspect it was a fake record label just to make them appear more credible).
The DND remix of this was big in the garage scene at the time -- a 4x4 garage stomper with a strong bassline and ragga chants provided by dancehall legend Elephant Man, so I bought it on the strength of that. As it turns out, the reason it was such a good track was because it had NOTHING to do with Blazin' Squad -- not a single trace of them remained after DND had twisted up the track.
The b-side was a remix by dubstep pioneers Horsepower Productions (this was back in 2002, remember, when dubstep sounded a bit different to how it does now) with a woozy spaghetti western vibe to it; Morricone-esque whistling, a shuffling 2-step garage beat, and -- unfortunately -- the original vocal. MY GOD, that vocal. It was just terrible -- the sound of puberty captured on vinyl; you could almost smell the Lynx Africa wafting from the grooves when you played it -- and a sign of the terror that was to come. Luckily, there was also a mostly-instrumental version, with just the faintest ghost of their rapping remaining.
Still, glutton for punishment that I was, I bought the second promo 12" as well, which had remixes by garage DJ Ras Kwame -- again, luckily there was an instrumental version. But I drew the line at the third promo, which just had the DND mixes alongside a new drum & bass remix by Origin Unknown.
The thing about this is that all the remixers -- DND, Horsepower Productions, Ras Kwame and Origin Unknown -- were respected, credible producers. DND had been producing speed garage since '99 (and one of them, Arthur Smith, is now a respected dubstep producer in his own right, making up one third of supergroup Magnetic Man); Horsepower Productions, as I said, helped pioneer dubstep back when it was more like 2-step garage with heavy dub reggae influences; Ras Kwame had been producing garage since 1997; and Origin Unknown produced the seminal drum & bass track Valley of the Shadows in 1993, as well as launching the influential label Ram Records. In other words, we're not talking a bunch of cash-happy sell-outs. I'm genuinely intrigued as to how this all came about; did the record label just wave huge wads of cash at them all? Were they somehow tricked into agreeing to producing the remixes; perhaps by being told Blazin' Squad were an up-and-coming underground garage crew, rather than just a bunch of lads they'd found doing doughnuts in a field in a Vauxhall Nova? Did they all receive envelopes with compromising photos of them buying Aqua records, with the promise that copies would be forwarded to the dance press unless they agreed to produce remixes?
To this day, I've never heard the original version of Standard Flow. I know it's on one of Blazin' Squad's albums, but I haven't been able to find a streaming copy or download, and there is NO WAY I'm paying money to hear it; I only want to listen to it out of morbid curiosity, and to see just how far from the original the remixers had to go in order to fashion a decent track out of it.
Could this be the longest post ever on the subject of Blazin' Squad? I feel like I should be ashamed.
I was a member of the Organ Records and Shifty Disco monthly singles clubs in the late 90s, which meant you got a new CD single by one of their bands every month, usually with a glued-on paper printed cover. I can't even remember most of the bands involved, but one of the Organ lot was an electro pisstake group called Mogul I ended up writing to on a semi-regular basis. They were about 12 years ahead of their time and would be all over Myspace and the blogs if they still existed now. I still have all their records somewhere.
The DND remix of this was big in the garage scene at the time -- a 4x4 garage stomper with a strong bassline and ragga chants provided by dancehall legend Elephant Man, so I bought it on the strength of that. As it turns out, the reason it was such a good track was because it had NOTHING to do with Blazin' Squad -- not a single trace of them remained after DND had twisted up the track.
I own an Aphex Twin remix of a Jesus Jones track... there is no hint of the original song anywhere within the remix
I own an Aphex Twin remix of a Jesus Jones track... there is no hint of the original song anywhere within the remix
I love the (apocryphal?) story about how Aphex Twin agreed to remix the Lemonheads but then didn't get round to it -- so when the courier came round to collect the remix he just picked out an unrelated, unreleased track and handed it over
I was quite impressed with myself for getting all three of John and Yoko's experimental albums on CD - Two Virgins (the infamous nude cover), Life With The Lions and The Wedding Album.
The only time I've seen them each avaliable to buy was when I bought them.
Anyone got anything by Two Gallants? One of my favourite bands.
Yeah, I've got Steady Rollin' after seeing them perform it live on TV a couple of years back.
As for stuff that no-one else has...I trawled a lot of indie stores in the late 80s and 90s and came across a fair amount of obscure stuff, some of it great, some dreadful. I've got a fair few early singles on the Creation label, bands like
Revolving Paint Dream
Meat Whiplash
The Weather Prophets
Biff Bang Pow
Les Zarjaz
The Legend!
Ha - I have the CD single of their little-remembered song "Deep Deep Down". Just looked it up and it got to 16 in the charts in 2000. Hrm. I've just kept the CD 'cause it has a nice acoustic version of I Quit on it.
I also have this Jamiroquai CD which I remember picking up in a charity shop for about £1 and not thinking much of it. I discovered recently it's actually considered very rare and was never properly released, just distributed to fans. I'm a big Jamiroquai fan myself so I feel quite pleased to have acquired it.
Comments
Oops meant I Am X
Although I can't technically say I own it yet, a CD by Living Dead Lights is currently winging it's way from Hollywood, USA. They're a kind of punky thrashy tattooed early Gn'R type of band and I'm rather fond of them - even though I'm old enough to be their Granny............
Muswell Hillbillies, the Kinks
Off the Ground, Paul McCartney
Room on the 3rd Floor, McFly
Got some of these but can't imagine many would admit to owning an album by Shriekback
The Intro track to The XX album is awesome :cool:
Respect is due ..
Although that would be much more if you also owned the Thunderbugs album
I don't own it myself but I have heard it before -- it's a cracking song, isn't it?
My own "I bet nobody round here owns this" pick:
Blazin' Squad -- Standard Flow
Yes. Blazin' Squad. Bear with me on this one
This was before anyone actually knew who Blazin' Squad were, and it was a low-key 12" vinyl release in 2002 on what purported to be an underground record label, Weighty Plates (although personally I now suspect it was a fake record label just to make them appear more credible).
The DND remix of this was big in the garage scene at the time -- a 4x4 garage stomper with a strong bassline and ragga chants provided by dancehall legend Elephant Man, so I bought it on the strength of that. As it turns out, the reason it was such a good track was because it had NOTHING to do with Blazin' Squad -- not a single trace of them remained after DND had twisted up the track.
The b-side was a remix by dubstep pioneers Horsepower Productions (this was back in 2002, remember, when dubstep sounded a bit different to how it does now) with a woozy spaghetti western vibe to it; Morricone-esque whistling, a shuffling 2-step garage beat, and -- unfortunately -- the original vocal. MY GOD, that vocal. It was just terrible -- the sound of puberty captured on vinyl; you could almost smell the Lynx Africa wafting from the grooves when you played it -- and a sign of the terror that was to come. Luckily, there was also a mostly-instrumental version, with just the faintest ghost of their rapping remaining.
Still, glutton for punishment that I was, I bought the second promo 12" as well, which had remixes by garage DJ Ras Kwame -- again, luckily there was an instrumental version. But I drew the line at the third promo, which just had the DND mixes alongside a new drum & bass remix by Origin Unknown.
The thing about this is that all the remixers -- DND, Horsepower Productions, Ras Kwame and Origin Unknown -- were respected, credible producers. DND had been producing speed garage since '99 (and one of them, Arthur Smith, is now a respected dubstep producer in his own right, making up one third of supergroup Magnetic Man); Horsepower Productions, as I said, helped pioneer dubstep back when it was more like 2-step garage with heavy dub reggae influences; Ras Kwame had been producing garage since 1997; and Origin Unknown produced the seminal drum & bass track Valley of the Shadows in 1993, as well as launching the influential label Ram Records. In other words, we're not talking a bunch of cash-happy sell-outs. I'm genuinely intrigued as to how this all came about; did the record label just wave huge wads of cash at them all? Were they somehow tricked into agreeing to producing the remixes; perhaps by being told Blazin' Squad were an up-and-coming underground garage crew, rather than just a bunch of lads they'd found doing doughnuts in a field in a Vauxhall Nova? Did they all receive envelopes with compromising photos of them buying Aqua records, with the promise that copies would be forwarded to the dance press unless they agreed to produce remixes?
To this day, I've never heard the original version of Standard Flow. I know it's on one of Blazin' Squad's albums, but I haven't been able to find a streaming copy or download, and there is NO WAY I'm paying money to hear it; I only want to listen to it out of morbid curiosity, and to see just how far from the original the remixers had to go in order to fashion a decent track out of it.
There's also a band called Bloodduster who are quite similar.
and have you heard of Impaled Northern Moonforest? It's Seth's side project, an acoustic black metal band (yes, you read correctly!!)
I've also got Semisonic's albums Feeling Strangely Fine and Chemistry, so you'll have to discount them, sorry!
No, but I'm about to check them out. Thanks for the tip.
Actually AC, to me, sound a little like early Hüsker Dü, especially their first two albums, 'Everything Falls Apart' and 'Land Speed Record'
Well worth a listen if you haven't already.
It's worse I've also got an Howard Keel album on my ipod
I own an Aphex Twin remix of a Jesus Jones track... there is no hint of the original song anywhere within the remix
Anyone else?
I have that one. Victim of the Insane is one of their best songs.
I'll try a few....
Heinrich Dressel - Mons Testaceum
GreensKeepers - Pleetch
Last Crack - Burning Time
The Wipeouters - P'Twaaang
I love the (apocryphal?) story about how Aphex Twin agreed to remix the Lemonheads but then didn't get round to it -- so when the courier came round to collect the remix he just picked out an unrelated, unreleased track and handed it over
The only time I've seen them each avaliable to buy was when I bought them.
Yeah, I've got Steady Rollin' after seeing them perform it live on TV a couple of years back.
As for stuff that no-one else has...I trawled a lot of indie stores in the late 80s and 90s and came across a fair amount of obscure stuff, some of it great, some dreadful. I've got a fair few early singles on the Creation label, bands like
Revolving Paint Dream
Meat Whiplash
The Weather Prophets
Biff Bang Pow
Les Zarjaz
The Legend!
I've got the Joe Perry one - only a good couple of tracks on it.
I got Seb's one for the tracks with Axl. Not too bad.
Ha - I have the CD single of their little-remembered song "Deep Deep Down".
I also have this Jamiroquai CD which I remember picking up in a charity shop for about £1 and not thinking much of it. I discovered recently it's actually considered very rare and was never properly released, just distributed to fans. I'm a big Jamiroquai fan myself so I feel quite pleased to have acquired it.