Here I give a little flavour around some of the discs I’ve uploaded recently and pick out a few ‘favourites’. When I say ‘favourites’ I just mean that they’re interesting, from a musical, personal, amusing or historical viewpoint.
The discs I’d pick out this month are (in no particular order)…
Girl, You Don’t Know Me - Ray Anton and the Peppermint Men (1965)
Not a song or a group I’ve ever heard of but this Demonstration Record of a 1965 pop single is obviously a rarity and a collector’s favourite as its recommended sale price is in the order of £150!! Congratulations to the team at the Marshalswick shop for spotting this disc and sending it to me in a protective plastic bag. Not only is the song pretty good, but the group’s name is a treat…I have an image of tremendously cared for teeth and minty fresh breath.
Can’t Buy a Thrill – Steely Dan (1972)
The first album by the archetypal American hipster band, originally from New York but who quickly moved to Los Angeles. Formed by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, they used a host of session and other famous musicians to fill out their unique sound. Probably generally seen as a cult band (despite the success on FM radio in the 70’s of their single Reelin’ in the Years from this album) their music is icily cool and precise, ironic and massively misanthropic with some of the cleverest but meanest lyrics ever sung (just check out Haitian Divorce from the album of the same title to see how mean they could be).
Tommy – The Who (1969)
Arguably the first proper rock opera/concept album but definitely ground-breaking in 1969. You’ll know it mainly by the single Pinball Wizard from this sprawling double album. But this album is more than about a pub game…factor in disability (‘that deaf, dumb and blind kid…), messianic religious cults, unmentionable relatives and you’ve probably got most of it. Or you can just soak up ferocious guitars, drums and singing and forget the concept. Also, the cover is a treat!
Here’s an update regarding one of the discs mentioned above...
You may recall a 7” single we uploaded with a £170 asking price - a song unknown to me called Girl, You Don’t Know Me by Ray Anton and the Peppermint Men from 1965. Well, we were advised that £170 was bit steep as the middle of the single had been ‘knocked out’ for use on jukeboxes, so we repriced it at £95, still a phenomenal price for a single. Within hours the disc was snapped up by a person from Japan and is now winging its way out there.
Intrigued, I was keen to find out more about Rey Anton and the Peppermint Men. After a little digging I discovered that, unbelievably, his real name was Leonard Hirons, he was from Bournemouth, and he was known as ‘The Singing Windowcleaner’. There’s more about Leonard, aka Rey. You can see he really only reached the lower reaches of the British pop scene, his best effort an appearance on the ATV show Thank Your Lucky Stars, albeit alongside The Beatles, who performed their latest single She Loves You on the same show.
Goodness only knows what has made Rey (or Leonard) so popular in Japan, maybe it’s that the B-Side of Girl, You Don’t Know Me, called Don’t Treat me Bad appeared in a Virgin advert recently! Anyway, we’re delighted that the Marshalswick store spotted this gem and that we were able to profit so much from it!
More next time!
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