Got some OG Mort Garson records, including an OG copy of Plantasia with the Simmons sticker. Have been looking for this record for as long as I've been collecting.
For my next few posts, I will now start showing the really juicy records I was able to get. Over the weekend, I went to a record show in Philadelphia, and I was able to pull some absolute heaters from the sellers there. The biggest of these finds for me would definitely have to be the Mort Garson records I found, in particular an original 1976 copy of Mother Earth's Plantasia (with the Simmons mattress sticker on the front).
Ever since I started collecting, on my Discogs I have my wantlist of items that I am looking for, and its up into the thousands now. Plantasia was one of the first 5 records in that list. I love this record to death and it has been an everlasting quest to find this record for the collection. Now the quest is complete. I was also happy that it included the extra booklet that comes with the album, so I have a complete package.
The Wozard of Iz was also a very good find from this show, as that is one of the weirder records in the Mort Garson canon, but Plantasia is what takes the spotlight from these finds today.
what kind of stuff is in the collection?
An amazing 40x40 inch art piece made entirely out of cigar bands by a prisoner circa 1909.
Credit: The Vinyl Dinosaur
This was an art piece they had recently received for their art gallery, and I thought it was so crazy, that I had to post it here. I made sure to give credit to the store, as they're the ones who received it and took the pictures.
I called this Folk Art as it does not have a name, and that's the only way the store (or I) could classify it. It was made by a person who was in prison circa 1909 (judged by the president portraits ending at around Teddy Roosevelt, so 1909 at the latest).
Found an original first pressing of the Stooges debut with the missing logo on the label for a very good price at my local record store yesterday. HOLY MOLY!
For my collecting post for today, You're never going to believe what I just got. I went to my local record store looking for some new stuff, and I ended up helping him out with some collections that he was getting in that day. After I did that, he told me he set something aside for me, since he sets aside stuff for regulars who might be interested. When he pulled it out, my jaw hit the floor; it was a original pressing of the first Stooges album. It wasn't in the best of shape (like a visual G+-low VG), but it still played very well on the turntable like a VG record, and the cover was at least VG+. The owner said that someone had recently come in with a stack of records with mostly boring stuff and he only pulled out a couple things, with this record being one of them. He ended up letting me have the record for only $40! Again, I will note that the record plays to a VG level, so its still very listenable. Overall, I am very happy to own this record, so now the only original Stooges record I'm missing is Funhouse.
Received a copy of Elvis Costello's I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down, easily one of the rarest Two-Tone records, for free from my local record store. Completely shocked by this grab (story in body)
What a completely unexpected find that I had this weekend from my local record store. I went into my local record store, and the owner told me that he left something aside, since he thought that I'd be interested. When he pulled it out to show me, I couldn't believe what I was seeing; a 7 inch copy of Elvis Costello's "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" on the Two-Tone label.
To give context to this record, the story goes that after Costello's former label Radar Records went under, the parent label WEA was preparing to create a new sublabel for Costello called F-Beat Records. However, in the interim before the new label was made, Elvis Costello produced the first Specials album. Through that relationship and due to the fact that he was without a label at that time, he was preparing to release his newest single on the Two-Tone label that the Specials both founded and were signed to. However, as WEA needed a release to launch the new label they were making, they put out an injunction on Two-Tone to not release the record and get it for themselves.
The single eventually came out on F-Beat and became a big hit for Costello in the UK, but by the time the injunction was placed, 1000 copies of the single were already pressed on Two-Tone. Therefore, the copies of the single were given out only at shows in London and New York City during the Get Happy tour. The only way you could get this single is if you went to one of those Elvis Costello shows at the time and received it during the giveaway. It is easily one of the rarest records on the Two-Tone label.
With that context, you can understand why I was understandably shocked to see it before my eyes in the store. It had apparently come in a batch of random records, none of which were close in genre to Elvis Costello, and it was just strewn about with the records. Despite that, it is in VG+-NM shape on the vinyl and sounds crystal clear. I asked the store owner how much he wanted for it, and he said that I could take it due to being a loyal customer and for helping him out on previous occasions. I couldn't believe that he was giving it away, and I tried to pay, but he insisted. Overall, I am super happy to own this record now and it's been a pleasure to listen to it.
I absolutely do play it, but I still have to manage my plays considering its rarity. It sounds great, and the sound of the record really pops out when you hear the record as compared to online sources.
I randomly decided to just look at who had copies of Falling and Laughing on Discogs (Which you can see in the statistics section). Then I just thought "Would anyone be willing to actually sell it to me?", and then I message everyone who was visible that had a copy. Most of them said that they treasured this record (for obvious reasons) and would never get rid of it. Then one of the guys emailed me and said he was downsizing his collection, as he was downsizing his home as well. I negotiated with him for about two weeks, and I was able to get a bunch of records, including every other Postcard Orange Juice record.
John Coltrane - Ole. Not as acclaimed or well-known as something like Blue Train, A Love Supreme, or Giant Steps, but it's still a great listen. It has such a dark and mysterious vibe to me, especially in the title track, that I dig wholeheartedly.
It was written as a response to music critics hating on the band for being twee and "sensitive" due to their music being usually light indie pop. So they added some grit and distortion to this song to show that they can be more intense if they wanted to.
Glad to see another Flying Nun fan in the wild. I've been posting a lot of tracks on reddit for years and writing whole articles about artists. you can check them out below:
Yeah that was decently big news online when it happened.
The Clash - London Calling
The Pink Fairies - Never Never Land (The album ends at Dream Is Just Beginning, the rest are bonus tracks)
Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West
The Chills - Submarine Bells
No problem. Thank you very much and enjoy!
Also, let me know what you think of the tracks.
It's essentially indie rock that mixes psychedelic rock with some Velvet Underground droney guitars and Byrdsy jangle guitar. Each band has their unique characteristics that come from different influences, but those are some of the commonalities between all of the bands.
Here's a playlist I made on youtube of the key tracks I'll be mentioning below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tf1wzg4rdE&list=PLS3FgAA2aSpIxg1dMZtrxgV6ax8V8IFvj
First, The Clean: You listened to them here, but you have to listen to their EP Boodle Boodle Boodle. The best way to describe it is "Surf Rock Velvet Underground". My favorite tracks on it are Anything Could Happen and Point That Thing Somewhere Else. They also have Getting Older, which was originally their swan song, as they broke up due to not being able to handle the success they were experiencing. They formed back together in 1989 and have released quite a few albums, but I think they don't reach the heights they reached with the first two EPs, those being Boodle Boodle Boodle(which they recently reissued along with their first single Tally Ho) and Great Sounds Great.
The Chills: They were the big band on Flying Nun in the 1980s and early 90s. They have a poppy indie sound that's appealing and almost has a Twee pop vibe to it in some aspects, and they also have some noisier tracks. Some favorites are Kaleidoscope World, Pink Frost, and Doledrums. Their first 3 albums, which are Brave Words, Submarine Bells, and Soft Bomb are great listening experiences.
The Bats: This band was the band that the bassist from the Clean founded after they initially broke up in 1983. They have more of a folk rock/indie Byrds sound to them that I like. Some favorites include By Night, Claudine, Made up in Blue, and North by North. They have quite a few good albums to check out if you want, my favorites being Daddy's Highway, The Law of Things, and Fear of God. Silverbeet and Couchmaster are good albums too. This band really doesn't have any bad albums, go for all of it.
The Verlaines: They were the more artsy band in the early period of Flying Nun. They have more of a classic rock vibe to them. They had a sizable influence on the band Pavement. Some good starting points include Death and the Maiden, Pyromaniac, and Doomsday. These are just single tracks, but their EPs and albums also have good tracks to offer, such as It Was Raining, CD Jimmy Jazz and Me, and Joed Out.
Straitjacket Fits: These guys were more of the rocking side of indie rock. They were apart of the second wave of Flying Nun bands and had some good hard rock tunes to boot, like She Speeds and Dialing a Prayer, and some Beatles-esque ballads like Down in Splendour thanks to their guitarist Andrew Brough (R.I.P). Other notable tracks include Hail and Bad Note For a Heart.
Chris Knox/Tall Dwarfs/Toy Love - I love everything this man did in the 80s and the 90s. He's basically New Zealand's David Bowie, and probably the most important person to all of New Zealand music. He first made records with his band Toy Love, who are more straight New Wave and Punk Rock, but they inspired all the bands from Dunedin to pick up a guitar and create their own songs, spawning the Dunedin scene in the first place. Chris Knox also recorded all of the early material by all the aforementioned bands. He then went on to do Tall Dwarfs, which is an experimental mindscrew and one of the original Lo-Fi/home recording bands. They have songs like Turning Brown and Torn in Two with the weirdness factor, then they do psychedelic jams like Crush, and then they do Sign the Dotted Line, an acoustic song that Jeff Mangum even did a cover of. They go all over the place. His solo career also has quite a few bangers, like the ultimate love song Not Given Lightly, rockers like Half Man, Half Mole, and more acoustic songs like Lapse. He is an interesting and important figure in New Zealand indie music and has a vast catalog to look through. It's unfortunate that he had a stroke in 2009 and can no longer create such great music anymore, but what we do have is great.
Honorable Mentions: Look Blue Go Purple(An all female Indie group), The 3D's(Noise-Pop extravaganza), Garageland(Power Pop Punk), The JSP Experience(Also pretty weird),Sneaky Feelings(Byrds/Motown Pop sound), Able Tasmans(Indie pop with a level of musical sophistication).
There's a wealth of music from New Zealand for you to discover if you haven't heard of Flying Nun already.
Alphabetically. I'm not John Cusack.
Thank you very much. what kind of stuff do you collect, genre wise?
Yeah, I don't try to block myself into one singular focus of genre. I mainly go for punk and new wave stuff, but I also like 60s soul, doo wop, 20s-30s country and blues, jazz, Brazilian music and all other types of genres. I've been digging for 7 years now and the discoveries I've made would have never happened without record collecting (like how else would I learn about New Zealand indie rock without digging through discogs to find out about it?)
Yeah, I'm close to getting every record from them. I'm just missing the Japan-only live album from 1972 and most of the 80s albums.
also thanks for liking the collection. anything else stick out to you?