Mortlake N.

60 in November. Hair just beginning its retreat from Stalingrad (but I'm still slim at least). No dentures yet. Possibly about to lose job so a period of harsh frugality probably imminent (it's a sh*t job but the money comes in handy). Owns too many books. Music is the healing force of the universe!

It seems like a long, long time ago that US bands like this (and the others you've posted) would regularly arrive in the UK and tour endlessly all over Europe. The scene was so strong and the gigs well attended, it never crossed my mind back then that it wouldn't last forever. What happened? : (

Blimey, I haven't thought about these guys for years. Big faves back in't day (for a while anyway), I've still got their American Activity 7" on the shelf but the LPs are long gone unfortunately...

Nottingham Albert Hall, May 1971 - "all seats 60p"!

You're right! #23, one place behind "Late Night Maudlin Street"... 1988, that brings back some amazing, if fuzzily distant, memories - 22 without a care in the world (floods of decrepit tears incoming!).

As an old & (hopefully) interesting relic myself, I obvs approve of this! A few years ago all the chazzers here had "vintage" sections but it was mostly scratched Geoff Love LPs & '80s copies of the Beano. When it's not costing them anything I dunno why they don't make the (v. slight) extra effort?

Their "Sweet Home Alabama" was kind of definitive!

I hardly ever see a orange or green Penguin spine on the chazzer shelves here nowadays, & blue Pelicans seem to be totally extinct - yet that's exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for & I know I'm not the only one. You'd think they'd keep a shelf of them on display in a corner somewhere, but...?

It's nice sometimes to get that 40yo blood pumping through the ears again.

The film!

Lorca sounds best played window-rattlingly loud - so my neighbours struggle with it a bit too I expect!

I liked what I heard but didn't buy it. Then heard it again when they had their hit and didn't like it at all. Things move fast when you're 20!

Oldham Street. I hope he's still there!

Amusingly TDTF actually snuck into the UK Top 40 though I don't recall Simon Bates ever playing it on the radio (ahem).

I honestly laughed out loud the first time I heard it, Peel debuted it on his show (of course). That weird period where M's B-sides were often better than his album tracks...

Alphaville.

Chazzers were great libraries back then, endless shelves of unwanted '60s paperbacks selling for peanuts. Apparently a lot of shops send them off for pulping nowadays, assuming people don't want them because they're too old? Whaat?!? (At least they don't end up in landfill.)

I think it's his first "great" LP - but Lorca and Starsailor are my faves.

It's not a bad album but it must've sounded peculiarly middle-aged compared to Help! and Rubber Soul?

Long time since I heard that. Peel played it a lot at the time - nearly (ouch) 40 years ago now!

I live in a block of flats &, the older I get, the more I worry about everything (rare or not) being destroyed in a fire or something - so lately I've been telling myself "Why not just sell it all now & get to keep the money, rather than lose it all later & get nowt?"

The flat above a friend of mine's old gaff had a leaky bath and it dripped through the ceiling while he was out at work and trashed the sleeve of his low-numbered White Album LP. Ouch.

Oh no!

p.s.

No High Llamas without this gem.

Saw them live a few times, including supporting The Fall - double whammy or what?

Last turnip in the shop.

White Bicycles? I have a copy of that, I should probably read it again 'cause I've suddenly found myself with loads of free time on my hands... (work-related injury, hoo-ha!)

5LL sounds like the most Boyd-influenced to me, the producer directing the artist to a noticeable degree, whereas PL could've been recorded on a Woolworths C90 in a grubby city bedsit and I'd still love it?

I'll listen to 5LL tonight because you've made me want to hear "Day Is Done" again for the first time in ages. And the rest of it.