Ancient Vinyl Loveliness

This weekend there's a craft fair on in Blackpool Winter Gardens. I spent yesterday afternoon helping out on the stall where Miss Franny and daughter Gill sell their handmade jewellery and cloth bags, aprons and so on whilst next to them Miss Jeannie sells her hand-made greetings cards. Both Miss Jeannie and Gill were unavoidably absent yesterday which explains my attendance. But this morning I was free to wander round the other stalls. And thus I ended up spending money.

Now this stall had loads of boxes of old 45s. Not only that, but they all looked in good condition. You can look at a 78 rpm record and know how likely it is to play or jump and the odd scratch doesn't necessarily cause great offence. But with 45s I've come to realise that even the ones that look pristine can jump because the grooves are so close together it's impossible to see some damage with the naked eye. But I took the chance. At seven records for a fiver you can't go all that wrong... This is Billy Fury's 13th Top 40 hit and his sixth Top Ten hit. Once Upon A Dream entered the charts in July 1962 and reached No.7, spending a total of 13 weeks in the charts. Sadly this one was in a plain white sleeve rather than Decca's orange with diagonal stripes.

Regardless that it may be "before your time" most people will have heard this one. Rawhide sung by Frankie Laine was the theme tune to the TV western series that featured a young Clint Eastwood as the character Rowdy Yates. It entered the charts in November 1959, the 30th and 31st (it re-entered after dropping out of the charts) of 32 chart entries for Frankie. So whilst it came towards the end of his career it got to No.6 and became the song he's probably best known for. Probably more people can remember this record than can remember that he had four No.1 hits with: I Believe in 1953 (the song reached No.2 eleven years later for The Bachelors); Hey Joe, also 1953 (sadly not the same song Jimi Hendrix had a hit with); Answer Me which entered the charts only a fortnight after Hey Joe (Nat "King" Cole also recorded it but never had a hit with it. A lot of people would recognise that version though). His final No.1 hit was A Woman In Love in 1956 (sadly not the same song that Barbra Streisand topped the charts with in 1980 - a shame as it would have been quite hilarious to hear Frankie belt out "I am a....")

Friday On My Mind is one of the 1960s' great ear worms of a song. It reached No.6 as a debut hit for The Easybeats who only charted one more time. Their follow up hit reached No.20 and was called Hello How Are You. No... me neither...

The McCoys were a similar case really. Hang On Sloopy got to No.5 after entering the charts week ending 2 September 1965 and almost anyone who was buying records at the time could accurately sing the chorus line. Their only other hit came three months later, a cover of Fever which only managed No.44.

We Got Love was one of Alma Cogan's later hits, just failing to get into the Top Twenty. It entered the charts week ending 18 December 1959 thus being in competition with any Christmas records at the time, though the Christmas No.1 spot was shared (this was the last time this happened to a No.1 slot) by two records sharing the same first few words - What Do You Want by Adam Faith and What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For by Emile Ford and The Checkmates.

Ragamuffin Man brought the run of hits of 1960s band Manfred Mann to a close. It reached No.8 in 1969, their last hit before - as Manfred Mann's Earthband - they started another (but shorter) run of hits in the 1970s. In the 1960s they had 17 hits, only four of which failed to hit the Top Ten and of those four, two of them stopped inconveniently at No.11. They had three No.1s and the other two that failed to reach the Top Ten both reached the same spot - No.36.

Ray Charles' only No.1 was I Can't Stop Loving You. I dismissed it as music for older people at age 8 when it came out in 1962 but now - as a member of the older people demographic - I love it...

List Entry - Records That Have Touched Me

There's loads of tush on Facebook that I don't bother with, but today I was challenged by fellow guitarist, Joe Peden of The Persuaders, to come up with a list of ten songs that have touched me. Not the Top ten songs, because I would find that impossible and there are many more x10 that I could have chosen...

The quick list went on FB but in case anyone is interested to know why I chose these... Here we go!

1 Ella Fitzgerald - Manhattan

This is just such a classic. I own it on a 10 inch 78 rpm record and it has another classic, Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye on the other side. I chose this one for the warm warm timbre of Ella's voice and for that classic backing with glockenspiel teamed with strings and woodwind. And of course for the writers' sheer audacity in introducing a Bronx accent so they could rhyme "Foil" with "Girl"!

2 John Leyton - Johnny Remember Me

I was only seven when this came out, but the strummed guitar to a tango rhythm stood out amongst all the other records on the wireless (never called "radio" in 1961). At the time we were watching him playing the part of Ginger in the TV series Biggles. I met him a few years ago and he very kindly pretended to be amazed I was old enough to remember that!

3 The Carpenters - Goodbye To Love

Probably my favourite guitar solo ever. Perhaps not the hardest to play - but not a pushover either, but that guitar just soared and took my heart with it.

4 Bert Weedon - Red Guitar

This was actually a B side to China Doll which failed to bother the charts. However this was a much better track and was certainly featured in the background several times during a recent BBC radio documentary about Bert. I have been known to play it on stage myself once in a while.

5 The Eagles - One Of These Nights

I'm not particularly an Eagles fan and like some of their other tracks at least as much as this now, but at the time it came out I just couldn't stop playing it for that first appearance of the guitar power chord sliding up a note. Had a real shiver effect on me!

6 Magna Carta - Seasons

This could be a cheat really, because this was a montage of songs and poetry lasting around 20 minutes - an entire side of their second LP album. There was a brilliant combination of steel acoustic guitar from one speaker and nylon-strung guitar from the other speaker with a booming double bass by Danny Thompson and an occasional burst of zero-effect electric guitar from Davy Johnstone, who would join the band as replacement for Lyell Tranter just after this release. I saw him with them on the tour that went round to promote this album and just sat mesmerised. Meanwhile my mates all moaned that I had an unfair advantage at pulling girlfriends because I was able to play this to them!

7 The Moody Blues - The Story In Your Eyes

The very first time I heard The Moody Blues was the very first time I listened to music on stereo headphones. I was in the third form at school and it must have been 1969. The chap whose albums and equipment they were, chose those tracks with spectacular stereo effects whizzing round inside my head, but I heard enough to go and buy all of their albums from Days of Future Past to To Our Childrens' Childrens' Children. Four albums at once - must have cost me a fortune! Anyway this track is the first musical one on the 1971 album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and again as a guitarist I loved the way that this track simply explodes into the sound of the prolonged sound effects, instrumental motifs and chanting of the first track. Oogh! Going to have to listen to it again...

8 Kate Bush - Symphony In Blue

Wuthering Heights turned me into an instant Kate Bush fan. I bought the first three albums as they came out and this is the opening track on the second album, Lionheart. Such a pure voice and a plaintiff simple song with a beautiful melody.

9 Barclay James Harvest - For No One

In the early seventies I was playing lead guitar in a band called Spiral who were based in Failsworth between Manchester and Oldham. BJH were one of several "hero" bands and were relatively local to us, as they came from a village on the other side of Oldham. We made several trips to Manchester's Free Trade Hall to see them and they came to be referred to as "The Poor Man's Moody Blues". They were a very different band as far as songs went, but the combination of mellotron, guitar bass and drums and a knack for storytelling through their music was enough for this nickname to start. This is the final track from the album Everyone Is Everybody Else and is one of their dramatic ballads, with heavy atmosphere from the mellotron and some cutting guitar from John Lees. "Poor man's...?" To me they were a great alternative and I loved both bands. I never saw the Moodies on stage, but saw BJH several times and was never disappointed with a show!

10 Fleetwood Mac - Need Your Love So Bad

A guitarist's dream of a song. This was the first song I played solo whilst with Creeping Bentgrass, first unveiling it at my 50th birthday party. Must be at least a week ago... alright, alright, shut up! We do one gig year on year where the organiser warns me we won't be paid unless I play it...

Add your own lists via the comments if you wish - they will not appear though until I have seen and approved them. I won't ban anything because of song content, but adverts, swearing and abuse will not get through! Adverts includes links to your website or blog if you sell stuff on it.

Single-Sided 78 rpm Record

Over the Christmas break we got out of the house for a bit and visited one of the local antiques warehouses, G.B. Antiques in Lancaster. I wasn't looking for anything in particular but I always have an eye out for old records (which usually means 78s) or old books, or really anything from my past which can give me a nice nostalgic kick.

Finding records in places like this is easy, Finding records in good condition and particularly finding 78s that are not just old collections of classical music is not always easy.

So I was pleasantly surprised to come across three different stalls that had something I could bring away with me. I even bought some 45s, though generally they are in much worse condition than the 78s. 45s didn't break - but they scratched much more easily!

The 10" record pictured dates from 1909. Unbelievable almost that it should be in its original sleeve and that the sleeve was in excellent condition. It was a bit faded and the colour was turning brownish at the edges - I've edited it in the scan to restore the colour.

It is Peter Dawson's rendition of Queen of The Earth and on the B side is... nothing. Many of the very early records were single sided. On the back of the record is an engraving of the Zonophone record company logo.

Altogether I spent £20.80 and came away with 24x 78 rpm records and 5x 45 rpm singles. Not too bad considering they were from antiques stalls, which tend to overprice stuff. The other trouble with antiques stalls is that they tend to think of records as "tat" and plonk sticky labels over them where they will ruin the record label or original sleeve.

I was lucky enough to get the sticky price label off this 1959 Marty Wilde record, but the damage over the record company's name is clear and permanent and caused by the desire to label it at 50p! It has J Mills written on it in pencil, which is harder to spot but in any case only serves to show that the record was loved and valued by a former owner.

I liked the look of these old bottles with the light shining through them, but records were the only things we bought on this visit. So to finish with, here's just a few of the rest of the day's findings.

The 45 rpm singles were in absolute mint condition, though most were in wrong or very tatty sleeves. Buying second hand vinyl is an extremely risky business and I never buy stuff that looks as though it has been given to a dog to play with!

Crafting Record Sleeves

Task for today... Miss Franny is a bit of a dab hand when it comes to crafting. Cards, shopping bags, gift bags and all that. Today though I have taken over the mantle of master crafter...

I keep going through all these 78 rpm records and finding ones that either have no cover at all or that once had a cover that is now two or more pieces of decidedly limp and tatty paper...

I had a look on t'Internet and found that with the amount I'm likely to need I can't afford the snazzy reproduction sleeves with some of the old designs on. What? Yes I know I said I'd feature some and I will. Just don't hold your breath ok? And if you were holding your breath I suggest you release and take a few fresh ones... I'll get round to it. There's a few more shop advertising sleeves that I've come across too.

Anyway I decided to have a go myself so with a roll of brown paper and a roll of double sided tape, I'm off and running. I started out trying with a glue stick. They are just as blooming useless now as they were when they first came out in the 60s... They are ok if you want to stick something on a firm surface for no more than 30 seconds. For anything longer than that, forget them. Plus they are incredibly messy anyway. Still, in 30 seconds or so the pencil should just come off the table...

My first two efforts! Just another couple of hundred should do it...

The Janet Carling 78 rpm Collection

I'm still wading up to my knees in old records! I haven't even had chance to look through the Easthope Collection - the ones I brought back from the Midlands last weekend yet. At the moment I'm working my way through a collection given to me several years ago by a work colleague who knew I loved 78 rpm records and who turned up with a Christmas Hamper box full.

The collection was mostly, though not exclusively, of jazz records from around 1940. There are some great names on the records and the condition of them is excellent. Some of them sound brand new, the quality being not far short of a "straight from the master" quality. You expect a bit of background noise from 78s - they would lose their "flavour" without it, but pops and snicks from scratches are almost totally absent.

There are several bound albums in the collection. These are fibre-backed board covers into which several records can be bound together in their original sleeves.

With 78s quite often you can find records easily enough, but getting the original cover and in pristine condition is extremely hard. Here they are all with their original covers. Some examples are absolutely mint. But... all glued together at the bottom where they fit into the album cover. So scanning them is impossible!

Paper covers are flimsy. Sometimes, as with this 1940s Parlophone sleeve, they are complete if not untouched. I've managed to stick over the tears to make it look ok. Sellotape yellows with age and shrinks so using it is not ideal and when I'm forced to use it I only ever stick it on the inside so that it won't be visible. But repairing many covers is hard because so many tears are along an edge, making internal joins a bit difficult!

As I've been playing them I've been recording them onto my computer. The free Audacity software allows me to remove any clicks and to reduce most of the background noise and the quality even from a 1930s record can be almost unbelievable.

I've just gone through one of the albums containing Duke Ellington records. He recorded for several labels during the 1930s and 40s and with several different bands and orchestras. As his fame grew he made the most of it, recording as Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra!

The sticker with the T.T markings is a tax sticker. Whilst VAT has not been with us for 50 years yet, there was Purchase Tax on most goods including records and sometimes it was as high as 100%!

And amongst some of the little surprises in the Janet Carling Collection is this disc by Beryl Davis in which she sings one of Shakespeare's soliloquies which has been set to music which at times reminds one of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelly's Hot Club de France sound!

Record Shops to 1960

As you'll know if you are a regular reader of this blog, I have a fondness for all sorts of music. It's mainly for pre-21st century music if I'm honest, but there's always been and probably will always be good stuff turning out. Anyway it's time for a closer look at the 78rpm era. That era takes in the first flat disc records from the turn of the 20th century through to the very early 1960s. They carried on for a few years after in other countries such as India and all points east.

Here we moved on to 7" vinyl records that spun at 45rpm - revolutions per minute. Some of the later 78s were made with vinyl. Most were made of shellac, a natural substance secreted by bugs that can be made liquid and shaped using chemicals. I have a large collection of "78s" ranging from the late 1920s right up to around 1960.

We'll have a look at some of the records and artists another time. Now I'm going to look at the shops where we bought our records through the medium of the sleeves they sold to contain them.

There were no record shops in the early days. As with the early days of computers, other related industries took on the new product. They were mostly musical instrument dealers. Record shops, dealing exclusively with recorded music rather than its more human creation, were still only barely making ground when I was a boy. We did have an electric record player though - which we still called a gramophone, though really that name means a purely mechanical device. The turntable was driven by clockwork with a coiled spring (coiled tightly enough to kill if you tried to take the machine apart) which you tightened by winding it up with a handle.

Steel needles were used - you had to use a new needle for every side (a single track) that you played. There were three grades - soft (meaning quiet volume), medium and loud. Gramophones amplified the sound through a large horn and were LOUD!!!! To quieten them down so the neighbours wouldn't bang on the walls you stuffed material down the horn. That's where the saying "Put a sock in it!" comes from... Steel needles were large. You can't play 78s with a diamond stylus used for 45s and long-play albums as it would rattle around in the groove. Instead a larger stylus must be used. Indeed there are different sizes for different periods, though I've found most 78s play ok with the single sapphire stylus I use on my record player.

Most record companies had their own paper sleeves that the records came in, but most shops sold harder wearing cardboard sleeves which advertised their business. This one advertises Songster needles and has a series of handy hints for gramaphone users with this example (Hint No.4) warning users not to move gramophones from warm to cool rooms which could break the main spring.

We'll have a look at some of the record company sleeves later too, as there's a few more shop sleeves to look at here. Cramer and Lea Ltd. of Liverpool stapled the sides of their sleeves before taping a ribbon of paper to keep the sides of the sleeve together. The tell-tale brown marks seen through the ribbon show that there are four staples - going a touch rusty... The firm also had stickers made with their business details that they stuck onto the record label. Besides records they sold pianos, televisions, radios, gramophones, (sheet) music and band instruments. This probably means brass and woodwind and stringed instruments like violins rather than guitars...

The sleeve from the Forsyth Brothers shop on Deansgate in Manchester (specialising as a piano seller) had headings and space for the new record owner to write the details of their record, a reference, artists, A and B side titles, date and the type of needle to be used to play it. This has been filled out in this case with the details of the record currently occupying the sleeve, written in ink with a nib pen with a neat hand with lots of curls and flourishes. The record is Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark singing "My One and Only Highland Fling" from 1949, which I'm sure very few of you will remember. But you may recognise the B side, which is "Baby, It's Cold Outside" that was revived a few years ago by Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton.

Not all shop-bought sleeves were more sturdy than the record companies' own sleeves. This example from Kerr and Company of Workington is little more than a paper bag, quite a lot larger than the record - though I should point out that in the early days some records were made at ten and a half inches instead of the later standard ten inches. Kerr and Company seemed to cover all bases. Aside from records they sold hobby goods and "specialist" goods, which sounds intruiging... Oh, and cycles and accessories - not such a related area to record players as it might have been in the Walkman era... (Walkmans! Now I am showing my age!!!)

But they weren't alone. By far the most common 78 rpm record sleeve is plain brown paper. Shops used to stamp them with a rubber stamp and inkpad to advertise their business. And H Marsden of Bamber Bridge near Preston was another cycle shop. Ahem! Sorry! Cycle and Radio Agent! Given that radios of the day were the size of a large piece of furniture and definitely did not work off batteries, that seems another strange thing to carry on a bike... But H Marsden were specialists at lightweight wheel building so maybe that made up for the bulky weight of a wireless (as we used to call radios).

The record is another 1949 hit - Ronnie Ronalde's "In a Monastery Garden". Although the label says "Sung by", he actually whistles his way through it, sometimes blasting out (no other way to describe it) a tune and sometimes doing birdsong impressions. I remember it used to drive my Mum nuts... On some of his records he yodels too. Not at the same time as whistling obviously...

Hallelujah

Last night I went out to look at some 78 rpm records that someone had told me about. They were a little different from my usual style of music but after looking at them I thought, "well I've come out on a cold wet windy night..." so I parted with a bit of cash and came home with them.

What I came home with was an (almost) boxed set of classical music - Handel's Messiah. In 38 parts, and therefore on 19 discs, this was in half a box - there was no lid on it.

I have quite a large collection of 78 rpm records. They were the original discs, replacing the old cylinder phonographs in the very early 1900s. They lasted for around 60 years in the UK, before 7 inch 45 rpm singles and albums - LPs or Long Play records - which played at 33 1/3 rpm came out in the 1950s.

This set came out in 1946, recorded by Columbia records with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent with the Huddersfield Choral Society and soloists: Isobel Baillie (soprano), Gladys Ripley (contralto), James Johnston (tenor) and Norman Walker (bass). Part 32 of the 38-part set is the famous Hallelujah Chorus. Altogether there's around 2 hours and 20 minutes worth of music.

...minus a couple of minutes! The vast majority of 78 rpm records were made with shellac. This is a substance secreted by lac bugs and deposited onto the bark of trees. It is as close to a natural plastic as you can get. Whilst 78 rpm records were usually played with a steel needle in a pick up arm weighing so much that record grooves quickly wore down, finding ones that have not been played so much makes you realise just how high a quality could be achieved. And whilst vinyl 45s were sold on the basis that they were "almost unbreakable", I always think that 78s from the 1950s era when both formats were made are likely to be in better condition than the vinyl. Vinyl scratches easily but does not break easily. Shellac was the opposite. Sitting on one by mistake was the end of a 78 rpm record. But the scratches they have are down to the weight of old gramophone pickups. Played on modern machines they can sound wonderful.

I have records from all eras, from early music hall acts as above...

...through the thirties, forties and fifties...

...to some rock 'n' roll greats. For quite a long time now, I've been playing and digitising them onto my hard drive and i-pod. Some of the older stuff you can't get on CD at all. As I've been recording the music I've been scanning the labels, so we'll have a look at some every now and then as I dig out some of the stories and personalities behind some well remembered and some long forgotten songs and tunes. Don't say I didn't warn you...

The Sunnyside of Creeping Bentgrass

Yay! It's here at last! Our long-awaited new album that we started as soon as we finished the last one! Two and a half years in the making! Our first album as a duo.

Called "The Sunnyside of Creeping Bentgrass" it contains 17 tracks which includes a solo track of John's - a cover of The Beatles' This Boy.

Sunnyside is the name of the club near Northampton that was the site of Billy Fury's last public performance prior to his untimely death in 1983. The front cover shows the band performing at the club for a memorial concert in March 2009 and we are proud to be returning in 2010 to play alongside some of the fabulous artists who have formed close relationships on the message boards of billyfury.com

The full track listing is given below. Some tracks can be downloaded from the band's website, or the album is available mail order from:

Creeping Bentgrass
195 Palatine Road
Blackpool
Lancashire
England

Each CD costs 5 UK pounds plus 1 UK pound postage and packing to addresses in the UK and 2 UK pounds postage and packing elsewhere. Payment must be made in sterling by personal cheque.

Track List:

The Gambler
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
Sweet Caroline
A Thousand Stars
Bunch of Thyme
Crystal Chandeliers
When You Say Nothing At All
Be My Baby
King For Tonight
Green Green Grass of Home
I Can Only Imagine
Living Next Door To Alice
The Night Has 1000 Eyes
Forever Autumn
Halfway To Paradise
This Boy
24 Hours From Tulsa
.

More Downloads from the Band's Website

I've had a go at improving the download area of the band's blog. I had previously had all songs available for download in alphabetical order, but I've rearranged them so that you can now see which album they come from and they are in track order from those albums too.

Keeping On... was our first album from 2003 and a couple of the original tracks were recorded before we brought keyboards into the act with the result that they sounded a little empty in comparison with the other tracks - no drums etc. Those two tracks were re-recorded a while ago to replace the others on a Special Edition release. Seven of the album's 14 tracks can be downloaded.

Kites was our second album from 2004 and includes some of our favourite tracks. There were only a few available as downloads so I've now added the title track, Kites and two of the other most popular tracks, the album opener, Sunny Afternoon and an Eagles track, Peaceful Easy Feeling to make seven tracks available from the album's 15 tracks overall.

Right On The Line was the name of our third album from 2007. We had spent almost three years making it and we felt it represented a bit of a step change for us. The sound was becoming a fuller sound (if a little harder to reproduce fully on stage!) but it also included a live track which captured the atmosphere at the end of a Creeping Bentgrass gig.

It was also the album that introduced us to the Billy Fury fans at http://www.billyfury.com after the lovely Moya, who used to run Billy's Manchester fan club, got in touch. A couple of covers of Billy's tracks appeared on the album: Last Night Was Made For Love and Somebody Else's Girl and as we got to know the fans on the forum of Harry's wonderful site our lives changed a little for the better.

My mum had been a fan of Cliff Richard and I wasn't as familiar with Billy Fury as I am now! The album also featured one of Cliff's early ballads which we usually play at weddings for the first dance of the happy couple unless they have a special song they want us to play - see later! This track is the beautiful ballad Constantly.

We also included a couple of more recent songs with Billy Joel's My Life and Westlife's hit from 2006, The Rose. The Beach Boys' hit Help Me Rhonda has just been added to the downloadable tracks to make 7 tracks (counting my solo effort I Try To Think About Elvis available from the
16 album tracks.

The new album hasn't got a name yet and therefore no cover either, but already there are eight tracks from a total of 19 or 20 available. The album has no less than three Billy Fury songs on it and some cracking versions (well I think they are and hope you do too!) of some well known songs. Available to download are:

The Gambler - the Kenny Rogers song which was specified by one newly-wed couple as their special song... must be a story there...!
When You Say Nothing At All - Ronan Keating's tribute to the perfect woman...
Be My Baby - that'll teach David to suggest a Tamla Motown song! (Yes I know, not strictly Tamla anyway!)
King For Tonight - it was one of Billy's B sides, somewhat updated here.
The Night Has 1000 Eyes - one to fill the dance floors!
Forever Autumn - hey, we'll have a go at anything!
24 Hours From Tulsa - always goes down well on stage.

All other songs not linked here can be downloaded from the Creeping Bentgrass blog

Oh - and don't forget some of my solo efforts linked in the left hand column of this page!