Milestones (aka the iceberg)

I promised to expand on some recent scores at the charity shops. If we're talking about pure potential monetary value, in the space of 24 hours last month I scored my two best ever finds. (They score on more than that though as they are both excellent albums).

The haul mentioned in my last post included some records from a shop I almost didn't visit. Going down the road near the start of my charity shop trawl one Friday back in January one of the shops was closed with a note on the door saying “back at 13.30”. By the time I went back up the road I had had a call from Mrs Darce and my daughter requesting a pick up from 'their' shops. Did I have time to call back into the shop on the way back up the road? Just about I thought, it usually only contained one small box of records so shouldn't take a minute. Am I glad I dropped in! There was only one box, but it contained some gems! As I was paying for the haul (that included the soul 45s featured last time) the girl said “I thought these wouldn't hang around long, they only came in this morning”. Right place, right time! As well as those soul 45s I came away with a few albums that included a first press Pink Floyd Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. It's in pretty good nick. I will leave you to check out how much it could easily be worth, if you're interested, but let's just say it is comfortably in the three figure range (that's three figures before the decimal point, as opposed to the £2.99 I paid for it knowing it was likely a good find but not at the time understanding it was a first press.)

Twenty four hours later in another charity shop in another part of town I stumbled across another record whose worth probably nudges into the three figure bracket: Waltz For Debby by the Bill Evans Trio, an original mono UK Riverside issue. A highly desirable Jazz album found amongst a pile of albums that were typical charity shop fare i.e. definitely not highly desirable, and not Jazz. At times like this you wonder: why was it there?, and had there been any other similar records keeping it company that had already been snaffled? The picture you see of it's front cover was taken after I removed the 99p sticker.

In such situations should one feel guilty of taking advantage of the charity shops' lack of knowledge of the worth of their wares? Well, I figure I spend enough in charity shops – for instance I'm always buying records I don't need, or find I don't like, and often end up being retuned to another charity shop! Also there is every possibility I will keep these albums, and if I do end up selling them for a tidy profit then I can always give a donation. So I'm OK with it.

Waltz for Debby is a beautiful album, one to put on on late at night, or on a calm Sunday morning. It was recorded live at the Village Vanguard in New York on the 25^th June 1961. The trio comprised Bill Evans on piano, Scott LeFaro, bass and Paul Motian, drums. I have read that this was the only time Bill Evans ever performed Miles Davis' Milestones.

Bill Evans Trio – Milestones 1961

PS: Things often come in threes, but it was too much to hope for another find of similar magnitude, I'm still waiting.

The tip of the iceberg

As I mentioned in my last post there has been a relatively large influx of vinyl at chez Darcy in recent weeks. I relieved an ex-work colleague of close to 100 albums a few weeks ago and this followed what I can safely say is my best ever 24 hours trawling the charity shops. In one day I spent in excess of £60 in three shops and finished up with a very heavy bag to cart back to the car. The very next day I scored again, but more of that in my next post. The five singles you see in the picture - all mid Sixties soul/R&B on UK labels - were just a very small part of my £60 haul on a very lucky Friday earier last month.

It's interesting to note that by the mid Sixties US singles labels were already a riot of colour and design. Not so in UK. The record industry here was still dominated by a few major labels, the independent spirit hadn't taken hold; and "Swinging London" was yet to get going. Our record labels could still be best described as sombre and conservative, but at least with Atlantic you knew the music in grooves would be guaranteed to brighten up proceedings.

Solomon Burke - Maggie's Farm  1965

Booker T & The MGs - Red Beans And Rice  1966 

Southern soul's galaxy dims

Once again time seems to have been limited for blogging. Our daughter has unexpectedly returned to the nest in need of a bit of TLC after splitting up with her boyfriend (not her doing) and an abortive job as a ski chalet manager in Austria where her bosses and the working conditions were pretty bad (to put it mildly), especially considering the pittance of a wage.

I am also drowning in vinyl again. There has been quite an influx in recent weeks from various sources and I have been attempting to give them some proper attention, and to manage their conspicuousness in the eyes of Mrs Darce!

So, I'm well behind the curve here this year. Already two (that I am aware of) bright stars in Soul music – Rick Hall and DeniseLaSalle – have passed in 2018. I should have dedicated a post here to each of them but feel I'm a bit late to the game. I did report these sad events soon after they happened on a record forum I frequent. Such is the nature of those forums that comments can be made very quickly. Here, at such times, I feel the need to be more, I don't know: considered, reverential, verbose? That takes time, which has been in short supply, so, as I said I feel the moment has passed for a detailed celebration of Rick and Denise's lives.

To both I shall just simply say thanks for all the great music you left us with and Rest In Peace.

June Conquest – Almost Persuaded 1965 (produced by Rick Hall)

I featured this track a few years ago. As I said then this is Denise in a more wistful and mellow mood. It's worth a re-up I think. 

Denise LaSalle – What Am I Doing Wrong 1972