RECORDMECCA

Bruce Langhorne's Debut Album-50 Years After His Recording Debut

2011-12-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

Fifty years after his recording debut (on the 1961 album "The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem") the great Bruce Langhorne has released his debut solo album, the appropriately named "Tambourine Man." Bob Dylan, in the liner notes for his "Biograph" box set said ""Mr. Tambourine Man,” I think, was inspired by Bruce Langhorne. Bruce was playing guitar with me on a bunch of the early records. On one session, (producer) Tom Wilson had asked him to play tambourine. And he had this gigantic tambourine. It was like, really big. It was as big as a wagon-wheel. He was playing, and this vision of him playing this tambourine just stuck in my mind. He was one of those characters…he was like that. I don’t know if I’ve ever told him that.”

Bruce played guitar on Dylan's "Freewheelin'" and "Bringing It All Back Home" albums, later reuniting with Dylan in 1973 to play on the soundtrack to "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid." In the past 50 years, Bruce has backed up some of the most important folk artists ever, including Odetta, Richard and Mimi Farina, Joan Baez, Tom Rush, Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte Marie, Richie Havens, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Fred Neil, John Sebastian, Eric Andersen, David Ackles, Mike Bloomfield, Babatunde Olatunji, Mickey Hart, and Carlos Santana (ok, not a folk artist), as well as composing film scores for Jonathan Demme and Peter Fonda (the legendary soundtrack to "The Hired Hand.") And in his spare time ? Bruce became a hot-sauce maven, with his highly regarded "Brother Bru-Bru's African Hot Sauce."

In the past few years, Bruce has endured some serious health problems, and so his friends Debbie Green and George Madaraz decided it was high time for Bruce to take the spotlight. And so with Bruce, they have released "Tambourine Man," "to preserve and present this unique and joyous music composed by a guy with definite legendary status. The compositions represent the third stage of his creative career and have been only heard by a small circle of friends."

The CD pictures Bruce's legendary Turkish tambourine, and album artwork (under the CD tray) reproduces Bob Dylan's message to Bruce, written inside his copy of Dylan's "Chronicles": "To Bruce, "Mr Tambourine Man" Back there was something else ! Like they say, it was better to be in chains with friends than in a garden with strangers. So true, huh ? Stay well and all the best, Bob Dylan."

All proceeds from the album's sales go directly to Bruce, and it's available through Amazon.
Bruce is a wonderful man and a great talent, who I'm proud to call a friend. Check it out and support one of the greats.

VIRTUAL MUSEUM: A GREAT BYRDS MANAGEMENT CONTRACT

2011-11-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

Here's something I thought people might enjoy seeing; a 1967 management contract for The Byrds and The Jet Set, their previous incarnation, which included Jim McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark. This 10 page document is signed by the original Byrds lineup--David Crosby, Jim McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Michael Clarke, and Gene Clark (who signs using his legal name, Harold E. Clark.) This document unravels the Byrds and Jet Set's original management contracts with managers Eddie Tickner and Jim Dickson and formalizes a royalty arrangement with Naomi Hirschorn, who had provided cash to the band in their earliest days, so they could buy stage clothing and equipment.

There is a tremendous amount of detail here regarding royalties, outstanding loan repayment, their record contract with Columbia Records, and the Byrds and Jet Set's business affairs. We have never before seen any documentation of the Jet Set, which makes this a bit more special. The contract is signed on the final page by all 5 band members (though at this point, Crosby and Clark were no longer members--but shared in past royalties and the Byrds partnership,) Eddie Tickner, Jim Dickson, and Naomi Hirshhorn. Hirschorn deserves to be better known; according to music writer Richie Unterberger, she invested $5000 for a 5% share in the then-unknown Byrds, enabling them to buy state-of-the-art equipment including a 12-string Rickenbacker guitar for Roger McGuinn, a Fender bass for Chris Hillman (who was previously using a cheap Japanese bass) and a full drum kit for Michael Clark (who was previously using cardboard boxes!)

The contract is for sale at Recordmecca.

Ralph J. Gleason on Bob Dylan/Ramparts Magazine, March 1966

2011-11-10T19:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a great Ramparts cover story by early Dylan supporter Ralph J. Gleason from March 1966; Gleason was one of the most important music critics in America at the time and his early and wholehearted embrace of Dylan was important to Dylan's acceptance by the critical community. This article features some great Dylan quotes and Gleason's admission that he first found Dylan to be "a drag" but listening again "has changed my life fundamentally." While scanning this article for an eBay listing (an original illustration for the article from Gleason's collection) it struck me that this is an article few have seen--so we're presenting it in its entirety. Enjoy !

It Was 50 Years Ago Today--Bob Dylan's First Concert

2011-11-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

It was 50 years ago today—well, tomorrow--that Bob Dylan played his first concert, on November 4, 1961. Billed as Dylan’s “First New York Concert” it was, more accurately, Dylan’s first anywhere concert. Prior to this show, at Carnegie Chapter Hall, he had only played club dates and a few guest spots on multi-artist bills. Dylan arrived in New York on January, 21, 1961 and began playing hoots at clubs like Gerdes Folk City almost immediately.

His first “break” was a two weeks stint opening for blues giant John Lee Hooker at Gerdes in April of that year. On September 26, Dylan began another two week engagement at the club, opening for the much better known Greenbriar Boys. Though Dylan was the opening act, New York Times music critic Robert Shelton focused entirely on Dylan in his review of the opening night. The impact was immediate, and a few days later Dylan was signed to Columbia Records by legendary A&R man John Hammond (who had discovered/signed Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Count Basie, and later Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Ray Vaughan.)

Five weeks later, Izzy Young, owner of Greenwich Village’s Folklore Center (and an early Dylan supporter) presented Dylan “In His First New York Concert” at Carnegie Chapter Hall, a 200 seat room that was part of the Carnegie Hall complex. Reportedly only 53 people attended, but it was the start of a touring career that continues today. Dylan expert Clinton Heylin notes in “Bob Dylan: A Life In Stolen Moments” that he sounded “extremely nervous and uncertain of himself,” and performed “Pretty Peggy-O,” “Black Girl (In The Pines),”Gospel Plow,” “1913 Massacre,” “Backwater Blues,” Young But Daily Growin’,” “Fixin’ To Die,” and “This Land is Your Land.”

We have reproduced here the program for the concert, with it’s ridiculous biographical sketch, drawn from an interview Dylan gave Izzy Young. He exaggerates for effect, claiming he got his start playing in carnivals, was raised in Gallup, New Mexico, and was given a scholarship to the University of Minnesota. Classic stuff.

Velvet Underground Collectibles from the Sterling Morrison Archive

2011-07-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

Recently we've had the good fortune to acquire some truly amazing Velvet Underground artifacts from the collection of the late, great Velvets guitarist, Sterling Morrison.

Sterling actively collected memorabilia from throughout his band's career, and we feel fortunate to have obtained many one-of-a-kind items from his widow, Martha Morrison. We've created a new Velvet Underground Memorabilia Blog to showcase some of these extraordinary items that we have for sale.

Here we are showcasing some great period Velvets ads from Sterling's archive, and a few previously unknown and undocumented Velvet Underground posters and handbills from Sterling's collection (available for purchase via the Velvets Blog and Recordmecca.) So without further ado, the stuff !

Here's a great and very unusual ad promoting Nico "singing to the sounds of The Velvet Underground" at the New Mod-Dom. The Velvets and Andy Warhol's multi-media spectacle, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable first played the Dom, a Polish hall in New York during April of 1966. The EPI included the Velvets, Warhol films, a light show, dancers (including Gerard Malanga with his "whip-dance") and more. While it's been disputed that the hall the Velvets played in was called "The Dom," this ad from a February, 1967 issue of the Village Voice, makes it clear that was the case. We've never seen anything before that highlighted Nico in this way.

The Velvets and Warhol's multi media spectacle the Exploding Plastic Inevitable returned to the Dom, now renamed The Balloon Farm, in September and October 1966.

During March and April, 1967 the Velvets played New York's "new happening discotheque" The Gymnasium. Some of these shows were billed as "Andy Warhol presents The Complete Spectrum of Sounds with the Velvet Underground, the Dick Hyman Trio & Tony Scott, "one of the world's greatest Clarinetists.'" !!!

An ad for a series of shows at Hollywood's Whiskey A-Go-Go where the Velvets shared the bill with Chicago Transit Authority, aka Chicago. A very strange double bill, indeed.

This is a previously unknown and undocumented 1969 poster for a series of shows by the Velvets at the Unicorn, in Boston. Few Velvets posters featured their photograph, and this one is a beauty. We were thrilled to find this in the Morrison attic.

This is a previously unknown and undocumented handbill for the Velvets shows at The A-Go-Go in West Yarmouth, Mass (on Cape Cod.) This one is particularly interesting as the artwork is a direct rip-off of Wes Wilson's famous 1966 poster for the Velvets and the Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Yes, yet another unknown handbill--this one from the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in Hollywood, California. This lists shows in November/December 1968, including The Velvets with Bay Area band Cold Blood. Of note, soon after the Velvets shows were shows by the great Moby Grape. And as the copy notes, "playing with Moby Grape for the first time anywhere will be the Flying Burrito Brothers--a new band formerd by two former Byrds, Chris Hillman and Graham (actually Gram) Parsons. Truly historic.

And last but certainly not least, here is an extremely rare Velvet Underground set-list, handwritten by Sterling Morrison. This was likely for a Chicago show, as it's written on the back of a form from a long defunct Chicago accounting firm. Only a handful of Velvets setlists survive, all from Morrison's collection.

If you'd like to see more of this kind of thing, or are interested in purchasing items from Sterling Morrison's archive, visit our Velvet Underground memorabilia blog. Thanks for looking.

The Rolling Stones: Gimmie Shelter Deconstructed

2011-07-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

My friend Zach just sent me a link to an incredible website where you can listen to any or all of 9 individual basic tracks to the Rolling Stones classic "Gimmie Shelter" and mute parts selectively to hear individual tracks in any combination. Multiple guitar, drum, vocal parts and one for Bill Wyman's bass--amazing to hear how it all fits together so beautifully. A wonderfully intuitive interface too--just click the circles to turn off that track. Check it out here : GIMMIE SHELTER

Dylan Manuscripts Pulled From June 23 Christie's Sale

2011-06-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

Earlier today we received word that the amazing Bob Dylan manuscripts offered in the June 23 Christie's New York sale (see below) have been pulled--a close friend of ours received word from Christie's that “Lots 319-325 have been withdrawn, pending resolution of a title issue”. Evidently Christie's had no other comment beyond this.

We don't know what happened, but the logical guess would be that Dylan objected to the sale of these important manuscripts. The catalog noted that these were originally from the collection of Dylan's late manager, Albert Grossman. Dylan and Grossman ended their relationship with a long and highly contentious court battle, and Christie's note that there was a "title issue" suggests that there might be an issue with the provenance of the manuscripts. More as things develop...

AMAZING AND AUTHENTIC DYLAN MANUSCRIPTS AT AUCTION

2011-06-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today's mail brought me an auction catalog for Christie's upcoming sale of "Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts," which takes place June 23 in their New York showrooms. While manuscript auctions typically aren't my thing, this one includes some truly mindblowing items for any Dylan fan. Hidden at the very end of the catalog are six astounding lots of original Bob Dylan manuscripts--indisputably AUTHENTIC ones--the likes of which you aren't likely to see offered again.

These come from the collection of Dylan's former manager, the late Albert Grossman, and if you've been confused by the proliferation of Dylan items for sale--real and most often forged--take a long, hard look at these, for they are as real as real gets. Offered for sale are drafts and partial or whole working manuscripts for Outlaw Blues, Love Minus Zero / No Limit, Queen Jane Approximately, Farewell Angelina, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Maggies Farm, Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, I'll Keep It With Mine, Visions of Johanna, and the unreleased You Don't Have To Do That.

The manuscripts offered are typed, handwritten, or more commonly a combination of both; and illustrate Dylan's writing process in a way words can never convey. As Clinton Heylin has written about how Dylan is "an exemplar editor of his own work. Rarely will he substitute an image or a phrase with an inferior one."

If you've read this blog before, you know I've written extensively about issues of authenticity and provenance. I've been fortunate enough to examine many indisputably authentic Dylan manuscripts and these rank with the very best. I encourage anyone interested in Dylan's work to spend some time looking closely at these (links below.) They are truly special.

Outlaw Blues
Love Minus Zero / No Limit/You Don't Have To Do That
Queen Jane Approximately
Farewell Angelina
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Maggie's Farm/Bob Dylan's 115th Dream/I'll Keep It With Mine
Visions of Johanna

And if you're a collector of rare records or music memorabilia, or have rare vinyl or music collectibles to sell, please check out the Recordmecca website.

Recordmecca Featured in Rock Poster Article in THE GUARDIAN

2011-05-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Here's an article on the revival in poster collecting in The Guardian (the UK newspaper,) featuring an interview with yours truly:

Never mind the Blu-Tack: the rock poster goldrush

Would you pay six figures for a vintage rock poster? Dave Simpson on a booming market

Highly sought after . . . a detail from Emek’s 2006 Nick Cave poster, which took three months to complete.

"If you buy a £10,000 watch, the day you walk out of the shop, it's worth £6,000," says Jeff Gold. "If you buy a £10,000 poster, it's a £10,000 poster. And, if you have good taste and choose wisely, it will gain in value." A former Warner Bros record executive, California-based Gold runs memorabilia website Recordmecca, world leaders in a booming market in rock concert posters.

Uncertain economic times have led increasing numbers of people to turn to rock memorabilia, and to rare posters in particular, as an alternative form of investment. Some of the figures involved are eye-watering, with the biggest prices fetched by vintage artwork, what Gold calls "snapshots of an era". For years Elvis posters were the most highly sought after (particularly the year 1956), selling for up to $30,000. Then, in 2004, a poster for the Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium concert sold for $69,000 at auction; a poster for their 1966 gig at the same venue fetched $132,000 later that year.

Now contemporary posters are fetching silly sums, too. A Citizen Kane-style poster for a White Stripes' 2003 gig by Chicago artist Rob Jones sold on the night for £15, but fetched £1,600 on eBay in 2008. "Each [poster] was done in a limited edition of 333, for every concert, and there won't be any more," explains Jody Goodall, director of Manchester's Richard Goodall gallery.

Goodall recently sold a poster for Nick Cave's 2006 gig at the city's Bridgewater Hall for £500, 10 times the original price. Naturally, it's no ordinary poster. "It's hand-drawn by Portland-based artist Emek and took him three months to complete," Goodall says. "Every detail relates to a Cave song [roses for Where the Wild Roses Grow, and so on]. It's one of a limited run of just over 300, of which only a handful are in circulation."

The market in poster art is nothing new, but the web has turned a trend into a boom. As Gold explains: "You can find immediately something you'd previously see once in a lifetime." A poster's collectibility lies in a combination of band, artist, venue, the condition and the scarcity of the work. Sixties artist Rick Griffin's posters for the Grateful Dead fetch huge sums, as long as they are from the initial print run. Identifying such rare posters can mean determining the exact shade of colour, or using a micrometer to measure the thickness of the paper. "The difference can be thousands of dollars."

Poster art went into decline in the 1980s, but there was something of a renaissance towards the end of that decade, when Texas artist Frank Kozik started producing posters for underground bands: the Backyard Babies, early Nirvana. As quickly as these posters went up, kids tore them down. Some American artists – Emek, Rob Jones, Chicago's Jay Ryan – are as collectible in their own right as the featured bands.Many contemporary designs are undeniably beautiful. Gina Kelly, who has designed posters for Stornoway and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, says: "I focus on qualities like innocence, joy, psychedelia to make an image that I feel speaks to the band's audience." One of Jody Goodall's favourite designs is Jay Ryan's Kings of Convenience poster, featuring bears drinking tea in a tree. "Nothing to do with the band, it's just a quintessential, eccentric image." (He's offering it for £200.)

In the end, of course, a poster is only worth what someone will pay for it. Gold suggests that the closest thing to a surefire investment today would be a poster for Nirvana, "the 90s generation's Jimi Hendrix". Goodall argues that in 30 or 40 years' time, punk-era posters or those for Manchester's Hacienda will be the most highly sought after. Not every one of them, of course. "We always tell people, 'If you're going to buy one, love the poster,'" he says. "That way, if it doesn't appreciate in value, you're still happy."

The Virtual Museum: Some New Discoveries

2011-05-17T23:15:00.000-07:00

With the Recordmecca website freshly updated, the time seemed right to share some of my new discoveries in another installment of "The Virtual Museum."

First up is perhaps the most unique item we've ever had the pleasure to offer--Grace Slick's dress, worn while performing with the Jefferson Airplane at the Monterey Pop Festival, in June 1967. The Monterey Pop Festival was the first major rock music festival, and along with the Woodstock Festival, it is considered among the most important live music events ever. "Monterey Pop" (and the film made at the festival) introduced the Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and many other artists to mainstream audiences, and is viewed today as one of the major counterculture event of the 1960's. The Airplane was one of the breakout acts at Monterey, and their dynamic front-woman and singer, Grace Slick, is a big part of the reason why.

This is the caftan (a Moroccan dress) that Grace wore that historic day at Monterey. She can be seen wearing it in the film "Monterey Pop," as well as in the recently released extended DVD box set, which features the Airplane's complete performance at Monterey. At right are some still photos from the Airplane's set showing Grace wearing the caftan, as well as a Japanese EP with artwork featuring live shots from Monterey (she is also pictured wearing this while performing in San Francisco in the program for the Airplane's 1968 US Tour.)

We purchased this directly from Grace Slick and her daughter, China Kantner (who's father is the Airplane/Starship's Paul Kantner.) Historic items such as this rarely surface; and when they do, it's unusual for them to be so well documented. Not to mention the unimpeachable provenance of having come from Grace Slick, herself.

Next up is another item with extraordinary provenance--Joan Baez's own copy of the rare concert poster for her 1965 tour with Bob Dylan.

Baez gave this poster to Tisha Fein, the longtime talent coordinator for the Grammy Awards. While working as music producer and talent coordinator for the 1970's television show "The Midnight Special," Fein worked with Baez on the show's salute to the singer (broadcast October 10, 1975.) We obtained the poster from Fein directly, who authenticated it on the back, writing "Joan Baez gave me this when we did her Midnight Special tribute--Tisha Fein."

This often reproduced poster is one of the most scarce and sought-after concert posters of all time. Folksinger/artist/Dylan friend Eric Von Schmidt created this image, carefully balancing the size, height and names of Baez & Dylan so neither would appear more prominent than the other. Dylan evidently objected to the design, however, and the poster was only used for a few dates, and the rest were discarded. We framed this with a window in the back to show Tisha Fein's note.

Here's a rare album cover slick for Buffalo Springfield's unreleased "Stampede" album. "Stampede" was to be the Springfield's second album, and Atco Records went as far as shooting an album cover and printing a limited number of cover slicks--but management and personnel issues cropped up, and the album was never finished. Bass player Bruce Palmer was stuck in Canada when the cover was shot, so a stand-in (with a hat obscuring his face) appears in the photo. The band eventually did regroup and complete a second album, the superb "Buffalo Springfield Again." I'm very excited about the Buffalo Springfield reunion, and the opportunity to see Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay together on stage next month.

Finally, here's a beautiful photograph of Jimi Hendrix "in the mylar chamber" by the late artist/photographer/publisher/poet and filmmaker Ira Cohen. During the late sixties, Cohen photographed a number of musicians, poets and artists in a mylar room he built in his New York City loft. He shot Hendrix in 1969, and the guitarist was quoted as telling Cohen "looking at your pictures is like looking through butterfly wings." Cohen's mylar photographs appear on a number of album covers, including John McLaughlin's "Devotion" and Spirit's "Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus." This photograph was included in the traveling show "The Jimi Hendrix Exhibit," and was used in the artwork for the CD "The Ultimate Experience." This print, silkscreened on mylar, is part of an unfinished edition of 100.

If you're interested in more of this type of thing, check out the Recordmecca website. And let us know if you have any rare records or music memorabilia you might be interested in selling. We're always looking for collectibles and can pay high prices for the right material.

Bob Dylan's Muse: Suze Rotolo, 1943-2011

2011-02-28T00:35:00.000-08:00

I just heard the very sad news that Suze Rotolo has passed away; she was Bob Dylan's girlfriend and muse in the early to mid 1960's. Rotolo is the girl huddled next to Dylan on the iconic cover to his second album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan;" and he wrote one of my favorite Dylan songs, "Boots of Spanish Leather" about their relationship.

Rotolo, of course was much more than Dylan's ex-girlfriend; she was an activist, an artist, a wife and mother, and later in life revealed herself to be a talented writer, with her wonderful book "A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties" (in which she referred to Dylan as "the elephant in the room of my life.") Every Dylan fan should get this book, which is filled with Rotolo's evocative memories and insightful perspective on an extraordinary period in music and in American history.

Rotolo had long avoided the public eye, and only hesitantly emerged into the "Dylan world" with the opening of the museum exhibition "Bob Dylan's American Journey, 1956-1966," organized by the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Rotolo loaned the exhibition some of her Dylan memorabilia, including books Dylan had inscribed to her, and at the invitation of curator Jasen Emmons, attended the opening in November 2004 (unfortunately I was out of the country for the opening and never got to meet her, but as a consultant to the exhibit, we corresponded by email a bit.)

In 2006, perhaps as a result of seeing how much interest there was in Dylan memorabilia, Rotolo consigned some of her extraordinary items to Christies, which auctioned them that December. Her collection included rare photographs, cards and books Dylan inscribed to her, as well as some extremely rare records. For hardcore collectors like myself, this was an amazing opportunity to bid on truly unique and meaningful items. And of course, in a world filled with Dylan forgeries, these were things with rock solid provenance, directly from the source.

The pieces I wanted most were two early blues and jazz compilation albums, purchased by Dylan on his first trip to England in November, 1962. On the back of these, Dylan made notations such as "Made for and about Bob Dylan," "Drinked up and let out by Bob Dylan" and "Read Thoroughly and with full throttle by Bob Dylan" (after the liner notes.)

To me, these were talismanic objects, filled with the music we now know inspired Dylan so much. When I asked Rotolo by email why Dylan had written on his albums, she told me that it was similar to making notes in the margins of books for him. Later I realized at the point he annotated these, he had only been going by the name Bob Dylan for perhaps a year and a half--in fact, he had only legally changed his name in August, 1962--three months before buying these. It's almost as if he was seeing how his new name fit alongside those of these legendary artists.

Happily, I was the high bidder for both of these, and they now reside in a place of honor in my collection. So for those who want to see what the real thing looks like--genuine, beyond the shadow of a doubt Dylan handwriting and signatures from the early 60's--here are scans of both albums, from Bob Dylan's record collection, circa 1962 One of the more unusual areas of my record and memorabilia collecting is hunting down records owned by artists that inspire me (there's more about this in my earlier posts on Jimi Hendrix's record collection.) Both of these albums, and the Hendrix albums I own are what collectors call "well played"--far from mint condition; obviously frequently played by their original owners.

These were records they listened to, loved, and in many cases were inspired by; some of the building blocks of their artistry. Part of their musical mojo. So thanks to Suze Rotolo, we have a bit more insight into what Bob was listening to at a most formative time.

Below is one more great item Rotolo auctioned--a postcard Dylan wrote to her from Rome, where he was vacationing in 1963. As you can see, it's addressed to the apartment they shared on (positively) 4th Street. He mentions that bella regatza (actually bella regazza, or beautiful girls) are everywhere, then invokes Rotolo's Italian heritage, ending with "Gotta go, gotta meeting with the Pope about all the colored people coming over here--Amore, Bob."

Suze will surely be missed by those who knew her and by Dylan fans the world over--but she'll live on in photographs, the songs she inspired, and the people she touched through her art and writing.

Hendrix/Mothers/Animals--Now THAT Would Have Been a Show !

2011-02-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

Here's an amazing letter from Michael Jeffery, manager of The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Animals to the great Tom Wilson, at that time an A&R man at The Animals' label, MGM Records, proposing a possible Eric Burdon & The Animals/Mothers of Invention/Jimi Hendrix Experience concert at Carnegie Hall !

Can you imagine--Hendrix, at the peak of his game, between "Are You Experienced" and "Axis Bold as Love;" Zappa and the Mothers likewise, between "Absolutely Free" and "We're Only In It For The Money;" and Burdon & The Animals between "Winds of Change" and "The Twain Must Meet." Jeffery mentions adding Hendrix to the bill as a "way to make the show a real sell-out attraction." No kidding !

Michael Jeffery co-managed Hendrix with Chas Chandler, the former Animals bassist and Hendrix's producer. Jeffery was a controversial figure, rumored to have been an operative for the MI-5, the British secret counter-intelligence and security service. There has long been talk that Hendrix was about to fire Jeffery just prior to his death, and rumors he was somehow involved in Hendrix's demise. Jeffrey himself died in a plane crash in 1973.

Tom Wilson is one of the unsung greats of the music business; he produced artists running the gamit from John Coltrane and Sun Ra to Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground. Wilson, while a staff producer at Columbia Records, oversaw some of Dylan's greatest recordings, including the albums "The Times They Are a-Changin'," "Another Side of Bob Dylan," and "Bringin' It All Back Home," as well as "Like A Rolling Stone." He also produced Simon & Garfunkel's debut album, "Wednesday Morning, 3 AM" and after it wasn't a hit, was inspired to put electric instruments on their song "The Sounds of Silence." The original, acoustic version of the song had failed to garner any attention, and so Wilson, inspired by The Byrds electric version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" overdubbed electric instruments, without Simon & Garfunkel's knowledge. They may not have initially appreciated this, but the song went to #1 and launched their career. Wilson is also famous for signing the Velvet Underground, Mothers of Invention. and Blues Project to Verve Records, all of whom he produced.

I love finding documents like this, which evoke a magic time in the music business, and in this case, reveal an unknown (and amazing) bit of information. I'll be posting more of these in the coming months.

GUEST COLUMNIST: GENE SCULATTI on CAPTAIN BEEFHEART

2010-12-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a first for the Recordmecca Blog--a guest columnist. Our friend Gene Sculatti, well known music writer & historian, former record and television exec, and all-around great guy shares my love of Captain Beefheart. On hearing of Beefheart's passing this week, I asked Gene if he'd be willing to write a remembrance of the Captain. Happily, he agreed.

The Dust Blows Forward, 'N The Dust Blows Back
by Gene Sculatti

It’s impossible for me to think what the world would be without Captain Beefheart’s music in it. Amidst the bad news, the good is that his music is, and hopefully forever shall be, in the world.

This reminiscence is strictly personal. I had a little one-on-one interaction with Beefheart; mostly the relationship was between me and his powerful, funny, touching recordings and performances. I first encountered him in the spring of ’66 at Frisco’s Avalon Ballroom, when he and the Magic Band were the latest in a line of surprise visitors on the underground railway that weekly shuttled north L.A. bands like Love, the Rising Sons, Sons of Adam, etc. My late cousin and I, teenaged blues-heads (whose knowledge store then extended to the first Butterfield LP, Muddy Waters at Newport and Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘rocking-chair’ album), were floored by Don’s act, which then consisted of spot-on versions of “Evil” and other catalog items, and his scary-good harp playing. We made it a point to catch him whenever his name appeared on a bill, and I bought the “Diddy Wah Diddy” single.

Some months later I hit the Avalon, and Beefheart and the Magic Band, like almost everything in those change-is-now days, had gotten magic-er and weirder and I-don’t-know-what. But it was great: same bottom-heavy voice and slammin’ band, but Beefheart was wearing Sun Ra-type shades and some kind of embroidered Music Man bandleader coat, knotting and retying the old blues chords into bizarre odes to confections like Abba Zabba and Kandy Korn (with the MB roaring behind him, he stalked the stage tossing the yellow and orange Halloween treats to the crowd). My God!

Then, sometime in ’67 in a Berkeley record shop, I stumbled across the previously unannounced Safe as Milk. I’d never—no, I have never seen a cooler LP cover. Here, in the year of that famous summer and long, long, longer hair and suspect platitudes, as unpretentious dress slid into medieval costumery and cultivated slovenliness, CB & TMB were dressed in ties and tailored suits, casual but formidable, staring out from those redwood slats in Guy Webster’s fish-eye photo as if to say, “What’re you lookin’ at?” The question would soon become “What’re you listening to?” as friends, just as immersed as I was in the orthodoxies of the wild new world of Dead/Airplane/Dylan/Doors, wondered what were these bizarre howls and growls spinning on the Sears stereo about “Autumn’s Child” and “Electricity”? Hey, what can I tell you? I was in love. With his voice, his inspired entanglements of verse and melody, the look, the aura of strangeness permeating the whole act, right down to the grinning-baby Safe As Milk bumper strip that fell out of that issue of Rolling Stone.

Like Jeff Gold, I count Safe as Milk as my favorite Beefheart set. But there is more. Strictly Personal upped the oddness ante but it also cooked (“Gimme Dat Harp Boy”). And Trout Mask!! This guy was giving notice: He was in the business of busting, following his muse to left turns no one else would even consider taking. So dazzled by Trout Mask was a roommate of mine that he kept a copy in his car—often instructing passengers to hold it up to the window as he gunned past slow-pokes, I guess to ‘blow their minds’ or something. Clear Spot: best meditation ever on female power (“Lo Yo Yo Stuff”)…Decals and that whole hair-stacked look of Spotlight Kid... the fleeting pleasures of those Mercury LPs (“Sugar Bowl,” “Upon the My-O-My”), and later Doc at the Radar Station and Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller).

I was working at Warners by then, and my boss, Pete Johnson, took on the job of producing Beast. His reports from the studio suggested Don was now Pete’s boss, and everybody’s, but rough times yielded an underrated classic, where the Captain cuts a mean “Candle Mambo” outside the lesbian-run canteen of “Harry Irene” and leaves the world one of his funkiest gifts in “Tropical Hot Dog Night.” Jesus!

It was around this time that I spent a bit of time with Beefheart. Frustrated that Warners wasn’t pro-actively marketing some acts, co-editor Joe Robinson and I decided to use the label’s house organ, Waxpaper, as a bully print-pulpit to pump up the volume on them: We’d utilize the publication’s back cover to do our own ads. Which led to us taking our art director and a photographer up to Antelope Valley, meeting Don at a Denny’s (he was already in a booth, sketching on a pad), then heading for cactus country, where we spent the day shooting away, enraptured by his rap and big heart. The ad ran in our Feb. 12, 1979 issue. “There’s a Voice in the Wilderness. Captain Beefheart’s,” read the head, over a shot of Don standing in the fading desert light.

May that voice go on forever.

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE/THE BEGINNING

2010-12-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

My wife Jody calls it "shopping in your closet"--looking through stuff you already own, but haven't paid any attention to in a long time--if ever. Just today she pulled out a sweater that she hadn't worn in probably 20 years, but looks great today. And I had my own similar experience a few days ago, while going through the still large pile of stuff I bought from the family of Ralph J. Gleason, the late, lamented music critic. While going through his "Jefferson Airplane" file, I found the article below, from the August 29, 1965 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. I'd never noticed it before, but this may very well be the first article ever written about the Jefferson Airplane !

The Airplane is one of my favorite bands, and their history is well documented; folk singer Marty Balin put the Airplane together to headline the Matrix, the San Francisco club he co-founded in 1965. This article is the only one I've ever seen that reviews the band's earliest lineup--Balin, guitarist Paul Kantner, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, singer Signe Toly (pre-marrage, as her last name is Anderson on the first Airplane album) along with soon to be replaced members Jerry Pelequin (drums), Bob Harvey (bass), and occasional conga drummer Larry Davis.

Balin, described in this article as bringing to mind "an undernourished Beatle," famously spotted future Moby Grape legend Skip Spence at the Matrix, saying to him "Hey man, you're my drummer." Spence replied "No, I'm a guitar player." Balin said "No, no, no, you're my drummer." Balin "gave him some sticks and said "Go home and practice and I'll call you in a week." I called him in a week and asked him if he could do it because I'd fired this other guy and I had no drummer. And he said, "Well, I'll give it a try." And he was great."

Soon Bob Harvey was replaced by Kaukohen's friend from Washington DC, Jack Cassady, and the lineup heard on the Airplane's superb first album "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" crystalized. If you don't know the Airplane, you should. The classic Grace Slick lineup began with their second album, "Surrealistic Pillow"--but "Takes Off" is a folk rock masterpiece and to me an essential 60's album. And how about that Beatles ad, too. Happy holidays everybody.

REUNIONS--BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD & RHINO RECORDS STORE

2010-10-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here are two completely unrelated reunions that might be of interest to readers of this blog. First, this weekend's Buffalo Springfield reunion at the annual Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA, hosted by Neil Young. This was a big deal for Neil fans and those of the great Springfield--the first time surviving Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay have performed together since 1968. I thought about going, I really did, but I've been on so many planes this year--with a few trips coming up in the next month--that I skipped it. When I saw the clips today on Youtube, I really regretted it. I should have known--my favorite show of the last 10 years or so was last year's Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood de-facto Blind Faith reunion at the Hollywood Bowl.
Fortunately we can all enjoy the clips though, so I'm posting a few of the better ones here:

Reunion #2 will be of interest to far fewer, but was no less special to me--the reunion earlier this year of former employees and customers of Los Angeles' legendary Rhino Records. From its birth in 1973, the Rhino store played a critical part in the L.A. music scene. The Rhino store gave birth to the Rhino label, which almost single-handedly begat the record re-issue craze, which continues unabated to this day. The store, which began in a tiny space shared with a Zenith Stereo repair shop, was founded by music fanatic and industry innovator Richard Foos (I was the first Rhino employee.) Many longtime Rhino staffers went on to greater fame, including Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, Dream Syndicate founder Steve Wynn, and Long Ryder/Coal Porter Sid Griffin. Should you be interested in knowing more, here's a link to a photographic history of Rhino. Some great memories, and vintage Rhino visitations from the Ramones, Wild Man Fischer, the Pretty Things, Troggs, and others. Enjoy.

Jeff Gold

Record Collecting Adventures/Discovering a Previously Unknown Led Zeppelin Album

2010-10-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while a previously unknown record surfaces; something longtime collectors have neither seen nor heard of. In the internet era this happens far less frequently. It's easier than ever to research obscure titles, and usually if I haven't seen something, somebody else has. These days one can usually find information about almost anything with a few clicks of the mouse--so it's pretty rare to find something completely undocumented by a highly collectible band, especially if it's a major label release. And so it was pretty mind-blowing to come across a previously undocumented Led Zeppelin album last month.

Led Zeppelin are among the most heavily collected rock bands, and their discography is extremely well known and documented. There are hundreds of websites devoted to them, their discography, and concert history. Their authorized website, LedZeppelin.com is quite good, reproducing many rare records, posters, concert reviews and other memorabilia. So this discovery was a pretty significant find.

In early August, my friend Gary Johnson of Rockaway Records and I travelled to Seattle to buy records from legendary collector Ken Barnes. Ken was thinning out his album collection, and we were lucky enough to be the first to peruse his 30,000 LP's. I've known Ken since the mid-70's, and his knowledge of records is truly unsurpassed (I don't know anyone who knows half of what Ken knows about records, and I've met a lot of collectors in the 39 years I've been in the game.)

I spent 3 days combing through Ken's collection. At the end of the first day, while looking through his Led Zeppelin LP's, I pulled out a sealed copy of Physical Graffiti, which looked different from any I'd ever seen. It had unusual images in the die-cut windows, but after 8 hours of looking at records nonstop, I was a bit punch drunk, and not sure what I was looking at.

I showed the album to Gary and Ken, asking if they had ever seen a copy like this one before. Gary, a world class rare record expert who has seen pretty much everything at least once, was taken aback--he'd never seen anything like this before. Ken, a music writer for many years and former editor of music industry trade publication Radio & Records immediately picked up on the fact that the four letters in the top windows were the "call letters" of WMET, a long defunct Chicago rock radio station. While all of the images in the front windows on this copy are different to the released version, in every other aspect it is identical to an original first pressing of Physical Graffiti.

The previously unknown "Physical Graffiti"


Front cover close up.

A large percentage of Ken's albums were promotional copies, acquired while writing for Bomp, Radio & Records, Phonograph Record Magazine and many other publications, most recently as music editor of USA Today. Nearly all Ken's Zeppelin albums were promos, and while he didn't remember who gave him this specific copy, he felt it very likely came to him while working at Radio & Records (he was there in 1975, when the album was released.) He was sure he'd had it since the 70's, and wasn't something he'd bought. Ken had another open copy of Physical Graffiti, so when he got this one, he'd just filed it with the rest of his Zeppelin lp's. This copy must have been part of a special run that Atlantic/Swan Song made for WMET; it's rather extraordinary that in the 35 years since the album's release, no other copy has surfaced.

Ken Barnes with his rare album, just after its discovery.

The album on site.

Because the three of us had never seen anything like this, Gary contacted a few Zeppelin experts, none of whom knew anything about this album. I photographed Ken holding the album, and had him write a letter of authenticity to document the find, which reads:

To Whom it may concern:

This letter is to authenticate an original sealed copy of Led Zeppelin's album Physical Graffiti, with the call letters of Chicago radio station WMET and alternate artwork visible in the windows of the album cover.

I have had this album in my collection for decades, and in fact until Jeff Gold found it among my other Zeppelin albums (mostly promo copies) in my 30,000 LP collection, I never noticed this was in any way different from the regular issue of the album. I very likely obtained this album while working at the radio industry trade publication Radio & Records around the time the album was released. I was an editor at Radio & Records and received thousands of promotional albums from record companies while working at R&R and writing about music for various publications over the years, most recently as music editor for USA Today.

Sincerely,

Ken Barnes

Ken fortunately sold the album to us, and we're proud to offer this unique Led Zeppelin album on the Recordmecca site; click here for more information: WMET Led Zeppelin LP.

Discovering the Bob Dylan at Brandeis Tape

2010-09-02T00:06:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of buzz in the Dylan community over the impending release of a previously unknown 1963 recording of Bob Dylan at the Brandeis University folk festival. Today's headline at contactmusic.com proclaims "Lost Bob Dylan Audio Found at Late Rolling Stone Co-Founder's Home;" with the story reporting "Crisp audio from a lost 1963 BOB DYLAN concert has been unearthed in an attic and will be released as a bonus to fans who snap up the folk rock icon's new BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 9 online."

Well, that's only partially true. It wasn't found in an attic, but instead a basement. How do I know ? Simple; I was the one who found it. Here's the whole (long) story.

Ralph Gleason with the Beatles, backstage at Candlestick Park

A number of years ago, I was introduced to Toby Gleason, son of the legendary Ralph J. Gleason. The late Ralph Gleason was the longtime music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, and arguably the most important critic ever. Gleason joined the Chronicle in 1950, as the first full-time jazz and pop critic at an American newspaper. He interviewed Hank Williams and Elvis Presley, was one of the first critics to perceive the importance of Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce and Miles Davis, and was a key player in the San Francisco rock scene in the '60's. Gleason was the only reporter to interview the Beatles at their final concert at Candlestick Park in 1966, and his liner notes to Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" won a Grammy Award. Perhaps his most lasting legacy is co-founding Rolling Stone Magazine with his protegee, Jann Wenner.

Gleason kept a vast archive of records, magazines, newspapers, posters, press materials and all kinds of ephemera. When he died in 1975, his family preserved his materials in their Berkeley home, occasionally making it available to writers and scholars. Toby Gleason has supervised the release of a number of the superb television programs his father made during his lifetime, including the highly lauded Jazz Casual programs (featuring John Coltrane and Duke Ellington) and Bob Dylan's historic 1965 San Francisco press conference.

The Gleason family decided a few years back they wanted to selectively sell some items from Ralph's vast archive, and I was very fortunate to be invited by them to discuss a possible purchase. They wanted to take it slowly, but we had good chemistry, and so I made an initial purchase, with the understanding that more would be made available as time passed. Every year or so, I'd visit them and make another purchase. Gleason's collection was among the best I'd ever seen, and it was a real exercise in forbearance to be patient and respect their wishes to take it slowly--but I did. Toby Gleason is extremely knowledgeable and it was a pleasure to spend time with him, talking music and seeing the incredible history his father had collected, and his family had the good sense to preserve. Many of the magazines, newspapers, and papers they had saved had little commercial value, but a great deal of historical significance, and so I purchased them to donate to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Archive and Library (opening later this year.)

Unfortunately Jean Gleason, Ralph's widow, became ill last year and passed away at the age of 90. After her death, a decision was made to sell the family home, and I was invited up to buy anything that I wanted. For two or three days, Toby and I explored the deep recesses of the home's multi-room basement, which was filled with magazines, records, newspapers and reel to reel tapes. When we came to the wall of tapes, we discovered many labeled "Bob Dylan." Gleason had been one of Dylan's early and most vocal supporters, and became close to him. He also had a number of friends at Dylan's label, Columbia Records (I found letters to Gleason from Dylan's discoverer, John Hammond, among his papers.) Looking at the 40 or so Dylan tapes in the Gleason collection, it was clear some were sent to him by Columbia, some by Dylan's management, and some from fans and readers of Gleason. Many were explicitly labeled, some only said "Dylan." Toby and I agreed that since we didn't know what was on them, I'd take them back to Los Angeles and listen, to see out what was on each one (I also bought 30 or so non-Dylan tapes from the family.)

In this house's basement, the tape was found !

If you've read this far, you probably are a Dylan fan and know of the enormity of that task. So many things have been bootlegged, in so many unending variations, that it was hard work figuring out what was what. I had to locate a reel-to-reel machine and an engineer to transfer everything to digital files, which I could then compare to various bootlegs. Some of the tapes were 7" reels, some smaller; some 2 track, some 4 track; recorded at speeds from 3 3/4 ips to 15 ips. The first time I went to the studio, I brought a few of the tapes I thought most promising. One was labeled only "Dylan Brandeis" in light pencil on the edge of the box. We "put it up" on the machine, the playback started, and I was blown away. Superb quality--obviously professionally recorded--early Dylan, singing and playing wonderfully. And a recording I'd never heard of--and was pretty sure was unknown (which it was.) Over the next few weeks, I listened to many many hours of Dylan tapes, and of course, everything else had been released or bootlegged, save for a tape of a press conference from Austin, Tx. in 1965. Still, after all these years, to find an unknown Dylan tape, and one this good--I was astounded.

I called Jeff Rosen in Dylan's office, to see if he knew of the tape--he didn't, but was interested in hearing it. Jeff is someone all Dylan fans owe a big debt of gratitude to--among many other things, he's responsible for the superb Bootleg Series, which in my opinion are the best compiled, annotated and illustrated albums a fan could hope for. Very quickly, I spoke to Toby Gleason, sent Jeff a CDR of the show, and he responded that he was interested in buying it for a possible future release. I worked out a deal with Jeff--very easy--and voila, about a year later, it's coming out.

I'm very excited about the upcoming Witmark Demos/Bootleg Series album and the Mono Box Set, to be sure. But I'm absolutely thrilled that this great Dylan show--which I'm listening to right now--is finally seeing the light of day, thanks to Ralph J. Gleason, and his family.

Jeff Gold

Other items from the Ralph J. Gleason collection are available for sale on the Recordmecca website. And we're always looking to purchase rare records and high-end music collectibles.

Jimi Hendrix's Record Collection Pt. 2/A Man With Great Taste

2010-07-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of enthusiastic response to my last post, about Jimi Hendrix's record collection. As I mentioned in that post, the Experience Music Project in Seattle has the only other known group of records from Jimi's collection. As people seemed truly interested in what Jimi was listening to, I reached out to the great Jasen Emmons, director of curatorial affairs at EMP, who graciously provided me with a list of their Jimi LP holdings (and some photos too.)

So courtesy of Jasen, here's a list of the rest of Jimi's records:
Jimi Hendrix Experience "Are You Experienced"; Muddy Waters "Down On Stovall's Plantation"; Elmore James "The Best Of"; Various Artists "Chicago The Blues Today !, Vol. 1"; John Mayall with Eric Clapton "Blues Breakers"; Cream "Fresh Cream"; The Spencer Davis Group "Autumn '66"; Little Richard "Vol. 2"; Bob Dylan "Blonde on Blonde"; Jimmy Reed "The New Jimmy Reed Album"; Lightnin' Hopkins "Soul Blues"; John Lee Hooker "Live at Cafe Au-Go-Go"; Howlin' Wolf "More Real Folk Blues"; Various Artists "Heavy Heads"; Muddy Waters "Electric Mud"; Junior Wells "It's My Life Baby"; Various Artists "We Sing The Blues !"; Various Artists "Original Hits of the Great Blues Singers, Vol II"; Various Artists "The Original American Folk Blues Festival"; Various Artists "Blues Classics"; Sonny Boy Williamson "Down and Out Blues"; Lowell Fulson "Lowell Fulson"; The Free Spirits "Out of Sight and Sound"; Canned Heat "Canned Heat"; Lightnin' Hopkins "Earth Blues"; Charlie Musslewhite's Southside Band "Stand Back !"; Lightnin' Hopkins "Something Blue"; Lightnin' Hopkins "The Roots Of"; Lightnin' Hopkins "Lightnin' Strikes"; Albert King "Live Wire-Blues Power"; Leadbelly "Take This Hammer"; John Mayall "Crusade"; Jimi Hendrix Experience "Smash Hits"; Bill Cosby "I Started Out as a Child"; Bob Dylan "John Wesley Harding"; The Band "Music From Big Pink"; Pierre Henry "Le Voyage: D'apres le Livre des Morts Tibetian"; Johnny Cash "At Folsom Prison"; Friar Tuck "And His Psychedelic Guitar"; Original Soundtrack "The Trip" (featuring the Electric Flag); Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery "The Dynamic Duo"; Ravi Shankar "Sound of the Sitar"; Red Krayola "The Parable of Arable Land"; The Zodiac "Cosmic Sounds" and last but certainly far from least The Mothers of Invention "Freak Out !"

Once again, few surprises here--a lot of blues, some boundary challenging rock. Of course Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" LP features his original version of "All Along The Watchtower," which Jimi virtually made his own. And notice the collection contains a Lightnin' Hopkins album titled "Earth Blues"--a title Hendrix used for a song of his own, which first appeared on the soundtrack to the film "Rainbow Bridge."

I was happy to see many albums I own myself. And virtually all of Jimi's picks have stood the test of time (ok, probably not "Friar Tuck and his Psychedelic Guitar" or The Zodiac's "Cosmic Sounds." But almost every other album here is a classic .) If you don't know these records and you're a Hendrix fan (and I trust you are if you've read this far) you'd be well served by Jimi's choices. Many of these albums are still in print--some even on vinyl--and all of the music he owned is probably available on Amazon or through iTunes, if not your local record store.

And once again, if you have any rare records or music collectibles you're interested in selling, let us know. We are always buying, and can pay very high prices for the right material. Email us at recordmecca@earthlink.net or contact us through the Recordmecca website.

Jimi Hendrix's Record Collection

2010-06-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

If I had to pick one artist who’s music meant more to me than any other, it would have to be Jimi Hendrix. I began obsessively collecting Hendrix records in 1971, and my desire to have everything Jimi led to a lifetime’s journey of collecting and working in and around music.

In June, 2000 I attended the opening of Seattle’s Experience Music Project (the music museum Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen founded.) Their collection of memorabilia—including clothes worn and guitars played by Jimi—was astounding. But the thing that touched me the most was a display of albums from Hendrix’s own record collection. These were a dozen or so albums, mostly blues, which Jimi had owned and which clearly had inspired him. It felt like I was looking at talismans, things that held whatever could be contained of Hendrix’s mojo.

And so when another group of 21 of Hendrix’s own albums came up at auction—consigned by Kathy Etchingham, Jimi’s longtime girlfriend—I resolved to do everything I could to buy them. These were included in a 2001 sale at Bonhams, the UK auction house, titled “The Jimi Hendrix Experience Auction.” Readers of this blog know I am obsessed with issues of authenticity. But this was the rare auction put together by Hendrix experts with the participation—and consignments from—Kathy Etchingham, the only person Hendrix lived with during the Experience years. So I went for it !

A few weeks later, my hands trembled as I unpacked the Fedex box from London which contained my new treasures. These were what we collectors called “well loved records.” They had been played many times and were covered with marks and fingerprints. Ordinarily the first thing I would have done was clean them—but these were Jimi Hendrix’s records—cleaning them would be heresy. So I carefully sleeved them, put the discs in new inner sleeves (keeping the old ones of course), and marveled. (con't below.)

I thought people might enjoy knowing—and seeing—what Jimi was listening to during his London years. The collection I purchased included Jimi’s copies of these albums:

Robert Johnson “King of the Delta Blues Singers”; Muddy Waters “The Real Folk Blues”; John Lee Hooker “Drifting Blues”; Wes Montgomery “A Day In The Life”; The Roland Kirk Quartet “Rip, Rig and Panic”; Ravi Shankar “India’s Master Musician” and “Portrait of a Genius”; The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Electric Ladyland”; The Dream “Get Dreamy”; Howlin Wolf “The Howlin’ Wolf Album” and “Moanin’ In The Moonlight”; Bob Dylan “Greatest Hits” and “Highway 61 Revisited”; Elmore James “Memorial Album”; James Brown “Showtime”; Clara Ward “Gospel Concert”; Acker Bilk “Lansdowne Folio”; The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” Various “Chicago The Blues Today”; Various “American Folk Blues Festival ‘66” and Bill Cosby “Revenge.”

Overall, there were a few surprises, but if you’re a Jimi fan, the blues albums, Dylan, Ravi Shankar and jazz titles make perfect sense. Being a research obsessive, I’ve managed to find a few photos of Jimi with these actual albums. And if you’re in Los Angeles, the Grammy Museum currently has an exhibit of Jimi, Janis Joplin and Doors memorabilia, to which I’ve loaned 2 of Jimi’s blues albums and a photo of him holding them (above.)

Non-record collector nerds can now navigate to another site—or go to Amazon and buy some of these records if you don’t have them. Below are some notes for my fellow obsessive/compulsive collectors.

-Record collectors have long seen copies of “Electric Ladyland” with the inside gatefold type in blue offered as “first pressings.” I’ve never believed it. The blue type copies I’ve seen are all printed slightly out of register, leading me to conclude the blue is nothing more than a printing error. The fact that Jimi’s own copy has the white type further confirms this. I think it’s a logical assumption that the artist would have a first pressing, don’t you ? By the way, though it looks like he’s biting “Electric Ladyland” in the photo above, he’s just resting his teeth on it. Sorry, no tooth marks. But some other flaws visible on the cover can be seen on the copy in this collection.

-The copy of “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits” has some psychedelic doodling on the back, clearly by Jimi. Somehow Bonhams didn’t notice this for the auction description—a very happy discovery for me.

-The copy of Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” has some of Jimi’s blood on the cover—according to Etchingham, the result of a wine glass accident.

-The rarest album in the bunch was “Get Dreamy” by The Dream, a 1967 LP by a Norwegian psychedelic quartet. This album featured what has to be the earliest ever Hendrix tribute, their song “Hey Jimi” (Hendrix’s debut single, “Hey Joe” was first released in December 1966.) This copy was inscribed to Jimi by Dream guitarist (and later celebrated ECM jazz guitarist) Terje Rypdal, who wrote “With all the respect we can give a fellow musician, we wrote “Hey Jimi” as a tribute to you. We hope you like it and enjoy the rest of the LP too. On behalf of the Dream, Terje Rypdal.” In 2005 I googled “Terje Rypdal” and “Jimi Hendrix” and found an interview where Rypdal mentions sending a copy of the album to Hendrix through a friend of a girlfriend of Jimi’s, but never being sure it got to him. I found an email address for his manager and sent him a message that the album had indeed found it’s way to Jimi, and got a message back that Terje was thrilled to know that Jimi had received it—and letting me know that if I ever wanted to sell it, “mail us first !!!!!” However, this one’s not going anywhere !

Mothers of Invention/Absolutely Free Libretto

2010-04-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit of public service blogging--a set of scans of the impossible to find "Libretto" booklet for the Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention's second album, "Absolutely Free."

Along with their 1966 debut, "Freak Out" and their third album, "We're Only In It For The Money" the Mothers created some of the most experimental and enduring music of the 1960's. Printed inside the gatefold cover of "Absolutely Free" was the note "Send money. As much as you can get. $1. minimum. All the words on the record..even little sneaky ones! Merely send money...as much as you can...how you get it we could care less (make sure it's at least $1.00) for your very own libretto.....dump money into a shoebox & tie securely. Ship immediately..."

Now I've been collecting Zappa & Mothers records since the very early 70's, and I've seen exactly one libretto in all those years--which came from the collection of his former manager, Herb Cohen--leading me to believe that these were never sent out. But I did manage to snag that one copy. I scanned it for a client last week, and decided I'd post it online, for others to enjoy.

If you don't know these albums, click the links above, listen to the sound samples, and buy them all. You won't be sorry. As good as it gets !
(and of course, if you're a collector of rare records or music memorabilia--or have some to sell--please do check out our website, Recordmecca.)

My Big Star Tribute

2010-04-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Big Star. What a great great band. If you don't know them, stop reading this now, open another browser window, and buy the single CD of their first two albums, #1Record/Radio City, and their 3rd, posthumous album, Third/Sister Lovers. You won't be sorry--I promise. And read the Wikipedia page on them for the lowdown.

I'm writing this for those of you who know about Big Star, and their leader, the great Alex Chilton, who sadly died on March 17. I was moved by his passing, and thought I'd share some rare Big Star collectibles (pictured above) and some of my memories of this most unique band (sorry if this gets self-indulgent--but hey, it's a blog.)

I found out about Big Star while working at L.A.'s Rhino Records, in the in the mid-1970's. By the time I heard them, their first 2 albums were already out of print, but easily available as "cut-outs." They were a revelation to me, a young (but fanatical) record collector, specializing in American and British 60's rock. How could anybody interested in 60's rock not LOVE these records. So great, so original, so obvious.

Rhino at that time had many rock-critic customers (and a few rock-critic employees) and so I heard all about the Memphis rock writer's convention that Big Star played in 1973. Also much talked about was the legendary unreleased 3rd Big Star album, which was completed--evidently they had even made test pressings--but their label, Ardent, couldn't find anyone to release it (their distributor, Stax, was having severe financial problems and wasn't interested.) People knew about the 3rd Big Star album, but nobody in my circle had heard it--or even knew anyone who'd heard it. For record collectors, it was was one of those great, holy grail albums you fantasized about.

And here I have to give a huge shout out to Frank Gutch. Frank was a Rhino customer, friend, and employee at the local Licorice Pizza record store. Frank was a huge Big Star fan. Huge. He really wanted to hear that third Big Star album. Badly. So he did something no fan in their right mind would have even thought to do in those days. He called Ardent Studios in Memphis--owners of Ardent Records, and the studio where Big Star recorded. He somehow got John Fry on the phone, the studio and label owner. He asked if they had any extra test pressings of the 3rd Big Star album. And amazingly--AMAZINGLY--John Fry sent him one. Who would have had the nerve to do that. Or would have even thought to do it ? Only one man. Frank Gutch.

Well, we all heard Frank's test pressing. It was incredible. Incredible. Maybe the best Big Star album of all. How could this be unreleased. It made no sense. And I must admit, I coveted that test pressing. Man, that was a rare, rare record. And a great one too. I asked Frank, half jokingly, half not, if he could call John Fry and ask if he had another one for me. And you know what ? Frank did. And one day, with no warning, Frank strolled into the Rhino store and gave me my own Big Star 3rd album test pressing. Unbelievable. I said it then, I say it again. Thanks Frank. Amazing.

A few years later, I was staying at the London home of my friend Colin Baker, and he played me a live tape of Big Star on a Long Island, NY radio station WLIR. Incredible. Big Star live ! They were great. Who ever thought that there might be a live radio broadcast of Big Star. Colin made me a copy--thanks, Col.

Jump ahead to the late 1980's. I was working for A&M Records, and we had signed a band, Tora Tora, who were recording their album at Ardent Studios. I visited Memphis to meet the band, and was lucky enough to meet John Fry (who I belatedly thanked for the test pressing) and Big Star drummer Jody Stephens, who managed Ardent and worked closely with the band. I probably bored these guys to death talking about Big Star as much as Tora Tora, but hey, you only live once. I mentioned the WLIR broadcast and Jody Stephens told me he had a perfect copy and would send me a cassette. And he did ! These guys were as nice as it comes, and I felt truly honored to meet them. Thanks Jody and John.

Flash forward to 2009. In London, I met longtime UK music journalist Max Bell, who years ago had been friendly with the late, great Chris Bell of Big Star, when Chris was visiting London. Max was a Big Star fan too, Chris, who had already left the band, brought Max a signed copy of "Radio City" when he next visited London. Max had held on to it for many years, but I'm happy to say he sold me that signed copy (above) which is the only period-signed Big Star album I'm aware of. Thanks Max.

My final story involves my late father-in-law, legendary "record man" Larry Uttal, who owned and ran the Amy/Mala/Bell labels in the 60's (Bell later became Arista Records), and Private Stock Records in the 70's. Larry knew Alex Chilton from The Box Tops, who had recorded for Larry's label, Mala. Alex, of course, had been the lead singer of The Box Tops (who's hits included the classics "The Letter" and "Soul Deep.") One day in the mid-80's, I casually mentioned to Larry (then visiting from New York) that I was going to see Alex play live. Larry told me he'd like to come along; it had been many years since he'd seen Alex. I explained to him that Alex was doing some pretty different stuff--loud, dissonant, druggy music that couldn't be more unlike the Box Tops hits. And that the club he was playing, Al's Bar, was a real dive--not his type of place. Larry, always super enthusiastic, insisted it would be fine, that he'd love to see Alex again. I knew it would be his kind of scene at all, but there was no convincing him otherwise--so I told him to drive on his own "just in case" and I'd meet him there.

We met outside the club, and entered the tiny, very crowded, stiflingly hot, cigarette smoke filled room. Of course Alex didn't appear for some time, and when he did hit the stage, he seemed pretty much out of it. He started playing some really discordant, unrecognizable music at an ear splitting volume. It was pretty hard to take even for me--and I was used to shows like this. Suffice to say, Larry lasted about two songs before turning to me and saying something like "OK, I get it" and heading out the door.

Happily, Alex seemed to pull it together in later years, re-uniting Big Star with Jody Stephens and some younger, talented fans from the band The Posies. Big Star belatedly received their due, had their catalog reissued many times, were feted and praised by the a new generation of fans, and their songs covered by many better known bands such as REM, Wilco and Cheap Trick. The Replacements recorded a song, "Alex Chilton" in tribute to him, which was released as a single from their 1987 album "Pleased To Meet Me." And probably most lucratively, their song "In The Street" was used as the theme song for "That 70's Show."

His death is a sad loss to the world of music. But the cliche is true--better late than never--and Alex did receive the accolades while he was alive and could appreciate and benefit from them. So go listen to some Big Star and celebrate all the music this unique band left us to enjoy.

THE Virtual Museum: Set Lists

2010-02-21T21:23:00.000-08:00

First, an apology--I haven't put up a new post in a long time, for a variety of reasons--two international trips, buying some large collections, blah blah blah. So here's a long one with a lot of unique images, to make up for it. The topic today is SET LISTS. A set list, for those who don't know, is the list of songs that an artist or group puts together to play at a particular concert. These days, an artist or band member will put together a set list, and someone from the road crew will usually type it up, print out copies, and tape them on the stage in front of where the singer and musicians will stand. In the past, they were usually hand written, and the originals can be quite collectible. Some artists play different sets of songs every night of a tour--Bob Dylan is legendary for this and there is even an online competition to guess which songs he'll play on a given night ("The Never Ending Pool") and a listing of which songs he's played at almost every show in his 49 year career ("Bob Links" ). Most artists will draw from a group of songs they've rehearsed, and while they usually include crowd favorites, they'll try to mix up their sets, for their own amusement as well as that of their audience. I love collecting handwritten set lists, as artifacts and an insight into the creative process. Here are some of my favorites. First here is a Bob Dylan set list (with a great guitar drawing) from a very early show in New York sometime in 1961. This predates his first album, and is almost certainly from an early club date somewhere in Greenwich Village.

Next is a much later Dylan setlist, from a rehearsal during the 1980's. It looks to have been written over a period of time, with Dylan formulating which songs he's thinking of playing. He's abbreviated most of the titles, writing "Shelter" instead of "Shelter From The Storm," which is common for him and many other artists. And serious Dylan fans should definitely check out Alan Fraser's absolutely incredible online discography, Searching For A Gem.

And since we love Bob so much, here a very special Jerry Garcia handwritten set list of

mostly Dylan songs from the "Dylan and the Dead" tour of 1987. In his memoir Chronicles Dylan writes at length about this tour, and how the Dead pushed him to perform songs he'd written, but hadn't played in many years. Dylan resisted, even walking out of the rehearsals this list dates from. Frustrated, he wandered into a nearby bar, and once inside, he saw a singer who's technique inspired him and gave him insight into how he might indeed perform some of his songs that the Dead were so eager to play. He returned to the rehearsals, and surprisingly agreed to sing the songs the Dead had asked for. This set list is particularly historic, as Garcia has written his choices on the back of a xeroxed set list in Dylan's hand, listing the many covers that he wanted to play, but eventually were dropped in favor of his own songs. Of course you can find out almost anything imaginable about the Dead online, and probably the best setlist resource is Deadbase.

Next up is a very rare Velvet Underground set list written byJohn Cale with annotations by Sterling Morrison from one of the band's shows at Poor Richard's in Chicago during June and July, 1966. These were notable shows, as they took place without Lou Reed (who was in a New York hospital with hepatitis) and Nico (who was in Ibiza.) Angus MacLise, the

band's original drummer, joined for these shows, with Mo Tucker switching to bass, and vocals handled by Cale and Morrison. This list was written out on stationery from a restaurant blocks from the venue (discovered through the miracle of Google maps !) The Velvets too are extensively documented, and on Olivier Landemaine's superb website, one can find the most extensive discography imaginable, as well as information on ever known date the band ever played--it's at http://olivier.landemaine.free.fr/vu/index.html

How about some (relatively) recent artists, you ask ? Well here's a very rare Nirvana setlist, handwritten by Dave Grohl (Nirvana's guitar tech, Earnie Bailey, told me he wrote most of them.) This set list is almost certainly from the Red Hot Chili Peppers/Nirvana/Pearl Jam tour date at Del Mar Fairgrounds on December 28, 1991. There are many websites which document Nirvana's tour dates and the songs they played at each show, including the Nirvana Tour Guide at Nirvanaguide .

And here's a Smashing Pumpkins setlist, handwritten by Billy Corgan, for their show at the Melbourne (Australia) Royal Agricultural Showgrounds on January 23, 1994. This was written on hotel stationery--as they sometimes are--but just which hotel is a mystery, as its name is obscured by the duct tape you often find on setlists (used to attach them to stages, monitor speakers or drums.) I'm sure there are websites documenting the Smashing Pumpkins tours as well, but I found the information for this one on setlist.fm, a great wiki for researching tour dates and sets.

And finally to the year 2000, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication Tour. We're not sure which date this setlist comes from, but it's in the hand of lead singer Anthony Kiedis, who wrote this on the reverse of the list for another show.

Hopefully you've enjoyed this survey of setlists; we are always interested in buying handwritten setlists, and continue to offer them for sale at Recordmecca, including the Dylan 80's set list, Smashing Pumpkins and the Chili Peppers.

My Bob Dylan Story, and everybody else's

2009-10-27T00:39:00.000-07:00

Every Dylan fan should check out Expecting Rain, Karl Erik Andersen’s excellent website which collects links to the Bob Dylan news of the day, as well as links that would be of interest to Dylan fans (see the links at the end of this post.) Today Karl posted a link to a site where people wrote their best Bob Dylan stories, and it made me think of my own encounter with Bob. I thought I’d add my story, but do it here....so here is….

My Bob Dylan story.

It must have been the end of 1977; I was eating lunch by myself at the Brentwood Country Mart, a complex of small shops and food stands in Los Angeles less than a mile from where I’d grown up. I’d eaten there hundreds of times, beginning when I was 2 or 3 years old. It was a weekday, and I was in the courtyard, eating my BBQ chicken and French fries, surrounded by mostly middle-aged women in groups of two or three, at small tables.

I was concentrating on my lunch when a scruffy man in a black leather jacket, with two or three little kids circling around him, walked through my field of vision. He was out of place—I remember his long curly hair, the beat up jacket, and his long nails with nicotine stains. Most everyone else in the place was well-dressed and upper middle class to upper class—so he really stood out. I glanced up and did one of the great double takes of my life—for it was Bob Dylan.

He walked into the toy store—my toy store—the one I’d grown up hanging around, where I bought my Matchbox Cars and Hardy Boys books. Unbelievable. Bob Dylan at the Mart. I looked around and it was clear that no one else has noticed nor recognized him. I thought quickly—did I have enough time to rush home to get an album for him to sign ? No, I’d probably miss him. I abandoned my lunch and hightailed it to my car, grabbing a felt-tip pen and a scrap of paper, and positioned myself outside the door of the store. I didn’t want to hassle him, but it was Bob Dylan-- my hero--and I knew I had to at least try to get an autograph.

I looked inside, but couldn’t really see him. So I waited. It seemed about 15 minutes before he emerged, with his kids still running around, paying no attention to him. He was carrying a child’s twirling baton, with some gift wrap and ribbon wrapped around the middle, but not covering the rubber tips on the ends. It looked like he’d been shopping for a birthday party gift for one of his children’s friends. Nervous as hell, I made my move.

“Excuse me, Bob. I’m sorry to bother you, but could I get an autograph ?” He looked at me, weakly held up the baton, which was in his right hand, shrugged his shoulders and said “sorry, I can’t sign,” indicating that the baton in his hand prevented him from using it to sign my paper. Embarrassed, I once again apologized for bothering him, and said something to the effect that his music had had a huge affect on me over the years, and thanked him for it.

I fully expected that to be the end of my encounter, but surprisingly, he asked me when I’d first heard him. I told him it was when I was 10 years old, in 1966, at summer camp. He asked me what song I liked best, and I told him “Like a Rolling Stone.” I said I thought it was a groundbreaking song in many ways, and marked his great transition from acoustic to electric, and that I thought it was brilliantly produced. I probably told him that I had gone to high school with the son of Tom Wilson, who produced that epic track. And I mentioned that I’d heard he was going to go to Japan soon, for his first tour there.

He was very surprised that I knew that, and asked where I’d heard it. I told him I worked at a local record store, Rhino Records, and we had a subscription to Billboard Magazine, and I’d read it there. At some point it occurred to me that he probably had people approach him constantly, telling him how much his music meant to them. I felt like he was testing me, to see how much I actually knew about him and his music, and I was passing the test. We chatted for another minute or two, and then he said “well, I’ve gotta go. Nice to meet you.”

I figured I’d take one last shot and asked again for an autograph. He looked at me, shrugged again, held up the baton, indicating he still “couldn’t” sign, and said, “See ya.” I was in shock.

At the time, I was sad I hadn’t gotten a signature. Happily, 32 years later, I’ve got plenty of signed and handwritten Dylan things. But Bob gave me something far more valuable—some of his time and a memory I won’t ever forget.

For further reading, check out Expecting Rain, the very amusing book Encounters With Bob, and the website The Best Bob Stories You Know.

Robert Shelton--He Got It.

2009-10-06T23:08:00.001-07:00

Above is the first article ever written about Bob Dylan; a rave review in the New York Times by music critic Robert Shelton, written a mere 7 months after Dylan arrived in New York (and only 3 months after the young Bob Zimmerman began calling himself "Bob Dylan.")

According to Clinton Heylin's excellent "A Life In Stolen Moments/Bob Dylan Day By Day: 1941-1995," it was on January 24, 1961 that the nineteen year old Dylan arrived in "a snowbound New York, accompanied by his friend Fred Underhill. He heads for the Cafe Wha. It is a hootenanny night, and he performs a couple of songs. The Wha's owner, Manny Roth, asks the audience to provide them with a place to stay for the night." The next day Dylan traveled to Greystone Hospital in New Jersey to meet his ailing idol, Woody Guthrie, suffering from the hereditary disease, Huntington's Chorea. Meeting Guthrie is the ostensible reason that Dylan headed East.

It's rather astounding to see, then, that in 7 short months Dylan had developed to the extent that Shelton--the nationally known music critic for the most important newspaper in the United States--devoted the majority of his review to Dylan, the opening act for the much more established Greenbriar Boys. And Shelton was so confident about the talent of this virtual unknown that he wrote "it matters less where he has been than where he is going, and that would seem to be straight up." You've gotta hand it to Robert Shelton--he truly got Dylan, and he wasn't afraid to say it.

I love reading articles like this, which show what people were saying as events were unfolding--before the revisionist history set in. I'm fortunate to have a very large archive of early Dylan articles, thanks largely to the prescience of two very early Dylan supporters, the late San Francisco music critic Ralph J. Gleason and the late 16 Magazine editor Gloria Stavers. Both collected clippings on Dylan for their files, and I was fortunate to buy their collections. Someday I hope to publish a compilation of the best of these--but for now, I thought I'd share this most important one. With the hundreds of books, thousands of articles, and millions of words written about Bob Dylan, it's kind of amazing to think--this is where it all began.
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A SAD DAY FOR RECORD COLLECTORS

2009-09-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

Last week my good friend in London, Bill Allerton (left), emailed to tell me that me that sometime next April he and Bill Forsyth would be closing their legendary side-by-side London record shops, Stand Out and Minus Zero.

In a follow up phone call, Bill told me the toll of “running a counter service shop” for 25 years had been “quite enough,” and he was very happy about the prospect of having some more time on his hands. For many years, record collectors have been doing more and more of their buying online, fewer people have been traveling to London to look for records, and of course Bill Forsyth had been talking about closing for some years. And so they finally decided the time had come. Bill told me he was “frankly thrilled” at the prospect of taking some time off, traveling, and shifting his record dealing to the web.

I can’t help feeling that what is good news for Bill & Bill, as they’re often referred to, is terrible news for their friends, disciples and customers. Their twin stores are an essential stop on any record collector’s pilgrimage to London.

I met Bill Allerton in 1975 on my first trip to London; I’d been corresponding with him and his best friend Colin Baker for some months (I found them through their ads in “The Rock Marketplace”; Alan Betrock’s primordial record collector magazine). When I wrote them I was coming to London, they arranged to meet me, and we’ve all been close ever since.

At the time, Bill was working in accounting for Virgin Records, but his true love was record collecting, particularly the Velvet Underground and Arthur Lee & Love. He lived in a one room flat in Clapham, filled with records, floor to ceiling piles of 60’s music newspapers, some pinball machines, and “fruit machines” (slot machines.) If you were careful, you could work your way around the room without hitting anything.

He sold rare records through the mail and on Saturdays in London’s famed Portobello Road market with Colin, under the “flyover.” His regular clientele made their way to him each weekend, looking for hard to find singles and albums, and hoping to absorb some of his and Colin’s tremendous knowledge. They knew more than anybody about 60’s records, and I felt lucky to have been adopted by them (over the years, I’ve probably made 25 or so trips to London, often staying with Colin, and chauffeured by Bill.)

Early on, I met Bill’s friend, Bill Forsyth, another collector/dealer who’s obsession was Bob Dylan, and in 1984 “the Bills” teamed up to open a record store, Plastic Passion, at 2 Blenheim Crescent in London (just around the corner from Portobello Road.) Plastic Passion was a vinyl wonderland, a long, very narrow space with heavy wooden doors at the front, a cramped office in the back, and walls covered with records even the most sophisticated collector had rarely if ever seen before. Immediately it became the prime hang-out for local collectors, and a must-visit location for anyone traveling to London. In those pre-internet days, most serious collectors visited London periodically, and they all turned up to see “the Bills.”

I spent countless hours there talking music with Bill & Bill and whoever happened to show up; one day many years ago an odd looking man with a top hat and leopard skin coat showed up and Bill A. introduced me to his regular customer, Screaming Lord Sutch (the legendary horror-rocker and early employer of Jimmy Page and Richie Blackmore.) Robert Plant was a regular customer too, as were many other “names.”

In 1990, Bill and Bill decided that while they enjoyed having a record store, working together just wasn’t working, and in a brilliant move, instead of closing Plastic Passion, they just split the long narrow space down the middle and opened two (very narrow !) record shops—Bill Allerton’s Stand Out Records on the right side (named after an Arthur Lee & Love song) and Bill Forsyth’s Minus Zero records on the left side (after a Dylan song, of course.) And so it has been ever since; two great record stores, each curated (I think that is the right word) by a very knowledgeable collector-dealer, filled with rare vinyl and for many years now, huge selections of obscure CD reissues that one could find nowhere else.

Their odd—probably unique—setup has been profiled in Mojo, The Wall Street Journal, Time Out London, The Guardian. But Adam Duritz, the dreadlocked singer of Counting Crows and another frequent customer, perhaps described best what makes the Stand Out/Plastic Passion setup so special, in an article in “Down The Rabbit Hole” magazine:

“Once upon a time, Immy and I were sitting in our favorite bi-polar record store in the world, London’s wonderfully schizophrenic two-stores-in-one Stand Out Records/Minus Zero Records, talking to the respective owners, the Bills (Stand Out’s Bill Allerton and Minus Zero’s Bill Forsyth), during one of our usual 2-4 hr visits to the tiny store(s). You see the way it works is that we go there with one or two ideas of things we think we want (and that’s all well and good) and then we end up spending the next two, three, or four hours endlessly listening to music as Bill and Bill compete across the two foot aisle that separates one store from the other to play us different music they’re sure we’ve never heard before (they’re often right) that they’re certain we’ll love (they’re pretty much ALWAYS right) and therefore purchase (they get us there too). We nearly always spend every penny we have and leave with several huge bags of CD’s each. Half the great music I’ve discovered over the past decade was played for me by the Bill’s in their tiny wonderland on Blenheim Crescent just off Portobello Road. It might seem strange to those of you who aren’t utterly obsessed with music, but they’ve been as big an influence in my life as any of my musical idols.”

The internet has been a mixed blessing for record collectors—sure it’s been great to find many of those records I’ve searched for fruitlessly, for so many years. But it’s hastened the demise of many a great record store—Rhino in LA (where I worked when I first met Bill Allerton), Beano’s in Croydon/London, even the Tower chain. And now Stand Out and Minus Zero.

I’m writing this as a requiem for two of the world’s great collector’s stores, but also to urge you, if you are in London or happen to be traveling there, to visit Bill & Bill before it’s too late. I’ll be there in November, and though Bill Allerton can’t wait for the end to come, I know it’s gonna be a sad sad day for a lot of record collectors around the world. Thanks guys, for so very very much.

Until they close, Stand Out and Minus Zero are discounting everything in their stores 25%.

Stand Out Records/ 020 7727 8406 /bill@standout.f2s.com
Minus Zero Records/ 020 7229 5424 /minuszero@fairadsl.co.uk /www.minuszerorecords.com
both at 2 Blenheim Crescent, London W11 1NN
Open Wed/Th/Fri/Sat 11-6
Sunday 12-4
Closed Mon/Tues

CHALK ONE UP FOR THE OLD GUYS--CLAPTON & WINWOOD LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL, JUNE 30, 2009

2009-07-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of Traffic, Blind Faith and Cream; but I must admit, I haven't followed Steve Winwood or Eric Clapton's solo work for a long time. But a year or so ago a friend gave me a copy of the DVD from the Crossroads Guitar Festival (2007), and the Clapton/Winwood Blind Faith semi-reunion absolutely floored me. Steve Winwood's guitar playing on "Can't Find My Way Home" was nothing short of a revelation (Jeff Beck's two songs were also absolutely amazing, but that's another story.)

I thought long and hard about going to New York to see Clapton and Winwood do their one-off series of shows last year, but didn't get it together--so I was thrilled to hear they were doing a limited number of dates this year, and made it my business to get tickets to see them at the Hollywood Bowl this Tuesday. And by a stroke of luck, it was the last night of the tour (often the best, as the band has really found their groove.)

And they were absolutely incredible--hard as it is to believe, both of these guys are at the peak of their game. Winwood sang every bit as well as on the Traffic albums, and was equally fantastic on guitar, piano and of course organ. People in the audience who'd come to see Clapton said it over and over--Steve Winwood blew them away. And Clapton played like I've never seen him before--he sounded like he was in Cream again--not the tepid reunited Cream, but the Cream of 1967/68. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be channeling the music. Everyone I talked to that night said the same thing--"Clapton was on fire." The sound was fantastic too, and the projection screens focused on Clapton and Winwood's fingers as much as their faces, which was a great decision--so interesting to see these masters at work, close up.

Below are some Youtube videos from the show. While the camera work leaves something to be desired, the sound is great, and they'll give you an idea of just how extraordinary these two artists are. There are more clips on Youtube, as well as clips from the Crossroads show (check them out--they're tremendous.) Unfortunately there isn't as yet a clip of "Pearly Queen," which was never my favorite Traffic song, but was a highlight of the concert for me--a wild psychedelic jam that sounded as if it could have been recorded at the Fillmore in '67.

The clips here are "Mr Fantasy" (great electric guitar from both Clapton and Winwood,) "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" (Winwood alone on acoustic piano--there is a point where the screen goes black, but keep with it--it comes back after a few seconds,) "Can't Find My Way Home" (Clapton and Winwood on acoustic guitar,) and the first half of "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" (it ends abruptly, but is great nonetheless--with Winwood reprising the soulful organ he played on the Jimi Hendrix original.)

If you don't know this music, go out and get Blind Faith's only album, and an album or two by Traffic--"John Barleycorn Must Die" is my favorite, but "Best of Traffic" is a good place to start. For me, these are absolutely essential 60's rock albums.

WEIRD STORIES: MEETING NICO

2009-06-09T09:43:00.001-07:00

Some experiences just leave you shaking your head in confusion. Meeting Nico was one of those. 32 years later, I still can't quite make sense of it. Here's the story. December 1977. Sitting in my L.A. apartment late one night, reading BAM (Bay Area Music, the free music newspaper,) I came upon an ad I almost couldn't believe--Nico was appearing the very next evening at Mabuhay Gardens, the San Francisco punk club. The great Nico, from the Velvet Underground ! I loved her solo albums, but I'd never heard of her playing live in America--yet, there it was--she was appearing the next evening only 350 miles north. I called the club; they confirmed it was actually happening. I quickly bought a plane ticket for the next afternoon, and reserved a hotel room for the night.

I brought my copy of Nico's album "Desertshore" which I hoped to have her sign. Before the show I snuck backstage, scared but acting like I belonged, and miraculously nobody stopped me. And there she was, Nico. Much larger than the svelte model she had once been, but still, Nico ! It was amazing. I introduced myself, and asked if she would please sign my album. I told her I had flown all the way from Los Angeles just to see her. "No you didn't !," she replied curtly in that icy, Germanic voice. Somewhat taken aback, I insisted, yes, indeed, I had flown all the way from Los Angeles, just to see her. Again, she replied tersely "no you didn't !" I was more than a bit intimidated by her brusk manner, not to mention the fact that here was the great Nico, a hero of mine, refusing to believe me. For the third time I insisted, "really Nico, I flew up here just to see you. I'm a huge fan." This time she replied, as curtly as before, "then show me your plane ticket !"

Luckily I had it in my jacket pocket. After some fumbling, I fished it out, and showed her that indeed, I had flow up that afternoon, and was scheduled to return the next morning. That seemed to convince her, and without further comment she took my album and pen to sign it. She wrote "For Jeff, who came all the way from LA to see me, who seems to be on my side. Nico Dec 8, 1977." Yow !

The show was great, just Nico and her harmonium, singing her solo work and Velvets songs. In hindsight, I'm sure she was having "issues" at the time. I still have the signed album, of course (above). Not to mention one of the weirder memories from a life in and around music.

CARNIVAL OF LIGHT RAVE POSTER--THE BEATLES

2009-04-11T17:05:00.001-07:00

I love those rare opportunities when I can showcase something that I’ve never seen nor knew existed—and this poster is exactly that.

If you take the time to click on the art and can decipher it, you’ll see it’s a poster for the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, an electronic music and light festival held at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse in London, on January 28, 1967.

Sometimes referred to as the Carnival of Light Rave, the event featured live performances by the Soft Machine, Tonics (?), The New Vaudeville Band, and most importantly, the only playback ever of the legendary “Carnival of Light,” a fourteen minute sound collage by The Beatles, created especially for the event during the sessions for “Penny Lane” (and advertised on the poster as “Music Composed For The Occasion by Paul McCartney.”)

The genesis of the track came in December 1966 from designer David Vaughan, who had recently painted a psychedelic design on a piano owned by Paul McCartney. About the same time as he delivered the piano to McCartney's Cavendish Avenue address, he asked if McCartney would contribute a musical piece for the upcoming event. To Vaughan’s surprise McCartney agreed, and drafted all of the Beatles to participate.

"Carnival of Light" was only played once, at the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, and has never been released nor bootlegged. Beatles expert Mark Lewisohn, one of the few who have ever heard the track, says the song included "distorted, hypnotic drum and organ sounds, a distorted lead guitar, the sound of a church organ, various effects (water gargling was one) and, perhaps most intimidating of all, John Lennon and McCartney screaming dementedly and bawling aloud random phrases like 'Are you alright?' and 'Barcelona!”

In 1996 McCartney tried to release the track on the compilation album The Beatles Anthology 2, but George Harrison voted to reject it, because according to McCartney "he didn't like avant garde music.”

While I knew there had been a handbill for this event, this poster wasn’t something I knew existed (I've since discovered the existence of only one other copy, illustrated in the UK Poster book "High Art.") It’s a great psychedelic image, and very desirable, as pretty much any British 60’s psychedelic concert poster is extremely rare. But it’s the Beatles connection that makes this a true killer collectible. Available on the Recordmecca website.

(Electric Poets, who also played the Rave, were a short-lived band featuring Soft Machine's Daevid Allen and Robert Wyatt with Gilli Smith; Allen and Smith went on to found the progressive rock band Gong.)

The Virtual Museum: Dylan's First Concert

2009-04-11T14:09:00.001-07:00


Friday, April 12, 1963 was a very important date for the then 22 year old Bob Dylan. For on that night, Dylan played New York’s Town Hall—his first-ever concert as a headliner. Prior to that night, Dylan had only headlined in small clubs and at the 200 seat Carnegie Recital Hall, where he drew fewer than 70 people. Though he’d occasionally played a few songs on larger stages as part of multi-artist bills, this was the first ever proper Bob Dylan concert (with many thousands to follow !) A crowd of 900 attended the Town Hall show, which took place six weeks prior to the release of Dylan's 2nd album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan." Columbia Records recorded the show for a proposed but never released live album; however various tracks have surfaced over the years on compilations and promo cd’s. Above is the handbill (identical to the poster) and a signed program for the show, which we recently sold. The program features the first appearance of Dylan's poem, "My Life In A Stolen Moment," reprinted many times in future years. We know of only a few other copies of this extremely rare program. On our website, Recordmecca, we are currently offering a Dylan signed program from his famous Halloween, 1964 concert at New York’s Philharmonic Hall (released as part of Dylan’s “Bootleg Series.”)

AUTOGRAPHS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

2009-03-18T23:09:00.001-07:00

Here's a particularly nice signed John Coltrane album, that I found on Ebay tonight, minimum bid $1000. Looks great, eh ? Very similar to other authentic Coltrane signatures and inscriptions I've seen. Just as messy and dashed-off as the other Coltrane autographs out there, don't you think ?

Only one problem. And it's a big one. The signed album is a two-disc John Coltrane reissue on the Prestige label that was released in the early 1970's. And John Coltrane died of liver cancer at Huntington Hospital in Long Island, NY on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40. Oops.

It's another posthumous autograph--an autograph from beyond the grave ! Now John Coltrane was a true genius, and could do miraculous things with his instrument. But as far as we know, he never mastered time travel, and so we must conclude this autograph is a fake. It's a particularly good forgery, and must have been done by a professional. Fortunately, though, his skills at copying autographs are obviously greater than his ability to research dates.

My friend Gary Johnson of Rockaway Records has a great posthumous autograph story. While at a radio station-sponsored collectibles show some years back, he saw a signed copy of Jimi Hendrix's album "The Cry of Love." He asked the seller about it's history, and was told it came from the collection of a 60's disc jockey. Most probably got it signed himself. Very rare, indeed. Expensive, but where are you gonna find another one--right ? When the dealer had finished explaining the album's provenance, Gary delivered the punchline-- that Jimi Hendrix died in 1970, a full year before "The Cry of Love" was released.

Of course there are still many unique and genuine autographs and artifacts out there. I still love collecting the real thing; I'm lucky enough to own some Coltrane musical manuscripts and a number of Hendrix items, and for me, the novelty never wears off. It's as close as I'll ever get to the "mojo" of these incredible artists. But I always do my research before buying.

If you're thinking about buying an artist signed or artist owned item, I can't stress enough the importance of following a few simple rules. These will protect you and help insure you only buy "the good stuff."

First, do your research. Know exactly what you're buying, and who you're buying it from. Are they established and respected in the field ? Are they experts in what they are selling ? Does the deal seem too good to be true ? It might just be.

These things are rare--I'd be suspicious of someone with a huge inventory of items signed or owned by highly collectible artists . Google the seller and see what comes up. And most important, insist the seller guarantee the item's authenticity with no time limit. If it's an expensive item, I'd ask for that guarantee in writing, too. Most dealers out there do their best to represent things accurately, and a seller offering genuine items will have no problem doing this.

Below, you'll find posts with some pretty special authentic items, and more advice on how to avoid being taken. I hope it's helpful. And of course there's a lot more to look at on my website, Recordmecca.

And do let us know if you have anything you're thinking of selling--we're always looking for special items and rare vinyl.

(I have notified the seller of the Coltrane album that it can't possibly be real; I await their reply. It's always possible they were taken themselves.)

UPDATE: 12 hours after I notified the seller, the auction has been taken down. I never heard back from them, but applaud them on ending the listing quickly.

We're Looking To Buy Music Collectibles & Rare Records

2009-03-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

During these challenging economic times, I thought I'd remind everyone that we're actively looking for high-end music collectibles and rare vinyl in excellent condition. For the right material, we can pay well--so if you've got anything you're thinking of selling, please do let us know.

You can reach us at:
recordmecca@earthlink.net

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ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A JIMI HENDRIX TICKET

2009-03-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

Though I've been collecting records and memorabilia since 1971, I still can't wait for the mailman (or Fedex) to arrive on days when I'm expecting something new and groovy. This was very much the case a few days ago, when this most amazing handbill arrived. It advertises a January 8, 1968 concert by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in Stockholm, Sweden. My Swedish friend, Johan Kugelberg, kindly translated it:

"The Jimi Hendrix Experience are coming to Konserthuset (the venue) Monday, January 8, 1968. Tickets available from the 11th of December, 1967. Christmas gift suggestion ! Wish for tickets or give as a gift to others. The Jimi Hendrix Gala, January 8."

I've seen a lot of holiday promotions before, but Jimi Hendrix tickets for Christmas ? I certainly would have been happy had I found them under the tree. The back side lists three locations where tickets were sold, and as you can see, the designer took the Christmas motif perhaps a bit too far, adorning Jimi, Mitch and Noel in Elf hats. Jimi signed this handbill, but drew a question mark and arrow to his own image, no doubt a bit confused by his head gear.

I got this from a gentleman who's mother got the autograph. It's almost too much to contemplate--having a mother who went to see Jimi Hendrix in 1968, somehow got backstage and got his autograph (on a handbill yet !), saved it for 41 years, and then gave it to her son. Now that's a record collector's dream.
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Know Who You're Buying From--And Do Your Homework

2009-02-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a weird story. My friend Gary Greenberg (who has a great blog about his collecting exploits called Garyrocks) contacted me last week about something he'd found on Ebay. Since I just settled a contentious lawsuit (see below) I'm going to be circumspect in telling this story, but the short version is that Gary had found some memorabilia allegedly owned by a member of a highly collectible classic-rock band. He'd negotiated a pretty good deal with the seller and asked me if I wanted to partner with him on the purchase (there were two items; I'd buy one, he'd buy one.)

We discussed the authenticity of the items and it seemed Gary had done his homework--he'd had a lot of communication with the seller, who was allegedly selling the items on behalf a roadie for the band, there was indeed a roadie with that name, and there was a letter of authenticity from him, which looked genuine. So we decided to go ahead with the purchase. Since I had more money in my PayPal account that day, we decided I'd pay and that he'd reimburse me. He sent me the seller's name and name of someone else with the same last name who had the PayPal account I'd be transferring the funds into--I assumed it was the seller's wife. Now the story gets interesting.

Being a research obsessive and by nature a skeptical guy, I googled the names to see what I could find. They were unusual names, especially the presumed wife's name--so I thought I might find something. I like to know who I'm buying things from, and if you're patient you can sometimes find information about the person you're doing business with--maybe they are active in the online collecting community, or have their own business, or on occasion, someone has done business with them and has written positively (or negatively) about the experience.

Amazingly, it took all of about 15 seconds to find a 2005 newspaper article about a huge, multi-million dollar fraud committed by someone with the same name as the seller (who was in prison when it was written,) and who was married to someone with the exact same name as was on the PayPal account. The very unusual name. Uh-oh.

Now of course I can't be sure that these were the same people, but they were a couple with the same two unusual names, living in the same foreign country, and the husband had been in the music business. And come to think of it, his feedback on ebay was unimpressive to say the least.

I let Gary know what I'd found and we both agreed sending this guy nearly $1500 was probably not the world's best idea. Sure, maybe it was a bizarre coincidence. But the odds of two couples having the same two unusual names, being in the music business, living in the same country as the seller were pretty remote indeed. And if it was the same guy, well sure, he might have gone straight. Who knows, maybe the stuff was real. But I certainly wasn't going to risk $1500. to find out.

As I wrote in the last post, if you're buying memorabilia online, it's essential to know who you're buying from, and to do your homework. I know doing your homework isn't always the most pleasant way to spend your leisure time--but like mom and dad always said, it's good for you. And here's a perfect example of exactly why.

--Jeff Gold
(and don't forget; insist on a lifetime guarantee of authenticity too !)

Autograph Forgeries, Forensics, and Autograph Experts

2009-01-07T21:51:00.001-08:00

Anyone with an email account knows about the online scams and rip-offs that proliferate on the internet. And as most colletors know, there is no shortage of fake autographs and memorabilia being offered online, on Ebay and elsewhere.

As earlier posts about my lawsuit against Peter McKenzie (re: Bob Dylan memorabilia he sold me) illustrate, issues of authentication can be very difficult, costly and time consuming to resolve.

Sellers often claim their items have been authenticated by autograph experts or forensic examiners, and assure you that their item comes with a certificate of authenticity. However, online anyone can call him or herself an expert—and if someone is dishonest enough to sell you a forged item, they’ll have no reservations about giving you a worthless certificate of authenticity too.

So for those buying collectibles, I offer some very basic information that should be helpful.

First rule—if it seems too good to be true, it virtually always is. If a dealer or retail store has what seems like an endless supply of signed Beatles albums, Jimi Hendrix signed guitars, Bob Dylan inscribed items and other “holy grail” collectibles, be VERY suspicious.

These things just aren’t around—and when you do see them, they
command high prices commensurate with their rarity. There are no bargains with the truly great stuff—it sells itself. I’ve been collecting records and memorabilia since 1971, worked in the record industry for 20 years, and have bought numerous collections from record executives-- and I can tell you first hand, the truly rare, unique stuff just doesn’t show up.

If the signed American Beatles albums some dealers are offering for $15,000. were genuine, people like myself would be beating down the doors to buy them. An authentic signed U.S. Beatles album is worth at least $75,000; at present only 11 are known to exist. By the time the Beatles came to American, security was so tight nobody got near them. (There are a greater number of UK signed albums, but they're still very rare and very expensive.)

Next, let’s talk about autographs and autograph authenticators. Common sense dictates that no one can be an expert at everything. I’m pretty good with a few artists, but I know what I don’t know.
When I need an expert, I gravitate towards people who are experts in authenticating specific artists.

Frank Caiazzo has been studying the autographs and handwriting of The Beatles exclusively for 22 years, and is universally regarded as the world foremost authority on the subject. He can tell you if a set of Beatles signatures is authentic, the year it was signed, and that John, Paul and George signed their names, but Ringo’s signature was signed by Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall.

There are other qualified Beatles experts too--Perry Cox and the folks at Tracks in England certainly know their autographs and rare Beatles records too. Roger Epperson is an expert at many musical artists. These people have spent many years learning their craft, and while their expertise doesn’t come cheaply, it’s worth it.

On the other hand, there is presently an “organization” selling their services on Ebay who, for a fee of $6.00, will authenticate any signature being offered on Ebay. I don’t know anything about them—but it seems pretty absurd to me that anyone could actually do this. And for $6.00 ?

Then there is the field of forensic document examination. Again, there are many people out there claiming to be forensic examiners—some whom are writing hundreds of certificates of authenticity every year for people selling fake items. A “Forensic COA” is always a warning sign for me.

An actual court-certified forensic document examiner charges a hefty hourly fee to compare “questioned” handwriting to “known” examples of that person’s handwriting, to determine whether the questioned writing is authentic. They often use highly sophisticated scientific equipment in their analysis. This is an expensive proposition—I spent $15,000. on forensics in the Peter McKenzie/Bob Dylan case (I wish I knew about the $6.00 Ebay guys back then !)

Among other things, a real certified forensic document examiner serves a 2 year apprenticeship, often works for the government before going out on their own, and in my experience has no interest in authenticating autographs for a living (in fact I couldn’t get the examiner I eventually hired on the phone until I explained this was for a lawsuit, and not just to authenticate Dylan autographs.)

A forensics expert isn’t an autograph expert, they are experts at comparing handwriting. And that’s a very important point. Their opinion is only as good as the authentic examples they are given. In the McKenzie case, the examiner, Jim Blanco had over 100 pages of absolutely authentic Dylan writing and signatures, from a variety of absolutely unimpeachable sources.

If someone tells you something was authenticated by a forensic examiner, ask them how many known authentic examples they compared the examined item to, where the exemplars came from, and how they can be sure the exemplars were authentic. Perhaps—let’s give them the benefit of a doubt—some of these folks who call themselves forensic examiners are just doing quickie examinations, comparing the forgeries to other forgeries they’ve been supplied with. As they say, garbage in, garbage out.

When looking at a signature or handwriting, an expert concentrates on three basic areas in determining its authenticity—the writing’s line quality, letter forms, and letter proportions.

Line quality considers the motion, speed and flow of the writing, which also is reflected in the pen pressure. Is the writing assured and fast, or shaky and slow ? Is the pen pressure consistent ?

Letter forms considers the way in which a letter was made and it’s resulting visual appearance--the path the pen took to create a letter, and the habitual nature of everyone’s handwriting.

Letter proportions considers the letters relationships to one another—are they close together or spaced farther apart? A person will habitually place certain letters closer to each other, with others having more space between them. Height relationships of letters, connecting strokes, punctuation, the crossing of “t’s” and dotting of “i’s” are also habitual.

Even the best forgers won’t be able to exactly reproduce the line quality, letter forms, and letter proportions of the original writer. They may be able to exactly reproduce the letter forms and spacing, but not the speed and pen pressure. Or perhaps someone can approximate a signature’s flow and speed, but their letter forms and relationship of the letters won’t be exact.

Pretty complicated, eh ? So where does that leave the ordinary collector. First and foremost, don’t be discouraged. There are many authentic and extraordinary items out there. I have many things in my own collection that continue to amaze and intrigue me decades after I acquired them. And it doesn’t hurt that they’ve been great investments too. There is great stuff out there. But finding it requires some work and due diligence on the collector’s part. Here’s are some rules of thumb that should be useful for any collector.

First, know who you’re buying from. Is the dealer someone with a reputation and a track record ? Are they experts in the field ? Are they well known and respected ?

Second, always get a written lifetime guarantee of authenticity. Any honest dealer should be willing to provide this to you, with no hesitation. And of course, make sure they’ll be there to back it up, should there ever be a problem.

And third, do your homework. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions. An honest dealer will have no problem answering any questions, and to the best of their ability, to explain the history of the item. It’s a cliché, but it’s true—information is power.

I hope this has been helpful—please feel free to leave any comments or questions below. And thanks to Jim Blanco, certified forensics examiner, who’s essay “Handwriting Identification: Formula for Authenticity” I borrowed from liberally.

Jeff Gold
January 7, 2009

OOPS--"Dylan Signs With MGM Records"

2008-12-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

(double click to enlarge)

As readers of this blog know, I've got a ton of respect for the late Ralph J. Gleason, the legendary music critic from the San Francisco Chronicle and co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine. Gleason was an early supporter and friend of Bob Dylan's. But here's Gleason's column from the December 30, 1966 Chronicle where he really gets it wrong, announcing that Dylan has signed with MGM Records.

It has been known that Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, had negotiated with MGM for Dylan's services--but I never knew it had been "announced" that Dylan had jumped ship. I'd guess this was information Gleason got from Grossman. Knowing Grossman's reputation as a tough and canny negotiator, it's entirely likely he gave Gleason this "exclusive" as a negotiating ploy to alarm Columbia Records into upping their offer for Dylan. Remember, Dylan was an extremely popular (and highly prestigious) artist Columbia could ill-afford to lose, having released his highly lauded "Blonde on Blonde" earlier in the year (Gleason has so much detail in terms of the deal, Dylan's royalties, etc. that I think it unlikely this could come from anyone but Grossman.)

It's interesting to note Gleason's take on Dylan's dissatisfaction with Columbia for the Freewheelin'/Talking John Birch Society contremps, the shipment of the "Positively 4th Street" single that mistakenly played "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window," and the aborted "Bob Dylan In Concert" album--he certainly would have been in a position to know (for more on these, see the July 2007 entry below and www.searchingforagem.com, the ultimate Dylan discography site.)

It's also interesting to see the that "the broken vertebrae" in Dylan's neck (from the motorcycle crash) are "still tender enough to prevent him from hanging a guitar around his neck and performing" but that there are tentative plans for an April tour. Sure. You bet.

I'd like to thank my friend Gene Sculatti, a Dylan and Gleason scholar, for this article, which I'd never seen before. Gene had the good sense to clip this out of the Chronicle back in the day.

Best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy new year, and in the next post we'll talk in more depth about forensic document examination and the Peter McKenzie lawsuit.

Dylan Memorabilia/Peter McKenzie Lawsuit Settled

2008-11-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

As readers of this blog and followers of the Bob Dylan collecting scene may know, in November 2007 I filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court against Peter McKenzie, accusing him of fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. The suit came about because of questions about the authenticity of some signed and inscribed Bob Dylan items McKenzie had sold me (this is all a matter of public record; see the posting directly below for the complete story.)

It is my great pleasure to report that after 15 months of forensic examinations, court proceedings and legal haggling, the lawsuit has been settled. Unfortunately I’m legally bound to not disclose the specific terms of the settlement, much as I’d like to. But I can say that I’m extremely pleased with the outcome of the suit. As a longtime collector and a dealer, I felt it very important to pursue this despite the high cost of doing so, in terms of dollars, aggravation and time spent.

I’d like to sincerely thank the many people who helped bring this to a satisfying resolution, particularly Dylan manuscript expert George Hecksher, collector Barry Ollman, Jasen Emmons, curatorial director of the Experience Music Project (and curator of the museum exhibition “Bob Dylan’s American Journey”,) Jeff Rosen from the Dylan office, my attorney Mike Gibson, and certified forensics examiner Jim Blanco.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating--if you’re buying high-end collectibles, do your research, know who you’re buying from, and most importantly, insist on a guarantee of authenticity with no time limit. And remember, if it seems too good to be true, it almost always is.

As of the time of this writing, Reed Orenstein’s lawsuit against Peter McKenzie (see below) is still active.

Check back as we’ll be writing more about issues of authenticity, what a real forensic document examiner does, why most certificates of authenticity are worthless (even so-called forensic ones--more on that later,) and how to protect yourself when buying autographs and memorabilia.

In the future, I’ll be writing much more regularly too.

Jeff Gold
November 19, 2008

And remember, we're always interested in buying your music collectibles too !

DYLAN MEMORABILIA LAWSUIT

2008-06-22T13:45:00.001-07:00

Those who know me know I’m obsessed with documenting the authenticity of the items I collect and sell. Every week I spend countless hours on the phone, internet, and speaking to people in person to make sure EVERYTHING I offer for sale is absolutely genuine. And then I guarantee everything to be authentic with no time limit—a lifetime guarantee.

Unfortunately this is not the case with every dealer, and there is a lot of inauthentic material out there being passed off as genuine. As music collectibles continue to escalate in value, there is more motivation for unscrupulous people to be dishonest—and so it’s more important than ever to do your research, know who you are buying from, and get that all important lifetime guarantee.

I’ve been eager for some time to write about some inauthentic Bob Dylan material I purchased—but as there is a lawsuit pending, my lawyer advised me not to. Yesterday the New York Post wrote about the suit, and I now feel the need to respond without delay.

Last year, a highly regarded forensics expert advised me that some signed Dylan items I purchased from Peter McKenzie’s collection were not authentic. McKenzie was a teenager in 1961 when a then-unknown Bob Dylan slept on his parent’s couch for a few months. McKenzie had a number of early Dylan handwritten song lyrics from that era, and in 1991 began selling these as well as albums Dylan had signed and inscribed for him. He also contacted other friends of Dylan’s from the early 60’s, and brokered and sold some similar material for them.

In December, 2006 McKenzie contacted me for the first time after seeing an online listing for an item that had originally come from him. In January 2007, he contacted me again and offered to sell me two signed Dylan items, which I purchased for $9,000.

In mid 2007 a highly regarded New York rare book dealer who had previously sold me Dylan material offered me a number of Dylan items that had come from “Peter McKenzie’s collection.” I purchased 4 of these for approximately $40,000., and then contacted McKenzie, who confirmed that they had come from him.

Over the next few months, McKenzie offered to sell me many other Dylan items, and I purchased a number of these in a few separate transactions for a total of $44,000.
Every time I purchased something, McKenzie came up with something new to offer me, and I became concerned at the sheer volume of material that he was offering me. In this business, a seemingly unending supply of rare material is always a red flag. I knew his family had a relationship with Dylan in the early 60’s and he had sold some important artifacts, but at some point, logic would dictate, the supply would likely dry up.

One day McKenzie mentioned he’d bought something on Ebay and the amount he’d paid, and so I went online, found the listing, and saw his Ebay user ID. I was spending a lot of money with him, had become concerned, and thought it prudent to keep an eye on his Ebay purchases (which is publicly available information.)

A month or so later I saw that McKenzie had purchased three vintage Dylan albums in a short time on Ebay. I asked myself “If Peter McKenzie had known Dylan and had all this memorabilia, why would he be buying a copy of “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits” and two copies of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan ?”

An alarm bell rang a few weeks later when McKenzie offered me a “signed and inscribed” copy of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” which he told me he’d gotten 20 years ago from a mutual friend of his and Dylan’s. When he sent me a photo of it, it appeared identical to one of the copies he’d bought on Ebay a few weeks earlier, with an inscription and signature added. Both album covers had multiple scratches, imperfections, and flaws in exactly the same places—it seemed obvious that they were one and the same.

I had Peter send me the “signed” “Freewheelin’” on approval, and hired a highly regarded certified forensic document examiner (formerly with the US Treasury Department) to conduct a formal comparison of the Ebay “Freewheelin’” to the one Peter was offering me.
I also had him examine a group of other material I’d purchased from McKenzie, the rare book dealer, and other items from my personal collection. A forensic document examiner compares questioned items to “known examples” to determine whether or not a questioned item is genuine. Another top collector and I were able to provide over 100 pages of known authentic Dylan handwriting samples, including documents, published lyrics, and one of Dylan’s songwriting notebooks.

The forensics examiner concluded that the “Ebay Freewheelin’” was in fact the same album that McKenzie was offering me, with an inscription added after the fact. He determined that some of the items I had purchased from McKenzie and the book dealer were genuine, while others were found to be “not genuine.”

In short order, I hired a lawyer in New York (McKenzie resides there) who called and confronted McKenzie with the bad news. McKenzie denied that anything was not authentic, but asked to speak with me. He insisted he would give me a full refund and implored me to keep this “between us” (something I never agreed to do.) The book dealer, when contacted, expressed concern and made full restitution to me for the “not genuine” items they’d sold me from “Peter McKenzie’s collection.”

In a second lawsuit filed against McKenzie accusing him of selling non-authentic Bob Dylan items, plantiff Reed Orenstein (a longtime friend of McKenzie) states that McKenzie admitted to him that he had forged Dylan’s signature on the “Ebay Freewheelin’.”

For a number of months McKenzie continued to insist that he would make full restitution -- but he never came up with the money. Eventually I decided the only way I would recover what I’d spent was to file a lawsuit. When I notified a number of dealers and Dylan experts about this, at my lawyer’s insistence I was careful to only relate the facts of the case, letting people come to their own conclusions.

When the New York Post called my lawyer last week, I initially refused comment, as it was my desire to litigate this case in the appropriate forum—the courts. As McKenzie has chosen to take this matter to the media, I now feel obligated to respond, if only to clear the record.

This case is ONLY about recovering the money I spent with Peter McKenzie. McKenzie claims that I’m suing him because I couldn’t sell the material--but other than one item I purchased on behalf of James Musser at Skyline Books, and a harmonica in a signed case later sold to Musser, I never tried to sell any of these items (in fact I planned on keeping most for my personal collection.) Both of the items James Musser purchased have been forensically examined and found to be authentic. In fact, I have spent approximately $14,000 on forensics in this case to date.

The article claims McKenzie has been selling me memorabilia since 1991—however I never spoke to him or communicated with him in any way before December 2006, and never purchased anything from him until January 2007.

I care very much about my reputation and good name. I’ve worked hard to build my business, and care passionately about my clients and fellow collectors. I’ve been a collector of rare records and music memorabilia for 37 years, and a record business executive for many of those. I still on occasion consult for record companies, as well as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, and the Experience Music Project in Seattle. I was a curatorial consultant to the recent museum exhibition “Bob Dylan’s American Journey.”

In other words, I don’t take any of this lightly. I’m very upset that I bought material that an expert found wasn’t authentic. But I’m very happy that I didn’t sell any of it—that would have troubled me terribly.

So there it is—the story in a nutshell. I hope people find this instructive, and once again, it's a reminder that you can never be too careful. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions, do your own research, know who you are buying from, and always insist on a guarantee of authenticity, with no time limit !

Jeffrey Gold
June 24, 2008

An Extraordinary Queen Collectible

2008-05-17T15:45:00.001-07:00

Forgive the terrible pun, but here is a truly “Killer Queen” collectible--a handwritten letter sent by the Queen frontman Freddie Mercury to Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman, the legendary music executive who signed Queen. As you may know, Queen is one of the most collectible groups in the world. And any artifact related to Freddie Mercury is highly sought after.

Mercury sent this letter to Holzman in 1973, as the band was finishing "Queen ll," thanking him for his "genuine interest (in Queen) from the very start." Holzman was very aggressive in pursuing and signing Queen, which he wrote about with great eloquence in his excellent book "Following The Music" (if you’re a fan of Elektra, or it’s artists, I can’t recommend this book more highly. Holzman signed many extremely important artists, including The Doors, Tim Buckley, the Butterfield Blues Band, The Stooges, the Incredible String Band, Judy Collins, and many more.)

The full text of the letter reads: "Dear Jac, Just thought I'd drop you a line to say we're all absolutely bowled over at the reaction with which Queen are happening in the States. I'd like to thank you, personally, for your genuine interest from the very start. Both Brian and John have recently excelled themselves in their performance and presentation, and you'll be pleased to know that they don't make it look so easy anymore. I hope you like "Queen ll." We've worked like demons on it, with a lot of sweat and blood gone into it, but it's been worthwhile. Brian, John and Roger send you their fondest. Looking forward to seeing you again soon, Love, Freddie Mercury."

As you might imagine, artists don’t often send record executives this kind of personal letter of thanks. Jac was touched, and kept the letter it in his files. Recently Jac decided he'd like to sell this letter, and use the proceeds to fund a music scholorship in Freddie's name. He's asked Recordmecca to sell it on his behalf, and we will be conducting an auction for it on Ebay beginning June 16 (check here on that date for a link.) The minimum bid will be $9,999.

When collecting autographs and letters, the important things to consider are the provenance (where did the item originate, how has it come to market), content (in the case of a letter, does the text relate to why the writer is famous, or shed light on their career or work), timing (when in the writer’s career does it date from), format (typed letters are less desirable than handwritten ones; personalized stationery adds value) and of course who the seller is and what kind of guarantee of authenticity they offer.

In every way, this letter is a home run. It comes from the original recipient, a famed record executive who signed Queen, and who has written a two-page letter of authenticity to accompany it. The content and date couldn’t be better; Mercury writes just as Queen has broken big in America, to the man who made it possible, expressing his sincerest thanks. The format is equally impressive—this is completely handwritten on die-cut Queen stationery. And of course, we guarantee everything we sell to be authentic with no time limit.

This is as unique and historic a Queen collectible as we've ever seen. If you would like more information or to be notified when our auction takes place, please email us.

DYLAN AND THE PULITZER PRIZE !

2008-04-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

A great day indeed--the lead in the Associated Press story said it all:

NEW YORK - Thanks to Bob Dylan, rock 'n' roll has finally broken through the Pulitzer wall. Dylan, the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, who more than anyone brought rock from the streets to the lecture hall, received an honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday, cited for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.

It was the first time Pulitzer judges, who have long favored classical music, and, more recently, jazz, awarded an art form once dismissed as barbaric, even subversive.

"I am in disbelief," Dylan fan and fellow Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz said of Dylan's award.

Me too. The Pulitzer committee has finally done the right thing. At the top of this post is a mid-60's bumper sticker (by San Diego Poster Print) from my collection that pretty much says it all, don't you think ?

And on the subject, if you're anywhere near the Los Angeles area between now and June 8, make it your business to see the final stop of "Bob Dylan's American Journey, 1956-1966" at the Skirball Cultural Center. While I'm far from an objective observer (having been a curatorial consultant and lender to the exhibit) this first ever authorized museum show devoted to Dylan is nothing short of astounding. It includes more than 150 awe-inspiring Dylan artifacts (his first acoustic guitar, and original typed/handwritten lyric sheets for "Blowin' In The Wind" and "Gates of Eden",) rare audio (the only known tape of his debut concert at the Carnegie Charter Hall,) rare video (outtakes from "Eat The Document" and much rare live and interview footage,) and other incredible things you'll never see anywhere else (Woody Guthrie's t-shirt that he wore at Brooklyn State Hospital, and his original lyrics to "Grand Coolie Dam.") I've seen the exhibit numerous times, in Seattle, New York, and now here, and this installation is by far the best. I doubt you'll ever have the opportunity again to see this amazing collection of Dylan artifacts, film, and tape--so do check it out (free admission on Thursdays too.)

That's it for now. Congratulations Bob !

Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Moby Grape, Country Joe and The Doors--At the beginning

2008-03-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

I love reading contemporary accounts of the birth of rock--I find it fascinating to see what people (and "critics") thought about the bands and the music as it was happening. In that light, these pages from the August, 1967 issue of Mojo Navigator Rock & Roll News are particularly interesting.

Mojo Navigator was arguably the first rock fanzine; begun in 1965 by David Harris and Greg Shaw, it chronicled the San Francisco/Bay Area rock scene, and later, the rock music scene at large. Issues are extremely rare, as it was available only by subscription and at a few retail outlets. And of course, few people kept these kind of things for long. I've reproduced here the cover of this issue (Vol 2, No. 2) and some particularly interesting pages. First, a 3 page joint review of the debut albums from The Grateful Dead, Moby Grape, and Country Joe & The Fish. With benefit of hindsight, all three are today regarded as psychedelic rock classics (and in my opinion, masterpieces.) If you don't own these, and are interested in the San Francisco scene, get them (and the debut albums by Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Steve Miller Band) and you'll have a pretty great picture of how important and vital the music coming out of this area was. In all 3 cases I think David Harris of the Navigator gets it right.

Next is Harris' review of the UK issue of Jimi Hendrix's debut album "Are You Experienced" (not yet released in the US, though he'd just played the Monterey Pop Festival and Fillmore.) Most fans of rock guitar and psychedelic music would agree this album is probably the most auspicious debut of all time. And Harris, most definitely, gets it right again, when he begins his review "Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell are without a doubt the most important musical, and in some ways, dramatic, happening in the world today." Yes, he was going out on a limb, considering Hendrix at this time had only had 1 single ("Hey Joe") released stateside at the time of his writing. But he was absolutely correct. This article/review is filled with interesting and little known trivia, such as Hendrix, "when asked to perform certain songs from the album, admitted he had forgotten them, and them, and stated that he had made them up at the session and had never played them since !" I've been a Hendrix fanatic and collector for 37 years, and have NEVER heard that story. Just shows why it's so fascinating to read accounts written while history was being made. This issue also features a very early interview with the Doors, but we'll leave that for another time & place.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this. If you do, or don't, or have any input as to the kinds of things you would like to see here, please write me at: Recordmecca@earthlink.net or post a comment below.

Bob Dylan and the Great White Wonder

2008-02-16T08:59:00.001-08:00

I love little ephemeral pieces of paper that look like nothing important, but that chronicle a historic moment--in this case, one where there was no turning back. Here's an article torn from the October 26, 1969 issue of the New York Times, about a "bootleg Bob Dylan record with an unmarked white cover and blank labels selling briskly around the country and Canada." This of course was "Great White Wonder," the first-ever rock music bootleg (yes, there had previously been some private pressing jazz and classical bootlegs, but never anything mass produced and sold on this kind of level.)

This was the warning shot across the bow; the first of thousands of bootlegs to follow, and of course no artist has been bootlegged more than Bob Dylan. The double disc Great White Wonder, or GWW as it's popularly abbreviated, mixed tracks from Dylan's legendary "basement tapes" recorded at his house in Woodstock and The Band's nearby house "Big Pink," songs recorded in December 1961 in Minneapolis (the "Minnesota Hotel tape",) a track from the Johnny Cash TV show, some studio outtakes from '63-65, and an interview with Dylan and Pete Seeger. You can read more about the exact contents on the excellent "Bob's Boots" site.

As far as I know, the first article about Great White Wonder appeared in the September 20, 1969 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. The New York Times article may have been the first article in the "mainstream press," and certainly doesn't anticipate what was to come--but who could have. Bootlegs are today a part of record collecting life, and the advent of the internet has made them both easier than ever to find, and virtually impossible to stop.

"Outtakes" were once considered by artists and record labels to be material unworthy of release--the unwanted byproducts of making a record. They are now compiled and released with great regularity, poured over by obsessive collectors and archivists looking for clues into an artist's process and intentions. And in my opinion, that's a very good thing. Dub and Ken, the makers of Great White Wonder (see the wikipedia article on GWW) doubtless had no idea what they were starting when they made their crude double album with the plain white cover. But they were clearly on to something big.

Dylan, The Beatles and Al Aronowitz

2008-02-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

Al who ? Al Aronowitz, that's who. Aronowitz was a critic for many New York and national newspapers and magazines, and at the center of so many scenes in the 60's. He was the first manager of the Velvet Underground. He famously introduced The Beatles to Bob Dylan (and brought the joint to their meeting that resulted in the Beatles getting high for the first time.) As his 2005 obituary in the Washington Post said, "in the '60s and '70s Al Aronowitz knew everyone worth knowing. The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Pete Townshend -- he either wrote about them, befriended them or both." And he was especially close to (and an early supporter of) Bob Dylan.

Here's a letter Aronowitz wrote to San Francisco Chronicle music critic (and Rolling Stone c0-founder) Ralph J. Gleason in August of 1967. Aronowitz tells Gleason, also a friend and supporter of Dylan "just was up to visit dylan, listened to some practice tapes he and his group laid down, all great new songs, but dylan'll probably throw em away rather than record em. i'd like to buy his wastebasket." He's referring to "the Basement Tapes" here--and his evaluation was right-on. I'd like to have bought his waste basket too ! Aronowitz then talks about Dylan manager Albert Grossman, fills in Gleason on gossip about the diggers (SF activist group) activities in New York, mentions Allen Ginsberg hanging with Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney in London, asks Gleason if he saw George H (Harrison) when he visited SF (San Francisco and the Haight Ashbury during the summer of love.) And that's just the first paragraph !

Aronowitz was certainly in the middle of it all during the 60's. I love this kind of revealing correspondence. Read more about Al Aronowitz here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201920.html

Virtual Museum: The late, great Brian Jones

2008-01-14T12:04:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone ! Sorry I've been slow on the posts, but here are some photos that will hopefully make up for it. These are one-of-a-kind Polaroids of the Rolling Stones and their founder, Brian Jones, that came from the collection of Linda Keith. Linda Keith was a girlfriend of both Jones and Keith Richards, and had another, very important role in the history of rock.

While the Stones were touring America in 1966, Linda Keith (a blues fan) wandered into a Greenwich Village club and saw "Jimi James and the Blue Flames." James was, of course, Jimi Hendrix and Keith was extremely impressed by his guitar playing. She befrended Hendrix, and set about to help him get a record deal. She took Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Sire Records founder Seymour Stein to see Hendrix, but neither "got" him. She didn't give up, however, and next took Animals bass player Chas Chandler to see the guitarist. Chandler was blown away, and quickly signed Hendrix to a management contract and took him to England--and the rest is history.

These first of these photographs was taken at the famous session for the Stones psychedelic masterpiece "Their Satanic Majesties Request"--it's the only outtake from that session I've ever seen. Michael Cooper took the photograph for the album cover, and this was a test polaroid he took during the session. The other two photos were taken during a trip Keith took with Jones to Sri Lanka in the late 60's. All three are unpublished and to my eye, pretty fantastic.

Brian Jones was the visionary who put the Rolling Stones together, but because he wasn't a singer or songwriter his critical contribution to the band is often overlooked. If you don't know about him, check out his Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Jones

And while "Satanic Majesties Request" is often written off as the Stones failed attempt to answer "Sgt. Peppers," I think it's one of their best albums (and certainly their most adventurous.) I know I'm out of the mainstream here, but "Sgt. Peppers" was never my favorite Beatles album--important yes, but never one I listened to very much. "Satanic" for whatever reason has compelled me since it's 1967 release--it's certainly darker and more psychedelic than the Beatles album--maybe that's got something to do with it. I'm listening to it as I write, and it still sounds adventurous and classic 41 years later. If you don't know it, check it out on iTunes, where you can listen to the first 30 seconds of each song free.

Give it a shot--if you're a fan of psychedelic rock, I don't think it gets better than this.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

2007-12-19T23:03:00.000-08:00

As the year comes to an end, I thought I'd write about a couple of my favorite musical moments from the past 12 months. First, "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon," the new album from Devendra Banhart. For my money, Devendra is quite simply the most interesting young artist making music today. His previous album, "Cripple Crow" is a psychedelic/folk/rock/Tropicalismo masterpiece. "Smokey" continues in the same vein, but is even more eclectic (if that's possible.) "Seahorse," my all-time favorite Devendra song, is an 8 minute, 3 movement nearly impossible to describe melange of folk, jazz, psychedelia and freak out rock reminiscent of both Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo" and Quicksilver Messenger Service at their John Cippolina "Happy Trails" best. This is eclectic stuff, and not for everyone--but if you have adventurous taste and this sounds interesting, RUN, DON'T WALK to get this album and "Cripple Crow." If you're not sure, go to iTunes and check out the snippets from these albums. Great great stuff. And if you are a fan of live music, definitely catch Devendra and his wonderful band at one of their shows. They are absolutely fantastic (check Youtube for the proof !)

On another front, I just finished watching the DVD "Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who" and loved it. This documentary was co-directed by Murray Lerner, the celebrated documentarian who's films of Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festivals were just released. One of the producers, Nigel Sinclair, produced "No Direction Home," the Bob Dylan documentary directed by Martin Scorsese (if you haven't seen this, stop reading here, go to Amazon, and buy it immediately.) "Amazing Journey" is beautifully researched, shot and edited, and has loads of never before seen footage including the High Numbers live (!) at the Railway Hotel, London in 1965. I've seen a lot of Who footage and know a great deal about their history, but learned quite a bit from this exceptionally well done doc. Needless to say, if you're into the Who, you need this. It comes packaged as a 3 CD box set with a live Who concert from Chicago 1979 and a second film titled "Amazing Journey: Six Quick Ones" (made up of 6 short films.) I haven't watched these yet, but I would absolutely buy the three just on the strength of the main film.

That's it for now. I hope everyone out there has a great holiday, thanks for reading the blog, and all my best for the new year and beyond ! Jeff.

Virtual Museum: Sex Pistols original GOD SAVE THE QUEEN lyrics

2007-12-06T12:56:00.002-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything in some time--it's been crazy around here--so to make up for it, I tried to pick something really interesting for this installment of the virtual museum. These are Johnny Rotten's (John Lydon) original handwritten lyrics for the Sex Pistols classic "God Save The Queen." These had been on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a display commemorating the band's (unwanted) induction, and have finally made their way back to Recordmecca headquarters.

As you can see, these have the song's original title "No Future" at the top, and a reference to "window leen" in the first verse that didn't make it to the final song (window leen is the UK equivalent of Windex.) These lyrics are reproduced in Jon Savage's comprehensive history of UK punk "England's Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock and Beyond." If you don't know this song, or the story of the Pistols, stop reading this and immediately buy their album "Never Mind The Bollocks: Here's The Sex Pistols" and this book. I can't recommend these strongly enough.

Here's a short history of this fantastic song, and the chaos surrounding it's release, courtesy Wikipedia:

The single was released on 27 May 1977, and was regarded by much of the general public to be an assault on Queen Elizabeth II and the monarchy. The title is taken directly from "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem. At the time it was highly controversial, firstly for its equation of the Queen with a "fascist regime", and secondly for the apparent claim that England had "no future".

Although many believe it was created because of the Jubilee, the band denies it, Paul Cook saying that, "It wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone."^[1] Johnny Rotten has explained the lyrics as follows: "You don't write a song like 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're sick of seeing them mistreated." His intentions were apparently to evoke sympathy for the British working class, and a general resentment for the monarchy.

On June 7, 1977 - the Jubilee holiday itself - the band attempted to play the song from a boat on the river Thames, outside The Palace of Westminster. After a scuffle involving attendee Jah Wobble and a cameraman, the band and some of its entourage were arrested.

The song peaked at number 2 on the official UK Singles Chart used by the BBC, though there have been persistent rumours - never confirmed or denied - that it was actually the biggest-selling single in the UK at the time, and was kept off number 1 (by Rod Stewart's I Don't Want To Talk About It) because it was felt that it might cause offence. It did hit number 1 on the unofficial NME singles chart. It was banned by the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority which regulated Independent Local Radio, effectively denying it any media exposure. It was also not stocked by some shops. Since the official singles chart at the time was compiled using sales returns from a number of outlets amongst a wider participating roster, it is in theory possible that the single's number 2 position was not the result of disregarding sales figures as such, but of the knowing selection for that week's chart source data of a number of stores which were not selling the record.

The phrase "no future", the song's closing refrain, became emblematic of the punk rock movement, although its use in the song was ambiguous, the lyrics claiming that "there is no future in England's dreaming".

Before the group signed to Virgin, a small number of copies of "God Save the Queen" had been pressed on the A&M label. These are now among the most valuable records ever pressed in the UK, with a resale rate as of 2006 of between £500 to £13,000 a copy, depending on condition of the disc and how much a collector is willing to pay.

The song also features on the album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, and several compilation albums.

Rolling Stone ranked "God Save the Queen" number 173 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, one of the group's two songs on the list along with "Anarchy in the U.K.". Sounds magazine made it their Single of the Year in 1977^[2]. In 1989 it was 18th in the list of NME writers all time top 150 singles^[3]. Q Magazine in 2002 ranked it first on their list as "The 50 Most Exciting Tunes Ever..."^[4] and 3rd in their list of "100 Songs That Changed The World" in 2003^[5].In 2007 NME launched a campaign to get the song to number 1 in the British charts and encouraged readers to purchase or download the single on October 8th. However it only made #42."

2007-11-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

We've removed the post we previously had here--but the item can still be found at Recordmecca.

Virtual Museum: Bob Dylan's Early Influences

2007-11-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a fascinating touchstone in the Bob Dylan story--Bonnie Beecher's personal copy of the 10" Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee album "Get On Board" on Folkways. This was one of the records Beecher played for her paramour, Bob Zimmerman in 1960. As documented in Clinton Heylin's book "Behind The Shades Revisited," Beecher was "Dylan's original 'Girl From The North Country' and first muse." She met the future Dylan in Minneapolis, at the 5 O'clock Scholar folk club, where he was discussing obscure folk records with local Harvey Abrams. Heylin reports, "like Dylan, Bonnie was ostensibly attending (the) university (of Minnesota.) Such was the mothering instinct that she, and many others had for the young tyke that she ended up being kicked out of her sorority house for associating with such dissolute company. Yet she continued to take him under her wing." Beecher is quoted "no one would let him even play for dinner. I ended up shoplifting for him, stealing food from my sorority house."

One of the many reasons Dylan was initially so drawn to Beecher was that she had a collection of obscure folk and blues records, unavailable in Minnesota, bought on her yearly school trips to New York to see Broadway shows. She would regularly sneak off from her school group to search for the Folkways albums so difficult to find outside of New York. She and Bob spent many hours together listening to her records, which influenced Dylan greatly. When I was lucky enough to meet her, she still had this album and a Leadbelly one that she specifically remembers listing to with Dylan. I was fortunate to obtain both of these from her.

This album has Beecher's original home-made cover (perhaps as the record is a cut out, with a hole punched through the label, it didn't come with a cover.) As you can see, Beecher wrote the artists names (on both sides) as well as her own name. The disc is very well played, and in G condition. Accompanying it is a handwritten letter of authenticity from Beecher, now known as Jahanara Romney, that states "This Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee album, "Get On Board" was owned by me while I was at the University of Minnesota and was one of the albums Bob Dylan and I listened to. Jahanara Romney, formerly Bonnie Beecher."

A great Dylan historical artifact, offered for the first time anywhere, this week on Ebay (click here for a link to the auction.)

Velvet Underground Set List

2007-10-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

I've always loved set lists--those ephemeral pieces of paper with a list of the songs to be played at a particular concert, usually written out by an artist or band member before the show. These days, they're often typed out on a computer, printed out, and taped on the ground in front of each band member's monitor by a roadie. But back in the day, they were usually scribbled out quickly by a band member on whatever scrap of paper was handy, and set down somewhere close to whoever was going to call out the songs.

Often left on the stage after the show, these were sometimes snatched up by wise fans--and just as often thrown in the trash by someone with no sense of history. Thank god, then, that the late Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison had a real sense of history. Sterling was one of those artists who seemingly saved everything--he had a great collection of Velvets records, acetates, posters, handbills--and he even saved the setlists.

Above is a Velvet Underground set list (handwritten by Sterling) for their January 15, 1970 date at The Quiet Night in Chicago. The band played a week's worth of gigs at this club, and as we can see from this, played multiple sets each night. The songs date from the first 3 Velvets albums (their most recent was the self titled "The Velvet Underground", released in March, 1969) as well as some songs that remained unreleased until much later. Their final album (OK, the final one with Lou Reed,) "Loaded" wouldn't be released until September of 1970. I'd love to hear from anyone out there who might have other set lists they want to share--or perhaps sell. I'm always on the lookout for this type of unique item.

BOB DYLAN IN 1964: Over, "but at least he wrote five or six great songs while he lasted"

2007-10-13T15:02:00.001-07:00

Here's something that truly qualifies as American history--a letter from Sis Cunningham, founder of folk song magazine BROADSIDE, to Ralph J. Gleason, legendary music critic, dated November 5, 1964. In it, Cunningham responds to questions Gleason has asked about the origins of the topical song movement.

Cunningham also relates the most recent Dylan news, and gives her read on his songwriting--remember, she was the first to publish Dylan's songs (in Broadside) and was among the earliest of his enthusiastic supporters. In this letter, written a mere 5 days after Dylan's historic "Halloween Concert" at Philharmonic Hall in New York, Cunningham tells Gleason about a Dylan backlash brought on by his abandonment of the topical song, relating that some of Dylan's followers consider his career at an end, consoling themselves that "he wrote five or six great songs while he lasted."

Cunningham tells Gleason how ridiculous she thinks this is, shares her opinion of Dylan as an important poet, and relates how Johnny Cash wrote a letter supporting Dylan to BROADSIDE that said "SHUT UP, and let him sing !" This is the most articulate and right-on defense of Dylan I've ever read. She truly "got" Dylan, and it's fascinating to read such a prescient appraisal of his talent, so early on. Note also her brief defense of the Beatles at the end of the letter.
42 years later, it's an amazing thing to read--and I think we would all agree that he managed a few more than 5 or 6 great songs.

More Virtual Museum: John Hammond's Own Acetate of "Gospel Plow" from Bob Dylan's first album

2007-09-28T19:07:00.001-07:00

(click on photos to enlarge)

People seemed to enjoy the George Harrison lyrics posted here last week (under the title "The Virtual Museum,") so I'm going to try to make this a regular feature of the blog, and post more ultra rare goodies that may be of interest to collectors and others interested in artifacts that tell the story of popular music.

Above is John Hammond's personal acetate for "Gospel Plow," from Bob Dylan's 1962 self-titled debut album. Hammond, in my opinion the greatest A&R (artist & repertoire) Man of the 20th century, discovering and/or signed Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughn and of course Bob Dylan.

Hammond signed Dylan to Columbia Records in 1961, and became his first producer and chief promoter. His belief in Dylan was so complete--even in the face of a complete lack of sales--that Dylan was known around Columbia Records as "Hammond's Folly." The acetate pictured above is a historic artifact of Dylan and Hammond's earliest work together--a disc of Dylan's recording of "Gospel Plow" from the sessions for his first album (this song was recorded in one take, on November 22, 1961--the second and final day of the recording sessions for his first album.) Hammond produced these sessions, and this one-sided 10" disc has the only take recorded of this song.

Individual acetates of each song were cut for Hammond, and used by him to review the song choices and sequence the album. This acetate was given by Hammond to Missy Staunton, who worked as assistant to Billy James, Dylan's publicist at Columbia. In Staunton's letter which accompanied this disc, she explains that working with James "I first got to know John Hammond and other A&R people" and "I went to recording sessions and everyone knew I loved music, so sometimes I would be offered acetates when people were done with them." As with all Columbia Records acetates of this era, there is no label, but the master number (CO 68748,) take number (TK 1,) song title and "B.Dylan" are written in the center in grease pencil. Note that "J. Hammond" is written on the sleeve at the top left corner, indicating who this disc was to be sent to. It's a pretty extraordinary feeling to hold in your hands one of the first few discs ever to contain Bob Dylan's music--and one that John Hammond himself used to compile Dylan's first album. Available on Recordmecca. (Why sell something so historic ? I'm fortunate enough to have acquired 3 different Hammond/Dylan's acetates from the first album, so I decided to cut this one loose.)

The Virtual Museum: George Harrison's Handwritten Everly Brothers Lyrics

2007-09-20T22:36:00.001-07:00

(click on photos to enlarge)

Sometimes, even after 36 years of buying, selling and collecting rare records and music memorabilia, I get a REALLY special package in the mail--something that just blows me away, that leaves me shaking my head, muttering "unbelievable, just unbelievable" to myself (I know--it's not a pretty picture.) And the humble, 8" folded and creased piece of paper pictured above is just that kind of thing. On it are the lyrics to two Everly Brothers songs, “So Sad” and “Like Strangers,” written out by the not yet famous George Harrison, in 1960.

The Everly Brothers were a great influence on the Beatles, and it's been written that Lennon and McCartney consciously copied the Everlys two-part harmonies on "Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me." Harrison no doubt transcribed these lyrics so he could learn these songs; both were big hits (and would have been written out by George) in the second half of 1960--a particularly important time for the Beatles. They spent August through November 1960 playing in Hamburg at the Indra Club and The Kaiserkeller--for 106 nights !-- then returning in December to the Casbah Coffee House in Liverpool (the basement club owned by Pete Best's mother, Mona.) Frank Caiazzo, the world's foremost authority on Beatle handwriting and signatures, has authenticated these, and told me "it's very likely the Beatles were considering performing these songs live at some point, although it has not been documented that they ever did...This is a very rare and historic piece of Beatles memorabilia, and one of the earliest Harrison lyrics in existence." Amazingly, George's father held onto these until the late 1970's, when he gave them to a young fan who visited him at his house in Appleton, Cheshire, England. I was fortunate to obtain these directly from that fan--these were previously unknown and have never been offered for sale before.

One of the reasons I started this blog is to share some really cool things that pass through my hands-- this is truly a piece of history, and people should be able to enjoy it and learn from it, before it disappears into a private collection. Some of the pieces I'm fortunate enough to sell are very expensive--but there's no reason they can't be available to everyone (at least virtually) on the web. So I hope you find this interesting, whoever you are, and if you have any feedback ,email me at recordmecca@earthlink.net. And of course, if anyone out there has a lot of money burning a hole in your pocket, this is available on my website, Recordmecca.
Note: These have just been sold, the listing is still on the Recordmecca site for those interested in taking a look.

Mystery Solved ! Why "Bob Dylan In Concert" wasn't released

2007-09-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

(click on the image above to enlarge)

As Dylan fanatics know, in 1964 Columbia Records planned to release a live album titled "Bob Dylan In Concert" (see July 28 post here for more on this mythic LP.) For reasons previously unknown, the album was pulled from Columbia's schedule and remains unreleased.

Recently I've had the privilege of purchasing some of the papers of the late Ralph J. Gleason, legendary music critic and friend of Dylan (who was hired to write the liner notes to "In Concert.") While going through a box of files, I found a transcription of a 1969 interview Gleason had given to a college student who was writing a term paper on Dylan and his place in the music business. Gleason shares his insights about Dylan, tells many stories, and on page 16 sheds new light on "Bob Dylan In Concert" and why it wasn't released.

Previously it had been thought that Dylan's intense productivity during this time negated the "need" for a live album. Put quite simply, Dylan had written and recorded so many new songs that a decision was made to focus on studio recordings. But here we learn that Dylan was interested in issuing a live album, but for whatever reason, didn't think this one worked (there were two different versions compiled for the "In Concert" album, but evidently he didn't like either.)

It isn't a big surprise to learn that Dylan scuttled the release himself, but if you're like me, it's great to finally hear the bottom line from somebody involved.

In the coming months, I'll be sharing more from the Gleason collection on Dylan and other artists --and of course you can always find other interesting music collectibles on my website, Recordmecca

Counterfeit UK Osiris/Hapshash Posters

2007-08-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

(click on photo to enlarge)

One area I’ve been researching extensively is the UK concert posters made in the 1960’s by Osiris, especially those designed by Hapshash & The Coloured Coat (Michael English and Nigel Weymouth.) A few years back “newly discovered” copies of some of these came to the market in significant numbers—one story was that these were found by a former driver for The Beatles, another was the classic “the family of the original printer found them in the attic.”

Brad Rogers of whocollection.com has done pioneering research into this topic, and has shown convincingly that these “newly discovered” posters are nothing more than recent (and very high quality) counterfeits, being sold as genuine. I’ve spent a good deal of time speaking with Brad and comparing his examples to a small collection I bought (which had been in storage for 20+ years and were thus beyond the shadow of a doubt genuine.)

The counterfeits include:
Jimi Hendrix at the Fillmore (the most common bootleg)
Pink Floyd CIA-UFO
The Who “I Can See For Miles”
The Who at the Saville Theater
Fifth Dimension Club Leicester
Tomorrow My White Bicycle
Arthur Brown OA 501
Julie Felix at the Royal Albert Hall
The Move at The Marquee
Pink Floyd at the UFO double size by Michael English.

The best way to know if a poster is genuine is to compare it to a known original—but if that isn’t possible, here’s the short version:

The originals are silkscreens, while the bootlegs are instead printed.
On the originals you can easily see areas where the screens (and thus layers of ink) didn't exactly line up, and there is a bit of one
color bleeding out from underneath another color. There are also areas where a lot of one color of ink is built up over
lot of another color ink, and there is a three dimensional aspect to the color. On the bootlegs, the ink flat as can be--clearly not ink on top of ink. On some of the original posters, you can see tiny silver flecks of ink over the solid color fields.

There is a lack of detail in the reproductions as well. And the paper used for the bootlegs just isn't the same—as Brad says, “it looks brand new, because it is brand new.” I agree—my “like new” originals, carefully stored for more than 20 years, have aged—the paper has mellowed over 40 years. The bootlegs are bright white on the reverse.

For a really detailed explanation of how to tell the difference, I highly recommend Brad’s site—his research is without equal on this obscure but important subject:

http://www.whocollection.com/hapshash_&_osiris_posters.htm

The scan at the top is an original Who at the Saville Osiris/Hapshash poster available at Recordmecca—where we also have never bootlegged Jimi Hendrix at the Saville and Soft Machine/Arthur Brown at the UFO posters as well.

(and thanks Brad, for much info I've included here.)

"Bob Dylan In Concert" acetates

2007-07-28T13:12:00.001-07:00

(click on photos to enlarge)

If you know me, you may know of my passion for collecting Bob Dylan stuff. I'll be featuring many interesting Dylan collectibles in this space in the coming months-- so I thought it only fitting to start off with something truly rare from Dylan --two original acetates of the unreleased 1964 album "Bob Dylan In Concert."

This album was originally supposed to be released by Columbia Records between Dylan's albums "Another Side of Bob Dylan" and "Bringing It All Back Home," but was never issued, probably because Dylan was coming up with so much new studio material. Two different track listings were contemplated--version one with songs from Town Hall and Carnegie Hall, NYC, 1963; and version two with some substitutions thought to be from Royal Festival Hall, London, 1964. The legendary San Francisco music critic (and Dylan friend) Ralph J. Gleason was hired to write liner notes, but the album was never issued.

Over the years a few cover slicks for the album have surfaced--but to my knowledge, no vintage acetates have ever been found--until now. I was fortunate enough to obtain these from Gleason's family--evidently once in a great while miracles do occur. (Gleason, while working at Fantasy Records in the 70's, cut at least one duplicate of the second acetate--you can see it on the Searching For A Gem website--undoubtedly using the 1964 original above as a source.)

For those of us who love the details, here goes (notations transcribed exactly as they appear on the label stickers for the 1st acetate, and the sleeve for the 2nd disc):

Version One:
Job No. 77110-Ref Mono l Bob Dylan Att: T.Wilson
1) Ship Comes In 2) Davy Moore 3) Percy's Song 4) NO Rag 5) Old Riley

Job No. 77110- Ref Mono ll Att: T.Wilson
1) Woody Poem 2) Lay Down Your Weary Tune 3) Dusty Old Fairgrounds 4) John Brown

Version Two:
Job 77182 Bob Dylan Side #l Tom Wilson
1. Davey Moore 2. The Gates of Eden 3. New Orleans Rag 4. Old Riley (Seven Curses) 5. The Walls of Redwing

Job 77182 Bob Dylan Side #ll Tom Wilson
1.If You Gotta Go 2. Mr. Tambourine Man 3. Hero Blues 4. Turn, Turn To the rain & The Wind 5. Eternal Circle

If you want to read more about the "Bob Dylan In Concert" LP, I highly recommend the wonderful SEARCHING FOR A GEM Dylan site (particularly these pages): http://www.searchingforagem.com/1960s/1964.htm
and
http://www.searchingforagem.com/2000s/2004.htm

Sorry, but these aren't for sale--but check out the Recordmecca site for some other very cool Dylan rarities.

My weird wild world

2007-07-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

Though I'm in my 36th year of collecting records and music memorabilia, the subject still fascinates me and occupies most of my waking hours (ok, some of that is because of my website, Recordmecca, where I sell high-end rare records and music memorabilia-- but I still spend altogether too much time thinking about this stuff in my "off" hours.)

I'm regularly traveling the world looking for records, concert posters, documents, ephemera or other music related stuff--or spending endless hours researching my finds online, in books, etc.--or talking to other like-minded individuals about the subject at hand.

So I figured a blog would be just the way to use up whatever minimal "non-record" time I have, and maybe share some of the more interesting stuff I've found for collection or my website, ask questions of the collector community, and talk about some of my research. So that's my rationale. And here goes...