A Little Shopping Trip: Australia April 2019

A fitting find. Only released in OZ, it is a special edit with added/different piano

April was nuts… I mean really nuts. First there was the Utrecht record fair, which proved to be one of the best ones yet, then 10 days later - I .... 

Let's step back for a moment and get some context:   I've always loved Australian bands, The Easybeats and Vanda and Young have been a total obsession of mine since my teens.  

In 77/78 The Saints and Radio Birdman played some of the best shows I have ever witnessed. Although I was aware of the Ugly Things comps, I never owned them, but I had been collecting some favourites over the last few years including the Black Diamonds and (Australian) Playboys.
More recently I discovered The Throb, Moods, D-Coys and Hergs. This opened up a whole (New) world to me.
I loved the  intense moody side of some of these releases, the judicious (and often unexpected) choice of covers, plus the sound itself and the exuberance contained within

I swooned over the mix of pure  wildness and rawness akin to the best of US Garage Punk twinned with more UK-like professional recording techniques and production A marriage made in heaven. 
It was not just Australia, New Zealand also provided some killer including a certain Social End Product, which I manage to get last year.

I quickly found out that I wasn’t the only one seeking out these singles, many a time I was bidding high with other lovers of these amazing releases, and often losing out. So a couple of months ago, I decided to go the whole hog and booked myself a flight to Sydney to coincide with the Glebe record fair 

Once my flight was booked things started to happen...

A close friend was helping to sell the collection on behalf of a widow of a record collector of great taste. So even before flying out, 47 singles were already waiting for me when I landed. 
I was also privileged (with another Aussie collector) to have access to someone selling a huge amount of records. A flurry of emails ensued, sending back forth wants lists and updates of what might/might not be found. 
There was also  another friend/blogger who had bought a collection a while back and had several of the top titles I was after.
Now, I am certain that all this wouldn’t have happened without me actually booking a ticket and letting a few people know I was flying out
On top of that there were some great shops I visited such as Greville, Liquorice Pie and Vicious Sloth in Melbourne and Egg plus Papa Disquo in Sydney. I didn’t have the time to visit more, the 7 days I was there simply weren’t enough

The Glebe record fair was a lively and friendly event as the best record fairs are… A good return here too

Further contacts were made and I was lucky enough to venture and stay in the Blue Mountain at Jon’s who’s idyllic mountain retreat/farm was augmented by a huge barn/warehouse harbouring  100s of thousands of records.

Digging,

Digging again...

Digging some more...

In fact I visited several other warehouses/factories spending hours going through pile after pile of 45s. I could have bought more, but I set myself a limit of around 200 singles, which I could include in my carry-on luggage. There was just so much more...

What follows is a list of the main finds. There were also a few spares and upgrades which are not on this list

4 Strangers Sad and Lonely
Allusions The Dancer EP
Allusions Looks Like Trouble
Ashdown, Doug A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Atlantics Light Shades of Dark
Atlantics That Loving Feeling
Atlantics I Put a Spell on You
Atlantics Come On/You Tell Me Why
Best, Peter Carousel of Love
Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs Sick & Tired EP
Black Diamonds Outside Lookin' In/Not This Time
Blue Streaks You Belong To Me
Bobby James and The Esquires Don't You Do That/Tossin' and Turnin'
Brigade Joan/All By Myself
Britt You Really Have Started Something
Britten, Terry 2,000 Weeks
Challenge Honey Do
Changin' Times Pied Piper
Cherokees A Woman With Soul
Chocolate It's Been a Long Time Coming/I'm an Animal
Clefs I Can Only Give You Everything
Clique Stop, Look and Listen
Composers Strange Things
Count Copernicus Painted Ego
Creatures Ugly Thing
Dave Miller Set Mr Guy Fawkes EP
Dave Miller Set Let's Get Together
Dave Miller Set Why Why Why EP
Davis, Barrington Dear Lady/Complicated Riddle
D-Coys Leaving Here
D-Coys Bad Times
Deakins I'll Make You Mine
Deakins Take Me For a Little While/Look and Learn
Derek's Accent Ain't Got No Feeling
Doug Parkinson in Focus Then I Run
Easybeats Sad Lonely and Blue
Elois I'm a Man/ By My Side
Epics Too Late
Escorts Sitting By a Tree/On A Day Like Today
Executives It's a Happening World/ Moving in A Circle
Fugitives All Your Lies
Furber, Mike It's Too Late
Gemini Five No, No, No
Geoff St John and the ID Take This Hurt Off Me
Grandma's Tonic Hi Hi Hazel/ Johnny The Hummer
Gremlins Blast-Off 1970
Hergs Style of Love
Iguana Good News
Imagination We Got Fun/ A Day in The Life
In-Sect I am Waiting/Down and Out
In-Sect Let This Be a Lesson
In-Sect Over Under Sideways Down
In-Sect I Can See My Love
Inside Looking Out Long Live Sivananda
Inside Looking Out H.M.S Buffalo
Jeff st John and The ID Black Girl/Eastern Dream
John Francis Collexion I Talk To Trees
Johnny Rebb You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at its Cover
Johnny Rebb The Girl Can't Help It
Kinetics You're So Good For Me
Kinks Australia
Kompany The Family Way
Kravats We're Gonna Howl Tonight
Kruger, Russ Splish Splash/Separate The Man From The BoysLeedon
Kruger, Russ Tallahasee Lassie
Kruger, Russ Move It Baby
La De Da's How is The Air Up There
La De Da's How is The Air Up There
Larry's Rebels Do What You Gotta Do
Larry's Rebels Mo'reen
Last Straws I Can't Stop Loving You Baby/Rescue Me
Librettos I Cry/She's a Go Go
Little Gulliver Short Fat Fannie
Lloyds World Brass Burd EP
Lost Souls This Life of Mine
Loved Ones EP
M.P.D Limited Paper Doll EP
M.P.D Limited Little Boy Sad EP
Malcom, Chris Trip on Life
Masters Apprentices 1st EP
Masters Apprentices 2nd EP
Masters Apprentices But One Day
McCann, Toni Saturday Date
Michael Scott Group Sixty Minutes of Your Love
Misex Straight Laddie
Missing Links Wild About You
Missing Links You're Driving Me Insane
Missing Links Unchained EP
Missing Links We 2 Should Live
Moods Rum Drunk
Morloch Time Machine
Motivation Boy Meets Girl
Movement I Wanna Be Free
New Edition About You Girl
No Names She is Mine
Nomads Good Times/ Don't You Fret
Other Ends Without You
Outcasts Just a Little Bit +2 Acetate
Party Machine Gentle Art
Peter Nelson and The Castaways Goin' Out of My Mind
Phil Jones & The Unknown Blues Band If I Had a Ticket EP
Pilgrim's Five Barbara Allen
Pink Finks You're Good For Me
Pogs I'll Never Love Again/The Pog's Theme
Preachers Who Do You Love
Principals Women
Principals I Can't Stop  
Procession Listen
Protein Bros. Drainpipe
Purple Hearts Here 'Tis
Purple Hearts You Can't Sit Down
Python Lee Jackson Your Mother Should Have Warned You
Ramrods You Shoulda Held On/Get Back
Ray Brown and The Whispers Fool, Fool, Fool
Rebels My Son John/Passing You By
Remains Don't Look Back
Rhone, Marty Nature Boy/ Every Minute of You
Richard Wright Group Mrs Hargreaves
Running Jumping Standing Still Little Girl
Selected Few Get The Picture
Showmen Naughty Girl/Too Much Monkey Business
Simon & De Sade Girl
Soul Agents I Just Want To Make Love To You
Sound Sandwich Apothecary Dream
Sounds of Silence Mary's Got a Daisy
Steve & The Board The Giggle Eyed Goo EP
Sunsets A Life in The Sun EP
Syssys Jump Back
Syssys Baby, Don't Do It
The ID Watch Out -You Got Me Hummin' EP
Tilbrook. Peter Stop The Time
Tol-Puddle Martyrs Time Will Come/Social Cell
Tom Thumb You're Gonna Miss Me/Watcha Gonna Do About It
Town Criers The World Keeps Going Round/Big Deal
Twilights John Hardy
Twilights Needle in a Haystack/I Won't Be The Samw…
Twilights Twilight's Time EP
Twilights Lotus
Twilights The Way They Play
Union The End/Thump
Vacant Lot Leaving Here
Valentines My Old Man's a Groovy Old Man EP
Valentines She Said
Vince Maloney I Need Your Lovin' Tonight
Vince Maloney Set This is The Vince Maloney Set EP
Vyt Why Do I Cry
Wild Cherries I Don't Care
Wild Colonials Get The Picture
Wild Colonials Downtown Blues
Wright Group Love Want Love
Zoot One Times, Two Times, Three Times Four
Zoot Little Roland Lost
Zoot Sha La La

To finish off a perfect trip, on the last evening, I was invited with a friend to spend some time with Mark Taylor where we were privileged to hear top US garage singles and Aussie gems played LOUD on one of the most amazing sound systems known to man. In fact, with the positioning of magnets and other tricks… I am sure there was witchcraft at play...It was a religious experience, totally mind-blowing.

Never had I experienced such depth, clarity and such POWER while listening to what could be dismissed as lo-fi recordings. Incredible, just incredible...

Will I be back? I would like to think so, however my Aussie wants list has shrunk to about 50 (from being close to 200), but the whole experience from the friendliness, generosity and warmth I was shown, plus the amazing weather and scenery means I will most certainly return and not just for the records

PS: I have been back for over 2 weeks now  and still haven’t been able to play every record yet... No wonder!