Elvis Costello - The Man - the Best of Elvis Costello

The final instalment of the "records I got from a hold-all that Gunnar found in his attic" series is this Elvis Costello compilation. I vaguely remember Hugh having an Elvis Costello record when we were living in Cardiff, but whether that was before or after I picked up this album I don't know. Whilst I'm certain I'd heard Costello's songs on the radio at many points throughout my life (my mum even has a few songs on 7" in the box of records my parents have from their teenage years), the first time I remember consciously listening to him was, strangely, on the Woodstock '99 double cd. The first cd was a who's-who of late 90's, American (and Bush) nu-metal and hard rock. My friend Johnny had a copy and I borrowed it from him, before picking up my own copy some years later on eBay. The second cd was a very strange mix of things, including Elvis Costello singing Alison from the infamous event. It didn't blow me away, but did stick with me.

I don't know what I was expecting from this best-of when I took it home, but I wasn't expecting the opening run of Watching the Detectives, Oliver's Army and Alison to be quite so huge. I've listened to a lot of music over the years that is very far from pop music, but sometimes there's no denying that some pop songs are just really, really great songs. That is true of the opening trilogy here. Oliver's Army was a really unexpected highlight for me, with its upbeat piano in spite of the lyrical matter. It's hard to look past the now-controversial dropping of the n-word though. Pump it Up and I Can't Stand Up (For Falling Down) are great too. There are moments that are unexpected in other ways too - Pill and Soap is quite bleak and Good Year for the Roses is calm and lovely. Generally though, the second half is much weaker than the first, but there are a lot of songs crammed onto these two sides of vinyl. I eventually bought a Costello best-of on cd so I could play these songs more easily. I definitely didn't expect to enjoy it quite so much when I picked it out of that gross hold-all of records.

Format: 12", gatefold
Tracks: 18
Cost: free second hand
Bought: Gunnar's attic
When: 25/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

I got this 7" for a free in the same dirty hold-all of old records that yielded Burn to Run, Legend and Marvin Gaye's Anthology. I decided to take this one because it's just a really, really great pop song. I don't think anyone can argue otherwise. It's perfect pop, and sometimes that is something to be enjoyed. I suspect this 7" exists in a huge percentage of record collections from the 80's, since everyone bought this single. The b-side, Feed the World, is just a lot of the stars leaving voicemails saying Merry Christmas, which is a bit strange, but ok I guess.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: free second hand
Bought: Gunnar's attic
When: 25/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Marvin Gaye - Anthology

I'll be the first to admit that, when compared to the full range of recorded music since records were created, my record collection is far from eclectic; the vast majority can described as white dudes playing guitars between 1990 and now. It's not intentional, but those just seem to be the records I buy mostly. And (very importantly), that's not to say that there certainly isn't room for music by people who don't fit into that category. But, ultimately, I like rock music, and a lot of rock bands fall into that category for whatever reasons.

I dabble in other genres but that dabbling rarely goes deep - I guess I just don't like other genres to feel the need to dig as deeply as I do for post-90's guitar music. I also don't feel I have enough knowledge to discern good from bad in most other genres. Anyway, there are some records in my collection that most people would agree are out of place given the rest of it. This is one such record.

I own Marvin Gaye's Anthology because I was given it for free in a hold-all of records my old colleague Gunnar found in the attic of the repossessed house he'd bought (the same hold-all of records that I got Born to Run and Bob Marley's Legend). I'm not exaggerating when I say he literally dragged this filthy hold-all of LPs into work, dumped them next to my desk and let me have a rummage. There wasn't a great deal I wanted in there, although I do sometimes wonder if there any hidden gems in there I wasn't aware of at the time. After I'd taken the few of interest, the rest went to a charity shop (I think) and the hold-all went in the bin (I hope).

I don't know what caused me to take this one home with me. I had a couple of covers of What's Going On, and Let's Get it On and I Heard it Through the Grapevine are just songs that everyone knows are classics. A few things to note about this album:

• It's impossible not to enjoy these songs, pretty much regardless of what music you like. They're just great pop songs. Even that strange one about an onion.
• It's a really long album. I've never known so many songs squeezed onto four sides of vinyl.
• The strangest thing about this record, by a long margin, is something I have never seen before or since - sides 1 and 3 are on the same disc, and 2 and 4 are on the other. That's crazy, right? Is that so I can have the other record queued up on my other turntable for a seamless listening experience? If so, it's a real shame that I only have one turntable (in this room).
• You is a really great song. That one really stood out.

Format: Double 12", gatefold
Tracks: 33
Cost: free second hand
Bought: Gunnar's attic
When: 25/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Bob Marley - Legend

Once upon a time, I very nearly bought a Bob Marley best-of - it was £9 but had three whole cds of Bob's songs. After a shift in my part-time, teenage job in Sainsburys' I was strongly contemplating buying the copy they had there. There was a party at a friend's house that evening (as there often was, back in the day) and I thought that turning up with three cds of Bob Marley's greatest hits would be pretty cool. I then considered my bank balance and the lack of enjoyment I'd get from those cds at any point in the future and decided to buy a bunch of beers instead (guaranteeing that money wouldn't go towards anything with future enjoyment - it is funny to think back to when a hangover didn't knock out the next few days, creating future pain instead).

I've since spent a week in the Caribbean and heard altogether far too much Bob Marley. The worst thing about that sentence is that it's not even entirely true -  I've been to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, which definitely isn't the Caribbean, but still heard too much Bob Marley. Everywhere we passed, sat, ate or drink was playing Bob Marley. No matter how much you like him, that's going to get on your nerves.

Sometime between those two events, this record entered my collection. The worst part of that sentence is that this is the first time I've even bothered to play it. There are very, very few records or cds in my collection I've not played - colour-variants of albums and a small pile of sampler cds that I really do plan to listen to one day, but know they're very unlikely to change my life (queue future posts about bands I had songs by on neglected samplers that I'd wished I'd got into earlier).

There are a few reasons why I've never played this album:

1. I got it for free, in a hold-all of records a guy I used to work with found in his attic (a bag that also contained Springsteen's Born to Run, Marvin Gaye's Anthology and an Elvis Costello's compilation, all records that have been played a lot). I can't imagine any other circumstances whereby this record would have found itself wedged between Mariachi El Bronx and The Mars Volta in my record collection.
2. I never found myself in a situation where I though "I really fancy listening to Bob Marley". I was 22 when I got this album and my friends were all on the other side of their "weed phase". It just never seemed like a good time. I think I took it from that bag of records thinking there might one day be a reason to play it, but that hasn't happened in the last decade. Who knows what the future holds though.
3. Finally, there's basically no need to ever play this album - everybody everywhere knows these songs better than they realise, having heard them at various points throughout their lives. I suspect that three-cd best-of I nearly bought had some rarities and oddities on it, but Legend is the core Marley tracks squeezed onto two sides of vinyl.

On one hand, there are some really good songs here - No Woman No Cry, Get Up Stand Up, and Exodus. There are also some songs I really hate, like Could You Be Loved and Buffalo Soldier - songs that I heard on the radio all the time growing up and came to associate with being really bored on a Sunday afternoon knowing school was the next day (there are a whole bunch of songs where that is my main association - I don't know what radio station my parents played on a Sunday afternoon, but it really did a number on me). I also have a very vivid memory of hearing I Shot the Sherif on the radio whilst studying a Lego catalogue (which was the bulk of my childhood, to be fair) - I was looking the red Lego Technic supercar from the late-80's trying to understand the construction whilst also wondering what the song was about (we don't have sherifs or deputies) - it's deeply imprinted on my mind; it's funny the inconsequential events that stay with you.

Anyway, the most interesting thing about this particular record is that deep inside the sleeve was a roached packet of Rizlas, as you can see in the first picture below. I can't think of a single more appropriate thing to fall out of a Bob Marley record sleeve than such an iconic symbol of drug use. I love that whoever owned it before it ended up in my hands was doing the exact same thing that so, so many other people have done whilst listening to Bob Marley.

Format: 12", gatefold

Tracks: 14

Cost: free second hand

Bought: Gunnar's attic

When: 25/03/09

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

A free record! What a treat. A friend I used to work with bought a house and in the attic found a hold-all full of old vinyl. Knowing my obsessive love of vinyl, he brought the bag into work for me to have a browse and take whatever caught my fancy. There was probably 50 LPs in there, but the majority weren't to my taste. And a lot were just shit. Still, I managed to pull five decent records out of there, this being one of them (the first good one I found too, if memory serves me correctly). Given that they were stored in a hold-all in an attic, the sleeves were all a bit beaten, but the vinyl was largely very clean. This one still has the £4.49 price sticker on the front - it amuses me to think of the original owner going record shopping back in the 70's and getting this. That said, I just checked the internet and it reckons £4.49 then is the equivalent of about £25 now, so maybe it wasn't the 70's.

I'd never given much thought to Springsteen until I was living in Cardiff and everyone I knew seemed to rave about him. I still only have two albums, this one and Nebraska (on CD). I like the music, I'm probably going to pick up a Best Of and be done with it though. His back-catalogue is pretty lengthy and I just don't have that much time. Tunes-a-plenty on this one though. Strong starters on both side 1 and 2 (it's not often you get that - all the hits on Side 1 doesn't give me much incentive to turn over, although maybe I shouldn't need incentive). A good High Fidelity style list would be albums with great starters on both sides. Backstreets is a great song, in fact, there aren't any songs I don't like on it. Maybe there is space in my collection for more than two Springsteen LPs.

Format: 12", gatefold
Tracks: 8
Cost: free second hand
Bought: Gunnar's attic
When: 25/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no