Monthly Archives: November 2021

Graded on a Curve:
Bonzo Dog Band,
Top Gear Session 29th July 1969

By Michael H. Little | Published: November 8, 2021

Celebrating Rodney Slater on his 80th birthday. —Ed.

Had Monty Python decided to turn their attentions wholly to making music, they might—and I stress might—have been as funny as The Bonzo Dog Band, or The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as were earlier known, that bunch of cracked Dadaists whose most prominent members, Neil Innes and Vivian “The Ginger Geezer” Stanshall, dabbled in rock, pop, trad jazz, cabaret, vaudeville, and any other genre they could lay their madcap fingers on, invariably turning out tunes that were as lyrically weird as they were musically unconventional.

All four of their studio LPs, recorded between 1967 and 1969, were utterly hilarious, chockfull of absurd one-liners (check out the great vaudevillian band introduction on “The Intro and the Outro,” where players include “the Count Basie Orchestra on triangle” and, “looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes”), as well as some deliberately awful music (check out the brilliantly ear-jarring sax solo on “Big Shot”).

The very English “Hunting Tigers Out in India” is one of my personal favorites, opening as it does with the lines, “With big tigers table manners have no place/After they have eaten you they never say their grace,” followed by a conversation in which one tiger hunter says, “I say, J.O, it’s jolly frightening out here,” to which J.O. says, “Nonsense, dear boy, you should be like me.” “But look at you,” replies hunter number one, “You’re shaking all over. What’s the matter with you?” To which J.O. replies, “Shaking? You silly goose, I’m just doing the Watusi, that’s all.”

If you’re looking for a sample of The Bonzo Dog Band’s brilliance, a taster as it were, I highly recommend The Top Gear Session 29th July 1969. The EP includes five brilliant cuts by the band, and my only regret is that it wasn’t released with the previous Top Gear Session of 29th April 1968, which includes that classic salute to the Motown-style dance craze that is “Do the Trouser Press,” which opens hilariously with a funky beat and a guy who says, “Come on everybody clap your hands/Aw, you’re looking good/Are you having a good time?/”Yeah yeah!”/Do you like soul music?/…. “No.” But the singer carries on, and proclaims the Trouser Press as being “much better than a prefabricated concrete cold bunker.”

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TVD Radar: The Podcast with Evan Toth, Episode 52: Rockaway Records

By Evan Toth | Published: November 8, 2021

PHOTOS: MATTHEW BELTER | As a music lover, sometimes it’s hard for us to differentiate between being fans of music vs. being collectors. What part of our listening is really about enjoying the sounds of our favorite artist and what part of it is merely fulfilling a nostalgic desire?

Since 1979, brothers Wayne and Gary Johnson have owned Rockaway Records in Los Angeles, California. Over the last 40 plus years, a mind-boggling treasure trove of music and memorabilia have passed through their hands and their shop still stands strong today. Now, bear in mind, Wayne and Gary don’t just sell your regular, run-of-the-mill items: they deal in the high end, investment-grade vinyl and collectibles market.

Wayne Johnson was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about some of the more eye-popping items that he currently has available for sale; many of which will probably be sold by the time you listen to this chat. But, Wayne and I go deeper down the collecting rabbit hole and get into some of the more philosophical and existential elements of what defines a music fan, a collector, and an investor.

The Vinyl District page associated with this episode will also feature several photographs of the goodies at Rockaway Records taken by a member of our TVD Los Angeles team, Matthew Belter. It’s great to hear Wayne and I discuss what he’s got for sale but, as is usually the case, Matthew’s pictures are worth thousands of words.

Sure, we talk about the Beatles items that are currently worth a fortune, but we also discuss items that people perceive as having value that aren’t very valuable at all. We explore some big-ticket items that might surprise you, and also look at artists who aren’t quite as collectible as they used to be.

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In rotation: 11/8/21

By TVD HQ | Published: November 8, 2021

Duluth, MN | Round Here Records sells vinyl in Duluth and online: …Vinyl has made a comeback in more recent years, with plenty of artists releasing new material on it, as well as online, and still on compact discs. Some say the sound is better on vinyl, that it can be more full sounding. Others, even some audiophiles that I know, claim it’s trash, but it’s okay to be wrong. I personally appreciate vinyl, though admittedly I’m between record players at the time. My last one wasn’t the best quality and I haven’t sprung for a decent player quite yet, as a place to put it and the speakers to back it up is something I need to make the space for. While I might not have the player currently, I still purchase actual vinyl albums to help further my collection with new music that is released and also classics. If you are in the market for music on vinyl, you might want to check out Round Here Records. Not only can you shop for vinyl with them online, they on the regular have pop-up shop days in the Twin Ports area. They also support local music, which makes them even better.

Lansing, MI | Lansing record store has increased sales amidst nationwide trend: Vinyl record sales are up in 2021 — and one Lansing record shop has been feeling the impact. In its 2021 half-year report, the Media Rating Council said vinyl record sales in the United States are up 108.2% from the half-year total in 2020. The Media Rating Council is a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing media analysis and data. In 2021, 19.2 million vinyl units were sold at the half-year mark, while at the same point in 2020, 9.2 million units were sold. Heather Frarey, who owns The Record Lounge in REO Town, said the overall trend in vinyl record sales is noticeable in her store. “We’re up, big time,” said Frary, who originally opened her story in East Lansing before moving to the REO Town Marketplace, 1027 S Washington Ave., in 2017. “I came back in June of last year after COVID because we were closed for four months. After that, that’s when things blew up a bit. …Fridays and Saturdays are hopping pretty good in here. We are busy all day.”

Loveland, CO | Sad music to the ears: Loveland’s only music store is closing up: Fans of vinyl and vintage audio equipment in the Loveland area are singing sad songs with the news that Downtown Sound is closing its doors. Sitting on the east side of 4th Street in Downtown Loveland, Downtown Sound had a perfect location for what they did. The location, off from the main hustle and bustle of downtown, was kind of an ‘odd’ spot; but then, ‘record stores’ are kind of odd themselves, these days. I’d heard that Downtown Sound is closing from friends, who have frequented the shop hundreds of times, so I reached out to the store via Facebook on Nov 1, 2021: “Hi Dave. Rogan decided not to continue DTS [Downtown Sound.] Since we still own the store we are deciding what to do now. Veronica and Ed Roth.” ‘Rogan’ refers to Rogan Magyar, who has owned Downtown Sound for over two years, after purchasing the existing business in 2019. He had been the owner of Kepstone Music, which was in the Orchard Shopping Center; he moved Kepstone into Downtown Sound, and started providing not just vinyl records, but also giving music lessons.

Wolverhampton, UK | End of an era as Wolverhampton record shop prepares to close after more than 50 years: The end of an era is coming for a city record store as it prepares to close its doors. Oldies Unlimited has been a popular haunt for record buyers in Wolverhampton since the 1960s, having been known as a popular spot for good quality records and having hosted signings with bands such as Magnum. However, it will close the doors of its Darlington Street shop permanently on November 30 and move online. Owner Simon Malpas said the decision to close had been a difficult one, but said a number of factors had made his mind up about closing the shop. He said: “I made the decision a few weeks ago and I’ve been a bit up and down with it, but I’ve found recent circumstances have made the decision easier to make for me. One has been the change of the roads to a one-way system, meaning less buses going past the shop, while Covid has really hit us after being closed for so long.”