Heads up Nick Drake Five Leaves Left

Yes, I don't have an original against which to compare it, but the new Back To Black LP of this sounds great to me. Very "organic" !

John,

I like 'organic', it sums it up nicely. 

Steve

Might sell my original then.... 

Yes, the box sets are far better. Then again, I'm not keen the Japanese issues.

Not convinced by this. The £10 one and the £24 one have different catalogue numbers and one definitely says 'box set'. Or to put it another way, if Amazon can make the mistake in the first place they can make a second one.

When I buy the new one I'll compare it to my other copies - the first pressing and a 1976-ish copy.

Anyway, Joe Boyd was on Mark Radcliffe's folk programme (R2) yesterday talking about it all. Says he hasn't heard the new vinyl yet as he still plays his originals! But is confident John Wood has done a great job with the analogue tapes.

Worth catching on iplayer etc.

I understand that there will be two releases: one for the box set and the other for just the LP.

Richard

Folk programme

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x94ns

Interested to find this because I have actually got one of the very original pink label Island pressings with the wrong track order on the sleeve etc, etc and it's mint. I can't even remember why I bought it (perhaps given it would be 1969 hardly surprising) but was reading a thread on another forum which said one had gone for £700 and the thought 'I've got that' made me go and look at the vinyl collection and sure enough there it was. Hasn't been played for years and probably 3 or 4 times in total. Truth is I find it a bit anaemic!

Question is cash in or keep?

Do you need the cash? If you don't them the price is more likely to go up than down so I'd keep it as an investment. You must also realise that unless you're experienced and known as a seller you're unlikely to reach the maximum price, unless you know someone who is? 

Jealously yours,

Steve

I don't think it would raise £1000+ anyway and I must say my instinct is to keep it. I have to say however, I find it difficult to understand why people are prepared to pay that sort of money for it, rare or not.

Makes you wonder what else you might have with a similar rarity value. In the very early 70's I had a copy of Led Zeppelin 2 autographed by Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones which I think I sold for about £20 (they used to get into the old Mothers Club in Birmingham in the old days). I wonder what that would be worth now! 

It would be worth more than £20! 

This excellent blues album was recorded at Mothers.

I think the photo was taken outside the club.

Yes could be,there were certainly steps up to the door I think and the entrance was down a very dingy alley although it's a long time ago now.

So was the live part of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma - I know about 5000 people who were there that night (3000 of whom can be heard on the LP) and the club only held about 300 max. I wasn't,didn't like them then and I've not changed my opinion!

I believe Five Leaves Left is about ready for  shipping in the UK;

and Mothers must have been one great venue..check out some of the artists:

But sadly now:

It was a fabulous place in those days.

As I recall it used to open on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights with Sundays being generally the days when the 'big name' acts used to appear. In addition to the acts listed above I can recall seeing Derek and The Dominoes there on their first UK tour. I remember that Clapton appeared to be, shall we say, somewhat out of it but as I recall responded to some mild heckling from the audience with an absolute scorching rendition of After Midnight.

I seem to remember that admission for that was 12/6, it seems incredible now that you could see bands of that quality for that price although it would probably equate to about a tenner now. Also I don't believe you could buy tickets in advance and had to stand in line in the alley to be let in so when a big act was on there would be some disappointed.

There were 2 rooms as I recall, a bar at the rear of the venue and the main concert room (you wouldn't call it a hall, it wasn't big enough). They also had the first microwave I ever saw from which they would produce Pasties that were cold on the outside and molten lava within. The first experience of these was not to be forgotten.You can get some idea of the size from the photo above. 

Of the bands mentioned above, I can certainly recall seeing Family, Blodwyn Pig, Quintessence, John Mayall and Jethro Tull. In addition Gentle Giant, Taste, Uriah Heep and Curved Air I think. There may have been others but as I said previously it's a long time ago. Robert Plant and John Bonham used to be in the bar regularly and often jammed with the lesser name groups particularly on a Wednesday night. I don't remember Led Zeppelin playing there however although that isn't to say they didn't. Elton John is also a bit of a surprise, not really his type of place. Strange to relate now that the John Peel nights weren't all that popular. He used to turn up with bands from the roster of his own label (Dandelion Records?) and they were generally poor to awful - I remember a band called Stackwaddy I think being particularly bad.

Happy Days.

Happy Days indeed. 

We were so lucky growing up during this golden age of concert going. Even where I lived in the Torbay area from spring to autumn there were concerts on every week and all for less than a quid! Many of the bands you mentioned plus many more like Chicken Shack, Keef Hartley Band, Deep Purple, Hawkwind, Bowie, Alan Parson's Project....................... I also saw Derek and the Dominoes.

Plus I wasn't too far from Exeter and Plymouth where I saw Tull, King Crimson, Savoy Brown, Santana etc. 

Unfortunately by the late '70s the UK tours died out to be replaced by overseas tours and large venues with the resulting hike in ticket prices.

Indeed Happy Days. 

I did too - in Bristol, the same week Hendrix died. Clapton looked.... preoccupied, and the audience were disappointed it wasn't Cream.

Back to Nick Drake - would have seen him supporting Fotheringay 6 months earlier but was ill!

My copy arrived today and is a bit "clicky" compared to the Pink Moon and Bryter Layter boxed sets.  I'm hoping this is just a bit of static as is was a bugger to get out of the inner sleeve.  

There was also quite a few bits of what looked like flakes of vinyl trimmings that needed to be cleaned off first. I would be very interested to know if anybody else has had a similar issue, before I start asking for a replacement.

Regards

Nic   

I've not had notification yet from Amazon that it's been dispatched but I ordered the LP only. Storage is a premium for me.

What's the SQ like.

ATB

Steve

Just checked Amazon. Estimated delivery 1st October. They must be releasing the box sets first.

Steve,

Pretty similar to the other sets.  Vocals are less muddy than both CD version and the Simply Vinyl version I have.

Regards

Nic

Hi Nic, My copy also has lots of pops and clicks. There is also other background noise intermittently mostly between tracks. I don't think the sound quality on this issue is as good as the previous two releases which were fantastic.

Prem.

That's disappointing. Hopefully they're saving the good presses for the LP only package. 

Perhaps the SQ will improve with a good clean. 

That's more encouraging. I never play a new record without first cleaning on my RCM. 

Nic, I will give it a clean on my vpi machine then play it again over the weekend hopefully and report further.

Prem.