Where have I been? What time do you call this?

How long has it been??

What can I say? It's been a topsy turvy set of months. I've been trying to tighten the purse strings for a while and then the smack in the face I really didn't want was the collective genius known as Brexit.

It seems to be a hippy dream ideal to want to live in a world where borders, race, sexuality and gender need have no real profile and are irrelevant, but that seems a dream moving further from reality. In a short period where David Bowie has left us and the world seems to have hardly noticed the legacy that just one man left behind, the country I live in seems to becoming more and more intolerant and regressive as time passes.

Why is this relevant I hear you say? Because the vote by the British public whether to leave the European union has its many sides to argue, but out of it has come an intensity of bigotry and a licence for intolerance. For those that may not know what has happened in this country, the place where I dropped from my mother and therefore am expected to have allegiance in gratitude, every person eligable to vote was asked to decide whether to leave the European Union. While I have my own opinions on the matter, the biggest argument to come out of the debate to leave was to stop the "legions" of foreigners "taking over our beloved country". This seemed to give voice to an otherwise quietly shamed population of ageing racists that revelled in the opportunity to be brash about their colonial attitudes.

But I digress, the outcome of this shameful set of proceedings was the majority vote going to the campaign to leave the European Union. Out of this moment of genius, the British pound slumped making the vast majority of what I needed to collect, stupidly expensive. Just Great! So apart from racism becoming a little more of an acceptable attitude and, of course, the rest of the baggage that goes along with those bigoted opinions, prices in the rest of the world have shot up, including postage rates.

There have been some interesting developments that have not gone by unnoticed in my slow period though. There have been some interesting statements that some of the earlier 4AD releases came in glossy covers and the later ones had a more matt finish. This has only been on a couple of UK releases, but I can't verify at the moment if there is any truth in it, but I am on the case. There was also a release, again from the UK, that came with both the negative and positive female wrestlers photos on the centre label. Again, I have to get this verified myself before I can give any definitive answer as to whether it's true, but I will update my findings here.

Another interesting development over the past year has been the number of music collection exhibitions taking place. These have ranged from photographic collections and memorabilia to actual record collections. These have been rare and scattered over Europe, but an interesting development none the less. I find this interesting because it is what I am aiming to do with my collection in 2030, on 4AD's 50th anniversary. I still have no idea where, or if anyone in the world will be remotely interested in it, but I'll worry about that nearer the time.

I was also fortunate enough to see Sex Gang Children recently as well. As with the Peter Murphy tour done recently, there is a new trend for older bands to play either an old album or do a tour playing the songs from an earlier period. The Peter Murphy gig was mindblowing, playing just the old bauhaus songs. All the songs had so much energy and were so fresh and new, 35 years on. Sex Gang Children did a similar thing, playing songs from the Song and Legend era. The music was just so refreshing and unique and full of ghusto. I was fortunate enough to meet Andi Sex Gang after the show and I just had to tell him how privileged I felt to be able to see himself and Peter Murphy play such material having been too young (just) to miss it the first time around. As I said to Andi Sex Gang, I find it so strange that with the acceptance of all types of music nowadays without the extreme elitist tribalism that always used to be so prelevant that, of all the music styles being performed by the younger bands, hardly anyone picks up and experiments with these styles of music. There is simply nothing like early Bauhaus and Sex Gang Children around anymore, which is such a crying shame.

I also have the knack of coming across the most amazing finds when I'm strapped for cash. It's been a tight year financially and the collection has had to take a back seat. It's always under these circumstances when one of the Lonely As An Eysore boxes comes up for sale. Predictably one has. This is arguably THE 4AD collection piece, a beautiful wooden box, limited to 100 copies, of which only 30 ever went on general sale to the public. It exchanges hands for around £1300 on a few occasions and rarely comes up for sale. Needless to say, once again it's outside my grasp, darn it!!

Finally, in keeping with the spirit of this blog entry and as an "up-yours" to the growing intolerance I seem to be noticing of late, I wish to inform my wonderful readers of the latest book by the author of "Facing the other way the story of 4ad" Martin Aston. He has a new book that came out on October 13th called "BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS OF HEARTACHE: HOW MUSIC CAME OUT" and described as "a comprehensive history – spanning a hundred years, starting in 1920s Harlem – of the queer pioneers of Popular Music with over 90 new interviews."

Hopefully I won't stay away so long next time

Thank You Dear Reader, Thank You

I just had to post again.

Congratulations to Jez Smith in Florida who won the Greek pressing of the Cocteau Twins album Treasure on lovely vinyl, posted today to Jez. Thanks to Martin Aston for picking the winner as well. I put a list together of folk who entered the draw, numbered by the date and time order of when they requested to be entered. Martin Aston then gave me a random number and what a surprise, that number was 4 of course.

When I first started this blog I wondered if anyone would be interested in reading it, I guessed that with the power of the internet that I may find one or two like kinded people. More than anything, I wanted to make sure I stuck to this quest and the best way to do that was to make my mission public and more embarrasing if I ever was tempted to change my mind.

After seven months from starting this blog, I was estatic about getting 1000 views of my humble blog. I couldn't believe that there are enough folk out there interested in my crazy mission to want to read this.

4 years and loads of blogs later and I have over 950 related items collected and I'm expecting to be about half way through getting to the final target of acquiring every release by 4AD from the first decade from every country, in every format, inlcuding all the related compilations and pre-4AD signing releases. I still haven't began to look at putting a website together or even where to exhibit the collection in 2030, which is the main part of the grand plan.

The journey so far has been incredibly interesting, frustrating, fun, depressing, humbling and rewarding. Today has been a very rewarding day. Giving away a piece of 4AD history to a fan is part of the whole mission and makes me so very happy. If the mission is to exhibit my 4AD collection in order to make sure that the amazing art that 4AD released does not drift into obscurity, giving away a part of it fulfills that same mission. It's also a good day because.....

This morning this little blog reached 49,999 page views, then......

...........50,000 page views

I'm absolutely bowled over. Thank you so much for everyone that has taken time to read this blog, commented on it, entered for any of the giveaways or just given me moral support. I actually believe I can get another 50,000 over the next 4 years which is so far beyond any amount of interest I even dreamed of when I started this. So thank you to you all and please keep on reading, please keep on commenting and please keep your eye out for more giveaways.

The journey continues ..............

Bootlegs, licensed or modern releases, eastern European 4AD releases

Something that has bothered me for a long time now has been the lack of understanding of the line between official releases and the bootlegging world. This isn't too bad in countries like the UK and the US. Very strict copyright laws exist that stop the blatant copying and selling of copyrighted music and prosecutions are made all the time. Bootleggers still exist in these two countries, but are generally from live performances or from demo recordings which are not part of any official release and tend to come under a more grey area. I think these are still illegal, but generally are poor quality and not really done for the advantages of money but more done by a fan excited at the thought of releasing their own collected samples.

It then becomes a matter of choice as to whether or not the UK or US collector wants to collect these unofficial releases as part of their collection. I think most collectors would not class these as legitimate collection pieces, yet some still fetch collector prices.

The waters become a little more cloudy though, when it comes to the non UK and US releases. Many European countries can be mostly relied on as a source of official releases and versions licensed from the main country of the owning label. Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and Spain, seem to be reliable in the fact that a release under these countries own labels will most likely be legitimately released through a licence agreement and, therefore, be official. Further into Eastern Europe though is where the line between official and unofficial starts to blur a little and starts to make you wonder as to whether something for sale is a genuine licensed release or not.

There are quite a few Polish releases of Dead Can Dance albums and Cocteau Twins albums in the late eighties on Discogs. In the mid to late eighties, one of my great uncles had family in Poland and we used to send clothing parcels to them because the Polish economy was so bad that each day people where queuing for hours just to buy bread. To think of western CD's being licensed for sale in a market that can hardly feed itself seems difficult to comprehend, not because of the moral questions but more for the reason that no-one would manufacture something that wasn't sellable.

I would love to know other people's opinions on this. When did countries like Russia, Poland, Turkey and Israel actually license and sell authorised versions of 4AD releases? Israel's releases seem to look more genuine, but are they legit releases? I've no idea. At the moment my gut instinct is that the Israeli releases are genuine and that a few Polish vinyl ones could perhaps be genuine, but the Polish CD's and tapes, all Russian releases and all Turkish releases from the eighties are either bootlegs or much later pressings. It would be good to hear from anyone that bought any 4AD releases from these countries. There are a few others that are intriguing as well such as Yugoslavian and Czechoslovakian releases, that could well be the real thing. There is the growing South American market from countries such as Brazil and Argentina. Once again some vinyl releases could be genuine, bought from the eighties? It's hard to say.

It was interesting noting from Martin Aston that 4AD never really had much in the way of tight records of what was produced, where and in what quantities. Sometimes I think it would be great to be let loose on boxes of old papers in the 4AD office and try and find out how many copies of each release where pressed, but it seems those paper trails don't exist.

Anyway, I must apologise for such a long absence. I have spent a long while reading Martin Aston's book. I have carried on writing my own book and have got a little engrossed in it. Still, the collection does not stop collecting. I have now acquired all the versions (well the ones I know about so far) of Throwing Muses' single Dizzy. So I need to get a set of photo's done to add here. I promise not to leave it another 3 months until I post again...promise

Martin Aston - Facing the Other Way, the Story of 4AD

Your humble Jonny is on the usual rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. The pickings of late have been thin on the ground. Well actually, there’s plenty of stuff out there to buy, it’s just way overpriced and I am several million short of being a millionaire….

But then Martin Aston has agreed to do an interview with me for my little blog, such a wonderful chap, and to top it off he has mentioned me in the online version of The Wire magazine. Wow. Typically I’m up and down like a shy girls rollerblind. So I shall shut up and let you read the interview. If you haven’t purchased Martin Aston’s book, then I strongly advise you go and do it now.  It’s the first comprehensive history of 4AD, and it is, because 4AD say so, alright?

Facing the Other Way at 4AD

Purchase here :


Why choose 4AD, when there are safer and more covered label histories such as factory?

I don’t know what you mean by a “safer” label history; I only know that Factory had a shorter history than 4AD. But as you say, it’s “more covered” so why repeat someone else’s book (in this case, by James Nice)?  4AD is one of the most admired and adored record labels, independent or otherwise, and had never had a biography – so to be the first was a perfect opportunity.

Why do you think 4AD survived when the other great iconic indie labels died off? Factory / Creation?

You’d have to know the histories of Factory and Creation to really know what happened there. Like 4AD, both labels had single-minded spearheads, but Factory – under Tony Wilson’s ‘management’ - was run democratically between its founding partners, while Creation boss Alan McGhee had co-founder Dick Green, so neither were autocratic in the way that Ivo Watts-Russell ran 4AD. But Creation sold half the company to Sony, McGhee admitted he had drug problems and disappeared from the industry, whereas Green eventually wanted to work with another A&R cohort. Factory went bankrupt, but Tony Wilson – with Factory Too and F4 labels – couldn’t get anything going and then died of complications from cancer. When Watts-Russell sold his share of 4AD to his business partner Martin Mills of Beggars Banquet, there was a structure (ie Beggars) in place for Mills to carry the label on with new people running it for him.

What has been the greatest surprise discovery from putting the story of 4AD together?

Some of the earliest records had escaped my attention; I didn’t know every single record that came out on 4AD, and when I started writing about music in 1984, I didn’t go back and revisit what I had missed - I wasn’t a collector of labels (I’m still not). So hearing the likes of Rema-Rema and Dance Chapter was a thrill and an education. I was also surprised by the level of dysfunction at the label during the Nineties when there were two offices, one in LA having joined the one in London, and the lack of communication between them. But they were very trying times due to watts-Russell’s mental frailty and the difficulty in running a label with a figurehead who was unavoidably absent during that period. It’s what led to him finally giving up and severing all ties to the music industry, and heading off to live, in relative isolation, in the New Mexico desert.

Did anyone, anywhere, artists or label staff make any money away from a very basic cost of living from the label at any time during the first twenty years?

I didn’t discuss money/profit with anyone. I guess the more commercially successful bands such as Pixies, The Breeders, Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins and Belly made more money than lost it, but who knows? And who knows who else did? You’d have to ask them.

Do you think that the way that music has moved to a virtual format will kill off the physical format altogether eventually? Can you explain to a younger generation why this would be a shame?

The resurgence in vinyl sales shows there is a market for the musical artefact, and the beauty of artwork. I have no idea if following generations will feel the same, but limited runs can be 500 or one thousand, so it doesn’t need to be a huge audience. I just hope they do. There’s something wonderful about a beautifully designed and produced object, same as with books. Likewise the experience of watching a film in a cinema rather than at home. It’s more of a complete experience. And there is something more tangible to own.

Do you still afford time to just sit and listen to music? How do you do it and do you share the experience?

It’s harder to find time to “just sit and listen” when you have to write about the music you hear, and to consider it from the perspective of a job. There is the need to keep digging for “the next thing” – which is also a pleasure, as I do love hearing new music, especially if it’s new unto itself, ie a trailblazer rather than following a trend. But if you don’t make room for something that’s a pleasure and a release from work duties/stress, that’s not a good state of mind. So I will put music on mp3 and go for long walks, and listen to music in the car, when it feels much less like “work”. Though even then, your mind can process what you’re hearing, sometimes you find yourself “writing” something in your head without meaning to; it’s a habit that’s hard to break. As for sharing, yes, through making compilations (granted, not often, usually an end-of-year round-up or two) for friends, or via email/Facebook. I find that part of the emotional package surrounding music is to share it with others, to see if they have the same reaction as I do.

Are there any plans to move to a 4AD documentary? Have you heard of any plans from anyone else to?

There are plans for a documentary, but I can’t reveal exactly what at this point. But I had to get the book written and them promoted first, and also have a little break from 4AD: it’s not good to be totally obsessed with one project for too long a time. But I’m returning to it pretty soon. I’ve not heard of anyone else’s plans.

As a journalist, do you find the artist more flawed than the “man on the street” and if so, how have you found that affects your objectivity? 

The only way to answer that is, I have more information at my disposal about an artist, so I have more evidence of a state of mind or approach, which can include “flaws”, but it can also create a positive and empathic reaction to their situation/condition, where “the man on the street” sometimes has to rely on what the media tells him, and that viewpoint is sometimes clichéd, or sensationalist. I try to keep a balance of objectivity and subjectivity, to present the facts as they are, and my opinion of those facts, and my own hopes for what art should achieve, but also know the commercial conditions under which the production of art takes place. 

How, as a journalist, do you find the right level of publishing knowledge in the public interest and not going over the line of invading privacy or getting too personal about an artist or subject?

It’s a personal decision every time. I don’t like to sensationalise, and to keep asking the obvious questions about an artist’s most headline-grabbing piece of news. Sometimes I have no choice if I am to continue writing for someone who wants that kind of material, in which case I stop writing for them or I find ways of writing about what I want to. But the creative process fascinates me, and I want to know what artists create the way they do, it can be in intellectual and emotional reasons. They can answer my questions, or not, that’s their choice. I won’t keep nagging.

How have you found the whole experience? Would you tell your former self (before starting the book) to go ahead and do the project?

It’s been an intense, and labour-intensive, project, and you generally don’t write books for the money. But it’s also been exhilarating and extraordinary, to talk to 120 people or so, who are all connected to one central theme, and then weave it into place. I have been very lucky to have a publisher who was happy for me to tell the story of 4AD as I wanted to tell it, so I had no editorial interference, from content to word count. I don’t know how often that’s the case. So no regrets

Any new works in the pipeline?

In my head, yes, but again, nothing I want to share at this moment. I’ve said before that writing a book means you don’t get to leave the house much, and I don’t enjoy too much isolation in this way, so maybe I need more a prolonged break before getting lost in something again. The end usually justifies the means, so we’ll see.  

Here we are again, happy as can be

Ah, hello again. Once again it's just been too long since my last post. As always no real excuses except for having way too many things that I have given myself to do. For those of you that may not have followed all my blogs, apart from giving myself this nigh on impossible mission of collecting every 4ad licensed release from the first ten years, I have always had a habit of picking up other projects as well. Like writing a book. I decided this time last year to write my own biography as I've had an interesting life to say the least. Well, a year on and a couple of hundred thousand words later and I'm still writing it and wanting to just get the thing finished.

As I mentioned in my last post, the greatly anticipated book by Martin Aston has now been published. It's called Facing the Other Way and covers the story of 4AD. As I've ordered the limited edition and the production of that version is a little behind, I still haven't got my hands on it yet and I'm going nuts with anticipation for the chance to read it, but it won't be long now.

The reviews over the last few weeks have been interesting and eye opening. So I've collected a few for you to have a look at if interested :

Timeout
The Writing Disorder
Drowned In Sound
The Guardian
The Mouth Magazine
Clash Music

I just hope that something else follows on the back of this book as it has done with the other well known 80's indie labels, such as a documentary or film. That kind of overview of the 4AD is well overdue in my opinion when the other labels have already had their fair share of documented history of late.

I have been in touch with Martin Aston over the last year and I recently submitted some questions to him for an interview for this blog. Martin is a very busy chap at the moment with the publicity for his book, but I hope I can bring you the interview soon.

I also recently came across a wonderful youtube blog that is wonderfully geeky, honest and yet fun and great to watch. The guy is called Bret Helm and he reviews music that he likes and listens to and does a few 4AD reviews as well as a review of Martin Aston's book. The channel can be found here and is well worth a look through. He has inspired me to try and have a go at doing a video blog myself. This turned out to not be any easy thing to do. Usually I can talk the hind legs off a donkey, but suddenly put me in front of a camera and I can hardly speak and I keep tripping over my own worms, sorry words, see what I mean? Maybe with a bit of practice and perhaps getting over the nerves I may post something, who knows.

I've had quite a few new additions to the collection and hope to get those shown soon as this very blog, you lucky people. I may also have something nice to give away again soon, so please keep reading and feel free to leave comments

What colour is a lazy streak?

So what is happening of late. Well I went through a spate for a short time of finding lots of collection pieces on Ebay for a very reasonable price. For two weeks I was struggling to keep up with the flow of reasonable priced items on offer, and then with a bump just stopped. This wasn't from a single source but from all over the place, from the UK, from Europe and even from the US with a decent postage amount. Why the sudden peak of items and then hardly anything again, I have no idea.

Needless to say that my usual roller-coaster ride of interest and then general annoyance with myself and this stupid idea of doing this collection has made it's usual route of peaks and troughs. At the moment I'm in-between moods. Trying to persuade myself what a wonderful thing it is to collect such wonderful music and respect such great artists and then thinking that perhaps I should be slapping myself around the back of the head with a very large wet haddock for taking such a journey on in the first place.

I'm generally a lazy person. Being lazy and sitting on my fat arse is the major default setting for me. After being at work all day, the ONLY thing I want to do when I get home is sit in a nice comfy chair. Perhaps I may be persuaded to switch the TV on, maybe I will browse the interweb, but mostly it's pastimes that involve sitting. I reckon my brain also has the same desire. My brain also goes to work all day and wants to just go home and relax in a bowl of comfy warm mush. Even while writing this, my brain has had enough of working for the day and wants to just do as little as possible. That's not actually easy for me, I have a brain that never shuts up or winds down, I'm mentally on the go all the time, so my brain also nags me to just slow down a little by doing as little as possible. This of course includes doing this blog, or updating facebook, or joining in on a forum I'm a member of and, of course, all the other things I want to do generally in my life, such as sending an email to a friend and just staying in touch.

So now that I've put myself through a bought of flagellation and got my brain in gear (but still with fat arse firmly planted on sofa leather), what have I accomplished or found out since I last posted so very long ago. Well in the news......is the soon to be released 4AD book by journalist Martin Aston. Called "Facing the Other Way, the Story of 4AD". Set to be released on September 26th 2013, it will be the first official account of the label we love. Focusing on mostly the first 20 years of 4AD's history, it has the prestigious boast of having the cover designed by Vaughan Oliver and will also be available as a limited edition with 2 CD's of some of the labels musical history. Info here : 

As a warning to all those looking to try and pre-order the the book, be aware that Amazon do not have copies of the limited edition on order to sell to pre-orders made on Amazon. Amazon may get some copies if the publishers don't sell all the limited editions and have some left to pass on. I fell into this trap with Amazon before when they list something they may likely never get their hands on......so buyers beware.

On a slightly different note, I've started to notice a pattern of reprints of cassettes. I say reprints because they are not official re-releases, but an obvious sign that the originally made stock has run out and new batches of cassettes manufactured. Cassettes are really easy to spot because of the change in cassette design during the eighties. In the early eighties, cassettes were solid colour plastic, usually white or black, occasionally other funky colours to match the general colour of the album design but the coloured ones are much more rare. By the mid eighties though, a new fashion for seeing the workings of a mechanical object became desirable, the watch makers Swatch being one of the trendier items that everyone wanted which showed the gears and workings of the watch behind garish cheap clear plastic.

Cassette manufacturers such as TDK followed this fashion through, showing the tape wound up on the spools through clear plastic. Pretty soon, you couldn't get a cassette tape that wasn't trendy and see through and I suspect that 4AD had the same issue when ordering new stock. So there are distinct and obvious signs of a reprint of early eighties releases on cassette. This Mortal coil and Cocteau Twins albums are the first that I've noticed and I'm sure there will be more to be found.

So if you are interested in getting original cassettes for early eighties albums, stick to the solid colour plastics and not the clear.