Casbah Records Blog: October 2024

Welcome to the all new ‘bell’s ‘a’ poppin’ Casbah ‘big Spender bulletin’.
Choc full to the brim with news, reviews and all things connected to the plastic passion!

NEWS REVIEWS AND NEW IN!

Look mum we’ve made the quality press
The Guardian listed us in their top record shops in the uk!

Just arrived are our new exclusive range of tote bags, inspired by vintage 70’s inner sleeve designs!

Furthermore, heres a sampler of our new selection of vintage prints!


NEW RELEASES

All Seeing Dolls – ‘Thats Amazing Grace / Siren’s Echo Lung

New 10” EP featuring Brian Jonestown Massacre Anton Newcombe and legendary One Dove vocalist Dot Allison. Psychedelic dream pop/shoegaze on eye catching splatter vinyl.

Thee Sacred Souls – ‘Got A Story To Tell’

Second LP from Thee Sacred Souls on the Daptone Label. For lovers of Stay/Southern soul and classic 60s soul sounds.

Highly recommended, on ‘unlimited black vinyl’.

Tucker Zimmerman & Friends – ‘Dance Of Love’

Instant classic of Americana from legendary folkie Tucker Zimmerman with the help of Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek.

Public Service Broadcasting – ‘The Last Flight’

The latest offering from Public Service Broadcasting does not disappoint! The band embrace a more contemporary pop sound with vocal contributions from EERA, Andeya Casablanca and This Is The Kit. Whilst maintaining their classic sample sprinkled electronic style.


NEW VINTAGE VINYL

New Vintage Vinyl Picks

Rare and first pressings that have recently come into the shop,

Above feature;

Ayshea Brough – ‘Ayshea’ (1st pressing)

Miles Davis – ‘On the Corner’ (1st pressing)

Traffic – ‘Mr Fantasy’ (1st pressing)

Rolling Stones – ‘Sticky Fingers’ (70’s Japanese pressing)

Nico – ‘Desertshore’ (1st pressing)

Fontaines D.C. – ‘Romance’ (1st pressing)

John Martyn – ‘Solid Air’ (1st pressing)

T.Rex – ‘Tanx’ (1st pressing)

Alice Cooper – ‘Schools Out’ (1st pressing)


OUR NEW WINDOW DISPLAY

Let’s go through the window and down a rabbit hole to visit the phantasmagorical world of Alice In Wonderland, curious Victoriana and the whimsical world of English psychedelia…

The Cheshire cat and the mad hatter from the original book illustrations by John Tenniel.

Unlike the white rabbit you will never be late with this vintage time piece.

T.Shirt sporting the original Mad Hatter drawing which became the iconic label design for the Charisma record label founded in 1969.  Home for the likes of Genesis, Van Der Graaf Generator, String Driven Thing and Lindisfarne amongst others.

Children Of The Sun by the Sallyange. A 1968 original pressing on the Transatlantic label. Featuring the floaty vocals of Sally Oldfield and teenage kid brother Mike. Contains the epic ‘Midsummer nights happening’.

 Nursery Cryme Genesis; Tales of Musical Boxes, Giant Hogweeds, Harlequins and absent friends. Complete with nightmare Alice artwork.

Kevin Ayers ‘Joy Of A Toy’. From 1069 the recently departed from Soft Machine Kevin Ayers sings a song for insane times referencing ‘Alice’ and ‘I Am The Walrus’.

The Trees ‘On The Shore’. A cult classic from 1972. English folk-rock featuring the sublime vocals of the much missed Celia Humphries.

Andwellas Dream. 3 LP box set from the Numero label. Contains the 1969 album ‘Love And Poetry’ full of excellent pop-psych fayre, the more ‘stonesy’ ‘Worlds End’ and the heavy Band influenced ‘People’s People’. All essential listening.

Magic Carpet, ‘Self Titled’. Originally released in 1972 on the wonderfully named ‘Mushroom Label, this album has remained a hard to find cult classic. Now reissued for everyone to enjoy the acoustic sitar tinged songs of Alisha Sufit.

Caravan ‘In The Land Of Grey And Pink’. A jolly piece of pure English whimsical rock from the Canterbury scene’s main standard bearers.


CANT BELIEVE ITS STILL HERE!

Also worth exploring is the Bob Stanley compilation ‘State Of The Union’ which explores the theme of American mainstream break out pop from the late sixties.  Also in stock now.


THE NUMERO GROUP

One of our favourite labels at the moment is the Chicago based Numero Group. Founded in 2003, the archival record label has built a superb reputation and following based on their prolific range of compilations and reissues of overlooked and forgotten original albums. These range from funk and soul, to folk and 90s indie and shoe-gaze.

They recently filled a pop up shop in Shoreditch with their extensive range of LPs and 7”s, along with an exclusive range of merchandise such as tees, totes, pins and lighters. The pop up also included some rare hand-screened editions, out of print dead stock and test pressings, with Crouch End’s Audio gold taking care of the Hi Fi sound system for the duration of the stay. The duo hosting the store were incredibly friendly and knowledgeable making for a lively and sociable atmosphere.

On my visit I picked up two of my favourite albums, Antena’s ‘Camino Del Sol’ and Chuck Senrick’s ‘Dreamin.’

Camino Del Sol – Antena

An expanded compilation album based on the original 1982 mini album, released by the French-Belgian trio Antena. Chilling synths, stuttering drums, and dreamy, beachy vocals, Camino Del Sol plays as a modern bossanova album, combining elements of post punk and new wave. An incredibly evocative album predating the likes of Stereolab and Air. As if Nouvelle Vague wrote their own songs!

What a Beautiful Place – Catherine Howe

Limited edition reissue of long forgotten gem from 1971. Bittersweet, soft and jazzy folk classic!

Recommended listen for fans of the likes of Vashti Bunyan and Linda Perhacs.

Basement Beehive (The Girl Group Underground)

One of the best girl group compilations ever!

Stellar girl group gems, if you like the Shangri-la’s and the Ronettes you’ll love this!

Eccentric Soul Minibus

An essential soul and funk compilation, gathering together some obscure gems from 1960 right up to 1980. Amazing artwork and booklet inside, get on the groove bus!


CHRIS WELLARD

Whilst going down various vintage record shop rabbit holes I found out that Chris Wellard who founded the record shop in Lewisham Way near Goldsmiths had passed away in 2022 well into his nineties. I used to shop at his other branch in Eltham during lunch breaks and after school in the early 70’s. I met Chris a few years back when he was parting with some of his blues and folks records. Great bloke with some wonderful stories.

See these blogs for more on the record shops and the connection with the Goldsmiths Student Union, who booked many famous artists and a few years back opened their incredible archive of original posters, flyers etc to the public.


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