King Kurt - Destination Zululand (12")
Recently picked up at a record fair in Zurich. In fact, I had a whole load of King Kurt records in my bag. But that's not the point. When I tried to play this thing (both sides), the stylus didn't move an inch towards the center of the record. Quite to the contrary, it slipped right to the outer edge. Took me a while to realise, despite the statement on the label "put stylus here to hear", that this thing is played from the inside out.
Vinyl buying counted in decades and I've never come across an item like this. Double grooves, yes! Banded tracks, yes! But a record playing the other way round? This is a unique item amongst thousands of records here. Quite amazing really, but I suppose there's some more of this gimmick vinyl out there.
Cheers
Devon
The World According To Wilko Johnson - Classic Rock, Issue 192, January 2014
Normally I buy very few music magazines at the end/beginning of a year, as they all tend to go the same cheap route, reheating all the "news" that I've read already anyway during the last eleven months. There's nothing as boring as the combined music journalism at the close of a year. English as well as American and German magazines don't give themselves an inch of ground. A waste of time and money really, check your local newsstand again in February.
This is, until a six pager turns up which is entitled "The World According To Wilko Johnson" plus a few additional pictures distributed within issue #192 of Classic Rock Magazine. Then, without a doubt, even one of the retrospective journals has to be bought. I've never, in all those years, read so many articles (and substantial ones at that) about our man, than in 2013.
Which brings up another gripe I have with the magazine industry. Although Wilko is mentioned at length in about every major publication in the U.K., I've yet to see the even tiniest morcel of information in a German or French music magazine. I checked about the whole range of them, at least, the ones that are available at major local newsstands, but came out flat, zero, nada, niente. I did have an idea before that, that Mr. Johnson was not quite fashionable around here, but this is overdoing it. However, sporting the Beatles/Rolling Stones/Queen on the cover for the umpteenth rehashing of their achievements, seems to be the kind of music journalism that's en vogue in Germany and France.
Cheers
Devon
Live At Rockpalast - CD/DVD Series
Repertoire has released a number of very interesting CD/DVD combinations in their "Live At Rockpalast" series. You can already find sets with the Blues Band, Mickey Jupp or the Climax Blues Band in the shops. Upcoming releases are for Dr. Feelgood and Rockpile.
Rockpalast being, of course, the cult TV show on German station WDR, which brought a lot of Rock and Blues bands in a live setting. Now we'll have to wait and see, wether they will release the Wilko Johnson one as well. The sets are very affordable (doesn't cost more than a single CD).
Cheers
Devon
