Day: 8 January 2019

Eric Cawthraw suggested …. The Virgin Sampler (1975) – with five fingers and a thumb on the front cover, with: Capt Beefheart, Steve (Hillside) Village, Mike Oldfield and Tangerine Dream and many many more. Samplers were always a pretty mixed bag but a damn good idea in an age when music was not so accessible. There were not that many samplers once you take out those nasty discs that were bad copies of pop covers. K-Tel etc., still if that’s all the kids could buy – fair enough – it served a purpose in its way. I do have Wowie Zowie on Decca from (69 or 70) – included John Mayall, Moody Blue, East of Eden, Savoy Brown, Genesis and Keef Hartley. Apart from that I have a couple of German samplers includes Cluster/Eno/ Harlis/Michael Rother/ Jane/Neu/Birth Control. Wowie Zowie was damn good – WOWIE ZOWIE – The World of Progressive Music as it was then!
Side 1
1. Touch: Down At Circe’s Place (4:47)
2. John Mayall: Where Did I Blong (3:08)
3. Savoy Brown: Train To Nowhere (4:05)
4. Johnny Almond: Voodoo Forest (3:32)
5. East Of Eden: Communication (3:23)
Side 2
1. Genesis: In The Beginning (4:08)
2. The Moody Blues: Nights In White Satin (4:19)
3. William R. Strickland: William R. Strickland Is Only The Name (4:37)
4, John Cameron Quartet: Go Away, Come Back Another Day (4:59)
5. Keef Hartley Band: Not Foolish, Not Wise (3:50)

Eric Cawthraw…. I remembered a couple more. I think they were called ‘Gutbucket’ and ‘Son of Gutbucket’ – I seem to remember that one had a pig on the cover covered in swill! I think the Groundhogs were on it. It’s all very vague now

Mark Randall… I had the Virgin 5 finger hobby. Slapp Happy/Henry Cow’s ‘Messiah’, and the bonkers David Bedford’s ( with Mike Oldfield) ‘Don Alfonso

Pete Fisher… Re those German samplers, Eric Cawthraw might be interested to know I actually got to record at Conny’s Studio near Cologne in 2003, formerly owned by Conny Plank, who produced/worked with all the acts he mentioned, and most famously produced Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn”…