Up so late again, meaning, I’m both going to bed late and getting up late, I suppose it doesn’t matter really, I work on the theory of stop when you drop and that means that you edge a little later each night, eventually I’ll go full circle. At this stage, with so much to sort out, we have to keep at it otherwise we will live in a cardboard box jungle until Christmas. So much time has been added to the task with the damaged records and I’ve come to the conclusion that I should get as many undamaged records into shelves and then approach the damaged ones one by one. The last 15 boxes have had no problems, but I still have all the genres and countries to go through yet, fingers crossed – if you saw my copies of Legendary Hearts (1983) and Songs for Drella (1990), you would weep.
I went for a quick visit to the record store before Record Store Day to see if any of the ordered records were in – there were none. They told me that the copies they got into the warehouse of Noctorum’s Honey Mink Forever arrived in a box with – wait for it – damage. I don’t know what else was in that box, but it’s becoming apparent that a record should be bought from a shop, taken straight home, played and then put directly into a shelf till it’s next being played and should never leave the house, it’s too risky. Still, it has to get to the shop so you can buy it.
I left the record store in a rush as time stands still in such a place. I had to be back for a sesh with NJ Brian as we try to figure out how to move forward with the Valley of Salt project. I rushed out of the store and ran up the hill, puffing and panting at the top. I made it just in time, but Brian had sent me a mail 20 minutes earlier saying he couldn’t make it. It’s all good, I needed the exercise and sat and fiddled about until Liverpool were knocked out of the Europa League by beating Atalanta by only one goal – they needed four.
I’m pretty sure that leftovers taste better than the original meal and after dinner and post-football disappointment, I got back into emptying the boxes with a soundtrack that consisted of progressive, bluesy, space rock (if all the records were played at the same time). Porcupine Tree – Signify (1996), Steve Hillage – Green (1978), Hatfield And The North – The Rotters’ Club (1975), Hawkwind – Blood Of The Earth (2010), Humble Pie – Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore (1971).
Music today has been Chris Squire – Fish Out Of Water (1975). I hung out with Chris a couple of times, at the Rickenbacker 75th anniversary gig and once at The Rainbow, both in LA. Stories for another time.