Bin Raking Rules #1: Summer of Dub

I have recently decided to set myself a wee challenge recently to try not to spend more then £4 on any record I buy for a whole year. I have to put my hands up here and say I only lasted about three weeks until yesterday I bought a copy of a rare boogie record I've had my eye on for a year.
That said though, every other record I've bought in the last two months has been less than £4 with most coming in at a quid or less. (So maybe I get away with the mean being <£4? Mmm...ok, no.)

I'm going to try to rip them all and get them up here as evidence that you don't need to spend loads of money to get old classics and that mp3's aren't any cheaper, though I do concede after moving my entire collection from Glasgow to London that they are easier to move about.

So first up is a sub £1 'take a chance' punt that I picked up a few weeks ago. Record hunting in second hand/charity shops can be a risky business as quite a few don't have listening stations so you often learn to buy by looking at a combination of label, producer, year and title to figure out whether or not something is worth a punt or not. It might be only a quid but there's nothing worse than gambling and going home to find the record you've taken a chance on is total guff.

I'm getting quite good at this after spending some time with the more encyclopaedically knowledgable David Barbarossa and together we've put together a few rules of thumb which I'll post up as and when I remember them.
(One that springs to mind is that any British record made between 1991-1993 that has the word 'hypno' in it is probably worth giving a shot.)

Today's rule is that the word 'dub' combined with a U.K. label circa early 90s is a good sign.

Click the picture for a link to a download.



I can't give you any history on this track, band or label other than Breakthrough only appear to have released four records between 1992-1993. If anyone knows more, I'd love to hear from you.

This record also has a pretty good acid track on the A side which I'd've posted up too, only my record players are in storage at the moment.

Lost In Music.

It's a bit of a funny one but Larry and I have known each other for nearly ten years and have been DJing together for four of them yet I don't think I've ever been record shopping with him. This might not seem that strange as I realise that record shopping has changed quite a bit over the last few years and that it's much more common for people to search for music via the internet before buying or just to go and download it but I'm a romantic old soul who still loves the ritual of record shopping and I'm fairly certain Larry does too as he still buys records. Yet we've never been to a shop together.

Perhaps one reason for this is that Larry, as I have mentioned in previous posts, plays a lot more modern music than I do so he'd be much more likely to be found in the frankly excellent Rubadub or Monorail than the dusty shit-tips I frequent which don't even have new-fangled things like websites. (I should also point out my slight guilt in not buying many new records as I realise that we in Glasgow should be very grateful indeed to still have not one but TWO records shops with nice staff who really know what they are talking about.)

There's something about second-hand record shopping that really appeals to me: the uncertainty of there being anything worth looking for; the real knowledge that you need to get the really good thing; the chance, no matter how slim, that there might be a REAL bargain in the somewhere, getting to know the staff so they point you in the direction of the new arrival or even sometimes put stuff aside for you. Even the dust that invariably gets on your hands (it's really not for molysmophobics) and the sore back and pins and neddles in your feet you sometimes get bending over the pound bins. These things all add up to create a perfect little ritual.

Recently, I've been having some really good luck digging in the crates in Glasgow and found a few oddities, some old classics and on two occasions that holiest of grails: a record in the pound bin worth substantially more than a mere quid.

As well as being a romantic old soul, I'm also generous so here's some links to a few of the cheaper tracks I picked up today. You should be able to find these online for a few quid, so if you like them, please go buy the record. They can be such things of beauty and as Keats said

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its lovliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."

Now I don't think you could say that about an MP3, could you?


Sister Sledge - Lost In Music (Special 1984 Nile Rodgers Mix)

Featuring Simon Le Bon and Andy Taylor from Duran Duran on 'background vocals' as they were in the studio next door to Nile, recording 'Wild Boys'.
Quite why 'Lost In Music' needed another mix or quite what the Wild Boys contributed is another matter.

Carrie McDowell - Uh Uh No No (Sunrise Mix)

Carrie McDowell - Uh Uh No No (Club Dub)

Carrie McDowell was signed to Motown in the mid to late 80s and this was the only single to make any impact on the charts. Whilst some of the lyrics in the chorus are a bit clanky in my opinion, the music is good enough to give it charm. Also her voice is fantastic. I never would have guessed she was white either. There's a dub if you don't agree (or do agree about the lyrics.)
Carrie now lives in Tennesee and does Christian albums with her husband, so I guess a song espousing sexual abstinence is a fitting legacy to be carrying.