From Campsie to Me..

Have been spending time lately heading out to Canterbury Hospital, and along the way have dropped into the St Vinnies in Campsie a couple of times in the last month. While not a great outpouring of blackslab evident they do have a large CD and VHS trove.  I thought I'd taken a pic of the storefront but can't seem to find it anywhere.. but these are some of the gems uncovered inside..

The Last Starfighter - MCA Publishing - VHS - 1984

Flight of The Navigator - Roadshow Entertainment -VHS - 1986

Revenge of The Barbarians - CDV International - VHS - 1989

Dark Star - Force Video - VHS - originally 1971

Top two are for Kaspar's indulgence. Not sure whether to show him Dark Star yet (he is only seven). It's also still in unopened plastic. The Revenge of The Barbarians was a strange Icelandic late 80's historic production that was very short in upbeat stylings, looked nothing like the cover portrayed and came over with a sombre Bergman-like mood that I did enjoy.. a nice find (never really on appearances and since it was only a buck, why not take the chance..)

On my last visit nothing much had changed in the stock in the store except I couldn't resist these handful of lovelys for only $3 each..

Welded metallic spiders - 10cm wide - by Celestial (Indonesia) - date unknown

A Welcome Addition...

Extraordinary Records - from the collections of Alessabdro Benedetti & Peter Bastine

Colors/Taschen - 2009

While deserting the Newtown Festival a couple of weeks ago, as imminent downpour threatened, I made my way back to King Street along a side street and discovered a garage sale set up selling mainly books and cds..

Walked away with this gem that I had never seen before and all for the heafty price of $5..

Inside is a whopping 430 pages of all manner of unusual black slab - although not many of them are black...

Erko Berserko

Went this weekend with Kaspar to the local Erko Berserko school fundraiser and delved deep into targeted toy boxes and book tables and came out with the following -

We don't pick up much Thomas T.T.E./TTTE clones these days, but there were many in that middle box and at $2 for 3 we couldn't pass up these and a handful of cars...

Two unidentified Biro engine and carriage

Unknown orange car marked 'D28'?

Unknown Speed Racer purple car marked WBEi SRE(sGB)?

H2Go - Hot Wheels - date unknown

unknown green car marked 627-7-6?

Am always on the lookout for any publications with any Eric Gurney artwork in them. Mr Gurney is a almost forgotten legend of Australian illustration and fine black and white cartooning. Starting from WWII recollections and many cultural sideswipes of the 50's and 60's he is still tops in my book.

Having known and worked with his illustrating grandson in the late 80's, this one will head in the direction of Mr L.Finn.

How To Live With A Calculating Cat - Eric Gurney (writer/illustrator)

Four Square - 1965

Some interior art -

and finally something for Kaspar and his growing Star Wars bits and pieces..

A Couple of Lately Finds..

Although I haven't spent too much time in opshops lately, I did come a cross these. The Pacific Musical Panorama came from The Red Cross, Newtown ($2). While in Glebe a few weeks ago, The Hoff came from Sophia's Bookshop for $5.

Hoffnung's Acoustics - Souvenir Press - 1983 edition

Call of The Pacific - Various Artists - Salem Records - 1969

Let' s Get in the Moog...

It seems it's taken ages to get back into blogland and while a month can go as quick as a nation changes  its leadership, in fact it's been a constant on my mind that I MUST get that next post up..

With no further adue I shift from comfortable radio-friendly and present that strange enigma that is Moog, and some of the varied pathways that it has meandered into since Robert first plugged in that diode..

Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog*

*but were afraid to ask for

The Mighty Moog (Andrew Kazdin & Thomas Z. Shepard)

CBS - date unknown

It seems inappropriate that the most modern of instruments in the late 20th Century was called upon the most in its earliest appearances to cover the past. The classics must have been a bad shape in the record companies eyes that they required a pre-psychedelic remaking at the fingers of the upcoming electric programmers/musicians.

Switched-On Bach - Walter Carlos with Benjamin Folkman

CBS - post 1965

The Moog Strikes Bach... - Hans Wurman - RCA - 1969

Master Pieces - Apollo 100 (featuring Tom Parker) - Young Blood - 1972

Many have wondered who exactly was Mr 100..

At some stage around the early 60's it became too difficult to distinguish between what had laid in the past and what was soon to overwhelm all. Some continued to evoke the mood of the 50's while others pretended to embrace the now with-it generation that was deconstructing their elders..

Moog Rock - Les Baxter - Calendar Records - date unknown

Manchurian Beat - Wonderful Moog Sound (M. Sato & 1864 Cotton Field Rock Band)

JVC - 1972

Flamenco Moog - Dan Lackman Association with E.M.S. Moog Synthisiser

Carina Records - date unknown

Wheels - Tommy Seebach - Columbia - 1975

Golden Instrumental Hits - The Many Moogs of Killer Watts (Barry Leng, Len Beadle & Derek Scott)

Golden Hour - date unknown

Bob Rowe's Music Box - Bob Rowe & "a plethora of tape decks, mixers, amps and synthesisers, and several pieces of equipment, that are, as yet, unnamed" - DJM Records - 1973

Ticker Tape - Electric Coconut - Axis Records - 1974

Of course the record execs could not pass up a chance to stretch the marvels of the future with dallies into other more traditional sidelines..

Nashville Gold - Switched On Moog (Gil Trythall) - Summit - 1973

Moog Plays Switched-On Bacharach - Dave Mullaney - Music For Pleasure - 1972

Electric Love -The Electric Concept Orchestra (Eddie Higgins) - Limelight - date unknown

But the spirit of the age could not be held back and after successfully covering many rock standards the moogsters finally flipped it's keys and truly Switched On..

Switched-On Rock - The Moog Machine - CBS - date unknown

Moog plays ABBA - Robin Workman et al - Tee-Vee Records - date unknown

Electric Hair - The Electric Hair (Robert Byrne) - Festival Records - date unknown

But possibly the greatest recognised use of the wonder of Moog falls into the laps of the following..

Popcorn - Hot Butter - Interfusion - 1972

and let's not forget Son of Hot Butter..

Popcorn and other switched-on smash hits - Electric Coconut - Axis Records - date unknown

Then there is the dark side, the moog path least travelled.. 

Black Mass - Lucifer (Mort Garson) - MCA Records - date unknown

..now I feel in the moog...

Finally - a T-Shirt that may get me some respect..

Sorry, if anyone is reading this blog that I haven't been inputing much content lately - but that's just how time is taken away from important stuff like op shopping and continual collecting.. will endeavour to keep up the supply..
Here's the latest Red Cross, Newtown, find that I just had to have.. and have been after something like this for a long time which didn't break the wallet ($8). A must-have Eternia item for a Holy He-Man initiate...

more special vinyl investigations next post, I promise..

Continuing to Guard

Wintermagic in Katoomba, a couple of weekends ago, unearthed some mountain oddities walking the streets during the parade and after (and seriously, don't those Onceies ever come out of their cossies?).

Amongst the general mishmash of generic (how many lizard beanies can the world cope with?) festival stalls that can be seen from one end of Glebe to Cairns, one lady harkened back to those days where handmade was creative and didn't just mean that Bangladeshian fingers had run thread thru a 50 year old sewing machine.

Happy Tuesday's stall had attracted my attention with some fabric from the 70's that she converted into useful apparel and accessories..

Firstly, does anyone remember these cosmic Marvel characters who will hit the big screen next year in the next big blockbuster comic adaption movie?

These characters are the original GGs, who I don't think will appear in the modern roster that appears in both recent comic book and upcoming film (more the shame). As a collector of the ongoing series from it's 70's origins, I'll be disappointed - but am still excitedly awaiting this modern take.

Anyway.. back to Katoomba.. While looking over vintage Star Wars prints that Happy Tuesday worked with I realised that these accompanying cosmic-patterned items were vaguely familiar. On closer inspection their origins became clear (if not a bit muddled from their source..).

If you desperately need to complete your GG collection then I suggest you give Sarah a ring on 0409 266 532 and mention that The Rack sent you..