Tuesday, 19 January 2021

Happy Birthday Captain Columbus - The Philistines Jr.

Adam Pierce, Leon Dewan, Peter Katis and Tarquin Katis formed the Philistines Jr. and released this short history lesson on music in 1992. The 7" single was pressed on red vinyl, but also contained a novely: the B-side contains two tracks. To hear them, you need to use the Balance knob on your amplifier. You guessed it: I had to do a little cutting and pasting in order to provide neat-ish sound files. Neat-ish, because the channels are actually leaking. I bought this single, obviously, for yet another cover version of 'Kids in America', but you can hear the other track, 'I'll Stop The World And Melt With You' in the background - and vice versa. It's a shame because the guitar solo at the end of 'Kids In America' is actually quite nice, and creative too. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6342
Found: Discogs.com, recevied 13 January 2021
Cost: 1,5 pound
Tracks: 'Happy Birthday Captain Columbus' / 'Kids in America' & 'I'll Stop The World And Melt With You'

Tubular Bells - Champs Boys

Buying cover versions is always a gamble, but an amusing one. You never know what you might end up with. In this particular case, it's a Seventies disco version of 'Tubular Bells', performed by an orchestra conducted by HervĂ© Roy. He was a French singer, arranger, songwriter and orchestra leader who was born in 1943 and died in 2009. 

Attentive listeners will recognize Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' as well as Mike Oldfield's instrumental masterpiece. And the string arrangement is borrowed from any contemporary disco track. An amusing piece of music.

My collection: 7" single no. 6341
Found: Discogs.com, received 13 January 2021
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Tubular Bells' / 'Fleur'