I’ve had some vacation time on my hands and I wanted to stay productive, so I dedicated some time to refining and expanding my library of materials relating to the original canon of Sherlock Holmes and the early and most treasured adaptations. I’ve always wanted to explore classic detective fiction, and there is undeniably no better place to start than with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
For my physical collection, I began by tracking down an original 1967 first-single-volume-edition of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, comprising the complete texts of the four novels and fifty-six short stories, accompanied by an introduction, notes, maps, diagrams, photographs, and drawings – an indispensable possession for all mystery fans. The book is monstrously oversized in a single mammoth volume, but fortunately I found a mahogany bookcase the exact size of the edition’s slipcase to display it proudly over my fireplace. I secured a digital ebook archive of the complete texts as well to facilitate casual reading on the go and started my perusal.
Here is the book in its bookcase:
And some of the lovely annotations:
Also in the spirit of the canon, I tracked down a high-resolution copy of my favorite illustration from the original adventures published in The Strand Magazine between 1891 and 1892 by Sidney Paget and had it printed and framed for my home.
Next it seemed appropriate to secure an exhaustive audio library of all major radio adaptations of the original tales and related materials. My 223-disc Sir Arthur Conan Doyle audio collection includes the following:
– CBS Radio Mystery Theater – The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (83 CD Set)
– The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes BBC Radio Dramas (79 CD Set)
– The Complete Sherlock Holmes Audiobooks 9 Volumes Unabridged (60 CD Set)
– The Immortal Sherlock Holmes – Orson Welles, Mercury Theater 1938-09-25
And for my video library, I’ve acquired the Blu-ray Complete Collection of Basil Rathbone’s portrayals of Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John H. Watson – fourteen films produced between 1939-1946, which comprises:
– The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
– The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
– The Voice Of Terror (1942)
– The Secret Weapon (1942)
– Sherlock Holmes In Washington (1943)
– Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
– The Spider Woman (1944)
– The Scarlet Claw (1944)
– The Pearl Of Death (1944)
– The House Of Fear (1945)
– The Woman In Green (1945)
– Pursuit To Algiers (1945)
– Terror By Night (1946)
– The Secret Code-Dressed To Kill (1946)
These sleuthing adventures will be a joy to explore during the remainder of my vacation.
I’ve done my best to survey Wikipedia’s pages of the original canon as well as the wonderful Baker Street Wiki at https://bakerstreet.fandom.com to ensure that nothing was overlooked. Still, if I’ve omitted any other classic materials which one might regard as essential to the original Sherlock Holmes universe, I would welcome suggestions for additional content. But the library outlined above should give me plenty to explore through the chilly winter ahead.
Fred Deakin is best-known as half of the playfully eclectic downtempo duo Lemon Jelly, as well as one of the founders of the enormously successful and innovative design studio, Airside.
Airside’s client base included Coca-Cola, D&AD, EMI, Greenpeace, Live Earth, Mastercard, MTV, Nike, Panasonic, Sony, Visa, Vodafone, the Pet Shop Boys and The Beatles and their iconic style is instantly recognizable.
Deakin also founded Impotent Fury, Lemon Jelly’s own label, (which was also the name of an infamous club night run by Fred where the music genre was chosen by the spin of a wheel.) The label issued 46 official releases plus a few non-label deluxe custom-packaged boots due to uncleared samples issued with Fred’s telltale typeface. These boots have since become highly-sought-after collectibles among Jellyheads.
The first was 2001’s Soft/Rock, a 7″ blue vinyl single in a screenprinted modified denim sleeve constructed from pairs of jeans with a flavored condom in the pocket. The single was limited to 1,000 copies, 15 of which featured hand embroidery by Laura Lees. The singles contained uncleared samples by Chicago and Black Crowes, hence the private release.
Then in August of 2003, another self-release surfaced titled Rolled/Oats. The single was spray painted gold and screenprinted once again with the classic Jelly font and housed in a hessian (burlap) sleeve. “Rolled” samples “Feel Like Making Love” by Bad Company and is based on “The Curse Of Ka’zar” from their Lost Horizons double LP. “Oats” uses elements of “Closer” with a sample of George Michael’s “Heal The Pain”.
Lemon Jelly initially issued three EPs, later collected on the beautifully-packaged lemonjelly.ky double LP in 2000.
This was followed by their debut full-length LP, Lost Horizons in 2002. Each album featured striking packaging design named among countless “greatest album art” lists as well as being featured in Grant Scott’s book, The Greatest Album Covers of All Time. Both of these releases showcased the duo’s spirited, whimsical, and ultra-chilled downtempo style.
In 2005 a box set of four 10″ LPs was issued titled ’64-’95, with each track prefixed with the year of the sample incorporated into the single. The album is rather different from their previous two releases in that it has a darker sound and is influenced by more modern sounding music. To avoid confusion over the matter, the band included a sticker on the sleeve stating, “This is our new album, it’s not like our old album.” The album closer, “Go” featured vocals by William Shatner.
Fred also produced over one hundred mixes and DJ sessions during and after his time with Lemon Jelly, many of which were featured by BBC 6 Music and the Breezeblock. Each set seamlessly wove together deep cuts and musical oddities of Balearica, funk, hip hop, soul, dub, reggae, swing, and an array of leftfield oddities which always kept the listener engaged and guessing as to what was around the next sonic corner.
An official release of this nature was eventually issued in 2007 by Impotent Fury – Fred Deakin Presents: The Triptych, a three-CD set of everything from folk rock to break/broken beat, jazzdance, country, deep and Euro house, neo-soul, gospel, and more.
And the following year, a two-CD set premiered titled Nu Balearica packed with Balearic Beat and Nu-Disco choons.
I spent the early 2000s compiling about one hundred and ten of the various mixes and sessions Fred had touched, right down to the demo cassette he’d recorded in the late nineties when running the club Impotent Fury. And in 2011 and 12 Fred resurfaced under the pseudonym Frank Eddie (once again due to uncleared samples) and issued five limited 7″ singles in geometrically designed screenprinted sleeves.
The complete set was issued as a CD album called, Let’s Be Frank in 2012.
Fred also applied the Frank Eddie moniker to a special remix of English boy band, East 17’s “Stay Another Day” for a heartwarming farewell music video to mark the retirement of their Airside design company. A gorgeous 296pp coffee table book, Airside by Airside was published by Gestalten telling the story of their evolution and is certainly on my wish list for this year.
This project tapered off after the Jellyhead forum went dormant and things quieted down for a few years, until a few days ago when, on a whim, I revisited Fred’s page on Rateyourmusic.com. There I noticed a curious title I’d not previously encountered – Come Dance With Me Sweetheart dated 2016. I did a little searching around and by the day’s end, (thanks to a fellow Jellyhead who has been archiving all Lemon Jelly material from the source tapes for nearly two decades), had 19 additional DJ sessions which had surfaced since I’d last stopped collecting. It was like Christmas! I quickly assembled a 25-hour playlist of all the new-to-me Jelly content and am having a blast exploring it all!
And revisiting The Triptych, I began to research the deeper cuts from the mix and found one funky track, Billy Hawk’s “O’ Baby (I Believe I’m Losing You)” appears on a sublabel comp of BGP (Beat Goes Public) Records. The label has issued three series that look worth a listen.
Super Breaks is a set of six double LPs and albums showcasing essential funk, soul, jazz samples, and breakbeats. There is also the SuperFunk series of twelve releases and a third set of four albums branded as Funk Soul Sisters. These might be just what I’m after for more deep cuts.
Another of my favorite classic Jelly mixes, Breezeblock – 20th September 1999, includes the Public Enemy / Herb Alpert mashup, “Rebel Without A Pause (Whipped Cream Mix)” which a quick search revealed was by The Evolution Control Committee, Mark Gunderson’s plunderphonics project. Mark collaborated with The Bran Flakes on the Raymond Scott Rewired project issued by Basta Records which I absolutely must check out, along with a deeper exploration of other related artists like Emergency Broadcast Network, Escape Mechanism, The Tape-beatles, as well as my complete archives of the works of Negativland, John Oswald, and selected works from People Like Us (who collaborated with Matmos and Wobbly).
It’s truly remarkable to live in a time when a few simple Google searches yield days of rewarding listening. Here’s my Lemon Jelly and related album collection to date, in addition to the 129 digital albums and DJ sessions I’ve collected that are so generously shared among fellow Jellyheads.
Friends, I have some very special records in store for you, and many more in the post on their way.
Recently I was exploring related-artist lists for long-standing favorites Sundae Club and Lemon Jelly on a number of music services. One result had quite an intriguing name, so I gave them a listen.
Public Service Broadcasting is a project of J. Willgoose and Wrigglesworth from London. The association with Jellyheads and fans of Sundae Club is instantly apparent – their music is electronic, but with a uniquely organic (and perhaps an emotive) element that separates it from the countless electro-pop artists of the day.
PSB uses samples from old public information films, archive footage and propaganda material, which fits well in a playlist of Found Sound Orchestra and Future Loop Foundation recordings.
The result, when paired with their minimalist geometric album packaging, is a krautrock-flavored mechanical sort of BBC documentary music, if you can imagine such a thing.
I enjoyed their INFORM • EDUCATE • ENTERTAIN LP, but was most impressed by THE WAR ROOM EP. Just one look at the album jacket and anyone who follows my blog with any frequency will instantly understand why I just had to acquire this glorious disc.
Here is your new desktop wallpaper. You’re welcome.
See if you can detect traces of the metronomic percussion of Neu!’s “Hallo Gallo” in PSB’s music, or a touch of Kraftwerk inspiration in the packaging of INFORM • EDUCATE • ENTERTAIN.
On to other treasures, I had perused the Record Store Day list for April 2014 but no items particularly grabbed me so I sat the holiday out and saved my cash for the seasonal record show that followed.
In the days after the holiday, I stumbled upon a redditor who ran an independent record store in the States offering limited edition RSD items at store-price to those who couldn’t make it that day. He listed an album that had entirely escaped my radar – a condensed and remastered 50-minute distillation of the epic 24-hour “7 Skies H3” by Flaming Lips.
Available exclusively for RSD, this was most fans’ only opportunity to own a piece of the notorious track, of which 13 copies were produced and sold on a hard drive encapsulated in a real human skull.
The offer was extended to fellow redditors at 11am on the morning of Easter Sunday, and I didn’t hesitate for a single second. To make the situation even more exciting, I discovered that I had just sold a record I had received for free for the exact price of the Flaming Lips album, which chalks up to getting it for free!
I should caution fans who acquire this record, however – The album ships with a download code from Warner Music, but the file is not what it appears to be. There are no options for MP3 quality (or for a FLAC download) – the album automatically downloads a set of files marked as 256 CBR. I was a tad suspicious of Warner Music so I tested the file and it appears to be only a paltry 128kbps MP3.
If anyone can verify this I would love to hear from you, but I was extremely disappointed that this rare recording was essentially presented in the sonic equivalent of a Napster file from 1999.
“I’m telling you… RealPlayer is going to be HUGE.”
Regardless, best to focus on the positive – like that mysterious KLF item from the Lips’ photo above!
I cannot express the level of my excitement in finally hearing this special recording. You may well recall my featuring of Disc 6 and of The KLF Remix Project Part III in earlier entries.
This new disc was to be the ninth in the series of unofficial reworkings of the KLF’s catalog – masterfully engineered and easily one of the finest ambient recordings of the year. Sadly, due to issues beyond the producer’s control, the disc will not be released to the public.
The disc contains a 2014 72-minute epic rework of the original Space LP created 24 years ago, originally as a collaboration between Dr. Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty – the original line-up of The Orb.
For those who aren’t familiar with the outstanding KLF: Recovered & Remastered unofficial releases from my past entries, let me bring you up to speed.
1987. British acid house. Drummond. Cauty. The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The Timelords. The JAMs. One World Orchestra. 2K. The Stadium House Trilogy. Doctorin’ the Tardis. Anarchism. The White Room. The Illuminatus! Trilogy. Top of the Pops. America: What Time is Love? The Manual. A lost road movie. The K Foundation. Extreme Noise Terror. Why Sheep? Waiting. The Rites of Mu. Chill Out. The birth of Ambient House. Burning a million quid on the Isle of Jura. Abandon all art now. And Space.
There. That about sums it up.
20 years into the silence that followed the K Foundation’s exit from celebrity a man surfaced who set himself to the task of recovering and remastering the KLF’s catalog to fill the void left in Cauty and Drummond’s absence.
The first six releases, catalog #KLF 001 RE – KLF 006 RE were brilliant, and the sixth release, Live From The Lost Continent 2012 presented listeners with a 77-minute stadium-packed concert that never was.
Following this triumph, two more released emerged – KLF MINUS-ONE and KLF MINUS-FOUR, each better than the EP before.
But our hero had one last stupendous project up his sleeve. And in April of 2014, it was complete.
A message from its creator revealed that MINUS-SIX was to be:
“…a 72 minute remodel of the classic SPACE release, sounding like a cross between ‘Silence’ (from Pete Namlook’s legendary Fax +49-69/450464 label), SPACE, and classic ambient drone releases. It’s almost like Trainspotting for KLF fans.”
The original Space LP (1990)
The final piece is a monumental achievement – a new Music for Airports, or perhaps a new Selected Ambient Works Vol II. It effectively unites sparse white-noise drones with all of the familiar elements of the original Space record which made it so memorable. It is brilliantly subtle, while simultaneously making the sounds of simulated space flight an exciting and dramatic experience.
Then came the crushing news – the MINUS SIX project had suddenly been halted, and there were to be no more releases in the series.
I make no exaggeration when I state that, with this loss, the ambient music audience is experiencing its own Nick Drake, or more accurately – its own SugarMan.
At least this dude got his own movie.
Worse yet – because Rodriguez had a nation celebrating his work for generations an ocean away from his quiet daily life, and at least Nick Drake experienced posthumous success – becoming a household name in the years which followed his untimely demise.
But production of MINUS-6 has been cancelled. Quite sadly, the millennium’s ambient and drone audience and the millions of listeners who grew up with the KLF may never hear this record.
Its legend is shroud in mystery. Will KLF fans ever know the engineer’s name? Why the sudden cease just before unveiling his holy grail?
But perhaps it is the legend and the mystery that adds a touch of vitality to the series.
And I still have hope. The K Foundation announced a 23-year moratorium on all projects beginning November 1995. Perhaps, in honor of the 2018 reformation of the KLF, our mysterious friend will emerge.
My sincerest hope is that the man behind these nine fantastic EPs one day receives the recognition (and listenership) that he deserves.
Greetings friends! It’s been a crazy month but I’m finally moved into my new Lair (which you can check out here). I apologize for neglecting the blog but I’m back with the last 25 LPs I’ve picked up.
One of the first people I met at the new apartments is close personal friends with Mark Burgess of the Chameleons, and we went out to the first goth night at a club in town. She turned me on to proto-industrial, post punk and minimal wave music and so I assembled a collection of 319 essential albums from artists like Cabaret Voltaire, the Chameleons, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Muslimgauze, the Residents, Solid Space, Suicide, Television, The Normal, Throbbing Gristle and others.
As luck would have it, I stumbled upon two NM Chameleons singles at a flea market two days later!
Just before the move, I found a little hole-in-the-wall used record shop which had sprung up in town. I was delighted to find a few LPs I’d had on my list for some time, and I traded a small pile of duplicates and got them all free!
I have his Moog LP and this was a wonderful addition to my library.
St. Elmo’s Fire – filed beside my copy of The Breakfast Club Soundtrack
Best of BBC Themes 2LP (feat. the original Doctor Who Theme)
Jimmy Castor Bunch – Supersound. Funky!
But THIS was the Castor EP I’d been after! “The Bertha Butt Boogie!”
The next two record stores I visited each had a few Miles Davis LPs I had been looking for, and I picked up each for no more than $4 apiece. I am trying to assemble the complete Columbia recordings on vinyl.
The week of the move I visited my old home town to pick up my items from storage and happened upon still another new record shop. I was blown away to find a mint original press of Portishead – Portishead, Tom Waits’ Big Time (one of the few discs I was missing), and, believe it or not, The Black Rider!
This is an absolutely essential Trip Hop / Downtempo disc of the 90s and was a proud addition to my collection.
Here’s the biggest hit from the album, “Only You” performed live in NYC.
I don’t know how I’d gone this long without ordering a copy of Big Time. What a great disc!
I had to pass on the copy of The Black Rider, however as it was stickered at $100 and I needed to pay for the U-Haul that day. Next time, Gadget. Next time.
I received a few Discogs alerts for classic singles I’d always wanted from Underworld (I have over 250 of their releases between vinyl, CD and FLAC.) Not passing up another opportunity I grabbed them both.
The first to arrive was the limited white vinyl edition of “Rez”/”Cowgirl”, two of their best-known songs. This copy was still in its original shrink.
Here is the best-ever live performance of the two tracks, from the Everything Everything Live DVD.
But the real treasure came two days ago – an original first pressing of JBO29 – the first single featuring “Born Slippy.nuxx”.
If the title of this floor-stomping anthem isn’t familiar, you might know it better as “that song from Trainspotting.”
Next I visited my favorite antique market and didn’t hesitate when I found Steve Reich’s Desert Music. I have a huge thing for 20th century minimalism and the next box set I buy will be Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach.
I did make it to a record show just before the move and didn’t get a chance to post the one item from my list which I was able to find. I’ve been on a HUGE experimental German music kick and felt like a kid at Christmas when I found Amon Düül II’s Phallus Dei on vinyl.
File under “creepy German psych shit.”
Also in the mail last week was a milestone recording – Nick Drake’s Pink Moon. I had recently purchased a mint pressing from the late 2000s but flipped it for cash to order this elusive pink wax pressing as soon as I saw it post to discogs.
Speaking of colored vinyl I also sold off my mint sealed Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space 2LP and quickly snatched up a copy of the same album on blue vinyl, a Record Store Day release from 2010.
This is my all-time favorite shoegaze record. There is also a fantastic 3CD expanded edition which I highly recommend.
In my recent travels I’ve also been looking for Ken Nordine’s Colors and Word Jazz LPs. So far I’ve only found Son of Word Jazz, but rest assured, I will find the others.
The interest in Ken Nordine was rekindled when I heard his guest vocals on DJ Food’s Kaleidoscope, an early release on Ninja Tune which I couldn’t resist ordering.
Here’s the track feat. Ken Nordine – “Aging Young Rebel.”
Still on the Ninja Tune kick I ordered an original pressing of Cinematic Orchestra’s Remixes LP as well as the pressed-to-order reissue of their greatest album – Motion.
And finally, I received another discogs alert when a seller posted the first two limited edition mint Black Swan drone music LPs for a total of only $15 including shipping! The first, In 8 Movements was limited to 300 copies worldwide, and the second (my favorite) – The Quiet Divide was pressed on red vinyl and limited to 100 copies. What a steal!
If you’re into drone this is some killer music.
Special thanks to The_Dig for kicking me in the butt to get blogging again. So sorry I’ve been gone so long, but thanks for sticking with me!
The Innerspace Connection 