A grail added to my collection today! A rare band-produced bootleg mentioned in my entry last month – Loads of New Content from Fred Deakin! has arrived at Innerspace Labs from the UK.
May I proudly present, “Soft”/”Rock” – Lemon Jelly’s 7″ blue vinyl single from 2001. The single is enclosed in a screenprinted modified denim sleeve constructed from pairs of jeans with a flavored condom in the pocket, (mine is chocolate!), and was limited to just 1,000 copies worldwide. 15 very special copies featured hand embroidery by Laura Lees. “Soft” and “Rock” contained uncleared samples by Chicago and Black Crowes, so the band semi-discreetly issued the single themselves, bearing their tell-tale Lemon Jelly typeface.
What made this specific copy particularly appealing was that the original owner had clipped an article about the single from England back in 2001 and saved it along with the disc for the last 18 years. (I love a bit of contextual history with my rare releases!)
Though the seller couldn’t recall the details of the publication he believed it was from The Guardian so I went to work and quickly located the original publication information for the write-up, courtesy of newspapers.com and found a full live text transcript in the Guardian website’s archives.
Here is a copy of the transcript:
Publication: The Guardian
Location: Greater London, England
Issue Date: Friday, September 21, 2001
Page: 42
Overheard: Chicago
You think the Strokes made fashion’s favourite record of the year? Get back behind the velvet rope. Aside from Missy Elliot bootlegs, the most played song at the spring/summer shows has been an ultra-rare remix of a tune by Chicago (below). The track, which takes the vocals from If You Leave Me Now (No1 in 1976 – ask your parents) and puts them over a blissful beat, was mixed by London-based DJ-ing outfit Lemon Jelly. Called Soft Rock, the track was sent out to the select few earlier this year on blue vinyl 7″, packaged in the back pocket of a pair of jeans. It has now been heard at Luella in New York (selected by Steve Mackie of Pulp, the boyfriend of stylist Katie Grand) and Margaret Howell in London among others. We love it, but we’re worried.
Part of the tune’s allure is the fact that it’s so hard to come by (there’s a copy on eBay at the moment going for £34). Designers obviously have it in their shows for the exclusivity, but if it’s played any more, it’ll become ubiquitous and spoil the fun for everyone who managed to get hold of an original. Our suggestion – go truly obtuse and play Atomic Kitten instead.
CP
Of course, in the nearly two decades since its publication copies of the single have commanded a much higher price, but I was delighted to secure a copy with both a near-mint jacket, original plastic sleeve, near-mint denim sleeve, and the article all at a fair price.
This will be displayed beside my copy of “Rolled”/”Oats”, the duo’s other infamous bootleg. As I mentioned in my previous feature, 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”.
These are wonderful treasures for any fan of cheerfully eclectic music and proud gems of my library!
