Fresh Grabs

Its on the long list a long time lol. Yeah I actually love iron flag and I do agree mostly with no outside producers but wu tang saga continues was cool from dj mathematics

I was thinking more of when they use producers like Poke & Tone. I liked The Saga Continues but i've always found Mathematics production a little boring at times. I wish they would use some of the other Wu-Elements for their projects like 4th Disciple and Tru Master or Bronze Nazareth.
 
So today has brought some FANTASTIC records. One of these packages was close to a dream haul, perhaps the best collection of rarities I have ever had in one go, and one that I don't think I will likely stumble across again. So here we go....

Charlie Rouse / Paul Quinichette - The Chase Is On (Bethlehem Records, 1958 First Mono 'Sample Copy' Pressing)
Yusef Lateef - Before Dawn (Columbia Records, 1958 First UK Mono Pressing)
Dexter Gordon ‎– Daddy Plays The Horn (Bethlehem Records/London Records, 1956 First UK Mono Pressing)

These 3 are the creme of the crop. I was once bidding on a copy of the Charlie Rouse / Paul Quinichette and it went for over £150 which is insane imo. The line-up is amazing and its an album I have streamed countless times. I was most excited for the Yusef Lateef and didn't even realise which pressing it was until it arrived. The seller was an antique dealer and had no clue how to 'date' the records, and the photos they sent were so bad I couldn't even see the label, all they said was that there were no scratches on the record and I could return if I wasn't happy........well I'm VERY happy. The Dexter Gordon is a classic and likely up there on a great number of want lists. This pressing is the first UK mono pressing and looks fantastic. The laminated sleeve made cleaning it super easy and the sleeve went from being super grubby to pretty clean!
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Oliver Nelson Orchestra - Afro/American Sketches (Esquire, 1962 First UK Mono Pressing)
Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor (Esquire, 1963 First UK Mono Pressing - But its the wrong jacket)
Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Returns (Savoy, 1955 First Mono Pressing)

Funnily enough, I ordered the Oliver Nelson record then VMP announced his Skull Sessions the next day so I'm getting a good amount of his music! The Gene Ammons is a funny one as its actually the 'Boss Tenor' record with the 'Boss Tenors (with Sonny Stitt)' jacket. This was from the antique dealer but for what I paid I'm still happy to keep it, it was a steal either way. I have been listening and reading a lot about Coleman Hawkins lately and I've found his music to be fantastic. I only had a couple of records which he appears on and decided to pick up this record with him as lead.
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Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Himself (Riverside Records, 1957 Mono Pressing)
Muriel Grossmann ‎– Elevation (Jazzman Records, 2020 First Pressing)
Dizzy Gillespie / Tony Douglas - Cabinet Ministers At The BBC Jazz Society (Acetate Test Pressing)

The Monk was a cheapo eBay win and having streamed the album a few times over the past few days its a great solo session. The Muriel Grossman was pre-ordered ages ago and I've been excited for it ever since. I expected the quality to be lower as it's on a different label to her normal one, but surprisingly it looks to be a really solid, high-quality set! I will give it a proper listen when I get a free moment and hopefully the pressing sounds as good as it looks! This acetate test pressing is an eBay obscurity. I have no clue about the origin of the music, or who the musicians are (I can only assume its not really Gillespie - maybe its just his compositions?). It was a cheapo spur of the moment bid which ended up winning. If anyone has any info it would be much appreciated if you could message me, the seller included a print out from Popsike showing another copy was sold in 2017 for £155 so there must be some interest in it.View attachment 47019

Hollywood Jazz Session - Vol. 1 (Savoy, 1952 First 10" Pressing)
Zoot Sims - Tenor Sax Favorites (Prestige, 1951 First 10" Pressing)
Blue Note Records by Frederick Cohen (Jazz Record Centre, Revised Edition)
The Lady Who Shot Lee Morgan by Larry Reni Thomas (UBS Publication, Signed Copy)

This Hollywood Jam Session looks to be fantastic, with a killer line-up of Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Howard McGhee, Trummy Young, Barney Kessell, Hampton Hawes, Ken Kennedy & LeRoy Gray. The Zoot Sims has another great line-up (although the title is misleading as he's the only tenor saxophonist playing) including Art Blakey & John Lewis. These 2 books come from the Jazz Record Center in New York and I've been after both for a while. The Blue Note guide is written by Fred Cohen, owner of the Jazz Record Center, and its seen as the essential guide for Blue Note records. I have been wanting it for years but the price and shipping always seemed high until now. I also bought a second book from Fred, one which I was interested in since I first watched the Lee Morgan documentary. For those who have seen the doc, Larry Reni Thomas was the person that interviewed Lee Morgan's wife (just before she passed away) years after she killed Lee. This book was written before the documentary using the interview tapes. Unexpectedly this copy is signed by Larry.
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Oh my goodness this is so impressive Selaws! 👏👏👏 Next time I come to London, I’m going to see you and I’m taking you out for like 3 dinners because I want to listen to a lot of these and talk with you! So freaking impressed and I can’t imagine the passion you have! Would be so interesting and inspiring! ☺️
 
Please 🙏 excuse the complete tome below. It's a combination of things, I'm too joyous and there's a lot to catch up on, because..

🎉 IT'S FINALLY HERE 🎉

The Pro-ject X1 turntable arrived and I'm finally able to put together my first turntable setup! Due to Covid-19 delays it's going to be around 6 weeks until the stand will be ready, yet obviously 6 weeks is far too much time to have everything sat in boxes. So.. as I type this I'm currently spinning Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo (sounds fantastic) and am finally in the nirvana of listening to records and all the rituals contained within. Heaven. We put together a random setup using the coffee table we had, which is long and narrow, and jutting it out from the wall into the room. Thin enough to have speakers either side and a bottom layer for the amp. I have to effectively do a press up to change the volume, but if anything was worth the exercise it's this.

I can't lie, I had to have the first 24 hours for myself. The first ever spin was VMP's pressing of Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You, and what an amazing start that was. What an incredible album, and it sounded absolutely amazing. I'm cleaning a record and playing it to make sure everything gets a clean and new inners. I indulged in a night of Van Morisson, Denzel Curry, Durand Jones, Black Pumas, Hizuru, Disque Debs and Maribou State. It was amazing. This morning I woke up and played Hizuru once more before another Durand Jones, and now onto the Khruangbin.

Here's a quick snapshot of the grab with Durand Jones & The Indications going strong:

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I couldn't be happier. Everything worked immediately despite everything coming in afresh. A huge thank you to you all for your help and assistance, inspiration and encouragement. I wouldn't be at this point without it and I'm really grateful to you all. Nods to @Joe Mac @kvetcha and @Bsdmr2 for the repeat help and reassurance in the hardware thread while I err'd this way and that. Also to Yoss (forgive me I don't know your name here) on another forum who gave me the heads up that N&G was a thing. Invaluable advice to all.

Now for the other grabs!

First on the list is the Death Stranding: Original Score by Ludvig Forssell, which actually happens to be the first record I bought. It was a preorder a couple of months ago now and really that active purchase is what sparked off the headbug that led to all this. Really happy with it. I like that by accident there's almost the 'three stages of splat' in the set. The yellow isn't really affected and remains largely as dots, the red is almost perfect to me, and then the green is after everything has bled out a bit. Was never completely sold on the yellow but the green is really nice like that providing a nice tint and looks much better than the mockup. The gatefold is just beautiful.

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Please don't shoot me. I cleaned the table, this is pre-cleaning them and I put tabs under the label so it wasn't flat-on. I still know I have brought shame upon my household and will learn from my mistakes.

Now I know you all have your fancy VMP versions of Unlocked by Denzel Curry x Kenny Beats but some of us newbies have to make do with the clear version! Ever since getting a feel for the praise for this record here and a recommendation from @NathanRicaud (🔥) on joining I've been sinking deeper and deeper into it. Could have held out for the VMP version through one channel or another but thought it would be more fun to grab the clear and the upcoming comic/flexi-disc instead. Sounds great having been among my first plays last night, fantastic all round.

Nick Drake is someone my dad has always been a large advocate for and introduced me to his music alongside the likes of Zappa, Mountain, Neil Young and others when I was small. Neil definitely stuck with me the most of everyone but in later and more recent years I've found a lot from Nick's albums. My favourite of which is Pink Moon by Nick Drake which is why it's the first into the collection, even beating Neil himself.

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Next up we have an inspiration from @kvetcha – unbeknownst to you when I saw you playing Kiki's Delivery Service (OST) by Joe Hisaishi in a What's Spinning post my jaw hit the floor. I love Kiki's Delivery Service and knew the second I saw it complete with obi I needed to find it. The issue was I wasn't confident shipping from Japan on an item I wanted completely mint as returns would be a hassle for what could end up as a minor ding. Something that would still ruin it for me but be a hard press to send all the way back for. About a week ago I woke up to a Discogs emails with new things from my wishlist and there was Kiki, mint condition, in the UK, for less than it would cost anywhere else. Instantly messaged them and we discussed it and made sure it was mint and complete with obi and packed well.

In doing so they also offered Porco Rosso (OST) by Joe Hisaishi which we haggled around for a bit as it wasn't immediately on my radar but I like Ghibli a lot and it was there, in the UK, mint as well. So they did a great price for both, shipped amazingly well and arrived exactly as described. I started to sweat taking them out of the sleeve to look at so I know they're a highlight of the collection and I'm looking forward to hearing them both.

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Next up I'd spotted Unplugged in New York by Nirvana and Back to Black by Amy Winehouse on sale for really cheap so picked them up. Both great albums, first time hearing Unplugged was via a (bootleg?) VHS tape off of ebay. I was heavily into Nirvana at the time and this album was yet another of theirs that struck a chord with me back then.

Now, the Live Vol.1 by Durand Jones & The Indications is an odd one 🤔 . I'm wanting to try and start collecting around Durand Jones and Black Pumas, not necessarily the variants but definitely the releases, and in doing so was looking for a mint version of this, in the limited edition blue. I found this on Discogs and went for it, and made sure it was mint with the seller. It arrived with a rather ugly ding on the bottom right and a split inner sleeve. No doubt occured during delivery, but still a write-off for what I was getting it for. The seller offered to either pay €10 to ship it back and they would send a replacement, or do the same and get refunded the whole amount, or take a €10 refund. Considering the record itself, shipping aside, was around €20 it seemed to make most sense to hold onto it and put the 10 toward a mint copy in the future. Flattened out the crease as best I can and can look alright when the light doesn't cast into it.

Opened it up and the Side B label appears to have been printed twice and there's fraying around the spindle hole. So ended up with something curious at least 🤷‍♀️😂

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Onto a collection of three more variants! Departure by Kennebec is something I spotted during the LateNightTales Bandcamp sale as it's on their sister (?) label. I got the Mahogany edition which is effectively dark orange smoke in a lighter orange record. That said if you look for what they were going for and not the smoke for you can see it and it works well. My first venture into Soul Step Records is with Consensual Wisdom by Bendigo Fletcher and I managed to snag the Party Monster variant. It looks a little swampy in flat light but catch some on it or behind it and it comes alive! Stunning to look at 🔥👌

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Seen twice because it was late and I got it confused with one I'll leave for a later post but we have Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. I've not listened to much Jazz, and what I have heard I've often not known who it's by. So in going on this vinyl journey I've wanted to branch out my knowledge and experience within Jazz, Soul and the Blues. I have to thank @Selaws for both his passion and knowledge in Jazz topics and posts. Like a barnacle to a whale I am attached and always appreciative of them. I came across this when buying a couple of others at Rough Trade. The variant itself is nothing like described or shown – red/blue splatter – but I knew that from Discogs going in and really happy with what arrived. Reminds me, somewhat randomly, of bits from a red blanket on blue jeans. I quite like it!

Jesus is King by Kanye West is a left field purchase. Kanye used to be my favourite artist for a long time until his recent sequence breaks and generally falling into relative disinterest with later albums. This was cheap and tacked onto the end of another order from a local record shop, I'm not expecting too much but the record itself looks nice. Shame the theme of the plastic doesn't work so well in an inner sleeve and second outer sleeve but hey, whatever works. I also chucked it all in a bigger sleeve for gatefolds just to further the concept 🥂

Finally we have a 7" of Would You Walk & What Can I Say by This Pine Box. Not heard anything of theirs but that's kind of a cool band name and the record looks gorgeous. It's also my first 7" and was inexpensive while ordering Bendigo Fletcher from Soul Step. I was curious so here we are, and I'm looking forward to hearing it. That said I don't think my turntable comes with a 45 adapter for the records themselves so it's a good reminder to pick one up!

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So in all; a last thank you and slightly belated Happy 1st Birthday to N&G. A very special community 🍻
 
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@Kyuuji - I am super impressed with you fresh grabs and am even more impressed with your beautiful, chirpy, energetic yet down-to-earth personality! Even though you’re a newbie on Needles&Grooves, you’re already a favourite of mine! Like, I loooooooove your vibes so much!!! 💯

I love your descriptions and damn, starting the morning off with that Aretha Franklin’s I Never Loved A Man... is such a great start to the morning! 🌝 The Khruangbin must be so joyful for you right now too! 🌺🦥🐚

And I know! How freaking good is that Denzel Curry x Kenny Beats! It’s an absolute treat! 🔥

Your turntable looks great and I’m so happy you’re enjoying the great sound quality of your setup + vinyl! 🙌 You remind me of myself when I started collecting vinyl! 😅😇

Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black is my favourite album of 2006! 🥇Justin Timberlake’s FutureSexLoveSounds is my 2nd favourite 🥈and Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury is my 3rd favourite of 2016! 🥉J Dilla’a Donuts is my 4th! 🎖Anyways, in a few years time, I recommend grabbing the Abbey Road half-speed mastered pressing of Back To Black! It also contains the B-sides and sounds much better than the original pressing! 💎
 
Thanks all, the welcome is really heartwarming 🥰

@kvetcha Thank you and I've no doubt I will. Absolutely beautiful things and they'll be queued up as soon as I gather the nerves to disturb them again 😂

@Aelias 👋 so glad to be here, the best recommendation you could have made!

@Bsdmr2 aha! Wonder no more! I am in love with it all, really am, you were very much right 🥂

@NathanRicaud Thank you so much, likewise 💛 You're so just ready to go all the time. No time to get stuck down by something, just onto the next positive vibe. It's always great to see someone excited by what they enjoy and you're never shy to help others discover something new and great 🏆

It was a fantastic start to the morning, you're right. Fantastic start to setting many more records down upon that platter too! Denzel Curry x Kenny Beats is incredible. In and out and hard hitting 🥊💥. The hype from the first track never gets old. Thank you for the tips on Back to Black too 💎 I will add that to my wishlist to keep an eye on. Good taste with your favourites also, at the time I couldn't get enough of FutureSexLoveSounds and feels well ahead of its time revisiting now 🔥 Donuts, what needs to be said other than it will be hitting the X1 tonight (y) 🍩
 
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