Top 10 Vinyl Finds of 2023
Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A Top 10 of secondhand Vinyl Finds I purchased in 2023. These were picked up in a couple of record shops in Dublin and Cork and a record fair. There’s nothing particularly rare or collectible here just a bunch of records I couldn’t leave behind. These were all fairly cheap, most were around €10 with one or two just less than €20.
No. 10
Haircut One Hundred
Pelican West
Arista Records, 1982
Haircut One Hundred were one of the first bands I was into as a young fella. For me it was all about Adam Ant and Haircut One Hundred. A few years back I found Pelican West Plus, an expanded reissue from 2002, in Oxfam for €1, but I still didn’t think twice about getting this once I spotted it. ‘Fantastic Day’ and ‘Love Plus One’ are two of my alltime favourite tunes.
No. 9
Sugarcubes
Stick Around For Joy
One Little Indian, 1992
Third and final album from The Sugarcubes. I still have this on tape but it was great to find the LP. ‘Hit’ was the big single from this. It was produced by Paul Fox who also produced Our Time in Eden by 10,000 Manics in the same year. The Sugarcubes disbanded at the end of 1992 and Björk released Debut the following year.
No. 8
The Mighty Lemon Drops
Laughter
Chrysalis, 1989
The Wolverhampton band’s third album. ‘Into the Heart of Love’ and ‘Where Do We Go From Heaven’ were released as singles. It was nice to pick this up as I love the band’s first two albums but I kind of agree with Melody Maker who wrote: “At their third attempt The Mighty Lemon Drops once again prove that they are no better than hundreds of pop groups and Laughter is sadly wider off the mark than either Happy Head and World Without End.” Still a nice find in mint condition.
No. 7
Katie Kim
Salt
Not on Label, 2016
I can remember looking for this not long after it came out and I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I was thrilled to find this at a record fair in November. Salt came four years after 2012’s great Cover & Flood. This one was co-produced by John “Spud” Murphy, starting a working relationship that has continued with the pair teaming up with Radie Peat and Eleanor Myler in ØXN.
No. 6
Wire
Chairs Missing
Pink Flag, 2018
“No blind spots in the leopard’s eyes”
A 1978 original on Harvest goes for between €50-€75 so this 2018 reissue of Wire’s second album will do just fine, thank you very much.
No. 5
The Art of Noise
Who’s Afraid of The Art of Noise
ZTT, 1984
Prior to finding this, the band’s debut from 1984, the only Art of Noise album I had heard in full was their final album 1999’s The Seduction of Claude Debussy. I read and loved Adventures in Modern Recording, Trevor Horn’s biography so snapped this up the moment I saw it. This has the big singles ‘Close (to the Edit)’ and ‘Moments in Love’. £6.99 in Golden Discs in 1984.
No. 4
Clannad
Clannad
Philips, 1973
I’ve been picking up Clannad albums whenever I find clean copies in the wild. This, their debut album from 1973, was recorded in Dublin at Eamonn Andrews Studios. The beautiful textured sleeve was designed by Des O’Meara & Partners.
No. 3
Folk Implosion
Natural One 12”
London Records, 1995
Kids was written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark. I was never a big fan of the movie, I much preferred Clark’s 2001 film Bully. However Kids did have an amazing soundtrack. The CD was book-ended by Daniel Johnston’s ‘Casper’ and Slint’s ‘Good Morning Captain’ and in between we got a load of Folk Implosion tunes. I couldn’t let this 12” of the UNKLE mix of ‘Natural One’ behind. Folk Implosion followed this up with the astounding Dare to Be Surprised in 1996.
No. 2
The Honeycombs
The Honeycombs
PRT, 1981
I have ‘Have I the Right?’ on 7” but I still couldn’t pass up this mint reissue of The Honeycombs’ debut from 1964. This one’s a German reissue from 1981 on PRT Records. PRT was formerly known as Pye Records. In 1980 When the rights to the Pye name expired, the label changed its name to PRT (Precision Records and Tapes). Joe Meek produced and wrote the liner notes.
No. 1
The Watersons
A Yorkshire Garland
Topic Records, 1966
Find of 2023 is this mint copy of The Watersons’ third album - a collection of Yorkshire songs from the Yorkshire band. I was lucky enough to find their first album, 1965’s Frost and Fire: A Calendar of Ceremonial Folk Songs a few years ago so I’m still hoping that a copy of Domino’s withdrawn reissue of Bright Phoebus might show up some day. This was a beautiful find.