Musings about music

Last night I received one of those emails out of the blue which link my present to my past. The 1960s - before I started doing what I do now. Long time ago when we woz fab. Well certainly thin. Thinner. Certainly hungry and living a lot cheaper. But not poor either. No I did what everyone my age then did, and seems to want to do now. Not much changes does it?

So what was that then? Bank clerk? No. Male model? No. Hair extension specialist? Almost - it was all my own then. No - I was a singer songwriter for a while. About 1965 to 1973 to be exact. Long enough to write two albums, an EP, two singles, be on the John Peel Show, play at Bunjis, The Troubadour, Les Cousins, be on a Polish TV Spectacular, tour with Fairport Convention, and play at folk clubs and universities throughout the land.

So why would anyone email me in 2009? Well it turns out, the minute number of sales those 2 1960s CBS LPs "Welcome to the Citadel" and "Hello" generated was sufficiently small to make them a rarity and therefore collectors' items. I think the highest I've seen a "Citadel" on eBay was 1000 USD. Almost as good as Salman Rushdie's  "Midnight's Children".

In 2005, Sanctuary Records - the white knight of all forgotten fabs - came to the rescue of this one and reissued everything I'd ever done on wax. So a few more musings made their way into the febrile firmament.

There's only so much heat a firmament can take guys - alas Sanctuary ceased last year some time after a long struggle with the material world.

So once more - my music has gone into the grey underworld where it no doubt really belongs.

My emailer - remember him - kindly asked if or where he might hear me play live. I think that's definitely a grey underworld. I suggested he buy a copy of Autograph of Time - the 2 CD Sanctuary set. But - guess what? It's already become a collectors' item. Amazon UK offers 2 used copies at nearly £20, and Amazon US has two new ones at nearly 70 USD. I seem to remember they were about £8 when I was getting a royalty on the reissue.

Market forces on music. When it's available, nobody wants it. When its vanished, it's an asset. 

My best advice to anyone who is interested, is - grab a copy before they turn into the only usable world currency, learn them all by heart and go out and sing them. Who knows, you might end up a better photographer.

Thankyou for listening.