there is no such thing as 'spare' vinyl!

In my nomadic life I've lost more vinyl than I care to remember. I've given lots away, sold it, lost entire boxes in transit and yet still the urge to buy more persists, as does maintaining the equipment to play it on. I often end up with duplicates - like the Noah's Ark Trap, though I passed both of those on because I've never been such a huge Nic Jones fan myself, although I used to enjoy seeing him live. I've lately returned all the Bellamy vinyl I had on long-term loan from Greenoaken Towers, but I cherish my copies of Second Wind (bought remaindered from Cecil Sharp House in the early 90s) and Keep on Kipling which I regard as Bellamy's masterpiece (in its vinyl form anyway - shame the CD reissue messed it up with extraneous session takes). I won it off PB in a raffle at the Bay Hotel Folk Club, Cullercoats around 1988 or so & PB reckoned, with some sincerity, that it was the best thing he'd ever done. I've also got a signed copy of The Transports on which PB has drawn a Quantas flag on the transport ship. Oddly I didn't ask him to sign KOK; I was just too in awe really... The CD versions feel little better than tape copies really.

Worth mentioning is Martin Carthy's Because it's There from 1979. Apart from one song (a pointless inclusion of Gilbert O'Sullivan's Nothing Rhymed) this is one of the perfect folk albums of that decade. And a big YES to Ray Fisher too - track down Willie's Lady if you can; but The Bonny Birdy is such stuff as dreams are made on. And, of course, The Battle of the Field - the only other truly great English Folk Rock LP (IMHO) though both Mr Fox albums give it a run for its money.