At the end of July 2001, D, her boys and I hired a small cottage on a farm outside Sidmouth for a couple of weeks. The idea was to combine a family holiday with occasional visits (for me) to the Sidmouth Folk Festival. On the way down, we stopped at a service station somewhere along the M5, I saw this CD stuck to the front of Mojo magazine — it was an impulse buy.
It's a compilation of stuff from the Ace label. I love Ace, though I almost never buy any of their records. When I did once, I sent off for their catalogue, and they kept sending me their beautifully produced mailings. But I had to ration myself looking at them, because they were too tempting. It was impossible to choose just one or two albums from the catalogue; I'd have had to get one or two hundred. And since I couldn't afford to do that, I didn't get any. That made me feel bad, because those catalogues weren't cheap to produce or to mail out. Now we've moved home, so the temptation is gone, but they're probably still sending stuff to my old address. Arghh, the guilt!
In the current issue of Word David Hepworth reviews the new Ace boxed set, Take Me to the River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977 and acclaims it "the greatest record ever made". How do journalists expect to get away with this constant hyperbole and maintain any credibility for their opinions? Annoyingly, Hepworth seems to carry it off, almost. So I was tempted again. But it's 30 quid even on Amazon
It's skinflints like me that force them to give away their music on magazine covermounts. They've done the right thing with this one, though, providing just enough to whet, but not satisfy, the appetite.
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