Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

Just in case I may have mislead anyone here (with all this 'vinylology'
lately) - Swim has just got back from a quick trip over to the town for
'essentials' (olives with chili peppers for her, jam doughnuts and
white-iced sticky buns for me, a DVD and popcorn, an alarm clock with a
choice of calls - rooster, seagulls etc.... :-) and she hands me three LPs.

'Ow much?' sez I - 'Three quid' sez she. 'OK' sez I....

I inspect them:

A 1980 'digital' recording (EMI - ASD 3994 in mint condition) of Jane
Parker-Smith playing Liszt and Franck on the Organ of the Church of St
Francis de Sales, Philadelphia. (Lists the pipes, including the 32' Contre
Bourdon 'Pedal with Ventils' - must remember to keep an ear out for
'artifacts' when that one's bulging the walls out here....)

A beautiful, mint-looking 1958 EMI-ALP 1643 (looks like a 'Shaded Dog' to
me) album of a peenist (whom I do not know) called Soloman playing Grieg and
Schumann Piano Concertos with The Philharmonia Orchestra under Menges.

And....

A tidy MFP copy of 'The Best Of the Monkees'.....!!!

(Don't ask - it ain't for me!! :-)

Anyway, I wiped the few spots of mould of the Clarifoil on the Solomon (I
like a little bit of brown mold on the sleeves occasionally - keeps the
dickheads away...) to reveal a superb-looking album and then proceeded to
peel a 50p sticker off each of the classicals.

'How much did you say?' I asked. 'Three quid' sez she. 'The classicals had
50p stickers on them.' sez I (Knowing that you daren't argue with the old
biddies in the charity shops when they reckon up your purchases...)

'Yes, that's right' sez she - '50p each for the classical and two quid for
The Monkees'.... !!! :-)

Anyway, the moral/point of this tale is that, although the prices have
generally gone up enormously, there are still some stunning bargains still
to be found - so, keep looking!! (I do hope this will be regarded as an
interesting 'shared experience' and not 'boasting' - we are talking about
charity shop vinyl at chump change prices, after all....!!! ;-)

Now I can't bloody clean them yet, as the rain has soaked the plug on my
extension lead to the garage!!! :-(

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...
A beautiful, mint-looking 1958 EMI-ALP 1643 (looks like a 'Shaded Dog' to
me) album of a peenist (whom I do not know) called Soloman playing Grieg
and
Schumann Piano Concertos with The Philharmonia Orchestra under Menges.


Solomon. Magnificent, underrated pianist. Heard him at the King's Hall,
Belle Vue, M/C, in the 50's. Have a tape of him playing Beethoven
sonatas. Well up to Brendel standards.

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

"Alan Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message
...
A beautiful, mint-looking 1958 EMI-ALP 1643 (looks like a 'Shaded Dog' to
me) album of a peenist (whom I do not know) called Soloman playing Grieg
and
Schumann Piano Concertos with The Philharmonia Orchestra under Menges.


Solomon. Magnificent, underrated pianist. Heard him at the King's Hall,
Belle Vue, M/C, in the 50's. Have a tape of him playing Beethoven
sonatas. Well up to Brendel standards.



OK, thanks for that - I'm looking forward to hearing this one more than ever
now.

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

Solomon. Magnificent, underrated pianist. Heard him at the King's Hall,
Belle Vue, M/C, in the 50's. Have a tape of him playing Beethoven
sonatas. Well up to Brendel standards.



OK, thanks for that - I'm looking forward to hearing this one more than ever
now.


Ah....

Lapses into rose tinted reverie.

What a pianist.

I have dug out my HMV treasury set to give it a spin, a compilation
set with Brahms 1 and 2, Grieg, Schumann, Tchaikovsky 1 and List's
Hungarian Fantasia.

Let's hope I am not disappointed.

Regards

David

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

"Alan Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message
...
A beautiful, mint-looking 1958 EMI-ALP 1643 (looks like a 'Shaded Dog' to
me) album of a peenist (whom I do not know) called Soloman playing Grieg
and
Schumann Piano Concertos with The Philharmonia Orchestra under Menges.


Solomon. Magnificent, underrated pianist. Heard him at the King's Hall,
Belle Vue, M/C, in the 50's. Have a tape of him playing Beethoven
sonatas. Well up to Brendel standards.



Prompted me to dig through my vinyl for a recording of Soloman playing Grieg
& Schumann piano concertos in A minor (Op.16 & Op. 54 respectively) with the
Philharmonia Orch just to give it another listen. Answer VVG+ :-)

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

Prompted me to dig through my vinyl for a recording of Soloman playing Grieg
& Schumann piano concertos in A minor (Op.16 & Op. 54 respectively) with the
Philharmonia Orch just to give it another listen. Answer VVG+ :-)

The same recording from the 50s I guess with Menges at the helm. Is
yours the original? Mine has the original mono recording
'electronically reprocessed' to give a stereo effect - not something
that is done now. Historical recordings on CD tend to leave well
alone apart from cleaning up the sound a bit.....

Fashions change of course.

Regards

David

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

"Mike Gilmour" wrote in message
...

"Alan Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message
...
A beautiful, mint-looking 1958 EMI-ALP 1643 (looks like a 'Shaded Dog'
to
me) album of a peenist (whom I do not know) called Soloman playing Grieg
and
Schumann Piano Concertos with The Philharmonia Orchestra under Menges.


Solomon. Magnificent, underrated pianist. Heard him at the King's Hall,
Belle Vue, M/C, in the 50's. Have a tape of him playing Beethoven
sonatas. Well up to Brendel standards.



Prompted me to dig through my vinyl for a recording of Soloman playing
Grieg & Schumann piano concertos in A minor (Op.16 & Op. 54 respectively)
with the Philharmonia Orch just to give it another listen. Answer VVG+
:-)


Woah! That's the very one! - HMV ALP1643???

It's shinier'n a shiny thing now - it'll be on the go later on, for sure!!

(Really looking forward to it now!! :-)

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

"David Houpt" wrote in message
...

Prompted me to dig through my vinyl for a recording of Soloman playing
Grieg
& Schumann piano concertos in A minor (Op.16 & Op. 54 respectively) with
the
Philharmonia Orch just to give it another listen. Answer VVG+ :-)

The same recording from the 50s I guess with Menges at the helm. Is
yours the original? Mine has the original mono recording
'electronically reprocessed' to give a stereo effect - not something
that is done now. Historical recordings on CD tend to leave well
alone apart from cleaning up the sound a bit.....

Fashions change of course.

Regards

David

Dated 1958 EMI in stereo with Menges. Nothing on the sleeve about either the
recording or venue. I cringe when I see 'electronically reprocessed' on
the sleeve due to early attempts giving only L/C/R that unbelievable image,
I would have preferred it to stay mono.

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Mike Gilmour" wrote in message
...

"Alan Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message
...
A beautiful, mint-looking 1958 EMI-ALP 1643 (looks like a 'Shaded Dog'
to
me) album of a peenist (whom I do not know) called Soloman playing
Grieg
and
Schumann Piano Concertos with The Philharmonia Orchestra under Menges.


Solomon. Magnificent, underrated pianist. Heard him at the King's Hall,
Belle Vue, M/C, in the 50's. Have a tape of him playing Beethoven
sonatas. Well up to Brendel standards.



Prompted me to dig through my vinyl for a recording of Soloman playing
Grieg & Schumann piano concertos in A minor (Op.16 & Op. 54 respectively)
with the Philharmonia Orch just to give it another listen. Answer VVG+
:-)


Woah! That's the very one! - HMV ALP1643???

It's shinier'n a shiny thing now - it'll be on the go later on, for sure!!

(Really looking forward to it now!! :-)




Dont think it's the same, yours has a green cover if I remember, mine EMI
40255 dated '58

Two pounds for the Monkees...
 

"Mike Gilmour" wrote in message
...

"David Houpt" wrote in message
...

Prompted me to dig through my vinyl for a recording of Soloman playing
Grieg
& Schumann piano concertos in A minor (Op.16 & Op. 54 respectively) with
the
Philharmonia Orch just to give it another listen. Answer VVG+ :-)

The same recording from the 50s I guess with Menges at the helm. Is
yours the original? Mine has the original mono recording
'electronically reprocessed' to give a stereo effect - not something
that is done now. Historical recordings on CD tend to leave well
alone apart from cleaning up the sound a bit.....

Fashions change of course.

Regards

David

Dated 1958 EMI in stereo with Menges. Nothing on the sleeve about either
the recording or venue. I cringe when I see 'electronically reprocessed'
on the sleeve due to early attempts giving only L/C/R that unbelievable
image, I would have preferred it to stay mono.


Absolutely agree - nothing more disconcerting than hearing a piano wafting
left and right across the speakers! Makes me envisage a bunch of people
wheeling it backwards and forwards!! :-)