Space is deep…

… But you can go much further at Utrecht’s record fair!

First time ever I went to a record fair this weekend and I must admit I got easily taken away at this huge happening. I brought some twenty records home from all sorts of genres to a new home, and about every single one seems like a true classic to me.

Two rather mainstream vinyls I acquired were Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues (just one Euro!) and Fleetwood Mac’s Fleetwood Mac. Accidentally I even bought the latter twice, but that got solved quite easily with an extremely nice trade! Another main bargain was David Bowie’s Low and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, for just €2.50 and apparently Italian pressing, so nearly for free I’d say!

Then, obviously, there were a bunch of prog albums in my bag. Not only The Yes Album (by Yes, obviously), but also The Lamb Dies down on Broadway by Genesis, their only proper album I didn’t have yet. Seemed it was not too easy to find, as I only came across two of them on the entire fair. Along with that I bought Ein Deutsches Album by Peter Gabriel, which is basically Peter Gabriel Three – or Melt, as you like – with German lyrics, and Solsbury Hill on a 7” (once more just one Euro for that one). Very curious what Ein Deutsches Album will be like, as the concept does sound a bit dodgy to me, to be honest…

On the prog front, naturally I explored Krautrock as well. The whole hall seemed stuffed with classic kraut albums, but most of them would cost you an arm and a leg. However, I did get to acquire a couple quite cheaply! One of my all-time favourites, Ricochet by Tangerine Dream, and also their Electronic Meditations. A top classic according to Julian Cope’s Krautrocksampler, and very nice it is indeed! The most expensive bargain of the day was Faust’s Faust So Far. Just twenty Euros, but apparently a reasonably rare pressing (300 – of which a great deal ended up in the shredder as it’s apparently a bootleg) with a very nice booklet and all that. Mint condition and so it has now become the pride of my collection!

Out of the seventies emerged these records, The Undertones by The Undertones, containing Teenage Kicks amongst others (classic!) and Herman Brood’s Shpritsz, an absolute Dutch classic everyone must have. Saturday Night, anyone?

Last decade I covered, but perhaps one of the more important ones: The eighties! Psychocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain - yet another classic album, and truly amazing for the record – and a single of theirs: Never Understand (don't know what that will be like though). I was also very glad to find a couple Fad Gadget albums, Incontinent and Gag, very fond of the first one, still exploring the second one, but worth every cent! Then there's Adam and The Ants with The Kings of the Wild Frontier, an album I have not heard yet, but quite sure I won’t regret buying that one either.

Finally, a Shriekback Maxi I knew nothing about, Working on the Ground, apparently an early release of theirs (about the time they released Care) and superb quality, obviously.

So, in conclusion, another day very well spent, and though the pleasure didn’t come too cheap I’d go any day if I could!