GAWD bless Stonewall Records in Sunny Colch. It’s become one of my regular routine stop off points whenever I’m in the half-town, half-city.
There’s a well stocked vinyl section, plus, tucked away in a corner, some incredibly cheapo cheapo CDs. Each time I go there I remind the fine chap behind the counter that these are shamelessly underpriced.
Today I walked out with some Small Faces, Snuff, Courtney Pine, and George Benson. You’re not going to find those four artists segued together on any UK radio station.
Surprisingly I’ve not got any Small Faces. Their debut 1966 album should be as good a starting point as any.
Whereas The Who were musicians that wanted to be mods, I love the idea of The Small Faces being mods who wanted to be musicians.
I knew little about Snuff until around 1990, when one of the slightly older faces I used to run around with back in the Fair City regularly sent me mixtapes.
Snuff featured happily and I’ve bloody love them ever since. I’m surprised they don’t get more of a look in, given the recent revival with bands such as Half Man Half Biscuit.
I can listen to anything by Courtney Pine and feel instantly relaxed. This man has vibes.
Likewise for George Benson. I was unaware of this album. I prefer his jazzier early guitar work to the smooching George.
Here we have an album of covers and some half decent ones at that. It’s quite a leap of faith from The Small Faces down to George B.
