I have to accept this is a song I will never own as a proper 7". A legendary piece from the psychedelic branch of the C86 tree, "Pristine Christine" was the very first single on Sarah Records and one of a handful of songs the Sea Urchins ever released. I actually prefer the band's next single, "Solace" (Sarah 008), but the record snob in me would rather possess Sarah 001. I check ebay and the like from time to time, but the endeavor always ends in disappointment and disgust. For example, there is one
for sale right now, and with five-plus days to go, the eighth bid has already pushed the asking price to $174.63 plus shipping from the UK. Gadzooks!
Fortunately, the song has popped up on a couple of more affordable compilations, such as
'CD86.' So, we can all enjoy it right now... even if we can't hold the valuable piece of vinyl in our hot little hands. Incidentally, you can also get "Solace" on the excellent
'Scared to Get Happy,' released by Cherry Red. So far, that's my runaway leader for box set of the year.
I'm curious. What are your most elusive records?
The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine (mp3)
2 comments:
I would make do with the track appearing on a compilation cd rather than spend a considerable sum on a 7". These days there are very very few "elusive" records, you can find just about anything. Although if you ever come across an LP about growing roses please let me know.
Well, this is really strange. Your post compelled me to recall two songs I really liked but that I’ve never been able to retrieve via the net, and believe me, I’ve tried many times over the years. This morning I had a little spare time (it doesn't happen too often), so I decided to try again a little web search and lo and behold, in a matter of seconds and for no discernible reason (the search words I used were the same as in the past), I found them both on Youtube.
The first one is ‘The Moon Is A Dandy’ by someone called Paul Francis, who recorded that one under the pseudonym ‘Jean Paul Dionysus’. I came across that song, if my brain cells serve me right, thanks to a friend who, almost twenty five years ago, bought a Secret Heart (English folk label) sampler at a concert, lent it to me and that song was the side one – track one on that album. Loved it, recorded it on tape, tape still somewhere in the backyard shack never to be found again.
Judging by the number of Youtube plays I am the only one in the world who still remembers it apart for its author.
The second one was even trickier. I remember watching the video on MTV in the cold hours before the morning in the deep of winter after a night out in the mid-nineties. The day after I was so stoned (not that I did drink or smoke anything funny, just tired) I didn’t recall anything of it except from the title ‘Timothy Leary Says”, that it was a wonderful song and that I did think that the video was a work of genius in its low-budget creativity. Nothing else. And I’ve never seen that video again.
Turns out it’s from a Canadian band called Cottage Industry and some videos from them is all the web has to offer.
These are the Youtube links:
Jean Paul Dionysus - The Moon Is A Dandy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mb9kRWZOO4
Cottage Industry – Timothy Leary Says: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7kc5-kTkQA
Maybe I’m just drunk on memory, but I think they are both extremely beautiful songs. I tried another search but I didn’t found any blog posts about them. Any chance?
Sorry for the absurdly long comment, and I hope I haven’t bore the hell out of anybody, but in a way I’m quite happy about the outcome of it. Finding lost songs thought to be missing forever is like meeting old friends, isn’t it?
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