{"id":23750,"date":"2020-08-05T11:17:39","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T15:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=23750"},"modified":"2020-08-06T07:55:48","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T11:55:48","slug":"the-most-expensive-record-i-ever-bought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/the-most-expensive-record-i-ever-bought\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Expensive Record I Ever Bought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Was the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/strawberry-fields-forever-in-true-stereo\/\" target=\"_blank\">German true stereo<\/a> pressing of <em>Magical Mystery Tour<\/em>.<br \/><br \/>No, I\u2019m just kidding.<br \/><br \/>The most expensive record I ever bought was a live album called <em>June 1, 1974<\/em>, by <strong>Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Eno &amp; Nico<\/strong>.<br \/><br \/>I bought it in 1974 or early 1975 at E.J. Korvette\u2019s in Springfield. I didn\u2019t understand why an album with that title was available at that point in the discounted rack. I was totally unfamiliar with Kevin Ayers. I knew Cale from the Velvet Underground and the same with Nico, but knew nothing of their solo work. I knew Eno was a member of Roxy Music; I knew a bit about them but, again, nothing of his solo career (which at that point had only just started).<br \/><br \/>I take flyers on albums all the time now, but it was unusual then; there wasn\u2019t a lot of disposable income and each purchase had to count. But the price tag on this album was $1.99 and so was a small risk to learn about Cale, Eno, &amp; Nico. And Kevin Ayers, whoever he was.<br \/><br \/>But wait a minute\u2026$1.99\u2026most expensive?!?!<br \/><br \/>Here\u2019s how that makes sense; here\u2019s the sense in which I mean it.<br \/><br \/>I don\u2019t think there is any other album in my collection which has so directly led to so many other purchases.<br \/><br \/>It started off with two Eno songs, \u201cDriving Me Backwards\u201d and \u201cBaby\u2019s On Fire.\u201d I loved them. Then Cale\u2019s version of \u201cHeartbreak Hotel.\u201d Wow, great! And then Nico\u2019s cover of \u201cThe End.\u201d The remaining five songs were Kevin Ayers.&#8217;<br \/><br \/>This is my favorite track from the album and my favorite ever Kevin Ayers song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes (Live At The Rainbow Theatre \/ 1974)\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cFyHz6HxWHg?feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This show was an Ayers gig at the Rainbow Theatre in London, to which he invited Cale and Nico. Cale brought along Eno. Robert Wyatt and Mike Oldfield were also guests, sitting in with the band.<br \/><br \/>Ayers was the real revelation of this album for me. I immediately loved him. I\u2019ve since bought all his solo albums as well as the first Soft Machine album; he was a founding member of that band but only stayed for the first album. I still love John Cale and have bought everything he has put out.   And I was definitely in for Eno\u2019s pop albums and do have a few of the early ambient ones including the collaborations with Robert Fripp. Add in a couple of Nico albums.<br \/><br \/>Those Ayers albums and the Eno ones were all imports, pricey at the time.<br \/><br \/>So, this $1.99 album led directly to about 80 albums being purchased. Yes, it was a mighty expensive album. But it was a lot of great music.<br \/><br \/>What\u2019s the most expensive album \u2013 in this way &#8211; in your collection?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Was the German true stereo pressing of Magical Mystery Tour. No, I\u2019m just kidding. The most expensive record I ever bought was a live album called June 1, 1974, by Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Eno &amp; Nico. I bought it in 1974 or early 1975 at E.J. Korvette\u2019s in Springfield. I didn\u2019t understand why an <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/the-most-expensive-record-i-ever-bought\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[18,1045,1054,1053],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}