Don and Bobby (and The Pooches!)

At a Darren Hanlon gig what seems like aeons ago, a couple of friends* recommended Don Lennon's music to me. I made the usual mental note which was promptly misfiled in my brain so I never found my fingers typing his name into a search engine. Wind on a few years and another friend recommended Lennon's first group, The Umpteens, to me. This time I took the hint and discovered just what a fool I'd been for not listening to his music sooner:

"Party All The Time" is somnambulant soul pop for the Chickfactor generation. A heavenly, late-night studio match-up of Jens Lekman at his peak with the Timmion Records house band at their most suavely recumbent. Unbeatable, really.

On the subject of Finland's cherished Timmion label, have you heard Bobby Oroza's "This Love" on its Stylart offshoot? If at any point in the last couple of months you had bumped into me on Argyle Street, there's a fair chance that I would have bored you senseless with my unquantifiable love for its warm, gently impassioned charms. If Bobby never makes another great record, he will forever be a giant in Not Unloved's eyes for "This Love" alone.

The picture sleeve version appears to be long gone and, as expected, is already getting pricey on discogs but the repress in the generic sleeve is still available for a sensible price if you look hard enough (I got mine from Jazzman). Get on it!

* - these friends now make up half of The Pooches who recorded a lovely version of Don Lennon's "Songs" for a charity tape:

The Price Is Right For "The Time Is Right For Love"

An original copy of Bobby Reed's soul masterpiece "The Time Is Right For Love" (Bell Records) has been sitting on ebay at around the £300 mark for a while now.  As Soul/Northern Soul prices go, £300 isn't silly money but it's certainly way outside my price range.  I expected an original to be outta my price league but I didn't expect that the 2004 Expansion reissue would now be, too!  Since hearing Gerry Love spinning it in Cafe Rio a couple of years ago, I must've bid on a dozen, probably more, copies and always been outbid.  When a VG+ copy went for £52.00 (eek!) the other week I resigned myself to never owning it so scouted about once more for a compilation cd which included it.  Unfortunately these proved elusive, too; Goldmine Soul Supply's "Modern Soul Volume 4" cd is out of print and at that time there weren't any second hand copies kicking about.  Ditto the "Soul Spectrum II" (BBE) cd.  When a Mint/unplayed copy of the 7" reissue popped up, I automatically added it to my watchlist, more to track the price than in the hope of actually buying it.  Strangely, with only a couple of hours to go, nobody had bid on it so I speculatively ventured the starting price which was £6 more than the upper limit I'd previously agreed with myself. Surprisingly (what happened to the person who lost out on the 52.00 quid copy?), no further bids followed so the chase was over.  Score!  Does it matter that it's not an original?  Not to me.  What does matter, is that I can now luxuriate in its rich delights through my stereo instead of via my computer's inferior wee speakers.  "The Time Is Right For Love" is not only a testament to Van McCoy's (it should've been on this!) considerable (co-)songwriting skills, but also Saint Etienne's ear for a classy sample.