I Ain't Gettin' On No Plane Fool...

Had to take a trip to sunny Bognor Regis today in order to pick up some painting and decorating materials. Of course, I took the opportunity to drop in to the Charity shops along the way and for the first time in a while turned up some decent records. Came home with a couple of carrier bags full that included some staple pieces like Woody Herman's "Light My Fire" album and an original U.S. copy of Arrested Development's classic "People Everyday" 12", but also some pleasant surprises I took punts on. Firstly, a Toyota promo album from 1973 with an amazing cover that includes a nice version of 'Shaft' (I'll post this up on a later date). Also picked up one of those 'Parade Of Pops' Lp's that I'd never come across before which has a cool version of "Be Thankful For What You Got" on it, and a pretty dope Hip Hop 12" by a guy called 'Honestly' from Sweden. This record was still sealed and quite hard to make any accurate judgement upon from the sleeve - could easily have been some crappy dance 12" - but at 50p was worth a shot and definitely paid off. "Better Than Me" is a really nice track, both in it's original and remix form, sounding like any of the various Quannum projects. If you like that sound, go check him out.

But anyway, onto the cream of the crop and most fitting finds for the wonderful world of bizarre - three promotional 45's for BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation). I initially bought these for the packaging - all housed in lovely picture sleeves with equally attractive label artwork - but ended up being blow away by the music as well. The killer of the bunch is gonna remain under wraps for the time being though as it contains an absolutely blinding, hard hitting Funk cut with drums to go. I ain't giving this out to nobody yet! Let me just say, if you see any of these BOAC promo 45's, take a risk on them as you might find the one I'm holding back on - you won't be disappointed if you do.

So, onto the the other two - firstly the "Let's Not Say Sayonara" which was produced for BOAC's Polaroute from London to Osaka via Tokyo. 'Songs of greeting - songs of parting - sung for you by two of Japan's most popular artists. A small momento of BOAC's new Polar Route which we hope will give you pleasure', it states on the back of the sleeve. The artists performing on here are Jun Mayuzumi and Kyu Sakamoto. I googled both names and they were in fact two very popular recording artists during the most part of the 1960s, both releasing a wealth of singles and albums. All four tracks on this E.P. are nice enough if you like that typical '60s Pop sound but I've chosen to upload the harder edged "Somewhere In The Fog" by Jun Mayuzumi. Check it out below - the intro is dope.

The second E.P. - "Islands In The Sun" contains pretty standard Caribbean music but there's something about Papette & The Islanders Steelband's "Ammo Boccaio" that I like. Don't know what it is, but there's something really appealing to me. Maybe it's the vocals or the bouncy rhythm, or maybe both, but anyway, I like what I like, and I like this...

Now, all you diggers out there, get hunting for that mysterious third one I mentioned, and until you find it, just imagine how dope it would have been to travel to New York with BOAC in the early '80s and receive one of these 45's with vintage Bronx block party recordings on them...


Jun Mayuzumi "Somewhere In The Fog" (1968 BOAC promo 45)



Papette & The Islanders Steelband "Ammo Boccaio" (1968 BOAC promo 45)