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IN WHICH… I WONDER WHAT COMES FIRST – DISC OR GIG?

What comes first for you – buying a record because you have seen a live performance, or seeing a live performance because you own a record by the act in question? Seeing an impressive live performance by someone I hadn’t expected much from will often spark me into action, rushing out to acquire as much as possible of their lifetime’s work. My local live music venue of choice is connected to one of my two favourite football clubs. The Tropic is a smallish, about 200-capacity hall at the ground where Wealdstone FC, the non-league club whose old boys include international skippers Stuart Pearce and Vinnie Jones, play their matches. It tends to attract mostly tribute acts, but to their credit, the organisers do like to find original acts to put before a smaller, but usually more discerning crowd. I saw Thunderclap Newman here – yes, the real one – and the Glitter Band – without him– and an ailing T S McPhee.

This is where I have discovered bands who have never reached the level of popularity which their talents suggest they deserve. For example, Never The Bride, fronted by boisterous singer Nikki Lamborn, of whom Roger Daltrey, no less, is a big fan, and keyboardist/guitarist/singer Catherine ‘Been’ Feeney, who co-write the music. With fine back-up musicians, their sound incorporates classic rock, blues, and soul and the girls certainly know how to whip up a crowd, often with the aid of additional member, Jack Daniels! Their songs can be very powerful and having seen them half a dozen times I own about that number of their records.

The first time we saw rock-blues guitarist, Larry Miller at Tropic, we agreed that you could pay ten times what it cost to see his show and still not see talent of this quality. Sadly, Larry, a big Rory Gallagher fan, suffered a stroke, and at time of writing has yet to return to action. The records of his I have bought are a constant reminder of both his dynamism and the personal tragedy that has befallen him. I really hope that the title of his LP, Unfinished Business, proves accurate. American Willie Nile is pally with Springsteen and has played with the E Street Band, but when he made his Tropic debut you could count the crowd on your toes and fingers. Didn’t matter to him, he and his band played as though they were at nearby Wembley Stadium. Since then he has been back several times and now you need to book early to see him. Willie is not blessed with great height but the energy he throws into his performances – and we have seen him when he has been wracked with illness but carried on regardless – plus his individual charisma and talent, always win over his audiences.

Having bought four of another chap’s LPs back in the 1970s I’d never seen him live, so when I noticed that he was playing locally in 2018, I was quick to acquire tickets. That’s not enough of a clue to name him, but if I tell you that he is best known for his work with the likes of Neil Young, the groups Grin and Crazy Horse and that he has had two hip replacements as a result of his love of playing the guitar whilst back-flipping on a trampoline… maybe you’d identify Nils Lofgren. The show was a two-man, virtuoso performance by Nils and sidekick Greg Varlotta, who also played keyboards, used his tap-dancing skills to drum and played mariachi-style trumpet. Without an interval, the pair produced an absolute masterclass in how to play an audience as skilfully as their instruments.

The only tiny criticism I could have of one of the best live shows I’ve witnessed was the slightly over-enthusiastic efforts to promote ‘the last 30 or 40’ copies of Nils’ massive Face the Music box set CD collection, consisting of 169 ‘personally chosen’ tracks over 9 CDs, (and a 20-song video, plus a 136-page book). Nils just happened to have brought them along with him to permit the good burghers of St Albans the opportunity of shelling out… I didn’t wait around to find out how much the set was going for. Not that I wasn’t interested, but there were hordes of fans waiting for him to come amongst them. When I got home I had a look on Amazon. Cheapest offer, £378.20! There was another £13.61 to pay for delivery. There was, though, a copy offered on Amazon.com, from a different supplier, for $299.98 plus $3.99 delivery – which, translated, worked out at £228.77. Hm. Bit of a difference there.

Then I found a site called fourdogsmusic.co.uk, offering to sell it for £116 and a few pence, with a 10 per cent discount if one signed up to their site. I was soon thinking that a couple of quid over a ton wouldn’t be the worst value in the world, and I filled in the relevant sections for making a purchase. I found there were ‘extras’ added, including some kind of tax, which produced a final cost of £141.76, still market-place competitive, but not really giving me confidence in a company I hadn’t heard of before to splash out such serious dosh.

So I sent them an email:

‘I was interested in your Nils Lofgren’ Face the Music box set. Whilst browsing the site a pop-up offered me a 10 per cent discount if I filled in my details. The set was quoted at £116.73 + free delivery. But I could find nowhere to enter the 10 per cent discount code I’d been given and when some mysterious ‘tax’ extra was added the price was £141.76. Is this right?’

A response arrived six hours later:

‘The cost of the CD box set is shown as £139.96, the £116.73 price you were looking at is shown as the price excluding VAT: £139.96 (£116.63 ex. vat). So no mysterious tax then. But very sorry but this fine CD has actually sold out now anyway and is due to be taken off the site. Best wishes, Mike (Newman).’

As ever, one response invites another, so I emailed back to ask whether the box set should still have been offered, as it had already sold out? And, no mention of the offered discount? The subsequent silence was deafening. The next evening, Face the Music box set was still for sale at £139.96 with no indication that there were no copies available. Next time I went to check out the fourdogsmusic website, I found this message:

‘After 12 years of supplying some of the best music around, (well, in our opinion anyway), Four Dogs Music is taking a break. Time will tell if we will be back gracing the web with our eclectic mish-mash of musical mayhem.’