Nicks` Cabinet of Curios

  Delano Stewart - Stay a Little Longer - Dr Bird  DBCDD066 The postman`s been today to deliver this and as usual I`m like a big kid at Xmas ! This is a re-release of Delano Stewarts` 1970 album, which was produced by the late Sonia Pottinger, plus 48 other Pottinger-produced tracks, including 4 more from Mr Stewart, 60 tracks in all.  Some of the extras had been scheduled for a Trojan LP to be titled Dr No Go which in fact was never released. However, as it would have been a compilation, those had already been released in other forms. As far as I know there are no previously unreleased tracks on this album. Delano Stewart was and is a very talented performer, and Sonia Pottinger in my view was second only to Duke Reid as a producer, though some of the credit may be due to her engineer, Duke Reid`s nephew Errol Brown.  Aside from the 16 Delano Stewart tracks, others featured in this collection include Roland Alphonso, Marcia Griffiths, The Victors, The Conquerors and...

  David Stuart Davies (ed) - Classic Locked-Room Mysteries - Macmillan - 2016 Includes stories by R Austin Freeman, Edgar Allan Poe, Jacques Futrelle etc An interesting collection put together by veteran writer and noted Sherlockian David Stuart Davies. I`ll have to be frank and admit that a few weeks have passed since I read this. I do recall thinking that DSD, who I respect and admire very much, had allowed himself quite a bit of leeway on the question of what constitutes a locked-room mystery. If you`re a bit of a purist at heart and require all LRMs to conform to the classic format (A crime has taken place in a room which was locked from the inside before the event and which remains locked afterwards. How did the perpetrator enter the room and how did he escape ?)  then you probably won`t care for this. If you take a broader view of the matter then read on.  Some of the stories are better than others, but perhaps that`s to be expected. In his introduction, DSD remarks...

  Robert Dallas and Salute - Trust and Believe Vin Gordon and Salute - Warrior Charge This is a recent acquisition of mine that I thought people might like to see.  Robert Dallas I can`t tell you much about, other than the fact he is a British-based reggae singer living in Bristol and seems to have recorded quite a bit over the years. Generally speaking I am not a huge fan of modern reggae, but Mr Dallas is a singer I have a lot of time for and I hope more people will seek out his music. I certainly intend to seek out more of his tracks.  Vin Gordon is a very well-respected veteran reggae trombone player who probably needs no introduction to anyone with an interest in this sort of music. Always a pleasure to hear him play. 

  Basil Dearden (Director) - The Blue Lamp - Ealing - 1950 Recently had a welcome opportunity to watch The Blue Lamp, a film I`ve seen many times before. Many regard the film as a bit one-dimensional, a story of salt-of-the-earth coppers pursuing reckless young villains.  They can`t have been paying attention (or possibly they are confusing the film with the spin-off TV series Dixon of Dock Green). In fact, the film is a remarkably gritty depiction of a post-war Britain in which kids play on bomb sites and one officer has a spare room to let because his son is dead.  As the introductory voice-over makes clear, the young would-be hoodlums come from families damaged by war and are avoided by established organised crime as being undependable ("stick to gas meters" sneers one gangster when Dirk Bogarde`s psycho misfit Tom asks him to handle the proceeds of a proposed robbery). The signs of a war-ravaged city are all around, particularly in the scenes where the Police are out ...

David Stuart Davies - The Darke Chronicles Yorkshire man David Stuart Davies is, as you my know, a noted author, editor and playwright, a noted Sherlockian a member of The Detection Club, The Crime Writers` Association etc.  When I began reading this collection I was initially unsure if I would relate to the character of Luther Darke.  Needn`t have worried as in fact I thoroughly enjoyed the stories. In an interesting twist, Darkes` `Watson`, is a professional detective, Inspector Thornton, whereas Darke is a kind of `not-Holmes`. He sums up their relationship in the first story ;  "Ah, we see the world from different hilltops, you and I, Edward. You are the professional, scientific detective with a demand for rationality and feasibility ; whereas I am the amateur, an artist, doomed to view things from a different angle and able to see shifting and often unusual perspectives. We are two halves of the perfect whole." Whether he is quite as `not-Holmes` as...

Another dip into the record box, and today we look at two labels with similar names.  The top picture shows a UK issue on Earth International, a label run by Pat Rhoden, Les Foster and Denzil Dennis. This was apparently at the same time that Pat Rhoden was involved with Jama and related labels.  The lower picture shows a JA release on Roots International, one of a number of labels run by B B Seaton.  At one time I understand he and the late Renford Cogle ran a label named Links which released (among others) It Comes and Goes by The Melodians  B B Seaton currently releases his vintage productions on the London-based Soul Beat records (his son Richard releases Hip-Hop music in the US on a label of the same name) and runs a publishing company, Metronome Music.  He has recently written a book, 60 Years After, about his career in music. 

S John Peskett - Grim, Gruesome and Grisly - Frewin - 1974 A recent acquisition which I look forward to reading.  I know little about S John Peskett, though it is interesting to note that as Wing Commander Peskett he worked in intelligence during WWII, including a period at Bletchley Park.

Jama was a UK-based reggae record label.  De Koningh and Griffiths in their book Tighten Up ; The History of Reggae in the UK quote singer Pat Rhoden as saying that the label was begun by himself, Tito Simon and Earl Martin, the reason being that the two labels he had previously been working with, Pama and Trojan, were not recording new material at that time.  It`s said that Jama was short for Jamaica. I have always wondered if the idea was to create something that could easily be mistaken for the output of the longer-established Pama, but that`s just speculation on my part. Jama was active in the `70s and early `80s. The parent company was Jama Music and there were two or three subsidiaries, Eagle, Love and (I think) Wolf.  I have read that Earl Martin dropped out of the company later, to be replaced by Les Foster. However, that`s just from memory and I`ve not been able to check that*.  The top disc is one of Pat Rhoden`s own singles, Sweet ...

T E B Clarke - Murder at Buckingham Palace - Hale - 1981 This is the book I`m reading at the moment. Thomas Ernest Bennett Clarke, known by the nickname Tibby, was a prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction but is probably best remembered as a screenplay writer (The Blue Lamp, Passport to Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob and more). He is known for writing crime fiction novels disguised to seem like works of non-fiction, Murder at Buckingham Palace being a case in point. In fact, the disguise is pretty thin and I cannot imagine anyone reading this without realising it is a novel.  While I haven`t finished it yet it is thoroughly enjoyable and I`m giving serious thought to trying some of his other books.   

The Ringer (1953) A film I saw yesterday for the first time.  This is one of three films with this title, all based on an Edgar Wallace novel of the same name.   The earlier film versions are from 1928 and 1931. Another version of the same story was released in 1938 as The Gaunt Stranger, known as The Phantom Strikes in the US. Personally, my taste usually runs to a relatively short B movie, but this intriguing film with a very accomplished cast made for a good couple of hours viewing. 

Thorwald - The Marks of Cain - T&H - 1965 Another addition to my book collection, a very interesting book on the history of fingerprinting and ballistics, aimed at the general reader.  I`ve not made much progress with it yet as I was part-way through another book when it arrived. However, I`m enjoying what I`ve read so far.  Much of the contents are covered elsewhere - Vidocq, Bertillon, the history of Scotland Yard - but it is quite wide-ranging and some of the cases etc discussed are not so well-known, or not known to  me at any rate.  Mine is the UK first edition, published a year later than the original German edition, but wasn`t especially expensive. 

Rain ; The Best of Bruce Ruffin 1967-71  - Trojan CDTRL449 2001 I only bought this album recently, and there`s a reason for that. Given the title , I assumed it would be basically a re-issue of BR`s Rain album, which I already have, plus maybe a couple of bonus tracks. This impression was re-inforced by the use of a badly-cropped version of the cover illustration from that album on the front.  In fact, only some of the tracks appear from Rain appear on this, and what you get is 27 tracks featuring most phases of his career - solo tracks, The Techniques, The Shades, Pat and Bruce, Tyrone and Bruce, Winston and The Shades. There is nothing here from his band Chain Reaction - I must admit I`m quite glad about that as for some reason I can`t get on with their stuff !   With such a comprehensive collection, my only quibbles are rather minor - I personally would have included Make Love Not War, for instance.  What we get here is the essence of Bru...

Just finished watching this fascinating and very watchable 1940s wartime murder mystery movie.  I won`t be writing a review as it`s been a long day, but I will post a link for anyone wanting to watch the film in the very near future (possibly later this evening). 

                                                  Francis Lederer in the Return of Dracula The Return of Dracula - 1958 Not everybody`s kind of thing but I enjoyed this film.  The story involves Count Dracula (played by Francis Lederer) finding his way to the United States and setting up home in 1950s small-town America, lodging with a family who believe him to be a distant relative (in fact he`s murdered the real relative and taken his identity). When it first became apparent that this was the plot I had grave reservations but in fact the film won me over. The contrast between the wholesome host family and the their far-from-wholesome lodger makes for an effective film.  It`s true that some aspects of the plot are fudged - Dracula divides his time between the home of the family he lodges with and a disused mine but it is un...

Bill Gentles - Ever Since I Met You/I Want to Be Loved/I Saw You - Echo - Undated 12" Single This is the latest addition to my music collection and I have to say I`m very, very happy with it.  The late Bill Gentles is a personal favourite of mine, though it`s difficult to explain quite what sets him apart.  For sure he was a capable singer and songwriter and it`s also true that the musicians on these tracks were more than capable*.  Somehow, these deceptively simple songs seem to be more than the sum of their parts and I think that`s the key to his appeal. I bought this disc from an excellent seller named Stu who trades on E-Bay with the user name silvaback18, and who was kind enough to let me use his pictures of the label to illustrate this review. Thanks, Stu.  *I assume these are the same versions of these songs that appeared on BG`s LP Love and Experience, which is unfortunately ruinously expensive now. The musicians on that album include D...

Mike Holgate - The Secret of the Babbacombe Murder ; the Mysterious Case of John Lee, the Man They Could Not Hang - Peninsula Press - 1995 I don`t write full reviews of books unless they`re very fresh in my mind and unfortunately some weeks have passed since I finished reading this.   I can tell you that I enjoyed it and would recommend it. The looks at various accounts of the case of John Lee (sometimes referred to as Babbacombe Lee) , who escaped death by hanging in 1885 after three successive attempts to carry out his sentence were unsuccesful.  As I recall, the author seems happiest comparing different accounts without intruding his own views too much, but it is fair to say some of the myths surrounding the case are addressed and, to my mind, disproved.

Today we remember legendary songwriter Renford Cogle on the first anniversary of his death. I will share a few of his tunes today, but first here are a few discs from my own collection featuring songs he either wrote himself or collaborated on. The issue of `who wrote what` is potentially vexed and with the three major protagonists now dead I would think we will never know the full story. We can certainly say that Renford Cogle was a very talented songwriter whose songs, whether written alone or in collaboration with others,  touched many lives.  Long may his legacy continue !

Model for Murder (1959) The Scarlet Web (1954) A quick mention here for two films I`ve seen recently, both of which featured the acting talents of Hazel Court. Model for Murder is diverting enough and I would see it again, but that`s as far as I would go. The Scarlet Web is in a different league altogether, strong performances from a strong cast and an intriguing story.  In addition to her acting, Hazel Court was also a painter and sculptor. Her intention had been to specialise in comedy roles, but in fact she is chiefly remembered for her horror roles.  She believed that her fondness for the works of Edgar Allan Poe made her "a natural" for those parts. She took a down-to-earth approach to acting, remarking of her films of the `50s that there were "never any tantrums", "you enjoyed doing it and you didn`t ever think of yourself as special", "we were glad of a job, and we did it". 

This rather nifty promotional flyer came with my copy of Dance With Me by Bill Gentles. Unfortunately it`s not actually signed, it just features a reproduction of a signed photo. Still a nice item to have though.  Bill Gentles (real name Bill Bennett I believe) was a prolific reggae artist but unfortunately like so many others he seems now to be largely overlooked whereas others less talented seem to get a lot of attention.    Dance With Me is probably not his greatest work, but still very agreeable .