I’m telling myself that I don’t buy anything like as much as I used to, but then there is the evidence of my own eyes and the large pile of Sprout material I just laid out on the floor for this roundup. Sproutology is a pursuit that never ceases.
We should also add the virtual material – just in is a very nice recording of the “missing” Liverpool 2000 gig, which almost completes the 2000 tour. More of that later this month if all goes well. And of course “America”.
So let’s start with the audio. A pre-release of “I Trawl the Megahertz”, the only one I’ve ever seen that refers to “side 2” as “Sleeping Rough”, the original title. A South African copy of the Gunman “mixes” pre-release. An original copy (I think – it differs a little from some of the other photos of this I’ve seen) of the “Silhouettes” bootleg of B-sides. And a long sought after gem – the South African pressing of “Protest Songs” which I’ve been looking for for ages – a couple of copies lost in transit over the years, so very glad to have this. The dealer in South Africa is a fan and a great contact to have made.
Newsprint: a copy of a Catalan article kindly donated by Roz. A NME and a Melody Maker, the former for a nice “Emma Welles” advertorial on “When Love Breaks Down”, the latter for a review of a Belfast gig in 1984 I hadn’t previously seen.
A lot of magazines, of which the highlights are probably the Japanese “The Dig” from 2000 which has a wonderful set of photos from various eras and an Italian TV magazine from the period of the Sanremo festival.
Then bringing up the rear, a nice photo clipping from 1985, a Spanish fanzine with a retrospective of the band, and a Japanese book on 1980s pop which really has some great photos.
Good haul.