The Price Is Fine

Not too long ago I posted at Travis.ography and the official Travis forum to sell my copy of All I Want To Do Is Rock 10" vinyl released by Red Telephone Box Records. I received a query from a potential buyer the day after asking for my selling price but I could not find any indication of the market value of that vinyl. I read from somewhere that it was being traded for about US$100 and I saw a copy selling for £100 at an auction site.

Weeks went past and I had forgotten that I left my other email address on Travis.ography and forum. Upon checking my email today (I haven't signed in in over a month), there were a few other emails from more potential buyers. I replied with a quotation of 80 quid and one of them replied promptly saying he'd take it off my hands for 80 quid and he reckons it's a fair price!! :D (that's about approx RM500 !!)

Amazing!! I'd never expect to someday sell that vinyl for £80 when I bought it ages ago in London.. (I think I picked it up from one of those indie record store down at Berwick Street, Soho where I usually hang out for CD hunting in London) Heck I don't even recall how much I paid for it but I'm certain it was nowhere even close to 80 quid.

Only 1,000 copies of the vinyl were released by Red Telephone Box back in 1996 and the year after that Travis were signed by Independiete Record. It's extremely rare! So in essence this was the first single/EP released by Travis before they were signed by a record company. Each copy is individually numbered and though it may not look like much (I know the cover art is pants) but this is a very highly sought after item for any Travis fan. I guess next to the Glass Onion 1993 CD, this is the probably the Holy Grail of any Travis collection.

front of the 10"

back of the 10"

A-side

B-side

Countdown to Ash concert: 22 days

Counting down 22 days to October 2nd! I can't wait to finally see Ash live at Fort Canning Park. It's been donkey's years since I last attended a real rock concert in an open air fully free standing atmosphere! Gotta make sure I get there early - I wanna get into the mosh pit. Hope I won't get trampled =]

I'm hoping the lads will be singing more songs off their 1977 album since they are coming fresh off their London 1977 shows. I really hope they play "Kung Fu" cos I absolutely love that song to bits. I once sent the song on mp3 to a fren in North Carolina and she commented on how funny "Taiwan" was pronounced as "Thai-when" LOL. Till today I haven't a clue the kung fu movies referred to in the song haha.

Am also hoping to hear Tim sing all my favourite Ash songs live: Girl From Mars, A Lifeless Ordinary, Goldfinger, Oh Yeah, Angel Interceptor, What Deaner Was Talking About, Shining Light, Burn Baby Burn, Jesus Says, Evil Eye, Starcrossed, Renegade Cavalcade and Wildsurf !!

"oh Daniel-san made in Taiwan... c'mon Jackie Chan oh oh oh"

I'm getting my Ash concert ticket this weekend - bro is heading down south for work this Friday so I've asked him to pick up my Ash ticket in Singapore =]

Gone in 24 hours

I posted my copy of Call Me No. 1 CD for sale at a Mayday forum last night and it was sold in less than 24 hours LOL. I'm slowly clearing my CDs - getting rid of some copies that I no longer need and converting them into cash haha.

The above is a Japan compilation CD featuring songs from their first 2 albums. I believe it's out of print so you won't be able to find it in your local store. Rock Records has a knack for releasing numerous versions of compilation for a single artist. It's annoying and I really don't see the point of buying so many compilation, best of or greatest hits except for completion's sake.

Waiting to reach you

Out of desperation as the Ash concert is approaching (only 23 days to go), I resorted to ordering Twilight of The Innocents online at HMV. My local pursuit of the CD was heading down a dead end anyway and HMV had the limited edition Japanese 2 disc set version that includes a 12 live track CD. Not a bad deal for ¥2,030 [approximately RM65 equivalent]

The only catch was I had to purchase another CD to be able to buy the Ash Cd at that special price and HMV only had a selected range of CDs in the promotion – mostly Coldplay, DBSK, Radiohead, F4, etc. They had the entire Coldplay back catalogue on promotion but since I already own all their pre-Viva La Vida albums, I ended up buying Radiohead’s Pablo Honey re-release version with additional live tracks for ¥1,144. It was a toss between The Bends and Pablo Honey but in the end I went for the latter cos I’ve always wanted to own Creep on CD. And speaking of Creep, I remember reading that Sodagreen covered it at their recent HK concert. I believe the song is featured on their live CD - which I've yet to hear (anyone got a copy? care to share with me?) I hope it wasn't too bad a cover version. Then again you can never trust a Taiwanese band to sing a decent cover version of an English song. (Ashin is excused for his rather poor cover version of the Beatles' Hey Jude cos he doesn't speak English too well LOL)

HMV despatched my CDs today - I hope they arrive by the end of the week =]

Four Seasons in KL

I just found out from my colleague today that my favourite roast duck restaurant from Bayswater is here in KL!! I used to frequent Four Seasons when I was in London.. they had the yummiest roast duck (and chilli oil) and I remember there'd always be a Q outside the restaurant no matter rain, shine, sleet or snow.

The KL branch is located in CapSquare and I think it's time for me to make a trip downtown. I wonder if it tastes as good as the Bayswater one..

Sayonara Tendo sensei

I completed Lifesigns: Surgical Unit last week and I have to say it ranks as one of my fav game on the DS. The only other game of this genre is Trauma Centre which I gave up about halfway through gameplay as it proved too difficult for me.

Unlike Trauma Centre, Lifesigns did not revolve around just surgeries but also the daily life of Dr Tendo, the 2nd year intern who's also the male protaganist of the game. Wikipedia describes the game as "a cross between Scrubs and Trauma Centre".

The biggest difference between Trauma Centre and Lifesigns is that you get to examine the patient before making a diagnosis. You don't get to operate until you make the correct diagnosis.

I read a few online reviews and many had complained that there isn't enough gameplay (too much text reading and drama) but I think that was why I enjoyed the game so much. (I lost count of the number of patients I killed on the operating table) Surgeries are fun but they are by no means easy. Or maybe I just suck at operating haha

Now that I'm done with Lifesigns I think it's time I get back to Phoenix Wright 3.

Ash collection

I’ve been listening to Ash a lot lately in anticipation of the upcoming gig - alternating between Intergalactic Sonic 7's and Meltdown on my playlist. I'm still on the lookout for Twilight of the Innocents! :(

from L-R: Ask Ash Interview CD Rom, Goldfinger, 1977, A Lifeless Ordinary, Wild Surf, Wild Surf radio promo, Envy, Shining Light, Free All Angels US ltd edn + bonus DVD, Intergalactic Sonic 7's, Starcrossed DVD, Meltdown double disc, Meltdown Korea promo, Starcrossed, Renegade Cavalcade and Renegade Cavalcade DVD.

I have 16 Ash CD in my collection - nowhere as comprehensive as my Travis and Oasis collection (I've 82 Oasis CDs and 61 Travis CDs) Someday when I find the time I will do a separate entry for each collection :)

This Interview CD below was officially released by Infectious Records sometime after 1977 was released though I don't think it was ever available commercially.

Intergalactic Sonic is my most played CD in my Ash collection. My bro bought it as a birthday gift for me and it's conveniently got all the singles (pre-Meltdown) on disc A and b-sides on disc B. Saves me the trouble of having to pull out each individual CD for listening.

And finally, this is the last Ash CD I bought.. and it's from Korea! It's a promotional Korean copy of Meltdown which I picked up in a little CD shop in Seoul. Not quite sure what's the current exchange rate for Korean won but at the time I bought this back in late 2004, 9900 won which is actually quite cheap.

There's A Star

"roman candles that burn in the night.."

I am going to the Ash concert afterall!! Woohoooo!! Thank you Liz for making me change my mind :)

I can't believe I've been a fan for about 12 years now. Back in school I had a metal pencil case that I custom designed in silver paint with an Ash logo on the front. hehe. I first saw them on telly back in 1996 (at the height of Britpop) when Metrovision was in still transmission - they used to air a music chart show from the UK. It was through that same program that I came to discover other bands Oasis, Blur, Cast (they were singing into lightbulbs in one of their MV! LOL), Dodgy, Bluetones, Kula Shaker (singing in Sanskrit!!)

Despite having seen many bands live during the few years when I was in England, somehow I never got to see Ash. I remember they played at London's Astoria many times but somehow they must have missed Notts when I was there. And unfortunately they didn't play at the summer festivals I attended - which is why I am so eager to finally see them. Too bad Charlotte isn't with the band anymore.. I guess she had enough of Star Wars rerun LOL

Dreaming Of You

The Coral are releasing their greatest hits compilation in a double disc CD set titled "Singles Collection" on 16 September. The album art look almost like Oasis' upcoming album cover LOL

I first saw them in a music video in a Brit Awards nomination DVD back in 2003 when they were nominated for Best British Album and Best British Group. I had "Dreaming of You" on repeat at that time [I was too cheap to buy the CD haha] It was a relatively low budget music video that reminded me of Supergrass' "Alright" in some parts. The song was catchy and it had a retro feel to it - kinda like The La's (both Scouser bands..)

The lads toured with Arctic Monkeys last year (what a line-up!) and they were joined on stage by Noel Gallagher at one of their TV live show. Noel is always out to support all the best bands in the industry - I still remember when he played with Travis on "All I Want To Do Is Rock" at one of their earlier gig. And not too long ago he played guitar onstage with Chris Martin who sang both "Yellow" and "Live Forever" and boy Chris totally messed up the lyrics to "Live Forever".

Ash-less KL

Just barely two weeks after the Ministry of Culture almost cancelled/postponed the Avril gig, it looks like the Ministry has now pulled the plug on the upcoming F.I.R concert this Saturday. It is going to be a continuing trend that all concerts by foreign artists around Merdeka will be postponed?

On another note, thank you Liz for your comment on my previous entry – I’ve tried looking for that CD at Victoria Sg Wang but no luck, though a few years ago I bought the double disc version of Meltdown + live CD there =] And I couldn’t agree more with you on the point you made about how there aren’t too many ‘good music’ fans in Malaysia – which is why KL gets skipped by all my fav bands!! And why aren't Ash playing KL? I seem to recall that they made stops in Bangkok, SG and Jakarta the last time they were in this region. I don't think much has changed since the last time they toured this area, people in Malaysia still haven't a clue who Ash are.