So many nice books there. 😊

I had no personal connection to Andy, but I like to think I can keep those few records of his that I have safe and appreciated. 😊

Tabu Ley - Afrisa Selection. There is a handwritten note on the sleeve. “To Andy. Good souvenir to London for this night.”

Close up of the inscription. “To Andy. Good souvenir to London for this night.”

A letter to Andy Kershaw. Andy Kershaw BBC Radio One Broadcasting House W1 11 Liston Road London SW4 0DG 01-622 0111 6 Oct 1987 Dear Andy I warned you there was more to come. Well here's part of it! sort out a mix-up. time I sent you a white copied from my Fire Family cover. record inside was not the Fire Family. to put in its sleeve, Unfortunately I don't have any details of the tracks by now find that Amayenge. Amayenge. I also enclose a batch of 45's, most of them by Amayange. I saw the group live in Zambia, twice. They are basically a six- piece (drums, bass, two guitars, lead male singer & percussion) plus two girl singers and two boy dancers. The percussionist joins the two boys dancers, doing what used to be called gymnastics when I was at school--flip flops. somersaults, cartwheels--while the band keeps up a very fast beat behind all the action. One of the boys is about nine, and is more or less a contortionist, doubling over backwards until his hands are flat on the floor, and then flipping over onto his feet. All in all, Amayenge would be an entertaining group to play live here; Zambia Airways and a firm called between them to pay for the group's Zamcargo have agreed flights to London and living expenses while they are here. Stuart Lyons is ready them. Naturally, they are itching but to promote to come it's a bit inefficient if there's no record out; over, so I have said i would see if I could find an interested record company. DiscAfrique, Globestyle, and Earthworks would seem to be the most likely, and I am supplying them with samples. Finally, I also enclose the notes prepared by Ben Shumba at Teal Records, which relate to all the records he sent. I plan to send you the rest of the records when you've had chance to work through this batch, but if the notes make you impatient to hear a particular record, let me know and I'll send it/them. Happy listening Call me to fix our get together!

I’ve told this story before, but a decade or so ago I had the opportunity to buy some of Andy Kershaw’s records - though not direct from Andy, via a record dealer friend of his. Some came with little notes and letters. Precious objects.

God speed.

We should always believe scientists! Never seen that one. Clyne at the top of his game.

The Water Wars YouTube video by Richmond Fontaine - Topic

“Got a job in a warehouse in L.A
They're growing faster now than groves
I was loading boxes that no one needs and I can’t afford
Once again I'd give up and leave before I even begin”

Another brilliant short story song.

youtu.be/r3EN_FHECSk?...

Perfect song from a perfect album.

The username is Thames Choral. I live in London, I mostly post about music. A river of sound, you might say.

And it is an anagram of my real name.

Thank you, that is very kind. ☺️

Not lying about the heavy…

Yep. Me also. 😂

A BBC stock library sleeve covered in writing and stickers.

A BBC stock sleeve. With writing, stickers and Dyno tape.

“Single Copy Do Not Loan” sticker

SPECIAL RECORD As this record is either no lange published de extremely difficult to obtain, kindly return to Gramophone Library as quickly as possible. LIBRARIAN. SIDE 4 FT 3704 D Reading by JOHN CAGE Music by David Tudor

And here is the finale. Most people, understandably, would not give these room in their collections. But to me these stock archive sleeves have become nothing short of art.

Cage once again; and difficult to obtain, the Librarian informs us.

☺️

9/9

Folk Music From Italy. BBC library copy with stickers.

Reverse of the sleeve.

“Please note any serious faults…” like this big orange sticker on the sleeve perhaps?

Folk Music of Italy. Ethnic series again.

8/

Baoule of the Ivory Coast. The sleeve features an image of a traditional carving.

Reverse of the sleeve.

Another from the BBC. Ethnic Folkways library (probably my favourite sub-set), this time from the Ivory Coast.

Most of these BBC records are missing the booklets, which is a pity, but I can live with that.

7/

Sounds of New Music. A monotone abstract design partly obscured by a large library sticker.

Reverse of the sleeve.

Close up of stamps. Mono. Import. BBC Gramophone Library.

These next few were all part of the BBC Gramophone Library, so steeped in history and plastered with stickers.

This first one is very special. The Sounds of New Music, though it does not seem to have been checked out so very often. Some nice stamps.

Cage and Cowell amongst others.

6/

Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca.

Reverse of the sleeve.

The record label. Green text on a white background. Folkways in a handwritten script.

While we’re are looking at spoken word there is this oddity. Probably Argentinian, I can’t say for certain but I have others pressed there. The sleeve design differs from the U.S. copy, and is also lacking the usual stock black sleeve. Possibly issued this way, not sure. Lovely label variation.

5/

Anthology of 20th Century English Poetry. An image of bare trees.

Understanding and Appreciation of the Novel. The sleeve design features a photogram of leaves.

Here are a couple of spoken word LPs with gorgeous sleeve designs. The poetry anthology features the poets (Gunn, Amis, Larkin, Hughes, et al) reading their own work.

The second one is an examination of various novels and a bit about the novel as a concept.

Both designs are by Ronald Clyne.

4/

Science Fiction Sound Effects. By Mel Kaiser. A design featuring a rocket blasting through space.

SCIENCE FICTION SOUND EFFECTS RECORD 1: SOUND OF APPROACH OF MISSILE OR CREATURE, 1:18 2: LAUNCHING SITE, 0:52 3: ELEVATOR DESCENDING, 0:20 4: ELEVATOR, 0:25 5: ROCKET PRIMER, 0:16 6: SPACE SHIP HATCH: OPENING OR CLOSING, 0:05 7: ROCKET BLAST OFF, 0:10 8: SPACE SHIP BLAST-OFF, 0:19 9: EXTERIOR OF SPACE SHIP IN MOTION, 0-22 10: ELECTRONIC SIREN, 0:41 11: SIREN: FAST & HIGH PITCH, 0:50 12: BEEPER, 0:29 13: BEEPER: FAST & HIGH PITCH, 0:29 14: COSMIC BOMBARDMENT INDICATOR, 0:44 15: SAME WITH MORE ACTIVITY, 0:10 16: ELECTRONIC TELESCOPE, 0:12 17: ELECTRONIC PATHFINDER, 0:21 18: ELECTRONIC DRONE (Background), 1:07 19: DRONE WITH VARIATIONS, 0:26 20: DRONE WITH VARIATIONS, 0:28 21: FREQUENCY SWEEP-DUAL, 0:45 22: TONE PYRAMID, SWEEPS AND DRONES, 1:45 22: continued TONE PYRAMID ETC., 1:30 23: LOW FREQ. SWEEPS, 0:30 24: MEDIUM FREQ. SWEEPS, 3:45 (with echo re-verb. & pulses, drones) 25: SPACE MACHINE-BACKGROUND, 0:30 26: SPACE SOUNDS, 0:33 27: SPACE BACKGROUND-DRIFTING, 0:38 28: SPACE (music), 1:40 29: SONIC SEARCH, 1:42 30: SAME WITH JAMMING, 1:20 31: SAME WITH VARIATIONS, 1:15 32: SPACE (music), 0:42 (try with speed reduction) DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ARE INSIDE POCKET

This one I did post before, but you can see the track list here on the reverse as well (and in the ALT)… and what a delight it is. Honestly, it sounds like an Orb album or something a modular head would put out. “Tone Pyramid, Sweeps and Drones”. Oh yes.

3/

The First Encounter. Reverse of the sleeve. SIDE I Therapy of the Mind: Psychiatry The Therapist The Patient Psychotherapy SIDE II Psychoanalysis Psychopharmacology Group Psychotherapy The Therapeutic Community Somatic Therapies Hospitalization Adjustment to Life Circumstances Patien Doctor Relationship Sell Realization The First Encounter THE THERAPY OF THE MIND FOLKWAYS RECORDS FX 6401 Cover design by Irwin Rosenhouse Descriplive notes are inside pocket

I think this could be a be a new challenger for my all time favourite sleeve. The drawing is by Irwin Rosenhouse. The record is an introduction to psychiatry in its various forms. Very Folkways.

Here is a CW: if you are in any way triggered by stickers or writing on sleeves, best get out now.

2/

The First Encounter. A hand drawn design of a child discovering a leaf.

This is thread all about the Folkways records I found during the last couple of weeks. I have been collecting the label for nearly 40 years and yet it is still as thrilling as always to unearth ones I have not seen before.

Like this one; The First Encounter. The Therapy of the Mind.
1/

A view of the Symbolik store in Bruges.

Oh, we absolutely did. Bruges is gorgeous. Waffles, chocolate and beer featured. We stayed at a lovely atelier in the old town.

Also went to the Harp Museum for one of the concerts. A truly magical experience.

The Warm Sound | Frances Wayne. The cover features a design based on a Queen of Hearts playing card.

Queen of my heart.

The Warm Sound: Frances Wayne, from 1957 - arranged by husband Neal Hefti, with Al Cohn, Urbie Green, and Hank Jones amongst others. Gorgeous copy.

A pile of records, CDs and tapes discovered in various shops in London, Bruges, and Brussels in the Spring of 2026.

What we did on our holidays.

David Nzomo Reflects On His Recordings With Folkways Records [Interview Video] YouTube video by Smithsonian Folkways

youtu.be/ognZ5CYxSh8

David Nzomo | Gospel Songs From Kenya. A purple and white sleeve with a bold black cross dividing it into quarters. With a photograph of Nzomo playing guitar.

Blissful gospel that almost tips over into lullaby. David Nzomo on Folkways. 💚

Echoes of a Friend | McCoy Tyner. A red and blue portrait in a flat graphic style. Japanese OBI strip above.

Back home. Sunday morning coffee and speculoos with this @jspacewoman.bsky.social find from Brussels.

We planned the trip with a half day in Brussels on the way back. Plenty of record shops very close together, and I think we did ok… stay tuned! ☺️

Yes, we did our whole trip by train. Best way to travel. 😊

Caroline Records in Brussels was like that. The staff were nice, but the leaving the bags thing is a bit meh. And, for the record, their upstairs s/h department was really not worth the effort.

Not been. Possibly somewhere for a future trip as looking to try a new place.

There are a couple of others that I know of, and we popped into both. Neither produced much and they are not as splendid. Ghent and Brussels have many more.