Many years ago (1988), I took my girlfriend-at-the-time to see Roy Harper play live. He was supported by a young singer/songwriter/guitarist called James Varda. The gig was excellent, and I was so impressed with James Varda, that I bought his debut LP, Hunger (direct from the record label , as HMV didn’t carry it). It didn’t disappoint, with the best lyrical imagery this side of thin-wild-mercury Dylan, and some powerful use of a semi-accoustic 12-string. I must have all but worn out the grooves on that album. A year or so later the girlfriend left me and – I found out later – took the album with her.
I’ve been quietly bemoaning this for years (the loss of the album, not the girl…). Every so often I’d search the Internet hoping to find that it had been re-released on CD, to no avail. But then a month or so ago, I came across a company (cdBBQ) on the Internet that offered to track down any vinyl record you wanted, and burn it to CD. They even listed Hunger as one of the albums they had (although I suspect they just listed every vinyl album ever released, as when I placed my order I got a reply saying that they were ‘trying to locate a copy’ of the album). Anyway, I took up the offer and ordered it.
Last week, the package finally turned up. It included a pristine copy of the original vinyl album (complete with lyric sheet insert, and plastic sleeve), and a copy of the album on CD-R – and as a proper CD, not just MP3 files of the songs.
Despite yearning after this album for so long, I couldn’t bring myself to put it on for the first couple of days. Hunger has been swimming around in my head for almost 20 years, elevating itself to near mythical proportions, and I was apprehensive in case it wasn’t as good as I remembered it being. But it turns out that it really is. And I remember it pretty well too (unlike the girl, whose name I can barely recall), being able to sing along to just about every song. I was also pleased to find that it still had the intensity and earnestness I’d credited it with. Listening to it now, I can just picture Varda straining forward with the urgency of it all – as I’m sure he was when I saw him live all those years ago.
Obviously, I ripped it to my iPod, but I also gave the vinyl a spin (yes, I still have a gramophone…), and was happy to find that the CD is actually a pretty good quality recording of the album. In fact, it’s significantly better (clearer, and more dynamic) than some ‘real’ CD re-releases I’ve bought. Listening through headphones, at high volume, there’s a very slight background hiss between tracks that gives away the fact that it was copied from vinyl, but apart from that, it’s pretty damn good. For the technically-minded, here’s what cdBBQ (say they) did:
- Professionally cleaned the record.
- Converted the record to digital format on audiophile equipment, including a Creek Audio Class A phono preamp, a Music Hall or Audio Technica turntable, and a phono cartridge by Goldring or Grado Audio Technica.
- Applied a sophisticated noise/hum reduction process.
- Split the recording into tracks, added CD-Text song names, and recorded it all onto a 24K gold-plated CD.
For an additional fee they’ll apply several additional levels of noise and pop/click reduction, and scan the cover art and print it on the CD and CD case, but as I knew I’d be ripping it to MP3, which is going to reduce the quality anyway, I passed on that. As it was, it cost me about US$70 (GBP35 at today’s rates).
Was it worth it? Absolutely. I’m not sure I’d do this for every album I’ve lost (such as my very first album – a Gary Glitter double-album), but for the occasional special album (which this is), certainly. I feel kind of guilty that James Varda didn’t get his royalties on the CD (although he has had royalties on two albums off me, now…) but I’ll mitigate my guilt by ‘bigging him up’ here: James Varda is great! (I’d rate him over Roy Harper, who himself is grossly underrated.)  Go buy his debut album, Hunger! Oh, that’s right, you can’t…
December 29th 2007
Wow. I just got an e-mail from the man himself – James Varda – to tell me that Hunger has finally been released on CD (and to send me a new copy – what a guy!) I’d like to think that this post had something to do with that, but it’s more likely that they planned the CD release and then were searching the Internet for reviews and stumbled across this site. Whatever the reason, it’s rewarding to know that someone I wrote about actually read this blog. Makes three years of blogging all worthwhile. Anyway, Hunger is a great album. If you take your singer/songwriters seriously, you should get a copy. You won’t be disappointed. It’s available online from Amazon.com.  Go buy it. Now.
Now, whilst I’m at it, here’s a list of CDs that have been stolen from me over the years:
- All About Eve – Scarlett and Other Stories
- Melissa Etheridge -Â Melissa Etheridge *
- New Order -Â Substance *
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds -Â The Lyre of Orpheus / Abbatoir Blues *
- Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
- Simple Minds -Â Live in the City of Light *
- The Doors – Greatest Hits *
- Van Morrisson – Best Of Vol 1
- Van Morrisson – Best Of Vol 2
- World Party -Â Bang!*
If the culprits (whether whatshername or someone else who ‘lodged’ at my flat) are reading this, I’d like these CDs back. Actually, I went out and bought the ones marked with an asterisk again, so you can keep them, but you owe me something from my Amazon Wishlist instead…
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