A check of popsike shows a median price of about $275 to $300 for near-mint sets. $560 (and up) is still ridiculous !
What is even odder is that the same high bidder is going for a set at $260 which is immediately before this one..
A couple of very cool Euro Blue Note compilations:
'Scotch & Sofa' (Blue Note France 2LP compilation by DJ 'Booster'. Poppa Lou's 'One Cylinder' just spinning ( ). This one sounds way better than the CD version)
'Heroes of the Hammond Vol 2' (Blue Note UK 2LP compilation. Some great stuff on this - George Braith, Larry Young, Lonnie Smith for starters).
That's great news - I hope your plans work out on this one and I hope James Spaulding and Pete Sims are in the lineup. Count me in when you hit the UK and hope the arm gets better quick..
I find that. like Mosaics, they are a very effective 'enabler' into artists and styles that I haven't yet got into. Good examples on that Verve Elite series were the Schifrin, Herb Ellis, Paul Quinichette and Roy Eldridge.
A bit off-topic but on the subject of the Kirchin Band here's some neat stills from around 1956/57. Basil on drums, father Ivor conducting on this drum feature.
If you don't like Anita's vocal style you have made absolutely the right decision. As you say, there's a mountain of other good Mosaic fare on the horizon and eager to extract the $.
This package going surface mail would be a very distinct possibility. This was always my preferred option in the past and with the smaller boxes it went air mail anyway and arrived in about a week. If it's gone on the Banana Boat it will probably take 6-8 weeks.
It might be worth asking Mosaic if they could put a reserve copy on hold for you Clunky until it turns up. Not sure if they will but worth a shot.
I don't think I've ever had a package from Mosaic go AWOL (he says with fingers crossed) so should hopefully turn up eventually. Maybe the holiday season has impacted the postal service?
Good stuff !
I have also picked up a bit of Italian software from WH Smiths for about £10 which gets you started with the labels and inserts. The software has some pretty nice standard designs and used a Photoshop or the likes for custom art it does pretty well everything I need.