HOWARD EYNON So What If I'm Standing in Apricot Jam Nick Drake acid folk Candle

	A$		199
	$		132

ITEM IN AUSTRALIA - INTERNATIONAL POST SHIPPING IS NOT $40

PLEASE WAIT FOR INVOICE BEFORE PAYING – thanks!

Reluctant sale of some of my Oz gems – a real treat here, this is the original, first pressing, 1 of 500 only! Rarely shows up for auction in this condition, at this starting price. I have included the following blurb from the ABC Rare Collections compendium:

Howard Eynon recorded his only album So What If I’m Standing In Apricot Jam in Tasmania in 1974.It’s now a highly sought after collector’s item but its value is not solely a result of its scarcity – but it is this too, original pressing run of 500 copies only. It’s an LP brimming with idiosyncratic sounds and distinctive lyrics that sound as fresh today as they did upon release. Howard was born in the United Kingdom and relocated to Australia with his family after his father retired from Air Force and purchased a dairy farm in Deloraine, Tasmania.His family was musical and at the age of ten, Eynon picked up his father’s guitar and began teaching himself to play. He attended a small school and says he ‘felt a complete lack of world awareness’, and was keen to explore life beyond his hometown.After graduating, Eynon moved to Melbourne with his heart on acting. Soon he was appearing in children’s theatre productions, and picking up occasional television work.Keen to break into the entertainment industry, Eynon entered the Victorian New Faces competition but was knocked out of the competition early. He attributes this to a last-minute decision to perform the Beatles song Blackbird in a different key.Unperturbed, he moved to Sydney and entered the New South Wales version of the talent search. He won the state competition, and went on to win the national New Faces competition in 1971, with a performance of The Son Of Hickory Holler’s Tramp.In addition to prize money, the win boosted his career by securing a one year contract on the television program The Sounds Of Music. Once he left the program, Eynon hedged his bets and applied for the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), a part in Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and a schools tour with the Queensland Theatre Company (QTC).‘It was one of those miraculous moments where I was accepted by all three and that gave me a wonderful problem,’ he says. Ultimately, he decided to tour with the QTC, which he says was a life changing decision.

‘[It] was an absolutely turning point for me, it was just an extraordinary year.’At the time, Gough Whitlam had just been elected the Prime Minister and Eynon relocated to Brisbane and moved in with three fellow actors—Bill Brown, Trevor Smith and Geoffrey Rush. ‘I really felt like I belonged,’ he says of the house the trio shared, ‘It was a time of great hope.’He continued to be inspired by the creative community that he found himself in, even after he left Queensland to join the Tasmanian Theatre Company (TTC) in Richmond, just outside Hobart.‘It was quite a community. It was a little bit counter-cultural ... it was really Tolkienesque,’ he says. ‘It was like we were living in this fantasy world only the fantasy world was more real than anything else.’Eynon was approached to record some guitar music for a TTC production, and was introduced to Nick Armstrong by one of the company’s directors. At the time Armstrong ran a studio called Spectangle.‘We recorded the music for the play ... and then Nick asked if I would like to make an album. You don’t get asked that every day, and so I thought “Well, yeah that sounds great!”’The pair set aside a three month period to write material for the album before they headed into the recording studio. ‘That helped the whole process I think,’ says Eynon. ‘It was a good relationship [between a performer and an engineer] and still is.’Eynon and Armstrong were based in Tasmania at the time, and many of the songs they would go on to record they attribute to the local landscape. Other tracks carried political themes, and several were inspired by life in the cottage that Eynon shared with friends.

The finished album So What If I’m Standing In Apricot Jam was released by Basket, a subsidiary of Nick Armstrong’s other music label Candle Records. ‘We sort of put it out there, and sat back and waited for the phone to ring,’ Eynon says of the release. However, the album was not a big seller, and the collaborators soon moved on to new projects.Eynon continued acting and moved back to Victoria after his year with the TTC. He appeared on television shows like Division 4, Matlock Police, Homicide and the Sullivans, and had small roles in two iconic Australian films—The Man from Snowy River and Mad Max.

Eynon also continued to perform as a musician, and supported a tour of writer Hunter S. Thompson tour in the late 1970s, in Sydney and in Melbourne. He remembers the Melbourne show being the tricker of the two, after he was thrown by a celebrity in the crowd.‘I walked on stage and there was lights shining back down on the audience. In the front row, right in front of me was Barry Jones [from the game show] Pick a Box ... and it just threw the sod out of me.’ Eynon is now settled in New South Wales, and admits that it’s been awhile since he has performed. His rare debut record has been recently reissued, which could mean a return to the stage.

Cover ~ EX ~ has a spot of mild rubbing wear top front left, is very subtle, otherwise EX+!

Vinyl  ~ VG++ ~ under strong light it displays a dusting of hairlines and storage marks, all are superficial, very fine, still retains a lovely glossy shine, plays with some very intermittent pops and static in places, more as a result of Candle pressings than the vinyl being in poor condition, overall a top copy!

As always hassle free returns and money back, if you are unhappy in any way please email me, I’m an avid collector I try my best to list accurately, play graded and graded under strong light, please leave feedback after, cheers!

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

NM: Played a handful of times, several of the faintest hairlines only, perfect sound, full gloss and sheen, cover near new in every way.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, tiniest dusting of superficial hairlines only, playback near perfect. The cover and packaging might have very slight wear/most minor cosmetic wear only. 

VERY GOOD+: Perfectly acceptable, plays with no skips or jumps, no feelable marks. Hairlines, and other superficial scratches may be evident on the vinyl but sound quality and fidelity still excellent, may have the odd pop and crackle only. Cover will have normal wear, seams and corners in tact, some age deterioration.

VERY GOOD:The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch, some may be feelable but will not sound in repeat-tic manner. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable, may have minor seam or other tears but still acceptable integrity.

GOOD:The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and feelable scratches that may tic or jump. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.

FAIR:The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise, jump etc. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced. Collector piece only.  

Please wait for invoice – I post in special mailers, with bubble wrap.

Postage: 1 LP within Australia $9.50 – note double albums are 2 LP’s

Combined Postage for Australian Buyers :

All packages within Australia are now sent with tracking.

Metro areas quoted - country can cost more please ask.

2-3 LP's

4-6 LP's

7-10 LP's

Melbourne

12.00

12.00

12.00

Sydney

16.00

17.00

18.00

Adelaide

16.00

17.00

18.00

Brisbane

16.00

17.50

19.00

Hobart

16.50

18.00

19.00

Perth

18.00

19.00

19.00

NOTE – International shipping is not $40 - Shipping Rates for International Buyers :– I pack in heavy cardboard packaging, with bubble wrap and it often brings the weight over 500g – see the 2 LP’s column below - so please wait for invoice, but same as the USA Australia Post International rates are ridiculously expensive, were sorry about this! DOES NOT INCLUDE INSURANCE or TRACKING.

Air Mail takes up to 2 WEEKS for delivery.

1 LP (under 500g)

2 LP's (over 500g)

3 LP's

4-6 LP's

AU$

AU$

AU$

AU$

New Zealand

17.00

28.00

28.00

36.00

Asia & Pacific

19.00

33.00

32.00

44.00

USA & Canada

21.00

35.00

37.00

50.00

Europe

25.00

45.00

46.00

64.00

Rest Of World

27.00

48.00

49.00

70.00

Happy bidding!