This all started when I was having a chat with Nina from Rough Trade. She asked me if I had any copies of the Trunk sampler Now We Are Ten. I said “no”. It then occurred to me that I’d been quite busy doing new digital albums for a while and it would be a good idea to do a sampler of some of those. So. here it is. With Terry Thomas, some Jazz, some Kirchin, some unreleased Dirty Fan Male, some film music, some me, loads of stuff. Sleevenotes and tracklist are as follows. What a bloody bargain.

Artwork Paul Flack with thanks to Peter Dixon

Lard used to be very popular. A household staple in fact. Then it stopped being popular as modern alternatives were found. Then, years later, it started to get popular once again, when people rediscovered how good it actually was in the first place and how crap the modern alternatives were. In some respects a lot of the music here has had a similar trajectory; loved, forgotten, rediscovered. This is where their similarities might end, and I’m glad I could think of something to link lard and music, as otherwise the whole stupid idea of using an old Sainsbury’s lard packet as artwork for a cheap musical sampler would be even more ridiculous than I first thought. Thinking on a bit more, lard is very cheap. And so is this sampler.

Anyway, the cues on this release are culled from the last couple of years of Trunk activity, some have been issued physically, some only digitally, some not until now. There are some classic British recordings, a French one, some American ones, some jazz, some folk, some advert things and all date between 1946 and last month. But together the sampler will give you a fine and inexpensive taste of what I do with the label, and the kinds of sounds that emanate from time to time. I must also point out that one or two of these recordings come from acetates, others from scarce old scratched records, one comes from a terrible field recording and a few from old reel to reel tapes so the sound quality varies a bit here and there, but if I can deal with it I’m sure you can too. Also, my remastering man is on holiday, so there’s another good excuse for variable sound.

And of course if you don’t like the CD, melt it down and make a cake or some fuel or pig food or something. Or crumble it up and make some pastry with it, just like you’re supposed to do with lard.

1) Ryan from The MMs bar
2) Gurney Slade – Max Harris
3) Basic Hip – Del Close And John Brent
4) St. Tropez Blues – Marie Laforet
5) The Snake – Maximilian
6) The Lost Souls Of Saturn – Russ Garcia
7) Very Contrary Mary – Dennis Farnon, Marnie Nixon
8) The Wanderer – Eden Ahbez
9) Peace Piece – Bill Evans
10) Bring back The Cat – Terry Thomas
11) Mute 4 – Basil Kirchin
12) Century 21 – Attilio Mineo
13) A Children’s Tale (From Night Of The Hunter)
14) Three Against Four – Dr M.V. Mathews
15) Kenwood 2 – Jonny Trunk
16) Willow Weep For Me – Helen Merrill
17) Super Shell And ICA – Barry Gray / Mike Sammes
18) Tie Me Kangaroo Down Cha Cha – Rolf Harris
19) Temple Bells – Frank Hunter
20) Jimmy Whalen – The Little Folk
21) Star Eyes – Carole Crevelling
22) Love Theme From Spartacus – Alex North
23) Trees And Flowers – Children of the Italia Conte School
24) My Favourite Things – Paul Smith Quartet
25) The Stairway To Heaven (From A Matter Of Life And Death)
26) Bossa Nova Treiste – Shake Keane
27) Sports Activities – Wisbey & Jonny Trunk
28) The Foggy Dew – Shirley Collins
29) Sunday – Kenny graham And His Satellites
30) The Day Is Over - Chorus Of The Children’s Opera Group

The LP will be available shortly. Or maybe it’s ready right now. Have a look in ye olde trunk shoppe.