Lot 67URIAH HEEP-RETURN TO FANTASY-1975-ORIGINAL PRESS 1977 UK-BRONZE-NMINT/NMINT

WILLY TOKAREV - OVER THE HUDSON-1983-ORIGINAL PRESS 2015 -EU-MIRUMIR-MIR100469. A rare anniversary edition of the iconic album. "Over the Hudson" is the third studio album by Soviet, American and Russian author-performer Willy Tokarev, released in 1983 on the Sava Recording Corporation label in the USA. The producer is Willy Tokarev. At the age of 40, in 1974, Willy Tokarev emigrated to the United States with $100 in his pocket. He was sheltered for 2-3 weeks by the Tolstoy Foundation, whose head was Alexandra Tolstaya, daughter of Leo Tolstoy. There he was a courier, a cleaner in a bakery, sorted through the Russian library of a millionaire, a newspaper deliveryman, became unemployed because he did not know English well, so he began to learn the language by reading American newspapers, graduated from a nurse's course, learned to drive a car, passed a taxi driving test and began working as a taxi driver to earn money for recording records, writing songs in his spare time, he was robbed four times (once, on Christmas Day, he was almost killed by a black man). He played at Carnegie Hall on a balalaika, which he bought at a souvenir shop on Fifth Avenue for $ 50, then played and sang in restaurants and nightclubs.  In 1979, the first record "And life is always beautiful!" was released, which was not particularly noticed. In 1981, the second album "In a noisy booth" was released, which brought Tokarev fame among Russian-speaking emigrants. In the 1980s, he worked at the Russian restaurant Sadko, and then at the restaurants Primorsky and Odessa, accompanied by Irina Ola. He was called the "honorary Jew of Brighton." Willy founded his own label, One Man Band, and recorded about twenty albums there.In 1989, Willy Tokarev flew to the USSR with concerts. A major role in the organization of these tours was played by the famous entrepreneur Viktor Shulman, who himself also performed "Odessa songs" from the repertoire of Leningrad "tape recorder" bards, Boris Sichkin and other veterans of the genre. 70 concerts throughout the Soviet Union were a success. ...more

COLOSSEUM-VALENTYNE SUITE-1969-THE FIRST UK PRESS-VERTIGO-VO1/847900VTY. A very rare British original of a cult album. Valentyne Suite was the second album released by the band Colosseum. It was the first release of the Vertigo Records album, which reached number 15 in the UK Albums chart in 1969. The album peaked at number 18 in Australia in 1970. ...more

DIRE STRAITS-BROTHERS IN ARMS1985-THE FIRST UK PRESS-VERTIGO - VERH25.A very rare British original of Dire Straits' fifth studio album.  Multi-platinum and the most successful in his work. ...more

BROWNSVILLE STATION- SMOKIN' IN THE BOY'S ROOM-1973-THE FIRST UK PRESS-PHILIPS-6369804. A rare British original. Smokin' in the Boys Room, an album with the hit of the same name, reached number 3 in Canada and on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and later received the RIAA gold certification. ...more

HENSLEY, KEN (EX-URIAH HEEP) -EAGER TO PLEASE-1975-THE FIRST UK PRESS-BRONZE-ILPS9307. Matrices A-1/B-1 Rare British original of KEN HENSLEY's (URIAH HEEP) second solo album Eager To Please is the second solo album by Ken Hensley, known as the leader of the English rock band Uriah Heep, released in 1975 on Bronze Records and on Warner Bros. Records. Emboldened by the success of his debut solo album Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf (1973), Ken Hensley recorded his second solo work in 1975, calling it Eager To Please, which means "Trying to please" or "Striving to please." Everyone can judge how much Hensley tried to please the public. But based on the tastes of the average Uriah Heep fan, it's clear that Ken was expected to do something similar. ...more