March 25, 2004
Ingram.
I first discovered this record in Paris in the late eighties, and was very close to buying it, cos of course my name is Matthew Ingram. I imagined it'd be fun to have it leaning on the mantelpiece. I came across it once more recently at Uptown Records in New York. It's never been particularly rare (on reflection I must have crossed paths with it half a dozen times and given it the nod) and it's never been particularly expensive. Other Ingram records I've spied have more psychedelic sleeves, and higher prices. I happened to see it again the day before yesterday. Only this time it was up on the wall, and sporting a semi-serious price. Cor!
The only vaguely interesting thing I know about this cool, slickly-dressed family with their immaculate afros (sorry no reverse sleeve here!), is that Arthur Russell used them as his band on tracks like "Is it all over my face?" The stuff I've heard by them however is polished disco-funk, a million miles away from the Killer Whale's stripped-back atonal disco; so don't be getting ideas...
Lots and lots of laughs. Belly aches. Ribs straining at the sheer hilarity of it all. Of course every time this record and I meet I wonder how this bunch of Afro-Americans ended up with the name Ingram! The horrid truth must be that one of their ancestors was once a slave* for a man with the same name as me, maybe a relative of mine...
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*Clarification 30/3/4