Eh, copying and pasting from another site with an unkind "review"is unfair, and to do it in anonymous fashion is ingenuine,and this IS clearly an attack of sorts, with incorrect information and naming people is again not fair particularly when you don't give your OWN name..
I DO believe in free speech and expression, but the details have to be correct and factual, and NOT just an attack on a person, if it was a fair critique of a product bought, that IS different

Theres enough nastiness out there, so let's not bring it in here eh?

I did have a rather heated conversation with the chap behind Kissing Spell on here last year after I criticized their Axe CD release as part of a review I did on the Guerssen CD reissue of Crystalline Axe Music,
I stated the fact that the Guerssen cd had 5 tracks, while the first Kissing Spell Axe CD had created other tracks and also added effects, in essence it had been mucked about with, the chap took deep offence at me stating those facts in my review,but I replied that I paid for it, like I do for every CD review I do, there's no freebies like magazines etc, get,i buy my own cds, which as far as I'm concerned gave me the right to point out to others any issues with said bought cd

It was NOT a personal attack on the individual,it was a critique on a product he released, on the music contained within the cd, but he certainly took it personally, even though I have ALL the Kissing Spell cds released,I bought them ALL,including the many 70s folk cds, and elsewhere on this forum I've hyped up Kissing Spell cd releases... so I suggested when you're in business of producing product to be sold, having feedback from customers is ALWAYS beneficial whether it's good or bad feedback,as you learn from mistakes and make that product better, it's common sense.
So we had a ding dong, back and forth, it got to the stage,i had"real"issues to deal with in life, and having to deal with an adult with a bruised sensitive ego was NOT one of then,so i said if he's not happy to fuck off and take his legal threats to someone who gives a shit,as I literally couldn't give a shit about his hurt feelings,I thought to myself grow up and have a pair of balls mate, this is a wee discussion group NOT some big magazine
.

It was so surreal having a complete stranger threatening legal guff, and being rather nasty, THAT does not work with me,it makes me more determined to NOT be cooperative,I did leave the whole thread of posts up for others to read,so others could comment if they wanted,as I'm a believer in free speech, free expression, but NOONE seemed to have any comments,so because that thread of Posts were so toxic and uncomfortable,I deleted my discussion with him,as I did NOT want that negativity effecting anyone else.

So I've NO idea if this individual is once again taking part on here, but one thing I did take from my ding dong with him, everyone is mental or deranged according to him, but he was the one who came across as deranged on this wee discussing group with his threats and behavior over 1 fucking cd, THAT is deranged behavior!!

So if this bloke IS here again,he can bugger off as far as I'm concerned as I DON'T deal with people who threaten and intimidate, and act like a bully,so If it is him, BUGGER OFF,I certainly DON'T welcome your presence.

Well said Stuart.

Threatening legal action over an opinion on a forum is just pathetic. This is meant to be a fun place to share music and opinions, not unhinged stuff like that, life is too short and there is more than enough conflict on the internet already.

In the interests of reality:

Steve Smith does exist and it is his real name. He was the founder and sole operator of Kissing Spell records.He sold the catalogue and brand name to a major reissue label many years ago, but the vast majority of the releases were his, certainly pretty much anything that would interest members of this forum. Some were authorised, some were not. Before Kissing Spell he issued a couple of other LPs: Samantha Productions Vol 1 and Sindelfingen. After Kissing Spell he had a short-lived Drum and Bass label, Nocturnal. He then ceased to be active in making records until he started up Seelie Court Records a couple of years ago, which is pretty much Kissing Spell Mk 2. Again,this is a one man operation, Seelie Court is just his trading name. He has lived outside the UK for many years, firstly in the Czech Republic now in Italy.

On this forum he has appeared as both Pict Power and May Twitz. On Discogs he is Black Shuck.

Hopefully that helps clear things up!

Casual Observation, and excuse the language but;

WHO GIVES A FUCK? (Rapturous applause, thank you.)


Besides which here's something blindingly obvious and it all checks out if you research it ;

1.Kissing Spell is named after a CHILEAN PSYCHEDELIC BAND

2.Gary Ramon is named on the CDs as Engineer and did the labels remastering

3.Gary Ramon (SUNDIAL) was Signed to MAGIC MIXTURE RECORDS, a record shop in London

4. Magic Mixture was owned by HUGO CHAVEZ,A CHILEAN, sometimes known as HUGO CHAVEZ SMITH, used pseudonyms, and was also owner of Background, he's the guy who first started all these old reissues, with editions of Andromeda, Magic Mixture and Necromandus.

5. Spriguns of Tolgus was issued on Kissing Spell AND Background same year.

5. Hugo was from CHILE. He left London for Chile same year Kissing Spell was sold. Background Records was also sold same year, possibly to someone called Graham Brooke?

Everyone said Hugo started Kissing Spell, and named it after his favourite band, this was all discussed in an old thread years ago by people using their real names who knew everybody back then, eg WALTER GEERTSEN, PATRICK LUNDBORG, MARK PAYTRESS.

Steve Smith was known to take the piss out of other dealers in the 3 or 4 catalogues of rare lps he made, the people above also discussed him and said he was quote "fond of a joke".

PS Melton Constable was... Lost in the post. That's true.

Reality Check:

Hugo Chavez is not Steve Smith. However Mark P is, his third identity on this forum.

And Hugo had nothing whatsoever to do with Kissing Spell. That was all Steve, not sure why it's such a problem for him to take credit for it (or indeed to his sole ownership of Seelie Court). It was a great, pioneering reissue label. And Seelie Court is its worthy successor.

That's wrong.

Hugo is credited on early Spell releases, they were ordered and pressed by him using a guy in London who had bought a Vinyl Press from Poland. One such release is the Double LP of Sindelfingen. That credits Hugo and Ramon, with other credits to Steve. It was a prototype Spell release.

There's a clear connection, including the label being named after the Chilean Band.

At that date I don't believe anyone even knew about bands like Aguaturbia, Pax, Kissing Spell outside of South America. Hugo brought those lps here to england.

Spell issued Pax, Peruvian but active in Chile. That was Hugo. He knew the band from college days. Hugo was a Political refugee.

If anyone can really be bothered they should check matrix carving on early Kissing Spell, the Sindelfingen Double, and compare with Reflection/Magic Mixture releases. They won't be like any major/known presses. It will be that tiny press connected to Hugo, who may have part owned it.

Jessie Harper was in the hands of Hugo. Reflection dealt a lot with John Du Cann and that's why so many Andromeda releases are on both Reflection and Kissing Spell. There's also the Sarfras connection mentioned above , eg Necromandus. One of Hugo's early releases is The Attack.

If anyone knows if that London press still exists post here.

In my opinion Steve warehoused Hugo's stock in barns in Suffolk.

Well I dug out the Sindelfingen reissue and whilst it's not a Kissing Spell release, fair enough it does have a credit to H.Chavez for jointly remixing and editing the Triangle bonus disc with Gary Ramon. As far as I know he hasn't any credit or involvement with any Kissing Spell releases though, which was the point, it was just Gary Ramon, certainly that's the case on KSLP 002, Spriguns of Tolgus and all the others I've looked at. Stephen however is credited with "Co-ordination, Design, Post-Production" on Sindelfingen so it was clearly his thing and equally clearly H.Chavez and Stephen Smith were different people. Equally clearly Mark P is Stephen, as were May Twitz and Pict Power and, possibly, Pornstar (although there weren't enough words on that one posting to be sure, his style of communication is shall we say very "distinctive". It is, also clearly, dead easy to have multiple, concealed, identities on this forum. Why anyone would bother is unclear. It does make you wonder why anyone would turn such cartwheels trying to pretend he isn't someone he clearly is when what is at question is something excellent. One for Mr Freud I think. Anyway, I'm out of here now I only had a look because I wondered what had happened to the September SC releases and thought there might have been some inside knowledge.

Just been looking on Juno and there's a half a dozen new Seelie Court titles showing all with a release date of 3 November.

Thanks for the heads up. Wonder what the delay was

Just had another look on Juno and now no date on the new ones, just says "forthcoming" plus theres a lot of massive price reductions on the last couple of lots of LPs up there: Col Bagshot £9.99, Alco £10.99 that top Dark reissue £21.99 (which is annoying as I paid nearly twice that!). Wonder if theres some sort of problem? Hope not!

Webcaw-

Simple Explanation - The label has a 50% Sale on all remaining back catalogue.

Dealers are buying the releases at Half Price from Lasgo Distribution. The prices should therefore be Half Price in Shops/Mail Order. Some dealers try to charge extra, but Juno etc should be fair. That means they are being sold at less than cost price.

I think all CDs are sold out at Lasgo. Many earlier Vinyl LPs are sold out. All the Dark lps are either sold out or close to being sold out individually.

Sales went up 700% last month due to the sale. It's likely every single back catalogue item will be sold out at Lasgo by Christmas. Some shops may continue to have stock but prices will likely climb.

When F-Minor Distribution closed all CDs were sold by the label at £1 each to rescue them from the warehouse, so many suddenly appeared online at £3.99. But now they are almost all unavailable, they were mostly pressings of just 380 copies.

All Seelie Court releases have been pressed in Limited Quantities of 100-600 max per release and prices for Sold Out albums seem to climb dramatically. Eg someone was offering the Grannie CD at 150 euros (or dollars?) on Discogs and it has a recorded selling price of over 80 euros, a tad more than the £3 the label received for copies. The Dark LPs may never be repressed so don't worry too much about your investment. The Dark 'Doodle' sleeve release has sold for £300. (The label received £7 per copy sold.)

The 6 new CDs are delayed but due any day, it was decided to add Booklets to most of them and Klemen Breznikar of Its Psychedelic Baby has interviewed some of the bands.

Steve Giles of Dark is working on a connected project for the label.

There may also be 4 Vinyl LPs out before Christmas. All are completely unknown except Marvelous Kid. There will be a very important Psychedelic release amongst those vinyl LPs, the aforementioned Marvelous Kid (brilliant Canterbury style from Masters for an unissued 1973 LP), a mind blowing masterpiece of Heavy Prog, and a killer unknown Hard Rock/Art-Rock/Glam LP from 1974 by Windlord entitled Lady Heroin.

The label is entering Phase II and the best releases are yet to come. Behind the scenes it's working on some collaborations and other projects. There's likely to be some Limited Cassette issues in America, including Dark.

Thanks, reassuring, will start saving up!

Been waiting for the Dark box set as well, what happened to that? And I think there was going to be a Bob Hughes box set. I loved Hooknorton, is that going to happen?

https://www.discogs.com/label/1913411-Seelie-Court/reviews/list#c5050899

https://www.discogs.com/user/WestCoastDreams/reviews?header=1

link to video not working? Yesterday was ok, this is it anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMvgNggkfxE&t=1s&ab_channel=rd03gian

I've been looking forward to this new batch of Seelie Court cd releases for a while,but i see on Heyday mailorder theyre still marked as delayed but coming soon.


Good to hear there will be booklets too,i always love that wee bit of extra effort and it is appreciated when a label gives the Music enthusiasts that wee bit extra.

As for Dark box set,i bought 5 cds from Steve Giles that contained unreleased recordings and demos of Dark,a couple of year ago,and its impressive stuff,funnily enough before the Guerrsen Crystaline Axe Music cd reissue,i also bought that from Steve Giles on cd and It sounded good, i've kept that version even though i have the original Kissing Spell Axe cd and the newer Guerrsen cd.

As for Gian, yes Nightwings was a fab wee label,in particular Tim Hollier and Mayfields Mule cds,i do have all the cds Nightwings issued, its a shame Nightwings didnt carry on and release more cdds,but i understand the grief,stress, and risks involved in setting Up a small label,to even break even financially can be difficult.
Nightwings released quality product, with booklets and good sound, and the obsure artists covered..

Whatever Happened to Sunbeam Records?he last 3 cds i bought Where 2 cd versions of Arcadium"Breathe Awhile"&"Raw Material"and finally Someones Band sole album on cd.

Thanks for the nice words Stuart, I'm proud of what I was able to do, especially giving visibility again to Fuchsia, Mayfield's Mule, Five Day Rain and Tim Hollier. The main reason I stopped is that I had no more useful contacts for new releases, living far from the UK didn't help! I was in touch with Universe and Clown though, but at the time it didn't work, so....

So it says January 26th on Juno for these CDs which is the day after tomorrow which seems a bit unlikely. And the Dark super dooper best ever release is now available for £15.98 including postage. Which makes my £42 look a bit sick. And that vendor says he has 20+ copies!! Feels like this label has hit the wall, its nearly a year since the last vinyl releases ( albeit a deluge!) and all the recent stock is available at fire sale prices. I saw Across the Water 2 go for £4.99 and all those Darks are around £10. Really feels like these have been over-pressed and over priced: minimum 600 often over a thousand. Interesting that Bright Carvings only release 227 of theirs, no CDs, no downloads and the price is solid. Prefer the laminated sleeves too!

I really hope Marvelous Kid, Nemesis and Aardvwak will come out soon, they deserve to!

The band (Marvelous Kid) tell me there have been further delays, and as far as they are aware it’s definitely not coming out tomorrow. No word on actual release date yet though unfortunately.

Just looked on Juno and it now says April for those 6 CDs!! And the Lifeblud 2nd LP is down to £7.25 and my sooper dooper Dark best ever issue now £14…. What’s going on?

Well, now Juno have removed the April date for release! Is this label defunct? Be a real shame.

Now back to "forthcoming" on Juno.. Anyone got any news?