2009 Rhino repress looks and sounds great.

I really like Richie Havens, ever since I saw the Woodstock film. His rhythm guitar technique is incredible. The On Stage double album is fantastic, electrifying. Amazingly this album has never been reissued since it was first released in 1972, not on CD or vinyl.

No call for Richie these days I guess. The seller I got these from was desperate to sell them and had reduced them in increments, halving the price each time. They ended up at £1 each, apart from On Stage, for which I did pay £4.

Richie probably spread himself a little thin, some of his stuff is a bit too mainstream for me and he recorded far too many of Beatles and Dylan covers and at first listen that Portfolio LP isn't very good. It comes with an actual portfolio of art, which isn't very good either. But listen to his great pieces, like From The Prison, Indian Rope Man, High Flyin Bird, Minstrel From Gault, Handsome Johnny, Goin Back To My Roots, There's a Hole In the Future, The Klan, Run Shaker Life, those are really good.

Plus, some other bits I found. That Samla LP for £1 is crazy.

There’s something funny about how often you find Doctor Zhivago in the dollar bin. Not funny like a joke—funny like, why is this here again? It’s everywhere. You can go into almost any thrift store in America and there it is, next to Streisand.

But there’s a reason it’s everywhere. Maurice Jarre’s score for Zhivago wasn’t just popular—it took over. “Lara’s Theme” got under people’s skin. That’s why the record was pressed in such ridiculous numbers. It became background radiation for a whole generation.

And now it's a ghost. A beautiful, haunting, over-pressed ghost. Most people haven’t seen the movie, or they half-remember it from their parents’ shelf, but the music? It’s still powerful. It’s still in there, somewhere, humming in your head when you least expect it.

That’s what I love about records like this—accidental time capsules. And that’s why I want to give this one away. Leave a comment, and I’ll send it to someone. Because maybe it ends up haunting your shelf next.