Tape Art: The Left Banke

I first heard The Left Banke when Sean Soup Dragon was playing his fave tracks on the Janice Long show ca. 1987. He included ‘I’ve Got Something On My Mind’ and noted that he loved The Left Banke’s harpsichord sound and if anyone had a spare harpsichord they wanted rid of he’d gladly take it. I was smitten and played the track (taped off the radio, obv.) often. I didn’t get to hear more Left Banke until a few year’s later on a non-descript drizzly Wednesday night, hanging out in a squat in St John’s Wood, no money, nothing much going on. My friend stuck on this tape copied from the Bam Caruso-released Left Banke LP ‘And Suddenly It’s…’ and the whole world sparkled and spiralled with baroque-psych beauty. I had to have a copy immediately, and this tape got a hammering. A year or so later I found my own copy of the Bam Caruso LP. I win!