As mentioned in The Summer Trip, part one, Steve found some old vinyl records at his mother's house in Ireland. Some music from the 1980s. Many people don't like the 1980s. Yes, there was some terrible music, many American records had the same drum and production sound, especially big movie soundtrack albums. Not good. But there were some fantastic singles and albums, most of them produced in Britain. Here is some of the vinyl that made the Brisco suitcase so heavy..
(Most of these can be listened to on YouTube)
Albums: Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield, original 1973 recording, the first album on the Virgin Record label),
The Singles (Abba, perfect pop songs from Sweden), A Walk Across the Rooftops (The Blue Nile, 1984 debut album by a great Scottish band), Face Value (Phil Collins), Year of the Cat (Al Stewart, under-appreciated Scottish singer-songwriter)
Singles: The Promise (Arcadia and Sting), Hello Again (Neil Diamond), Hey Little Girl (Icehouse, 12 inch remix), One of Us (Abba), No One is to Blame (Howard Jones), Gypsy (Suzanne Vega), Masterblaster (Stevie Wonder).
Book: You can't visit Britain without buying at least one beautiful heavy book. In an Oxford antique shop, we found a rare hardback original 1994 first edition of "The Beatles - Revolution in the Head" by the great Ian MacDonald. It's one of the best books about The Beatles and the 1960s, also available in Japanese translation. MacDonald lived a short life, but reading this wonderful book is a great way to remember one of Britain's best writers on popular music.
