My record collection
#164: Various artists - Speed Dating

Speed Dating was a compilation of tracks that had been released on Terry Tolkin’s No.6 records that includes Dean Wareham’s first solo single Anesthesia / I Can’t Wait and the Cagney & Lacee single Time / By The Way (I Still Love You).

Various artists - Speed Dating

There’s quite a lot I could write about this release but most of it would be lifted from the sleeve notes or this interview Terry did with Warped Reality at the time of release in 2009 - so… I’ll restrict myself to a few bullet points:

• Dean’s I Can’t Wait is listed as I Don’t Care as it was on the sleeve of the No.6 single back in 1992 (the label of the single had it listed correctly) - I’m not sure whether the sleeve of Speed Dating is intentionally using the wrong title or it was just the same mistake being repeated seventeen years on.
• The master tapes had been destroyed in a fire so the recordings on this comp were lifted from vinyl… you can hear vinyl crackle on Anesthesia … might they have been better lifting it from the CD, they could have borrowed my Mint Tea one.

When I got back I found out that the 135 year old brownstone that I had been living in for the on E. 17th St. for the last eight years had collapsed while undergoing renovations.

Everything that I ever owned was destroyed in the collapse and ensuing fire. That meant my lifelong record collection and all of the masters and original artwork for No. 6. There was nothing left to salvage.

In order to cobble together this compilation, I had to buy most of the singles on the Internet. They went for between literally 1 penny to $68.00.

Then I had to send them all to Dean Wareham, who has a turntable and burned them onto a CD. That went to Mark E. Robinson at Teenbeat, who spent many hours equalizing everything and trying to take out as many pop ands skips as possible. What a man.

The Mysteries of No. 6 | An Interview with Terry Tolkin

• If the Anesthesia master tapes were lost what was the source of the Luna Demos release and the deluxe Lunapark release?
• No. 6 Records got it’s name from the TV series The Prisoner and so…
  • The catalogue numbers start KAR - which was the number plate of No.6’s Lotus Super Seven
  • Since we never get to meet No.1 there is no KAR-001.
  • In an impressive bit of forethought No.6 (KAR-006) was saved for this release.
  • I visited Portmeirion where The Prisoner was filmed, on a family holiday when I was about 14 and wore a No.6 badge for the next few years.
• The comp starts from KAR-011 and is selective rather than complete.
• Far too much of DISQUE ONE is taken up with the awful Dwarves and their tiresome punk rock.
• The best non Dean track on the album is Tindersticks Marbles
  • Tindersticks have a new album out next month

• In the interview linked above Terry suggests that Cagney & Lacee “also appeared on No. 6’s last release The Lives Of Charles Douglas by Alex McCauley” - the sleeve notes confirm Lacee/Claudia’s contribution but makes no mention of Cagney/Dean in the credits and the only mention is that “Dean Wareham came in at one point to help” during the mixing - so that release (which I have the lovely Broken Horse reissue of) won’t be making an appearance in this series - unless anyone can confirm his contribution.

• Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/076
• Artist: Various artists
• Title: Speed Dating
• Notes: Compilation of singles originally released on Terry Tolkin’s No.6 Records
• Packaging: Jewel case
• Format: 2xCD
• Bought at the time of release.