Martin Page - In The House of Stone and Light (1995)

Bargain Bin (bah-gayn been) n. An assortment of full price audio recordings that have been neglected to the point of being presented to the public for a few pennies in the hope of earning the store a tax write-off. Generally rubbish, but a few gems linger e.g. Martin Page's In the House of Stone and Light.

I've long suspected that the dictionary definition of music store throwaways would include a specific reference to In the House of Stone and Light, particularly in the US. If you don't believe me, try this scientific experiment: the next time you are in a bargain basement, look for it. I guarantee there will be at least one copy. Trust me, I've seen this one everywhere.

I was browsing in a CD Warehouse with about ten dollars in my pocket about three years ago. A woman at the counter was trying to sell a large number of CD's and as I overheard the conversation she mentioned that even though there were quite a few that the store would not buy from her, she had no intention of hauling them all home again. I came up to her at the counter and casually offered her $5.00 for the contents of her crate, without even looking at the titles. I was like a big kid when she readily agreed and hauled my trophies home. If nothing else, I figured I would have some replacement cases and a few eBay sales. I took inventory and found that my five bucks had purchased 113 CD's of all genres.

To cut a long story short, here's what happened. One of the titles turned out to be a rare album by The Iguanas and I sold that on eBay for $30 within a week. I also sold another 50 or so, and probably made over $150. I kept about 10 titles, gave several more to my brother when he visited, and donated the remainder to charity.

In the House of Stone and Light was one of the few I kept, and it's been a favorite of mine ever since. It's a stylish, contemporary pop album in the vein of Peter Gabriel and featured many well known musicians. Martin Page has a very interesting musical pedigree. New wave fanatics may know that Martin was the brains behind Q-Feel and their awesome synthpop track "Dancing In Heaven (Orbital Be-Bop)". Just as much of a recommendation is that he penned many contemporary 80's hits including "We Built This City" for Starship which Blender magazine (rather puzzlingly, I might add) voted as the worst single of all time. Obviously, they have never heard "Agadoo". Or Mr. Blobby. Or "Snooker Loopy". Or, well you get the message. It's really not that bad.

Martin has finally released a follow up, thirteen years later, called In the Temple of the Muse. Do you notice a pattern here? I'm thinking the next one (expected in 2021) could be called In the Vegetable Section of the Supermarket. Just a thought.

Martin Page - In the House of Stone and Light (1995)

1. In the House of Stone and Light
2. Shape the Invisible
3. I Was Made for You
4. Keeper of the Flame
5. In My Room
6. Monkey in My Dreams
7. Put On Your Red Dress
8. Broken Stairway
9. Light in Your Heart
10. The Door

Download

Official website

Wikipedia Entry