A Day In The Life Of A Record Collector.

[Nai Noswad]

What has become not only a hobby and interest, but a way of life's life-- started fairly innocuously in the late 1960s. Jumble Sales ( yard sales) to the reader here.. or a casual visit to an Oxfam Charity Shop where I would pick up an ex- jukebox single for pennies. Occasionally a 45 came with a picture sleeve of the band....or a lurid paper bag. This created much curiosity for a bed wetter in a slum house with 3 older Brothers. On a battered Dansette ( with 78rpm) capability...i was able to escape the humdrum viaThe Herd or The Move etc..

This building pictured was Suggs Sports Store(nothing to do with Madness) when I was a nipper- and years later the King Street shop was to be a major turning point.
(if anyone is interested, I'll post some more memories... if not, sorry!)

 

[Nai Noswad]

PS: feel free to join in and post.. I majored in boring stories!

 

[E-Z]

Pretty much can concur with what you wrote Nai I was in the west end of London earlier to day and bought several cds (it's a drug).

It all started for me back in early 1982 (although I had been buying odd albums and singles during most of the 1970s but not on an industrial scale that came later) when I started visiting the Virgin record store regular at Tottenham Court road on Oxford street in central London which then graduated to the HMV shop and a bit later in the mid/late 1990s to Tower records at Piccadilly Circus. At it's peak during the late 1990s there was around 5 major record stores in the west end of central London which was the Virgin Mega store, 3 HMV mega stores and a Tower Records mega store plus several independent record shops around Soho in the west end.

About 5 years ago I worked it out that between 1985-2015 I possibly have spent about £60.000 or $80.000 US dollars on records & cds which by now may be around £65.000 or $85.000 US dollars!!.

Still I haven't finished yet there's ALWAYS something new to buy!!.

 

[darklands]

Chester: 'Penny Lane' and 'Migrant Mouse' were the main (only?) independent record shops (Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Rainbow), with Woolies (BJH 'Best of' series) to back them up. 'Grey & Pink' still exists in Chester, selling second-hand Vinyl....
I bought most of The Doors and Velvet Underground Lps from a record store called Gould Records (I think) in Wolverhampton.
Got caught shop-lifting a Best of Smokie(?!?) casette from Tower Records (I think, may have been HMV) on Oxford Road, whilst on a school trip.... [I think i pocketed a few; that's the one they didn't find!][I'm sure the others were more credible!]

 

[E-Z]

Got caught shop-lifting a Best of Smokie(?!?) casette from Tower Records

A best of Smokie?. I had a brief fling of about 2 months about 17 years ago with some woman who was ALWAYS playing a scratched cd of a BEST OF SMOKIE which played ok but was the only thing she would listen to??. Suffice to say that relationship was doomed after hearing that cd continuously!!.

 

[Nai Noswad]

So... 1970-71,it's the real thing was the Coke advert on TV and I had been moved to another School featuring tortureous nuns. My Mom knew Alvin Lee's Mom and was well versed on Woodstock, rock and progressive. Always seemed to be a battle of music in them days:
Slade vs The Osmonds.
Bay City Rollers vs The Jacksons.
etc.. etc..
Never was a musical sheep as Uriah Heep and Deep Purple were the backdrop in my house.. since time.
Saturday morning after a week of delivering papers I was ' flush' with ten Bob.. or 15 shillings if I doubled up( about 75 pence in today's money).. off to Woolworths or Jones's Market Stall where you could swell your record collection and still have funds left for an ice cream or comic.
Moog albums fascinated me and any sleeve with a chick in thigh boots and hotpants was a must... regardless of track content.
Attending a local fair- I won a 45rpm that clicked. One single on a mauve label started a catalyst that 50 years later still rolls on.

UFO- Prince Kajuku.
Ace Records sold shrinkwrapped albums from Stateside or Germany and Track or Regal Zonophone compilations for pennies. So with wars raging in Belfast and Vietnam, Cambodia and agent orange were a distant reality, as I hid poor schooling and a shit house behind music. Living a stones throw from the County Library - I took full advantage of their lending facilities and expanded my mind to those bump n grind Reggae Chartbusters... as well as the "lovely plumage" on Monty Python vinyl.
At St. Theresa's Summer Bizarre I picked up this delight.. in it's original bag for 5 cents...
It switched me on!

The Mob-Give It To Me.

 

[E-Z]

Always something new to buy...

I have got a Black Sabbath- Paranoid box set costing £70 put by for me after the latest LOCKDOWN ends on December 2nd. I think it is the original album plus two live cds from concerts in Europe in 1970 plus a book and a poster.

You can't stop ROCK!!.

 

[Nai Noswad]

Nice one E-Z, I also never lose the excitement of buying records and playing them. This year has been good for re-issues.

 

[Nai Noswad]

I was easing away from buying 45s as after all this was truly the era of the album.
This track on a free flexi single aroused my interest in chick rock right upto The Runaways/ Girlschool and beyond :

Fanny - Blind Alley.
My Parents weren't exactly busom buddies.. for most of this decade-- so my Mom gave me the Child Benefit Book( family allowance back then.) I skipped School every Wednesday afternoon with a fake Chiropodist Clinic card, hotfooted it to the Post Office and then into the 12 Record Stores that the city then boasted. Nazerath, Badger, Mallard, Groundhogs, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and Budgie were always on my wants list... but I was a label man too and this is where my OCD tendancies crept in.. So Buddah, Elecktra,CBS, Epic,Decca and in particular Harvest got the completist treatment. LP covers enticed you in and make no bones about it.. Osibisa and many others boasting Roger Dean were bought. Bargains were a must on a tight budget and picked up some beauties.
Three Man Army, Gravy Train, Palladin, Free and Pink Floyd were "Cheapo's".. as they were tagged. Led Zep, Genesis, Yes and Beatles were considered treat buys.. I distinctly remember clutching my newly purchased Made In Japan... taking it to a Cafe and even smelling the shrink wrapping!
Such was my lust for the heavyness of Rock.

 

[Nai Noswad]

Virgin came to Town about 1975 and had in it's basement a reasonable 2nd hand dept but boasted an incredble singles collection....so I relented and topped up my Chrysalis discs and Procol Harum 45s.
I found a mint Sgt. Peppers on the Odeon label for £2.00!
Pub Rock emerged and Dr. Feelgood,Ducks Deluxe, Brinsley Swhartz and The Kursaal Flyers paved the way for the jerky juggernaut of punk that was revving in the pits.
Steve the shop boss saved me promos and turned me onto stuff too. Graham Parker, Weather Report and Stray in particular.

Boots, Pearson. co-op and Fox's all stocked albums of all genres... but the day my mate Steve got busted by the cops... Was laughable if not memorable.
Later.... ​