Tracklister

Instore Play Videos from the 80s

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:26:42 PDT

B. A. Robertson Kool in the Kaftan

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 09:10:00 PDT

Reached No 17 (UK) in March 1980

Knocked it off - No 8 Oct 1979
Bang Bang - No 2 July 1979
To be or not to be - No 9 May 1980

Roy Orbison In Death

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:16:00 PDT

Diary entry from Dec 6th or 7th ? 1988

Got a call from Telstar today. "did you know that Roy Orbison has died ?" no i didn't. "Well we were ringing round to see if anyone needs to stock up, we've got the Hits album on TV at the moment".

It sounds a bit sick and she was a bit embarrassed to be asking me but 'Yes we do want to stock up' and I'm glad she rang. In the next 24 hours Radio will be banging his hits out none stop and everyone will suddenly be claiming they were a lifelong fan.

By the end of the day we had sold out of every old dusty Tape, Records and ex chart Single we had in the shop. I even fished out an old budget LP from the dump bin. It's been there for months at 99p with no one showing any interest. I put a new plastic sleeve on it and stuck it back out at £2.99. It sold within the hour. I suspect this will be the album for Christmas. He popped off just in time for the Xmas Present Market. Who could have planned that one ?.

Double Pack Power of love

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:00:01 PDT

Diary Entry Late Nov early Dec 1985

***** from CBS came today and we had a bit of a row over the Jennifer Rush single.

The Bastards have Deleted the Power of Love, even though it's still selling. The reason for this became apparent when the new single arrived on the counter sporting a 'limited edition' that features a "free" copy of The Power of Love shrink wrapped with it. This means that anyone who wants the Power of love has to buy the new single. The sly buggers, it's a good idea though and it's working, people are obviously buying it 'cos it costs the same.

But we can be sly buggers as well. All we did was wait till he left the shop and opened up the packs to flog them separately.

He wasn't happy. Bang go the Dead or Alive Promos in future.

Life in a 1980s Record Shop

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:27:12 PDT

OMG ! The Absolute JOY!!!!!!!!! I found it!!!

Memories of my Record shop days. A snapshot of the life of Independent Record shop in the UK from the 1970s through to 2000. Complete with DIARIES !. Old Invoices and all sorts of shite to back it all up, Prices and Discounts, Distribution info, all sorts of little gems that i thought ended up in the bin. I was nearly in tears when i found it. Couple this with my Record Collection and hey presto ! a box of memories.

I was an avid record collector as a kid, then i did a bit of DJing after school, got a job in a club for a couple of years before transfering to life behind the counter at my local record shop from then i moved onto being a manager and eventually opened my own couple of shops before it all went tits up in the late 90s and people started downloading stuff off the net. By early 2000 it was all over for me. I didn't think i had kept a proper diary of this time. But i have (sort of) in parts.

Suddenly i know where this blog is about to go. I had lost interest at one time. You can't post music any more, and if you write, what do you write about ?. I was thinking of writing about my past but could really remember stuff. Well now i have it. A transcript of a snapshot in time. Word for word from my own pen. (terrible spelling i note)

It's not exactly Samual Pepes, but it may interest someone. Some of it i may need to Edit for legal reasons and some names may have to be changed to protect the innocent, I may even add bits so that it all makes sense. But other than that i'll keep in the references to Record Companies, Industry info Artists, the lot.

And so that it doesn't get boring i'll flit from any moment in theses diaries rather than stay with one year, or just go cronalogical with each post.

It may not mean anything to you dear reader but it sure as hell does to me.

Sometimes i wrote a line, sometimes i wrote nothing, sometimes i've done a whole bloody page full of stuff. But like a tit i have't always dated everything and i can't explain why things arn't on sepearate days per day. But i've managed to work out more or less when they were written. Here is a small insignificant entry from sometime in Mar or April 1986 to give you a taste of what rubbish lies within in these diaries. I wish i had written more like this.

Roger from ***** came today with his “portfolio of dreams”. This is what he calls his folder that contains all the singles he is promoting and selling this week. It's just a plastic folder with a copy of a single in each pocket really. “you might want to listen to that one” he says “people seem to be interested in that one, but don't bother sticking that one on unless you wanna clear the shop, it's absolute bollocks”

Most of what he's selling or giving away is shit but there are the odd items we need and sell a lot of. Sinitta (So Macho) and Gary Numan are today’s must haves. Sinitta is still free so we'll have any that's going. But we only want Gary Numan Picture discs, even though he does look like Hitler without a moustache on the front cover. No one is interested in the ordinary black vinyl version, But Roger reminds me that there is a flexi disc free with it so i order some. Everyone really just want the so-called 'limited edition' picture disc. In years to come I suspect the ordinary black plastic single will be rarer than a picture disc because no one buys that fucking

thing. There again i can't imagine anyone actually plays them. They sound like shit and never sit flat on the turntable, i've had three brought back this week because they are warped. What the hell do the expect?.

Some Numan fans are like Toyah fans. They turn up at 9.01am on Monday morning (the day of release) and buy every different format of the same song. Sometimes walking out with 3 or 4 copies of the same bloody thing. God knows what they do with them. They surely can't be listeniing to 'em. But buying more than one copy sends the single rocketing up the charts week one. After that it’s all over. No one else buys it and on week two you may as well put everything left over in the 20p dump bin. No self-respecting Toyah or Numan fan buys a single on week two. And as far as I can see no one other than the fans buy their music at all.

Rodger isn’t a pushy rep. I look forward to him coming around. He’s a good laugh. He just dumps his folder on the counter and asks me to “peruse” through the shite and tell me what I want. At the end of the folder, after the albums and cassettes, there are also carpets and curtain fabrics. They are nothing to do with the promotions company he is working for. He’s just added them himself for a little bit of extra cash. Roger is good for cash ;-)

“At Christmas I do Calendars as well” he said “so remember that".

If his boss only knew.

Back to 1972

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:12:24 PDT

Clip from a great TV Series Looking back at 1972 and featuring the classic 70s "Music Centre"

Independent Record Stores (Last Shop Standing)

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:28:02 PST

I bought a book the other day called Last Shop Standing - Whatever happened to Record Shops ? By Graham Jones.

I'm only half way through reading it so i shouldn't perhaps be reviewing it yet. But it's all very interesting.

However it doesn't seem to be written by someone who Set up and owned a small independent records shop himself. So far as i can see it's taken from the point of view of someone interviewing people who did. And like all people you interview who work in any shop they tell you the salacious stuff and leave out the mundane nitty gritty of trying to stay in business.

For me the hardest part was trying to keep going whilst every record company and his mother tried to sell me every record that has ever been released in every format going. Whilst trying to satisfy the needs of all those potential customers with cash to be had. Graham worked at HMV. But HMV was a multiple as far as i am concerned. A good one i'll grant you that. But a corporate multiple all the same. When you have such buying power you don't have the same financial restraints as a small indie and your whole perspective of selling music is warped. Nothing seems to be said in this book of owners only buying three copies of the most brilliant record you have ever heard because you know that only you will like it and maybe two customers you know you can push it to. Whilst having to purchase a bucket load of absolute shite in the full knowledge that you will sell out within days and it will probably be top 10 next week. That's what working in a record shop was all about. It was like gambling. You have to pay for all that stock so if you buy more than you sell you lose money and if you don't buy enough and you loose as well. Cold hard business wrapped up in your love of music and all the baggage that comes with it.

Perhaps i should add a few of my own stories here at some point. They might not be as glamorous but it would be a bit more realistic. If i ever wrote a book it would be called the 'Life and Death of a record shop'. I started in the 80s and ended my days in 2000 when you buggers started burning your own copies and downloading free from the Internet.

But it's all gone now. Anyone who still owns a record shop nowadays must be mad. Surely they are living on borrowed time ?. But good luck to them i say, if only they could stay there forever.
Anyway this is a recommended read.

Alan 'Fluff' Freeman

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:07:21 PST

When you consider how old this guy was when he was still broadcasting in the UK on it's trendy BBC pop station it's hardly any wonder that Radio One needed a revamp. But it's amusing to note that he still ended his days playing heavy rock with a bit of classical to boot.

A weird combination that seemed to work perfectly. But can you image the equivalent nowadays ? A DJ playing Trance dance music and throwing in a few clips of Brass Bands perhaps? They would probably laugh him off the airwaves.

Anyway this is how to open a radio show. One and a half minutes before the first track kicks in but a spectacular opener that still sounds good today.

Bless him. Gone but not forgotten.

Alan Freeman Rock DJ

The Damned Phantasmagoria

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:19:19 PST

In 1985 The Damned released the Phantasmagoria album. A much more palatable crossover sounding collection of tunes than anything they had ever produced previously in their punk years. It spawned the singles Grimly Fiendish and The Shadow of love and was a sort of gothic/pop offering that suddenly gave them a mass appeal along with a few top 40 hits.

When this album was sold in to our record shop by MCA records we were given the opportunity to do some promotional advertising paid for by the label. I say ‘paid for’, we never actually received any cash, the payment was just free Albums. The idea being that we got 10 free Vinyl LPS (no CDs in those days) and the freebies would allow us to reduce the price and advertise it in our local paper.

£4.49 would be our cut price so all we needed to do now was think of a snappy ad to go in our local Rag.

Now I know that in the cold light of day this doesn’t sound like comedy gold but at the time I thought that it would be amusing to have the tag line (in bold black lettering) “I’ll be Damned if I’ll pay more that £4.49 for the new Damned Album, blah blah…out now….etc etc”. LOL, hilarious, Jimmy Tarbuck eat your heart out.

So we got the artwork approved, sorted the price/size of ad/what page it would be on etc. and arranged for it to go in the paper just before the weekend for maximum sales.

But on the day advertisement was due to go to press a lady from the paper rang to say there was a slight problem. The editor wouldn’t let us use our comedy wording “he thinks that the line ‘I’ll be Damned’ sounds a bit too much like swearing” she said. “Wot? that’s the name of the band, The Damned!, how the hell can you take that bit out ?”.

“I know” she said “ but he’s made us reword it I’m afraid, I hope you don’t mind?”

So what magical Gem did they come up with for our fantastic Damned Promotion?

“We won’t condemn you to pay more that £ 4.49 for the new Phantasmagoria album- out now”

Shite!
We never bothered with the Sex Pistols Never mind the bollocks re promotion...

Record Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:30:00 PST

Record Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:28:16 PST

Whatever happened to ....?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:34:48 PST

Hollywood Beyond What's the colour of money ?
Reached No 7(UK) March 1986

Doctor & the Medics Featuring Roy Wood- Waterloo

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:04:34 PST

It's amazing what you can find on U-Tube isn't it ?. Yes it's the Abba Classic and yes it's Roy Wood from the Move and Wizzard. In fact this just sounds like Wizzard covering Abba. But i post it because i am sick of people referring to Doctor and the Medics as one hit wonders

Ok the other two didn't exactly set the charts alight but Burn reached No 29 in Aug 1986 and This one peaked at 45 in November of the same year.

I thought they were OK. Fun, Didn't take themselves to seriously and above all entertaining.

A Bit like Wizzard in fact.
Personally i don't think it worked because they looked like goths, but enjoyed themselves and looked far to happy to appeal to real ones. LOL

Dr & the Medics Ft Roy Wood - Waterloo

Oldies Unlimited

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 06:03:30 PST

Oldies Unlimited Catalogue No 77

I was gonna write something here about a record label called Old Gold. But i'll save that for another day because whilst i was looking through my collection to research more i found this monthly catalogue from approx 1987/88 and decided to change it to Oldies Unlimited.

Based in Telford this company bought up old stock of ex chart hits from record labels and shops, then sold them on to anyone willing to buy. They also had franchised dealers up and down the country and flogged via mail order.

This wasn't a second hand service. These were unplayed vinyl oldies on the cheap.

The sort of thing that Woolworth's stuck in a dump bin the minute it dropped to No 41 in the "Hit Parade" these people saved and sold as "Ex Chart oldies" at a later date.

As a collector myself i found them a god send, especially for those really weird forgettable tracks that no one remembered.

This catalogue also shows that you could buy Albums, cassettes and 12" singles. But i had forgotten that they also sold Plastic and card sleeve covers, Adaptors for the missing center of 7inchers and T shirts. (i have to say i never bought one of those and i never knew anyone who did either).

But best of all were the bargain packs. You had no idea what was in these packs but you got them cheap.

"5 different ex-chart 12" singles for £4.00" it says. Followed by "None of the offers give you any choice within the package"

I wonder if anyone would fall for that one on I-tunes nowadays ?.

The shop i worked in had a special Oldies unlimited stand at one time. A guy came and stocked it up with a random selection of singles (of their choice), shrink wrapped and priced. 99p i think ?. It was all free on 'sale or return'.

Then they would come back a week or two later and count up how many were gone (sold), charge you for the missing stock and load up a set of new ones.

The down side to this was that the real collectors (and staff working in the shop) drained the stand of all the best stuff in the first two days, leaving all the crap stuff behind for the rest of the week. And any stock that got stolen over that week we ended up paying for.

But finding this catalogue also jolted a few other memories that had completely escaped me.

They may seem small and irrelevant but that's what nostalgia can be sometimes.

1 Singles whose numbers are preceded by P generally, though NOT ALWAYS, come in a picture cover.

2 Singles whose numbers are preceded by (p) MAY come in picture sleeve

3 The catalogue itself is printed on the equivalent of cheap toilet paper, so thin you could tear a page turning it over

4 Pop Singles 40p each 10 for £ 3.50 or 20 for £ 6.00

5 AJ Lewis (Director)

6 If Paying by Transcash Tick Here

7 Adaptors 1p each

8 Stiff Plastic Record Sleeves 7" 10p each

9 Stiff white Card Sleeves 7" 5p each

10 "In the past five issues we have included an oldies quiz. Unfortunately while this has been of interest to some of our customers, we have not found it the unqualified success we thought it would be. So last months was the last one."(LOL)

Name your local record shop

1960s Money

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:38:11 PST

Buying things in the 60s you might need some of these.

A Penny, Half Penny, Three Pence, A shilling, A sixpence and a Half Crown.

The black coin at the bottom on the right is a Farthing and ceased to be legal tender on the 30th December 1960 (50 years ago!).

What i had forgotten about coins like this was how heavy they were. The Half Crown should have been named the half pound, and was the size of a small plate!. Three of them in your pocket and you'd we walking around with your pants hanging round your arse showing half your undies.

Come to think of it that would probably be fashionable nowadays anyway.

Take That 1992

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:36:51 PST

Back together again after all these years. Mark my words it'll all end in tears. But for a laugh here's a great Picture of Robbie Williams looking like his mum just cut his hair.

For the record i actually liked this when it came out but didn't think 'they would get anywhere'. New Kids on the Block had cornered the market !.

Take That The early years

Tears For Fears Before They were famous

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:00:08 PDT

Produced By Tony Hatch (Crossroads/Petula Clark/New Faces) This was a attempt at a Ska type Elvis Costello/Specials/Madness sound. But in all honesty i think i bought it because i thought it sounded like Bad Manners (LOL).

A few years later they emerged as a two piece singing Mad World with a completely new sound.

Wise move i think.

Vinyl Records

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:19:23 PDT

When i first started buying Vinyl Records they seemed to weigh a ton and were the thickness of a I pad. Covers were considered pieces of art and even the label could be beautiful to watch spinning round on the turntable.

But sometime in the mid 80's the manufacturers obviously decided they could cut corners and save some cash by squeezing the life out of these bits of plastic by squashing them down to the depth of sheet of toilet paper. Any thinner and i'm pretty sure customers might have thought they just bought a flexi disc (remember them ?).

To save even more cash the paper label was replaced with a basic paint splattered center and everything was whizzed through a pressing plant so fast that from time to time the grooves had half the label printed over it and the terrible quality of the vinyl was apparent for all to see.

As i look through my collection i notice that the late 80's early 90's looked to be the beginning of the end for this format being a quality product. It's only in recent years that the quality has returned. But there again, vinyl is seen as something special nowadays. A little exotic for the kids. And specially manufactured as some sort of promotion rather than mass appeal.

Not long after i started working in a record shop a rep from EMI Records retired after many years in the business. He told me that when he first started selling vinyl it was delivered to the shops in crates packed with straw to stop them getting damaged. At the risk of sounding like an old git myself, we had them stuffed into a cardboard box with all the other formats and dumped in the door by securicor. I remember the first time i ever sold a record and thought it looked crap. The quality didn't impress me at all and it stood out like a sore thumb.

It was 1988 and Blue Mercedes landed on the counter of the shop i worked in. 5 copies were sent back because they were either warped, had blobs of plastic still hanging round the edges, or the silver paint label was stamped over a bit of the lead out.

Listening back to this record i'm not sure it wasn't a god send.

Collectable

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:02 PDT

Madness Our House Stretch Mix

Simply Red For Your Babies Hologram CD

Split Enz History Never Repeats Embossed Hologram

George Michael & Queen Five Live 7" Promo

Emperor Rosko

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:02:25 PDT

I seem to have an alarming amount of records made by Deejays.
Most of them are comedy or novelty records of course, but not all.
If you are under 30 this post will probably mean nothing to you because you may not know who I’m talking about.

For the rest of you Emperor Rosko (real name Mike Pasternak)was a DJ who Broadcast on BBC Radio one in the 70`s and based his presentation style of Wolfman Jack.

I can’t think of any other presenter who sounded like him on mainstream UK radio back then, so he was like a breath of fresh air to me. I loved his delivery and American style Jingles and whilst others were spinning Gary Glitter and the Osmonds, his playlist seemed to include far more “hip” and trendy soul classics.
With the possible exception of Friday night when he hosted Roskos Round Table. A weekly review of new releases with famous guests spouting their opinion on forthcoming releases.

He released several Atlantic Souls Classic compilation albums and the track listings included some of the greatest records ever made with such artists as Aretha Franklin to Otis Redding.
They were segued together like a radio show & presented by Rosko himself complete with Jingles and all.

I’m not sure his style has stood the test of time, to be honest I think I would find him slightly annoying nowadays, but it does bring back good memories and the music included on these albums are still stunning to this day.

A sample of his presentation style from the albums is included below.

Swing Out Sister Piano Pack

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:14:18 PDT

Another delve into my pile of "special edition" promotional packs that must have cost a fortune but didn't work.
I think it's supposed to be a "Grand" piano LOL.
It wasn't a hit. Maybe people just could work out how to file this away with all their other CDs.

Swing Out Sister - Forever blue
1989 Fontana Records Cat No SWICD83
(wasn't a hit)

Joy Division New Order Miss Pressing

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:00:04 PDT

Buying a fresh copy of an old single in the 1980s wasn’t much of a problem. Record companies and shops kept back catalogue pressings of popular oldies on the go for as long as people were prepared to buy them.

The only time ex chart recordings were “deleted” would be when it wasn’t worth printing more and sitting on dead stock that no-one wanted or if they wanted you to buy the album instead.

At the height of New Order-Blue Monday Mania I decided to grab a new scratch free copy of Joy division Love will tear us apart. I worked as a DJ in a nightclub at the time and as most DJs know even if you are the most careful person in the world vinyl records are like every other tool of the trade. They get well used and need replacing from time to time.

But when I got my new copy home and played it there was a slight problem. It looked like Joy Division-Love will tear us apart; The Label said Joy Division-Love would tear us apart. But it played New Order-Blue Monday.

On closer inspection the B-side had two tracks so on a flip of the vinyl I then discovered a wonderful miss pressing that made me put this record away and not touch it for a good few years.

A mix up at the pressing plant had stuck two plates for two separate singles together. Fac 73 A (New Order Blue Monday) and FAC23 B (Joy division Love will tear us apart/these days) the connection between both tracks makes it unique and I thankfully decided against playing it that night in the club. Although i did think it would save room in my record box to have two popular recordings on one vinyl.

I rushed back to the shop the next day and like and idiot explained what had happened. The assistant immediately pulled all the copies they had out of the filing (5 of them) and discovered there were two more like this.

You would have thought he had just discovered a nugget of gold. He wouldn’t sell me any more and stuck them on one side for himself.
B*****D ! Anyway i still have this record sitting on a shelf doing nothing, unplayed and gathering dust. Why ?

Only a true record collector will be able to answer that question and know the answer why.

Leftovers

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:15:23 PDT

Arctic Monkeys Display & Promote

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 06:33:06 PDT

All those years working In a record shop collection Vinyl, CDs, Cassettes, Special Editions & Promos. You name it and if it made a sound I collected it.
But the one thing I didn’t bother to keep was the display material !. All those posters that were stapled to the walls. The Counter box that held a stack of CD singles. The Dangler mobile for the Eurythmics single. The pre-release Ad for the forthcoming U2 Single, the leaflets for a forthcoming release, the special bag to sell it in….
And the huge window display for the Beatles album.

If you look on eBay you can find practically any record you want, but most of this promotional display material just got dumped in the bin.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only person to do this. If you worked in a record shop you will know how much of it you got.
But it sends shivers down my spine when I think of some of the things I’ve tore up and stuffed in a black bin bag.
All I have left to show for it are a few leftovers.

It's still worth looking at though so lets start with the Arctic Monkeys.

10,000 Maniacs Limited Edition Elephant Pack

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:16:16 PDT

You don't get this sort of thing with an MP3 do you ?.
Oh for the days of the "special pack" with a weird idea from some promotions person put into practice and sold to the record buying public. You can just imagine the moment someone in a smoke filled room came up with this one.

I wonder what they were smoking at the time?. But i love it anyway. It must have cost a fortune to make but it certainly does it for me. LOL.
Sadly the idea didn't work. It wasn't a hit, in fact it didn't even reach the top 75 here in the UK. Does that make this thing rare and worth a fortune?.

I doubt it.

10,000 Maniacs - Trouble me
Including Party of gods Featuring Billy Bragg
1989 Elektra Records Cat No EKR 93 CDX