On the 28 October 1977 a thirty-seven year old Peter Driscoll opened a new record shop at 55 Elm Road in Leigh on Sea. It was the year of Punk and The Sex Pistols, so naturally the UK’s charts reflected… Read More ›
Vinyl
Vinyl Subscription Services: Which One Is Best?
Not sure whether to sign up to a vinyl subscription service? Here’s a look at a few… Last time, we looked at Vinyl Me Please and its cocktail recipe. It was all very shiny and pleasing, but didn’t solve the… Read More ›
Vinyl Me? Please…
In which we take a look at the US vinyl subscription service and check out the most important aspect of their monthly offer: The cocktail recipe…
The Five Golden Rules of Setting Up Your Own Album Of The Month Club
An Album of the Month Club is a wonderful thing. It’s like having a friend with great musical taste who is compiling, nay, “curating” * music for you to add to your collection. Yay! Or is it? What friend would… Read More ›
How To Buy Nick Drake On Vinyl
Chris Davidson was a bit pushy. He was also not the tallest boy. He wanted to join a band at school called The Perfumed Gardener. Rehearsals were in the school hall at the not very rock n roll time of… Read More ›
Should You Buy Nineties Vinyl?
…and a discussion of Record Collector’s Logic. Also: The Great R.E.M. CD / Vinyl Hunt… Have we reached peak vinyl? Should we all pile in to CDs now the price is a tiny fraction of the cost of vinyl? Is… Read More ›
Is it cheaper to buy vinyl online or in record shops? The Verdict.
The day came for us to finally resolve the question. Is it cheaper to buy vinyl online or in record shops and fairs? We had a couple of minor rules – we would try to buy a) Aretha Franklin’s Atlantic… Read More ›
How To Buy Aretha Franklin on Vinyl
Previously, we saw how “I Never Loved A Man” became a smash hit for Aretha Franklin. But what about those other LPs on Atlantic? Between 1967 and 1972 Aretha Franklin released eight studio albums, two live albums and a Greatest… Read More ›
The Making of Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”
Wilson Pickett moved towards Percy Sledge, ready to punch him, hard. Sledge had popped in during one of Pickett’s recording sessions at the Muscle Shoals Fame Studios, and as his name would suggest, began to sledge Pickett, telling him first… Read More ›
Aretha Franklin’s Emotional First Performance
…and Why It Took Nine Albums To Score Aretha’s First Hit Aretha Franklin sat at a piano in her father’s church, just days after her mother’s death. She was just ten years old and about to make her first ever… Read More ›
Who Has Had The Longest Unbroken Run Of Great Albums…? (Clue: It’s Not The Beatles)
A friend and I were debating who has had the longest consecutive run of classic albums in order to settle another argument. Which is cheaper? Buying records online or buying in shops? Our scientific method was to each buy the… Read More ›
Tim Burgess’ Great Vinyl Adventure
Tim Burgess. You may know him as the lead singer of The Charlatans, readily recognisable from his shock of blond pudding-bowl-shaped hair and singer of some of the best songs of the last twenty-odd years. You may also know Burgess… Read More ›
High Street Vinyl Wars! HMV Launches Its Own Record Store Day
You may not have noticed, but as Father’s Day 2016 approaches, we may be reaching peak vinyl. A supermarket war has broken out over vinyl sales in the UK, something unimaginable a few years ago unless the fight was this:… Read More ›
The Neil Young Deluxe Vinyl Box Set Project: Part 4
IV: The “Deluxe” Extras The Project: Is it possible to make a “Deluxe” Vinyl Box Set of Neil Young albums from the original vinyl rather than spending lots of money on re-issues? The Story So Far: We have the… Read More ›
The Neil Young Deluxe Vinyl Box Set Project: Putting The “Box” Into “Box Set”
The Project: To bring luxury to the masses. The plan is to make a Luxury Neil Young Box Set: DIY Edition from second hand albums and bits of string and sell it to the public. The Story So Far:… Read More ›
