Sid in the Sharknado
New member
Yes, it closed down in 2012. I bought my first vinyl record in the closing down sale.
Can't comment on whether it was the chart return shop, I don't think that was a thing by then.
[NSC] Who remembers cloaks records back of the old Churchill square
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Yes, it closed down in 2012. I bought my first vinyl record in the closing down sale.
Can't comment on whether it was the chart return shop, I don't think that was a thing by then.
The charts were compiled from sales reported from shops, but I always understood that not all shops were used (this is back in the days before the internet and e-mails and so on), so only a few were chosen in each town/area. I think it was basically done through hand-written records given to Gallup or their predecessors.
edit - Found this - this was how it was done during the 70s, until Gallup changed things in the mid 80s:
The BBC and Record Retailer join forces to revolutionise the UK’s chart compilation process. The two organisations commission the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to compile the UK’s charts on their behalf – these are the first true industry-recognised charts and are referred to as the UK’s “official” charts for the first time.
These charts are initially compiled from a panel of 250 record shops, who log their sales by hand and submit their totals by post. Over the years, the panel grows to 750 stores, with 250 used every week for the singles chart and 450 for the albums chart, coming out on Tuesdays and Wednesdays respectively.....In 1971 a postal strike results in no Official Albums Charts being circulated from February through to April.
Wow, had no idea you could still buy the cassette format, threw all mine out years & years ago.
I have about 150 casette tapes, full of recordings from John Peel plus a bit of Peter Drummond and Bob Harris, dating from 1971, through CITR (Vancouver) 83-86, and some more John Peel plus Judge Jules in the 90s. 86-91 is a wasteland owing to personal circumstances.
To be honest, a lot of the super rare stuff I have on tape, like the 'Again Again' session from 78, Modern Eon, Severed Heads etc is now available on YouTube owing to people with much better kit (8 track) converting their old recordings to MP3. You only need one old bloke in Barnsley who had money back in the day and is still obsessed with whatever music to create one upload for youtube, and the whole world has access. For this reason I won't be going through my old tapes to make MP3s.
Wow, had no idea you could still buy the cassette format, threw all mine out years & years ago.
I think most people did and probably don't regret it. I got rid of most of mine apart from a few sentimental ones. I recently replaced the belt in my walkman and started to play them again and they don't sound bad at all. There is not a lot of new music released on tape but you can find some. I did not know a lot about Wolf Alice but liked a couple of songs I heard, the tape cost me £4.99 so it was cheap way to see if I like it. I also still play vinyl, minidisks and CD's. I have a Tidal account but prefer to own physical copies of music I like.
Yes, Tony who was the proprietor used to run the record department at the Back of Redifusion on the High St ( now Maxis PO and Tom Foollery ) When that ceased ( '83/'84 ) Tony Started on his own in Brunswick Road, first as A&S records then later as Atomic ( I think it was that way round ) He closed and went online WFH over 15 years ago now. Not sure If he's still around or trading, he was a big Blondie fan, but always has some interesting and different stuff in, was also good at locating and ordering oddities.
I bought my first singles ( Madness, specials etc from 1980) from Redifusion, and regularly from A&S up until he closed.
https://jemtunes.wordpress.com/tag/atomic-sounds/
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Sid in the Sharknado
New member
When I last went to a decent sized independent record shop (in Bristol a couple of years ago, I think it's gone now) they had a box full of tapes, at least some of which I think were from bands doing the whole DIY recording thing.
Apparently sales are booming, in the sense that 2 is a 100% increase on 1.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-manchester-56908855
I don't think tapes will make the come back that vinyl has. Probably because they were considered the portabable way to listen. Convinsing anyone that you can take two or three tapes with you or just have access to millions of songs on your phone is probably not going to work. There is no great sound improvment benifit to using cassetes. You can buy turntables to suit every budget and they can sound fantastic and they were never very portable anyway. But the only people making new cassette players are cheap and sound rubbish your better of buying a second hand cassette player from the 90's but that would properbly require a belt change as they perish with age. I imagine young people buying these tapes are doing so to support their band and probably never play them.
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Interesting.
I suspect like more and more people now, l rely on Amazon's very own Alexa to play me my coice of music. She's a very talented lady actually, and l'm sure she masquerades as my Sat Nav too, as the voice sounds exactly the same!
Joking apart though l think the sound quality on my Alexa Echo is excellent for what l need it for. I'm actually considering disposing of my vinyl and CD's now as l have no real use for them. I've no idea what l can expect to make from them though, or the best way of getting them valued.
Record collections are an odd one its getting rid of them thats a problem. . . . .If I had to go and buy all of my records I'd need ten grand or more, but a record dealer would probably offer me a grand tops with a wry grin.
try looking on discogs for ideas of valuation, you may end up selling a few bundles, a few odd albums and 3gcharity shop a load. notrhing to do with your taste in music, but a well played album printed in millions is never going to be worth anything.
if you have a 7" copy of Vaccuum cleaner by Tintern Abbey on Deram PM me ;-)
try looking on discogs for ideas of valuation, you may end up selling a few bundles, a few odd albums and 3gcharity shop a load. notrhing to do with your taste in music, but a well played album printed in millions is never going to be worth anything.
if you have a 7" copy of Vaccuum cleaner by Tintern Abbey on Deram PM me ;-)
I love audio equipemnt and physical music, but at the end of the day it is about listening and enjoying music. If you enjoy your Echo that is great. Your CD's probably will not be worth much unfortunatly but your vinyl could be worth more depending on what it is of course. if you want to get rid of a lot of cd's Music Magpie will give you a price and if you are happy, will pick it boxed from your house. You will have to box them. As for your vinyl having a look on ebay or discogs should give you some idea.
Sid in the Sharknado
New member
No, I can't imagine it'll ever be more than a niche market for gig souvenirs and DIY/indie people with about 5 fans.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure most vinyl bought nowadays is largely bought as an artifact or souvenir or whatever, and is barely if ever played. You have to be really heavily into that warm vinyl sound not to go for streaming 99% of the time out of convenience.
Difficult to say. I have six turntables and play a vinyl record pretty much every day. But then I have always been a bit odd.
albionalbino
Well-known member
There was HMV and also WHSmith had a separate record shop which was behind the main store. They'd hide the truth.
Sid in the Sharknado
New member
I don't know, but I'm completely confident in saying that that's unusual. I've got a turntable set up in my living room and might listen to an album once a week if that, and I suspect that's well above average.
I've asked a couple of friends of mine if they ever actually listen to their vinyl, I'm interested to find out. They're the sort of people who are more likely than normal to actually bother.
I totally want six turntables now though. I've got one that I picked up from a charity shop about 9 years ago, it's fine but the whole set up definitely isn't an audiophiles wet dream.
https://www.brightonandhovenews.org...-of-brighton-hove-record-shops-the-directory/
Mentioned on here.
It’s bugging me that I don’t remember Cloaks.
Mentioned on here.
It’s bugging me that I don’t remember Cloaks.
Yeah, it only closed five or so years ago - very sad to see it go.
I try to avoid people who identify as an audiophile, they tend to go around telling people what is wrong with their setup and listing to thier system trying to improve it instead of the music. I believe if you are enjoying listening to music on what ever method or medium you choose it is all good. A good system is one that sounds good to you. I have six turnable because I love them, I like the fact it is a ritual to playing a record and tend to listen more intently because of it.
Streaming will always be background music for me like a radio.
Sid in the Sharknado
New member
The problem with trying to avoid audiophiles, is they can always hear you coming.
I love the whole ritual of getting the vinyl out and positioning the needle etc., it makes it feel like a proper event. But I don't find myself in that moment very often, one way or another. I also love the slightly Heath Robinson nature of my set up, it's very me in a way that my phone or laptop never can be.
Incidentally, one of the people I asked just came back with roughly once a fortnight.