VIRGIN LONDON MARATHON APRIL 26th 2015

As well as being a collector and seller of vinyl I am also a half marathon runner and soon to be full marathon runner. Follow the link below to find out all about my marathon challenge for 2015!
also follow the link for donations to the ROYAL MARSDEN CANCER CHARITY

 www.virginmoneygiving.com/MichaelWard10

PUNK ARTWORK 7" VINYL

Punk rock coincided with the emergence of  a proliferation of coloured vinyl and the renewal of the picture sleeve. The picture sleeve has been around a long time with a lot of the 50's & 60's releases in uninspiring picture sleeve format (predominantly with just band/artist photos). Whilst there were still plenty of P/S releases in the 70's the punk era moved it to a different level and the covers became far more interesting. Shown below is a selection of punk 7" vinyl from some of the major bands of the day.

THE SKIDS - 1977-1982 from Scotland (Dunfermline)
THE DAMNED - from London & probably one of the most well known punk bands with multiple band member changes down the years.
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS - from Belfast started out during the punk explosion of 1977
THE VIBRATORS - Another London band and like many still playing today
THE PLEASERS - From London/Surrey more pop than punk I guess but like others bundled into punk genre sometimes.
SHRINK - I think he was from London but not 100% sure
THE CORTINAS - Are from Bristol and the single shown "Fascist Dictator" was their first
999 - Another London band with quite a large output of vinyl in their heyday
THE REZILLOS - From Edinburgh still around today and probably one of the most sucessful bands

All the above vinyl is currently available from Vinyl_Spurs

THE DICKIES - Are from California and some people refer to them as "bubble gum punk"
3 of their early singles are shown below, all released on coloured vinyl on the A&M label
Give it Back AMS 7391 - Eve of Destruction AMS 7373 - Banana Splits AMS 7431
Banana Splits of course being the theme tune for the famous US TV programme of the same name..all togther now ..Tra la la

Finally today here is a rare punk 7" from American Band called Human Sexual Response
Z2 on the bizarrely named "don't fall off the mountain" record label- The single released slightly later than most of the above in 1981 entitled "What does sex mean to me?"

Of course there are many many more punk bands from around the world, and the genre remains to be one of the most collectable genres in music/vinyl

1st Pressing .......3rd reissue or worthless piece of junk?

Finding what looks like a valuable haul of 60's or 70's vinyl is always exciting ......but establishing whether it's really worth a high value sometimes takes a lot of time researching and even then you can't always find your copy. In particular the Beatles where numerous amounts of  different pressings and reissues were released and that's without even looking at foreign copies or bootlegs.

There are many ways of course you can try and establish the date and release that you have found
Laminate cover or plain matt cover? Positioning of labels, catalogue numbers, shades of picture (sometimes the colours are slightly different). Flipback or not? is the name of the printer shown? Spot colour used on Logo (as for Beatles E.P. shown)

Sometimes the text and credits have slight variancies, sometimes the record company details changed slightly. As far as the label goes they are many things to look out for....logo sizes, styles positioning, are they boxed?, are there any unintentional printing errors? are the song credits different or missing etc etc.
And of course one of the best ways of checking a release is the information on the run out with the matrices- and stampers, etchings and any other information that has been added. For example many LP's bear the etching  "Porky prime cut" or similar relating to the cutting engineer George Peckham. Many bands chose to add cryptic or amusing messages on the run out and these help to identify the pressing. These are just a few of the ways to identify a release but there are many more that you may already be aware of. Some records like New Order  - Blue Monday 12" had numerous releases all slightly different in one way or another and this means if you are listing for sale you need to be very specific about the information provided as people will collect every issue released.

Using a website like Discogs is very useful in helping to make a correct identification and getting an estimation on the value, for example here is a link to Blue Monday's master  listing on Discogs

http://www.discogs.com/New-Order-Blue-Monday/master/3297

Of course there are exceptions at the other end of the spectrum where only 1 copy was ever made and only ever released in the UK which makes identifying it a whole lot easier and sometimes a whole lot more valuable too. It is always interesting when I come across some vinyl for the first time with no prior knowledge of the artist,or record label and it sets me out on a whole new journey of discovery................the joys of being a vinyl collector/seller.

I currently still have a number of Beatles LP's  for sale, mainly UK and in great condition. Check them out at Vinyl_Spurs via my links http://www.discogs.com/seller/Vinyl_Spurs/profile

I will leave you with one you may not of seen or heard of before and see if you can guess the value without surfing for details - KEEP VINYL ALIVE with Vinyl_Spurs

PUNK & ALTERNATIVE ROCK RARITIES

Over the coming weeks I will be sorting through a large collection of mostly punk/alternative rock 7" & 12"
There are a number of the mainstream punk bands featured but also a few rarer names. The first few bands that I will be selling are the DICKIES - SKIDS - CLASH - WIRE - SKREWDRIVER  & THE REZILLOS to name a few. One of the rarest items is the 1st 7" single by SKREWDRIVER - "YOU'RE SO DUMB" Unfortunately after listing it last night the ebay police removed it as being "hateful material" so it is now live on AMAZON & DISCOGS instead see below for links

CHISWICK S11 - 1st PRESSING - MATRIX A1/B1 1997

Discogs listings for Vinyl_Spurs
Amazon listing for Vinyl_Spurs

The single was initially released in the green cover in limited numbers and then I think there are a couple of other versions available one being an orange P/S. The band came from near Blackpool as you can see they have featured the Blackpool tower on the back cover. They started out as a punk band without any political agenda but this changed as the band evolved. Another band who were starting out about the same time were WIRE from London and they were signed to the prog label Harvest who were dabbling in the punk market with bands like WIRE - THE SAINTS & THE BANNED. Currently listed on ebay I have a great copy of their first 7" single MANEQUIN - HAR 5144 from 1977









ebay listing for WIRE 7" Vinyl_Spurs

I was working in living and working in London at the time, but the punk era largely passed me by as I was already heavily into rock & prog! But now I think I can appreciate them a lot more. And recently went to see the Undertones & Stranglers some  30 years + past their heyday. Much more punk/alternative to follow especially some of the more diverse & bizarre bands.........see you again soon and thanks for reading.

THE WHO 1st LP MY GENERATION - BRUNSWICK LAT 8616

THE WHO 1965 1st LP MY GENERATION 

BRUNSWICK LAT 8616 - MONO

Although I have a few early who LP's this is the first copy of  "My Generation" I have had my hands on. Whilst the condition of the LP is far from mint the audio quality is still great, yes it has a good number of clicks but you get a real feel for the 60's MOD sound with this LP and of course some of the classic WHO tracks. Of course the title track but also "The kids are alright" "The Ox" & "I'm a man" - The WHO at their stunning best in the swinging 60's.
The LP is now live on ebay but only for a few days & finishes on Friday night, full details can be found via this link
THE WHO - MY GENERATION
(Nice lads but shame about the haircuts)  - For the winner of the auction there is also a free Roger Daltrey mounted photo sporting the same barnet (Barnet fair = hair)

The Brunswick label is black with silver text and unusually has a grooved edge and is not completely flat. Released in 1965 the LP has become the holy grail for WHO collectors, with record collector listing mint copies at £400 but copies can hit the market at nearer £600 occasionally. This copy will fetch far less due to heavy wear but it is still a great piece of ROCK VINYL memorabilia.

PINK FLOYD 7" RELEASES WORLDWIDE

Good morning to all you vinylheads out there! Today I am having a look at part of my Floyd collection and specifically the 7" singles. As you probably already know, they did not release any UK 7" between 1968 & 1979! but there was a lot of releases elsewhere in the world to meet the demand particularly in Europe & the US. Pictured below are a selection between 1967 & 1994

Before I tell you more about the releases can you tell me how many different countries releases are featured here & name them? Answers within the next 24hrs please - the first person to guess correctly will get a free 7" copy of  Another brick in the wall from my amazon store. 

See you again tomorrow for answers, KEEP VINYL ALIVE  - Vinyl_Spurs

Well either you all have a copy of Pink Floyd's first UK release for 11 years in 1979 or there is a problem with the blogger comment box. 

Anyway the correct answer was 5 and the countries were UK (of course) US Syd Barrett Pink Vinyl 7" & Money- ITALY - 70's P/S Free Four & Point me at the sky - NETHERLANDS - Have a cigar & GREECE 60's re-issues of Arnold Layne & See Emily play. 

So you want to know some more about some of the releases? 

Back where it all started, a 1967 copy of the Pink Floyd's 2nd UK single See Emily Play

COLUMBIA DB 8214 released in a red Columbia company sleeve and still one of their most sought after early releases. Below is a Greek re-issue from 1974 B side The Scarecrow

HARVEST HARG 1522 

Also released at the same time is a Greek re-issue of Arnold Layne/Candy & the currant bun

HARVEST HARG 1521

The 2 Italian releases feature more obscure tracks that are probably not so widely known to a lot of people (as pictured below) 

EMI Italiana 3C 006 05459 - Point me at the sky/Careful with that axe Eugene 1973

EMI Italiana 3C 006 05086 - Free Four/The gold it's in the............ 1972

As well as other countries released various singles in the 70's including Holland/Netherlands - shown below is a copy of the P/S for Have a cigar/ SOYCD from wish you were here, with the iconic machine handshake

HARVEST  - 5C 006-97 357 - 1976

Moving forward to Division Bell & Pulse, a lot of material was released around this time and below is a copy of high hopes 7" with the fold out poster cover & clear vinyl pressing of High Hopes / Keep Talking. Probably the 2 best tracks from the Division Bell LP 

EMI  - EM 342 - Clear Vinyl

There are of course a large number of other releases from around the world, and if you want to share items from your Floyd collection I would be glad to hear from you. By the way (hush hush) I have just picked up a collection of Rock memorabilia which includes Floyd vinyl & books so keep your eyes open on Vinyl_Spurs sites for them hitting the stores real soon! 

Vinyl_Spurs - BEATLES + PINK FLOYD ON EBAY 

PINK FLOYD - THE SCREAMING ABDAB BOOTLEG

I don't normally buy bootleg copies but this is the only one I ever bought back in the 70's
Recorded at London WEMBLEY EMPIRE POOL (As it was at the time) from the Floyd's November 1974 British Winter tour- Although it states WEMBLEY STADIUM on the cover, they didn't actually play the stadium until the "Momentary lapse of reason tour" on 5th August 1988 (A gig I attended with my brother)

The LP features 3 tracks  - side 1 - SOYCD  - side 2 Raving & Drooling & You gotta be crazy, which were earlier names for Sheep & Dogs respectively.

The recording quality and the size of the venue give it a very echoing booming sound but SOYCD is still not bad, but the sound on side 2 is somewhat harsher with the vocals. All in all though still not a bad recording as bootlegs go.