October 25, 2003
Falling Prices.
Quite why this would be of any interest I can't say. However I find these discarded minutiae of one's existence fascinating. I picked up a batch of 50 second-hand plastic sleeves from the Music and Video Exchange collectors department. One pound for ten sleeves. I like to protect my better records. These sleeves are a bugger to order usually. There is only one supplier I'm aware of in the U.K. who are located somewhere up north. Buying them like this seemed an easy option. If you were ever to break into my house to steal my records, be sure to pick up all the sheathed ones. They're more valuable.
I had to peel all the old M&V stickers off the plastic initially, from which I collated a page of them for one of my notebooks. Quite sad/glad to see all these tumbling prices. I once had to do this marking down process myself. Emerald Jim can tell you all about this too. He's another of the former alumni. In fact I think Simon worked there too. I know my good friend Ken Downie did a stint. When I was there I was with Tom, one of the guys from 23 skidoo and Bean who now runs Intoxica. Currently Sean P who was behind Strut's great "Disco not Disco" series and Richard Sen of Bronx Dogs are behind the counter. It's like a fookin guttah academy that place. Of course there are lifers like the legendary Hector Selecta, but he too has a past working with Cheb Khaled and The Blow Monkeys back inna de day.
Examining these labels caused me to reflect on the various manners in which record stores deface stock which they plan to consign to the bargain bin. From cutting off the top right hand corner, to making a vertical snip along the top of the spine, to drilling a hole though the bottom left corner of the sleeve. Quite why this barbaric practice was considered necessary in the seventies and eighties is anyone's guess. Consider your collection, and ponder how many quite lovely sleeves are wrecked.
Once I'd peeled off all the labels I had clean off all the mess. This is where this stuff comes in handy:
No self-respected record-collecting twat should be without a tin of this lighter fluid. All international crew, don't worry your local variety will do the job just as well. It's also great for cleaning vomit, dust, baby food and all manner of grok off the vinyl itself. Though don't be shy of sticking a record under a cold tap.
I got pleasantly high off the fumes at this point. Now I'm just figuring out which of my records deserve to be moved up to first class, and you'd be fascinated to know that quite a bit of obscure new-wave just got the nod and wink!
Posted by Woebot at October 25, 2003 02:38 PM