for those who never gave up their turntables
WELCOME TO AN INTRODUCTION to the first in a series of articles on the released and unreleased recording of the Byrds in 1966. I began this series in July 2013 for my first blog, Neal Umphred Dot Com. As I hadn’t written anything in a while (in years, actually), my authorial chops were rusty. [Continue reading]
WHEN I ARRIVED AT MY OFFICE on a day in early 1987, I was handed a package that had arrived earlier. As I worked at home more often than “at work,” my schedule of arriving and departing varied from day to day. My job was editor of a line of price guides for record collectors published by O’Sullivan Woodside and formerly associated with other authors. [Continue reading]
GREAT SINGLES IN 1967 by established artists that should have been BIG hits but weren’t were common. For example, Buffalo Springfield’s Mr. Soul, the Byrds’ Lady Friend, and the Hollies’ King Midas In Reverse (and I could go on but that’s grist for another mill). But perhaps the biggest disappointment was the Rolling Stones second single of the year, We Love You / Dandelion. [Continue reading]
THIS ARTICLE addresses the first few years in which deleted record albums flooded retail stores across the country. Stores that had never contemplated a bargain bin in their record department started one and record-buying was never the same. But these records should have had a huge impact on the early record collectors price guides, but did not. [Continue reading]
THIS ARTICLE is about my first price guide, the 1985-86 edition of the Rock & Roll Record Albums Price Guide. I discuss some of the reasoning that I used and the results that had an immediate and profoundly unsettling impact on the hobby and business of selling and buying records. It makes public the reasoning that went behind the decisions that sticker-shocked (shocked I say!) [Continue reading]
A FEW WEEKS AGO, I received an invitation from a young musician in England to make a connection on the LinkedIn site, the “world’s largest professional network.” Reluctantly I accepted it, despite the fact that I have yet to meet anyone who has actually benefited professionally from any of their LinkedIn connections. [Continue reading]
THIS IS PART 3 of an ongoing conversation with or about Lawrence Bray concerning his career as a solo artist and as a member of the group Around Town. The group has a new record Out Of Control and both it and its accompanying video gave me great joy to participate within. Here [Continue reading]
A FRIEND WAS LEARNING THE ROPES of making money by selling other people’s ‘collectables’ by auctioning them on eBay. It’s his experience that inspired this article, “Grading Records for Sale Part 1.” Let’s pretend his name is Luke. As the bulk of Luke’s consignments were from friends, it was a reasonably relaxed affair and no one was trying to pull the wool over the other’s eyes. [Continue reading]
FAKE AUTOGRAPHS on rock & roll memorabilia being sold at charity fundraisers sounds like the act of a misanthrope or even a sociopath more. Cheating folk who are spending money knowing that it will go to help others is rather dastardly. And yet, huge sums of money are being spent on forgeries every day! [Continue reading]