for those who never gave up their turntables
DAVID BOWIE’S “SPACE ODDITY” was originally released during the second half of 1969. Several original pressings are rather rare and valuable records. In some countries, the record included a picture sleeve, many of which are even rarer and more valuable. This article offers a nutshell history of the record with a gallery of Space Odditys. [Continue reading]
“STREET FIGHTING MAN” by the Rolling Stones—the US issue on London Records—is the most valuable picture sleeve in the world! At least, that’s what I wrote nine years ago. At the time, I was unaware of any real contender for the title. Then I learned about the Japanese “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. [Continue reading]
THE TERM “PICTURE SLEEVE” has a specific meaning in record collecting. Basically, it’s a paper envelope with a photograph or artwork on at least one side made to hold a seven-inch, 45 rpm record. Japanese picture inserts for 45 rpm singles are not picture sleeves no matter how many collectors and dealers conflate the terms. [Continue reading]
WHAT IS A “PICTURE SLEEVE”? I know—this is a dumb question to the thousands of collectors who know the answer. But based on ads, articles, and comments on the internet, thousands of other collectors and sellers do not know the answer. Or they don’t know the correct answer. [Continue reading]
THERE ARE A HANDFUL OF RECORDS from the ’70s that are so common among British collectors that they receive little attention from them. But they are all rather rare records outside of the UK—so rare, that most non-UK collectors have only seen them as images on the internet! [Continue reading]
WHILE RESEARCHING THE ARTICLE that I just published, I amassed almost 5,000 words of information and more than three dozen images. I deleted almost one-third of those words and images and titled the completed article “Is It The Sounds Of Silence or The Sound Of Silence?” What was left behind—the flotsam and jetsam—is what you will find below: an addendum to the original article! [Continue reading]
DOES JACKIE DeSHANNON belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Making an argument for her or any artist is not easy for two reasons. First, the Hall does not have any set of criteria by which fans can assess potential candidates. Each year each vote appears to be a reflection of the mood of the nominators and voters of that year. [Continue reading]
I MOVED TO CALIFORNIA from Pennsylvania in June 1978. I naively believed I would find some semblance of “the sixties” hidden away in San Francisco. But in only a few years, most of it had been blotted out. There were still a lot of hand-painted Victorian houses and a few hip coffee shops and bookstores.
IN MAY 1978, a record by a group with a rather silly name was released in the San Francisco Bay Area. After making a splash in that market, radio stations around the country picked it up for their playlists. Had things been left to themselves, the record might have been a really big hit record. [Continue reading]