JohnFred AndHisPlayboys LP 1500 crop2

cantaloupe eyes come to me tonight

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. [Read more] “cantaloupe eyes come to me tonight”

BobLind BuffaloSpringfield 1500 crop

the once but now not so elusive bob lind

THE YEAR 1966 was rather magical for me in regard to music and records. I was 14-going-on-24 and the music with which I connected—the charm, the magic—has lasted all these years. There were a handful of records from that year (I should say that era, as 1966 seems like an era unto itself, lodged in between the British Invasion and psychedelia) that have an effect on me like few others. [Read more] “the once but now not so elusive bob lind”

RollingStones 1967 GeredMankowitz 1500 crop

between the buttons and the dandelion, we love you!

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. [Read more] “between the buttons and the dandelion, we love you!”

NeptoonRecords 1500 crop 1

a few faverave albums of the cut-out era

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. [Read more] “a few faverave albums of the cut-out era”

RecordCollectorsConvention KUSF 2019 1500 crop

on my first price guide

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!) [Read more] “on my first price guide”