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THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:22 pm
by Alan Taylor
The latest Record Collector magazine includes reflections on The Shadows by musos Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne) and Luke Haines (The Auteurs). Two full pages that manage to delve as deep as "Hooker St." and finish with (quote) "The Shadows were always ahead of the game."

The review section includes Without A Word which scores three stars.

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:38 pm
by Tony Szpala
Thanks for the info Alan - it's years since I Bought "record collector" as I assumed instrumentalists had gone out of fashion with this mag - I'll be getting a copy of this issue.

Tony

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:38 pm
by anniv 63
Yes , this Magazine was at one time the essential purchase for vinyl collectors and buyers,
back in the 1980s/90s , and when you really had only the 50s/60s/70s as the main collecting eras.
Now of course add the80s/90s 00s up to present day, which is quite a lot extra to digest!!!!
Private advertisers for buying and selling numbered up to about 300 in the mag around1989
now you find its down to around 30 regular listings only!!
O.K no doubt e bay etc is a cause, but in the hey day the personal touch of speaking to a fellow
enthusiast on the phone on seeing the advert was nice.
I spoke with an established Record Fair Dealer, he said he has not read a copy for years!!!

Mike

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 7:45 am
by Moderne
Aah...Record Collector nostalgia! Yes there were regularly articles (and discographies) about Cliff, The Shadows, The Hollies etc. in the early days. There were articles about 45s, EPs (which supplemented the See for Miles EP collection LPs) LPs, rarities. They did an article on MWF once, and they did the famous separate interviews with Hank and Bruce when it seemed they weren't speaking to each other...around 1992. I got several rare records from scouring the pages and pages of ads...including All My Own Work by Jerry Lordan, Dream of the West by The Outlaws etc. This was all in the pre-eBay/YouTube days when this was the only way to obtain and hear rare records, if you couldn't find them at record fairs or collectors' records shops. "Can I look through your box of 1950s London 45s please?" Happy days!!

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 10:41 am
by Fenderman
I bought it quite a lot in early-mid 90's and managed to get quite a lot of stuff from the people advertising. I was in touch with a dealer called Peter Monk from Southern England and i bought every Shadows album on vniyl from him from 1961-1977. I even managed to get an autogrpahed copy of Out of the Shadows and also The Shadows Story written by Mike Reid (autogrpahed by Hank, Bruce & Brian). Whether these are geunine or copies is open to conjecture.
Sadly all my copies of RC got lost or thrown away years ago in a house move. I wish i kept them. I haven't read or bought it for about 15 years. I didn't even know it was still in print as many magazines are now online.

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:38 am
by iefje
I managed to buy quite a few back issues featuring The Shadows and related, at record fairs. Also, I remember someone on this forum digitized the text of quite a few of these back issues, which also featured a number of back issues focusing on Cliff Richard with a lot of information on The Shadows as well. I found and still find these issues very interesting to read. It's been quite a while since I pulled them from the bookshelf however.

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 1:44 pm
by bgohara
Credit where credit is due - our very own Rob Bradford penned most of these articles on the Shads!

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 2:39 pm
by Fenderman
He sure did!
I remember reading one he had wriiten on The Shadows early albums, i think he also interviewed Hank or Bruce once or twice for the magazine.

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 7:15 pm
by Monty
Record Collector was a GREAT and essential magazine back in the day

they always got in top guys to write about bands they specialised in - our own Rob Bradford re The Shads, an Aussie guy named Simon Smith re The Hollies (Simon kindly thanked me among others in his 'RC' article), author Alan Clayson re The Dave Clark Five and guys who had done books or even TV shows on artists etc

I too recall dealers like Peter Monk who advertised in 'RC' pages - Peter was a nice bloke and I had a number of albums from him too !

The magazine was well written in a positive objective and very down to Earth manner with a both considerable knowledge and a real sense of appreciation of classic artists both those who achieved great fame and the lesser known but equally deserving acts too

they would write about Cliff Richard & The Drifters/Shadows ...and Dave Sampson and The Hunters with equal enthusiasm and detail

they used to regularly feature The Beatles - presumably to ensure a wider public appeal (Johnny Dean was the original editor of RC so that was to be expected) but they also gave a good amount of in depth appreciative attention to The Shadows, Hollies, Rolling Stones, Small Faces, Moody Blues, Dave Clark Five etc....and NONE of the almost obligatory 'knocking' or 'belittling' of the other groups some Beatle obsessed music papers seemed obliged to do

while heavy rock and progressive rock bands careers were looked at in detail minus any silly 'trendy' insults about 'dinosaurs' (who existed on Earth a lot longer than man has !) or calling The Rolling Stones 'Wrinkly Rockers' that the mainstream pop press was forever doing (yawn)

you learned ALOT from the pages of 'RC' and it helped both younger new music buyers and older guys completing collections to both plug any gaps or 'get into' bands and artists you either missed or never really delved into back then when SO MANY magnificent records were being issued....

as music papers like NME and 'Melody Maker' had gone increasingly downhill so badly full of jumped up self opinionated reviewers - leading to the demise of most - magazines like 'Record Collector' were a breath of serious informative fresh air for music history - with great detail not only about artists but records themselves, labels, re-issues, even corner record shops !

.... even if their 'values' of records was often laughable ! :oops:

for me...and I suspects others too...'RC' began to lose it when their better staff began to move on, and some 'know all self opinionated' newer writers later came in ....and the focus began moving towards later artists whose music held no interest whatsover for me

I remember one newer writer who just went into complete 'squee' mode over Jimi Hendrix and to big up his hero duly 'belittled' every other noted guitarist !
- guys like him put me off the mag a fair bit

the mag's 'records for sale' pages began to shrink as the internet took hold, also their reviews became less objective and positive (to me) and evermore self opinionated and derogative (reminding me of latter era 'NME' and 'Melody Maker') as the later writers seemed to think THEIR views were the 'be all and end all' important ones (Deja Vu ?)

while a later more apparently "with it" editor featured a pic of himself on his editor's page unlike his less 'self featuring' predecessors of (in my view) stronger days for the mag which again suggested to me the thing was rather losing something....

I gradually lost interest in it, only got the occasional issue, and as it's price grew and grew finally gave it up...

Ironic but earlier copies of 'RC' must now themselves be collector's items !

- certainly their coverage of fifties, sixties and seventies artists ('my era' !) was really excellent and The Shadows always got a very good feature in the pages of 'Record Collector' ! 8-)

Re: THE SHADOWS IN RECORD COLLECTOR - JULY 2017

PostPosted: Fri Jun 23, 2017 10:35 am
by Pinner Fan
Back issues of Record Collector are still available from the magazine and are listed, by artist, in every issue.

As a reader right from the beginning I still have it delivered each month.
But as stated above it has changed rather a lot ..... and I guess magazines like this have to change to entice younger readers (as the older ones stop buying it) or they will cease to exist.

It is still largely an interesting read each month.
.