RECORD FAIR HAUL || LONDON VICTORIA VIP RECORD FAIR | JANUARY 2018

This weekend I finally got around to going to a record fair - I have been wanting to go to one for a while but haven't managed due to either work or just forgetting. I love and hate record fairs - I love being surrounded by music and people who like music BUT I hate that they are so male orientated. Not all but the majority of the old men (dealers) tend to judge your music taste and I hate it - I have had someone before look twice at me for buying a Donovan record and I always get it when I buy any Cliff Richard. So this tends to put me off. I much prefer the more local run record fairs I dont mind them that much (depending on where they are held - If its a small space its usually a nice bunch of people).

I had a record 'Wish List' that I wanted to try and get at this record fair - I probably found 40% of what I was looking for. When I go to record fairs I much prefer to look through the cheap boxes '£3 each of so much for this price' those ones first before I go around again and look in 'The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and era music' boxes. Over 70% of my record collection are from the cheap boxes and I have only ever had one crap record from it (looks perfect but jumps all over the place). There is one brilliant record stall at this particular fair called 'Record Revolution' (I think) and their records are so reasonably priced for example I found Beatles records for as little as £3 and the highest price thing I saw (I could be wrong) was Syd Barretts record at £20 (I really REALLY hate myself for not getting this because I dont think that was a bad price for the brilliant condition it was in - Its now on my 'records to get list').

I will put all the prices right at the end of the post if you are interested in how much I got each record for.

The Beatles related pile first: Two new additions to my growing Paul McCartney collection is 'Ram' and 'McCartney II' - I would have come home with 3 McCartney records but for some stupid reason put back a copy of 'McCartney I' which was £3 and got 'Ram' instead (I could have quite easily got both...but no). George Harrison - Dark Horse (same person who had 'Ram' had 2 George albums for £3/4 each - regret not getting them) and The Beatles - Live at the Hollywood Bowl. 

 This time coming back from a record fair I only came home with ONE Cliff Richard record which is very unlike me - to be fair though every one who had the cliff records I really wanted were charging such stupid prices. Cliff Richard - Small Corners, Herman's Hermits - Blaze and Sandie Shaws Greatest Hits.

 In my Cliff collection I have a lot of 'Cliff and the shadows' and decided to get a few early shadows albums so I found 'Something Else' and 'The Sound of the Shadows'. The Partridge Family - I always worry people think I've become interested in them since David Cassidys death but like The Monkees I used to watch them when I was around 7/8 on video/dvd. I managed to find 'Up to Date' and 'The Partridge Family Album'. All 4 of these records came from the cheap boxes - Sleeve, inner sleeve and record all in perfect condition.

I am not going to lie the cover of this Tremeloes album drew me in; the typefaces, colours, patterns and their clothes - I have heard their music many times through my dad and didnt want to leave this behind. Since the end of May last year I became very interested in Pink Floyds music; before then  had always known and loved 'Another Brick in the Wall' but that literally was the only song of theirs I could name. After listening to their music before going to the V&A and having the experience of that exhibition 'Piper at the gates of Dawn' instantly went straight to the top of my 'Record I really want list'. I looked in everyone's Pink Floyd boxes at the record fair (and lost count how many times I saw wish you were here and Dark side of the moon) this was one of only 2 copy's I found - The other was a very recent pressing. 

Records and Prices:

- Paul McCartney - RAM - £7

- Paul McCartney - McCartney II - £5

- George Harrison - Dark Horse - £5

- The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl - £3

- Cliff Richard - Small Corners - £3

- Sandie Shaw Greatest Hits - £2

- Herman's Hermits - Blaze - £3

- The Shadows - Something Else - £3

- The Sound of the Shadows - £3

- The Partridge Family Album - £3

- The Partridge Family - Up to Date - £3

(Partridge Family and Shadows were in the cheap box with an offer of '4 for £10')

- The Tremeloes - Suddenly you love me - £6

- Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn - £15

 It cost a lot but I am really happy with all of the new additions to my record collection. There are a lot of records I regret not getting for example; Paul McCartney records, George Harrison records, I found a Ringo record for only £4, Beach Boys record and cheap (in perfect condition) beatles records and cheap beatles records is not something you see often.

RECORD HAUL

Soon I will do a post which doesn't revolve around records. Recently I have somehow added MORE records to my growing collection, through ebay, record fairs, record stores and charity shops. Apart from the record fair purchases which were all brought in one go the records were purchased through late June and July.

Record Fair

I have found a new love for record fairs in the past year, there is always a good variety of record and you will always come away with a good selection. The record fair I went to is held in a small hall and is a bit of a hit or miss.

I managed to find:
- Michael Nesmith and the first national band - Nevada Fighter
(now I only need loose salute and I have all mikes early albums!)
- The Papas and The Mamas
- Wings at the speed of sound
- Ringo Starr Goodnight Vienna
(Only need a George record and I have a solo record from each Beatle)
- The Very best of Manfred Man - 1963 - 66
- The Animals
- The Best of Sonny and Cher
- Bee Gees - 1st
(I have been after this for a while and was over the moon to find an original pressing of it for such a reasonable price! I love early 60s Bee Gees)

Charity Shop - Ebay - Record Shop

Where I live it is a town full of charity shops, full of the same old records (80s and Classical) and two record shops (one of which I dont like much and the other can be a hit or miss) I rarely find any decent records.

From the record shop I finally managed to find myself a copy of 'The John Lennon Collection', My brother once left this in our cabin so I put it on and have wanted to get a copy for myself ever since. Charity Shop find was 'Cliff Richard - Private Collection', Its rare to go into a charity shop and not find a cliff record of some sort! I love Cliff Richard (more so early cliff) but I mainly got this because it had 'Mistletoe and wine' on it, some how I have managed to loose my single of this.

Ebay:

- Pink Floyd - Relics

(I really wanted a record that had Emily Plays and Arnold layne on and this provided me with it, I want to try and get a few more Pink Floyd records. Desperately trying to get a copy of their first album without going into HMV!)

- Small Faces Greatest Hits

(Every Small Faces record I want seems to cost the earth so we have a greatest hits for now)

- John Lennon - Rock 'n' Roll

When I received a record two and a half years ago I never thought I would become this obsessed with buying records! I am so happy with all off my new records - especially Bee Gees first and Pink Floyd - Relics.

THEIR MORTAL REMAINS

For a long time (I say along time but only since about February) I have been trying to get into Pink Floyd - I know the main big hits but I just wanted to get into them more. I have grown up with my dad being a huge fan of them - all of his music taste rubs of onto me but it took a while for Pink Floyd to. At the end of February the V&A announced they were having a Pink Floyd exhibition, After attending the 'You say you want a revolution' exhibition previously I was intrigued to see what this was going to be like. I was not disappointed.

 My dad always likes to tell us about the time he saw Pink Floyd on the wall tour. How they had the wall built up in front of them, having the plane come in and crash right into the wall, the puppet of the headmaster walking across the stage and the time they had the big inflatable pig there as well (I dont know if it was the same time or another time he saw them).
I was pretty happy to turn a corner and see everything my dad always tells me about - 'Another brick in the wall' has always been one of my favourite Pink Floyd song so I was pretty happy to actually see the puppet. I dont know if it was the exact same one because it looks completely different in the 'nose' compared to the video. This particular area had so much to it - The Pig, Headmaster, Inflatable fat TV and fridge, the wall, the room that came out of the wall, the masks used on the children in the 'another brick in the wall' video and so much more.

(for the life of me I cant remember who's shirts these are but I want both of them as well as the hat!!)

Same as before with the 'You say you want a revolution' exhibition there was a performance room, last time I went in there it made you feel like you were at Woodstock, this time Pink Floyd videos were playing all around. I was in the room before this looking at the division bell bits when all of a sudden I hear 'Arnold Layne' playing from somewhere - I marched of like a five year old child just to see why it was playing - Its probably my second favourite Pink Floyd song. I would love to visit this exhibition again before it ends in October, it was so much better than I thought it was going to be.