So I was chatting to this bloke at a booter, and he gave me a copy of his video about the Northern Soul scene, which proved very interesting. One Ian Levine described the provincial scene as like George Bush to the Saddam Hussein of the London scene (I think he meant this as a definite good thing rather than the lesser of two evils).
Anyway, many of the DJs interviewed complained about record collectors DJ-ing and showing off their rare records to each other, but then went on to brag about the scarcity of their own 45s. Some claimed to own records of which “there are only 3 or 4 copies in the world”. This raises two questions: How do they know? And why are there so few? Surely all records had a print run at least in the hundreds and, even if nobody bought them, surely the band and their grannies would have cherished their copies.
This also reminded me that one of the explanations given for why Liverpool was at the forefront of the UK music scene in the late 50s/early 60s (think Cilla Black), is that there was a ready supply of US records arriving in the form of ballast on ships. Is this true?
Anyway, many of the DJs interviewed complained about record collectors DJ-ing and showing off their rare records to each other, but then went on to brag about the scarcity of their own 45s. Some claimed to own records of which “there are only 3 or 4 copies in the world”. This raises two questions: How do they know? And why are there so few? Surely all records had a print run at least in the hundreds and, even if nobody bought them, surely the band and their grannies would have cherished their copies.
This also reminded me that one of the explanations given for why Liverpool was at the forefront of the UK music scene in the late 50s/early 60s (think Cilla Black), is that there was a ready supply of US records arriving in the form of ballast on ships. Is this true?
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