H.M.V
I wish HMV would bring back those listening booths they used to have in Oxford Street. I spent many a happy Saturday listening to the latest LPs by the likes of Cliff Richard and Kenny Ball. Didn't need to buy any! Comment: Facebook Group Barry Shaw
Harry Partch - Delusion Of Fury - 1971 Columbia
Bought in London at HMV, Oxford Street, London. I have only the haziest memory of when I first heard of this guy. I believe that it was Tony Visconti, my oft-times producer, who clued me in. A madman of sorts and certainly a one time hobo, Partch set about inventing and making dozens of the most extraordinary instruments (When was the last time you saw someone playing the Bloboy, the Eucal Blossom or the Spoils of War. How do you tune a Spoils of War, I wonder?) then, between the 1930s and the 1970s, wrote wondrous and evocative compositions for them, his subjects ranging from mythology to days riding the trains during the depression. 'Delusion' represents the best overview of what Parch got up to. By turns creepy as hell then positively rocking. Having chosen a musical path that departed from the mainstream composers, he laid the ground for people like Terry Riley and La Monte Young.
David Bowie
Sounds Of My Universe.
"I bought Every Picture Tells a Story before anyone else got it, and then it became a huge album, because it was like I was a part of it, or something, before anyone else got into it."
For Jones, it may have been a badge of honor, but for a kid who stole his way through adolescence (he'd proudly accumulated 13 pricey Ben Sherman shirts and numerous pairs of Doc Martens at one point), the tale holds special meaning.
"I don't think you could steal records," Jones tells me when I press him as to why he didn't simply purloin the album. "No, I actually bought Rod Stewart 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story. I even remember where I bought it: I bought it at HMV on Oxford Street, on a Saturday afternoon. But I don't know why I paid for it, now that you ask. I don't know, but I guess that must mean something."
Steve Jones, Sex Pistols
My interest in records stems from a very early age (about eight) although this would have been at schoolfriends’ houses as we
didn’t have a record player in our house until I was nine. The first record I ever bought (or rather had bought for me by my
parents) was an instrumental ‘Atlantis’ by The Shadows which present research shows was released in May 1963. But it was
the second record that really kicked things off for me – an EP by the Beatles ‘Twist and Shout’ with three other songs that I
can still list today. This was released in July 1963, five months before my tenth birthday. I cannot remember where all my
very early singles were bought but probably Harrods record department because Dad was very fond of making shopping
trips there at weekends. My enthusiasm never waned. I got a job as a Saturday boy at the HMV shop in Oxford Street just before Christmas 1969 and when I left college a year later I went to work there full time. I stayed until I got a promotion to work for EMI records at Manchester Square in 1973.
Happy days!
Paul Randell
Patrick Friesner: My earliest record-buying memories: Avalon, by the Benny Goodman Quartet - bought in 1940, probably at HMV Oxford Street. At that time, records were very hard to obtain. I was 11 years of age, and I am now 83 years old.
Harry Partch - Delusion Of Fury - 1971 Columbia
Bought in London at HMV, Oxford Street, London. I have only the haziest memory of when I first heard of this guy. I believe that it was Tony Visconti, my oft-times producer, who clued me in. A madman of sorts and certainly a one time hobo, Partch set about inventing and making dozens of the most extraordinary instruments (When was the last time you saw someone playing the Bloboy, the Eucal Blossom or the Spoils of War. How do you tune a Spoils of War, I wonder?) then, between the 1930s and the 1970s, wrote wondrous and evocative compositions for them, his subjects ranging from mythology to days riding the trains during the depression. 'Delusion' represents the best overview of what Parch got up to. By turns creepy as hell then positively rocking. Having chosen a musical path that departed from the mainstream composers, he laid the ground for people like Terry Riley and La Monte Young.
David Bowie
Sounds Of My Universe.
"I bought Every Picture Tells a Story before anyone else got it, and then it became a huge album, because it was like I was a part of it, or something, before anyone else got into it."
For Jones, it may have been a badge of honor, but for a kid who stole his way through adolescence (he'd proudly accumulated 13 pricey Ben Sherman shirts and numerous pairs of Doc Martens at one point), the tale holds special meaning.
"I don't think you could steal records," Jones tells me when I press him as to why he didn't simply purloin the album. "No, I actually bought Rod Stewart 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story. I even remember where I bought it: I bought it at HMV on Oxford Street, on a Saturday afternoon. But I don't know why I paid for it, now that you ask. I don't know, but I guess that must mean something."
Steve Jones, Sex Pistols
My interest in records stems from a very early age (about eight) although this would have been at schoolfriends’ houses as we
didn’t have a record player in our house until I was nine. The first record I ever bought (or rather had bought for me by my
parents) was an instrumental ‘Atlantis’ by The Shadows which present research shows was released in May 1963. But it was
the second record that really kicked things off for me – an EP by the Beatles ‘Twist and Shout’ with three other songs that I
can still list today. This was released in July 1963, five months before my tenth birthday. I cannot remember where all my
very early singles were bought but probably Harrods record department because Dad was very fond of making shopping
trips there at weekends. My enthusiasm never waned. I got a job as a Saturday boy at the HMV shop in Oxford Street just before Christmas 1969 and when I left college a year later I went to work there full time. I stayed until I got a promotion to work for EMI records at Manchester Square in 1973.
Happy days!
Paul Randell
Patrick Friesner: My earliest record-buying memories: Avalon, by the Benny Goodman Quartet - bought in 1940, probably at HMV Oxford Street. At that time, records were very hard to obtain. I was 11 years of age, and I am now 83 years old.
1985 HMV upgrade.
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Extract from 'Scorcha'
Skins, Suedes and Styles From The Street 1967-73
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Extract from "Some Fantastic Place".
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International Times 1969
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Mark Williams ran The Jazz Dept.