- A record shop that kept Andover on the ‘Threshold’ of music - Andover Advertiser, 11 July 2021
Comments
Name: Geoff
Comment: With its Moody Blues connections this was always good for a promo item or two. I remember getting a few free Moody Blues promo t-shirts here in the 1970s.
(27 May 2013)
Name: Dave Harwood.
Comment: I was the drummer in a folk-rock band called Tamarisk in 1973 and our bass player knew the staff at the Threshold Record Shop well enough to blag us an audition with the Moody Blues producer, Tony Clarke! He was sufficiently impressed with us to record four songs at Decca's studio at Tollington Park in North London, where the Moodies had just recorded Seventh Sojourn, and advised us to write some more original material and get back to him. Unfortunately our main songwriter decided to quit shortly after and the band fell apart. We later managed to acquire the audition tape as a reminder of what might have been!
(23 February 2015)
Name: Phil Farlow
Comment: Head Office at Cobham. First branch - early 1970s at Andover where I was manager until about the mid-1970s. Later branches at Birmingham, Chichester, and possibly one other. I was later assistant general manager until the end of 1977. Owners: The Moody Blues. Manager: Don Mackenzie with Norman Taylor.
(22 January 2016)
“THE Moody Blues are one of the world’s top recording and concert groups, attracting crowds wherever they go from Coventry to Chicago. But in Cobham the Moodies have put down their roots and fitted into local life so that the young man window-shopping beside you in Cobham village could easily be a member of the world-famous group. In the past 18 months all six Moody Blues have bought houses in or near Cobham and, after much soul-searching, the group has even decided to base its Threshold Records company in the village. “We did have an office in London but one day we sat around and worked out all the time we spent travelling to and from London.” said group member Ray Thomas. “Then we talked about how much more pleasant it would be to see green fields out of the office window and suddenly the decision was made.” Since moving into Threshold House at 53 Cobham High Street, about six months ago, they have centralised their business in Cobham and expanded the Moody Blues “family” with the addition of American friend Gerry Hoff, who arrived in Cobham at the beginning of the year from Los Angeles to take up residence as general manager of Threshold Records. The latest move in their progressive involvement in community life is the opening of a record retailing shop on the ground floor of Threshold House. Called simply the THRESHOLD RECORD SHOP, it opens this afternoon (Thursday). The shop will be concentrating on stocking records, tapes and audio equipment, with an accent on the contemporary music enthusiast, but including every other kind of music from classical to folk. For the Moody Blues, Cobham is not just a place from which to commute. They have formed their own football team, which recently beat Cobham FC 6-3 in its first “serious” fixture. They are having their children educated locally. Summing up the group's feelings, Ray Thomas said: “We have done so much travelling that we really value the time we are able to spend at home in sunny, downtown Cobham.”