Vinyl Countdown

by Graham Sharpe, Danny Kelly (Foreword)

'You hold in your hand a miracle. A book about a passion, and the hipsters, oddballs and old heads who share it, written by one of their number, albeit a ludicrously erudite one' - Danny KellyA revival of interest in vinyl music has taken place in recent years - but for many of those from the 'baby boomer' generation, it never went away.Graham Sharpe's vinyl love affair began in the 1960s and since then he has amassed over 3000 LPs and spent countless hours visiting record shops worldwide along with record fairs, car boot sales, online and real life auctions.Vinyl Countdownfollows his journey to over a hundred shops across the globe - from New York to New Zealand, Walsall to Warsaw, Oslo to Ozstralia, (old) Jersey to New Jersey - and describes the many characters he has encountered and the adventures he accrued along the way.Vinyl Countdown seeks to reawaken the often dormant desire which first promoted the gathering of records, and to confirm the belief of those who still indulge in it, that they happily belong to, and should celebrate the undervalued, misunderstood significant group of music-obsessed vinylholics, who always want - need - to buy... just one more record.A mesmerising blend of memoir, travel, music and social history, Vinyl Countdown will appeal to anyone who vividly recalls the first LP they bought and any music fan who derives pleasure from the capacity that records have for transporting you back in time.'Graham Sharpe's journey around the second-hand record shops of the UK is full of laugh out loud anecdotes and wonderful observations. A great read not just for vinyl fans, but for anybody who has ever visited a record shop' - Graham Jones, author of Last Shop Standing (Whatever Happened to Record Shops), Strange Requests and Comic Tales From Record Shopsand The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

353 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 21, 2019

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assigned- 4 stars. This was a fun, interesting book about an avid vinyl record collector. If I were rich, I'd borrow his idea- only I'd would visit rare book stores instead. 😊

[James McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going through a phase of rediscovering and expanding on my own vinyl collection. I recently kind of geeked about Record Store Day and since then I've been going to stores just about every weekend.

I found the book entertaining, even though the author's tastes differ from mine. He is a "boomer" and former music reviewer who has an encyclopedic knowledge of British (and American to a lesser extent) "Psych" and "Prog" from the late 60s and early 70s. He goes into detail about some very obscure yet highly collectible bands of that genre.

He details travels to "record shops" (as he makes a point of saying they are called in the UK) all over England and some in Australia and New Zealand.

NYC record stores are hastily dismissed, but then again, to my knowledge, the ones I've been to are indeed pretty spotty in terms of their Psych/Prog sections.

Anyway I scored some Iggy (there's only one btw, sorry) Replacements, Gun Club, Nico and others in my recent RSD pilgrimage and feeling the vinyl jones anew so finding this book was serendipitous.

[Passolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who loves music and also buys vinyl, a friend thought that I might like this. Whilst it passed the time, I wouldn't say that it is a great book, but those who have frequented record shops old and new will get something from it. The sound of the scraping of a barrel could often be heard, and the constant flow of obscure 60's / 70's psych acts became tiring - I wasn't pushed to give ANY of the bands that he mentioned a try, although I might visit one or two of the stores, especially his regular in Watford. It was pleasing to see the book mention my local record store, though a shame for the owner he wasn't in on the day of Graham's visit, which restricted its coverage. I don't regret reading it, but am glad to have finished.

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a lot of music books by British men of a Certain Age, there's a sort of...bloke-i-ness to it that sometimes gets on my nerves. It's a thing I've encountered before; details that you don't think need to be there, needless jokey asides, that kind of thing. Ultimately, reading accounts of record shopping, even for someone else who enjoys it as a pastime, can get a little old, but I was entertained for the majority of the book and it's inspired me to hit up the bargain bin at my local tomorrow so there's that.

[steve Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a record collector of vinyl and cd’s myself I totally understand the obsession. This is a wonderfully crafted book by some
Body who is incredibly knowledgeable about music. I have learnt a lot from this book and it has made me even more interested in records and music. Fantastic book Graham.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book.If you are into vinyl you must read this.