Vinyl Countdown

by Graham Sharpe, Danny Kelly (Foreword)

A revival of interest in vinyl music has taken place in recent years—but for many of those from the "baby boomer" generation who made their acquaintance with the music of their youth in this way it never went away. Graham Sharpe a high-profile veteran of the betting industry boasts of being a vinyl record veteran with well over 50 years service as a serious 45 and 33rpm collector. Graham relaxes by visiting every record shop he can find from London to New Zealand to feed his voracious vinyl appetite scorning and spurning to this day advice that Spotify downloading streaming are the way to go. His life has been played out to a background of personally significant vinyl-related events and his own large and ever-growing collection of LPs not only reflects his musical addiction but also represents an intensely direct link to many of his key experiences. In this unique book he considers all the elements of record collecting which he loves—and one or two he doesn't—as he continues his long-term project to visit every surviving secondhand record shop in his own and other countries and reports on the many characters he has encountered and the adventures he has accrued along the way.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

368 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.