I'm never happier when in the company of a kindred spirit, someone who lives and breathes collecting rare soul vinyl records, I care not if the person (him or her) has 10 or 50,000 records in their collection, what I love and adore are people who share my esoteric passion for searching, finding and then (hopefully) acquiring that wonderful elusive treasure. I have many friends who fall into this category people like Paul Havakin (Greatstone, Manchester resident) there has been many a time when I have received a call at some god ugly time, only to here that wonderful mancunian accent ask "have you heard this" proceeded by some glorious faint noise, that has me furiously reaching for a pen and a scrap of paper. All this can happen at any given time of the day/night, sometimes I am in a vinyl frenzy fuelled by cheap alcohol, the floor is covered with my own collection, as I struggle to hear the chosen nights tune via the telephone I notice out of the corner of my eye my two year old daughter with my Doctor Bird copy of Glen Miller held tightly between her teeth as she flees like some Saharan plains Gazelle clean away from my reach! The joy of sitting in the homes of these people is always an experience, whether it be just reading those wonderful sleeve notes on an early 1960's LP.s that may mention such fabulous statements as "Just like electronic brains" (Any Roy Hamilton fans, check those rear sleeve notes, believe me !) There are many other names such as Jamie Hartford, Phil Rains, Rich Buckley, Steve Mannion, Mark Etheridge, Martin Dixon, Joe Dutton, Dave Rimmer, Mark Bicknell, Nick Hackett, Hannah Moore, Ian Burse, Les Hare (on a recent visit to Les Hares shop, I wondered if he was a German national , should I address him...Herr Hare.!) Neil Felton, Richard Evans and his wife Sharon, Steve Cato, all the Greatstone crowd Tony, Mark, Budgie and Stevie Z (this man has rung me, put the phone down after an hour then rung 15 minutes later saying he forgot to play this..) Chris Anderton, Gareth Sweeney and the fantastic Chris Morgan, all have made my passion ever deeper. But my personal record collectors, record collector is Paul Havakin......I fondly remember being picked up at Cleethorpes train station prior to the weekender, I had endured an arduous rail journey surrounded by Ukrainian circus dwarfs, and a battalion of Prussian Uhlans, I had barely gotten into the passenger seat when Paul pressed the play on his car stereo. Then came rushing forth the incredible "107th street stickball team". and all he said through half closed eyes was........."Absolutely Superb".
The Record Collectors, record collector.......
I'm never happier when in the company of a kindred spirit, someone who lives and breathes collecting rare soul vinyl records, I care not if the person (him or her) has 10 or 50,000 records in their collection, what I love and adore are people who share my esoteric passion for searching, finding and then (hopefully) acquiring that wonderful elusive treasure. I have many friends who fall into this category people like Paul Havakin (Greatstone, Manchester resident) there has been many a time when I have received a call at some god ugly time, only to here that wonderful mancunian accent ask "have you heard this" proceeded by some glorious faint noise, that has me furiously reaching for a pen and a scrap of paper. All this can happen at any given time of the day/night, sometimes I am in a vinyl frenzy fuelled by cheap alcohol, the floor is covered with my own collection, as I struggle to hear the chosen nights tune via the telephone I notice out of the corner of my eye my two year old daughter with my Doctor Bird copy of Glen Miller held tightly between her teeth as she flees like some Saharan plains Gazelle clean away from my reach! The joy of sitting in the homes of these people is always an experience, whether it be just reading those wonderful sleeve notes on an early 1960's LP.s that may mention such fabulous statements as "Just like electronic brains" (Any Roy Hamilton fans, check those rear sleeve notes, believe me !) There are many other names such as Jamie Hartford, Phil Rains, Rich Buckley, Steve Mannion, Mark Etheridge, Martin Dixon, Joe Dutton, Dave Rimmer, Mark Bicknell, Nick Hackett, Hannah Moore, Ian Burse, Les Hare (on a recent visit to Les Hares shop, I wondered if he was a German national , should I address him...Herr Hare.!) Neil Felton, Richard Evans and his wife Sharon, Steve Cato, all the Greatstone crowd Tony, Mark, Budgie and Stevie Z (this man has rung me, put the phone down after an hour then rung 15 minutes later saying he forgot to play this..) Chris Anderton, Gareth Sweeney and the fantastic Chris Morgan, all have made my passion ever deeper. But my personal record collectors, record collector is Paul Havakin......I fondly remember being picked up at Cleethorpes train station prior to the weekender, I had endured an arduous rail journey surrounded by Ukrainian circus dwarfs, and a battalion of Prussian Uhlans, I had barely gotten into the passenger seat when Paul pressed the play on his car stereo. Then came rushing forth the incredible "107th street stickball team". and all he said through half closed eyes was........."Absolutely Superb".
Brett
Edited by Brett F