Are there any stories about terrible accidents which have resulted in the breakage or devaluation of a rare record?

I'm thinking of the all-time classic example of when Dave Withers (I think it was Dave but please correct me if I'm wrong) borrowed Richard Searling's copy of the Jades "I'm Where It's At" after months of begging (so he could tape it), only to stop at a chippie on the way home where he layed the record on top of the metal thingy which keeps the fish and chips warm and WARPED THE RECORD!!!

Cue one very pissed-off Richard the next day. I think it was the only copy at the time.....

Also I did hear an unfortunate story about the 2nd or 3rd copy of the Invitations which was found and was destroyed in a car accident on the way to a gig.

The worst for me was when my daughter stepped on my original Joe Mathews "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" and cracked it in half. Plus a Bobby Hutton on Phillips got totalled when I crashed the car coming back from Cleethorpes one morning.

But there must be other stories which are equally as horrific, so anybody got any?

Ian D

the first record i really splashed out on was an unplayed black issue of tony galla - in love.

couldn't sleep for days until it arrived one sunny morning, opened the parcel (shaking with anticipation) and dropped the record seconds after it was out of its sleeve. cracked into several pieces, one of them the entire label w/out any grooves around it. still got that piece somewhere...

the first record i really splashed out on was an unplayed black issue of tony galla - in love.

couldn't sleep for days until it arrived one sunny morning, opened the parcel (shaking with anticipation) and dropped the record seconds after it was out of its sleeve. cracked into several pieces, one of them the entire label w/out any grooves around it. still got that piece somewhere...

Benji,

I admire your honesty, some people return "accidents" for a refund..

Benji,

I admire your honesty, some people return "accidents" for a refund..

hm, now that's an idea. even if i'm about 15 years late

no, seriously. never thought of doing something like that and never will. i'm always honest and expect everybody else to be too. maybe that's the reason why i get so upset about minor things like people trying to get parts of their ebay fees back via a "small raise" in p&p?

What was the story with Wid' and the Greets now broken Del Larks, can't remember ???

hi gav...it wasnt the del-larks it was checkerboard squares, wid glued it back together with lolipop sticks bracing the cracks

Pure shock followed by hope mate overplayed now anyway

hi steve...pm me your address & i'll send it back to you,

hi steve...pm me your address & i'll send it back to you,

If thats you Trev then I take it you found a way of ungluing it and sticking it together the right way round

I'll pm ya but if you send me it in bits or glued together unplayable then..............................

Here's a good one, nothing really to do with Northern Soul, but it is a monster Soul record. I bought an original 7" acetate one sided promo of 'Jocelyn Brown - Somebody else's guy' from local shop. I was buzzing when I found it SOOOO RARE!! I only paid a few quid for it cos the guy in the shop thought it was a bootleg . I got it home and being an old acetate was quite crackly, so in my infinate wisdom, I decided to clean it up with record cleaner. Got it looking nice and shiny and popped it on the deck, and lo and behold, it sounded a million times worse! Couldn't do anything elese with it so after crying for an hour, i decided to frame it as a keepsake along with the original reaction report form from Island records from 1984 with the contact name of Adrian Sykes. This might interest Ian D as i think he had a stint with Island records at one time. Anyway, here's a piccy of the framed object.

Edited November 28, 200717 yr by steveluigi

Yep, never clean records when you're hyped-up for a set. I've been known to rip door handles off in my excitement to get to a gig and caused many a minor accident to myself when over-enthused. The could have been my old copy Steve.......another one bites the dust.......

Ian D

Ian, does the time at 'Amnesia' in Leeds ring any balls (oops) bells, when you slipped down the ladder from the DJ stand LOL

Here's a good one, nothing really to do with Northern Soul, but it is a monster Soul record. I bought an original 7" acetate one sided promo of 'Jocelyn Brown - Somebody else's guy' from local shop. I was buzzing when I found it SOOOO RARE!! I only paid a few quid for it cos the guy in the shop thought it was a bootleg . I got it home and being an old acetate was quite crackly, so in my infinate wisdom, I decided to clean it up with record cleaner. Got it looking nice and shiny and popped it on the deck, and lo and behold, it sounded a million times worse! Couldn't do anything elese with it so after crying for an hour, i decided to frame it as a keepsake along with the original reaction report form from Island records from 1984 with the contact name of Adrian Sykes.

Adrian Sykes? Top man, it's thanks to him I had so many good tunes to play on my radio shows back in the 80's, he later went to MCA when they were in Soho. Haven't heard of him for years now, seem to remember he was a big supporter of one of the North London footie teams...maybe one day I'll tell the long and involved story of how one of Adrians best mates, and at the time at number one in the charts, was stuck, ticketless, outside a record company bash that Sykesy was hosting, begging me to get him in...and how I emerged an hour later with pockets bulging with bottles for my mate who couldn't get in either. Oh for the excesses of the late 80's, even if the Northern side of things had temporarily taken a back seat!

hi gav...it wasnt the del-larks it was checkerboard squares, wid glued it back together with lolipop sticks bracing the cracks

That's it ! Knew there was some story

Didn't he break it, when it was sticking up in Dave's play box at the 100 club and Pete came up on stage and put his hand down on it ? If you get my drift ?

Edited November 29, 200717 yr by Gavin Page

That's it ! Knew there was some story

Didn't he break it, when it was sticking up in Dave's play box at the 100 club and Pete came up on stage and put his hand down on it ? If you get my drift ?

yeah, something along those lines, wid did a pretty good repair job on it, it plays fine, albeit with the odd click here & there