HMV Scarborough goes

Despite all the faults of HMV it is still somehow disconcerting to see the branches going. I felt the same when Woolworth’s went down a couple of years back. Such is the way these chains have been part of your life for so long. So far the Sheffield HMV is soldiering on, but to be honest they do not appear to have tried to improve the place in any way. Half the music floor is still given over to DVDs, which are then duplicated upstairs, as they can’t make their minds up what they want to be. Much of the ‘new technology’ space is now devoid of all the tablets and iPads (I assume they have not been able to reach a deal with suppliers), and you still have to grovel on your knees to check the lower shelf titles out.
Some smaller branches have gone though. Chesterfield was closed in April, and this picture shows the last days of the Scarborough branch the same month. Scarborough is quite a big town, has a huge catchment area, and is also a big destination for holiday-makers all mooching around.  Hard to believe they couldn’t have devised a store which could sell stuff to at least some of them. Mind you adding an exclamation mark to the ‘store closing’ banner perhaps sums management up.
Thanks to Alan Coventry for his cell-phone pic. Alan, who has just sold his house prior to moving, tells me he is currently keeping an eye on the online auction of an original A&M Sex Pistols single (£7,000 last time I looked!). I hope the two events are not connected.

The other side of the moon

When posting about Storm Thorgerson recently, Bernard Maasdijk emailed to comment on the likeness of an early sleeve to perhaps Hipgnosis’ most famous cover, Dark Side Of The Moon.  He suggested I take a look at Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5 in E flat, recorded in 1941 and released in an original 78 set, Columbia Masterworks M-500. The front of the package was designed by the pioneering cover designer Alex Steinweiss, and as you can see has a very similar design idea to that used by Pink Floyd.
Had Hipgnosis (Storm didn’t actually come up with this idea) ever seen this cover? It’s possible. Although the 78 set was pretty obscure, the art was later adapted for the early Columbia album reissue  in the 1950s. On the other hand, it could just as well be a coincidence. It does show that there’s very little new under the sun (or the dark side of the moon).

More single bags

Another half dozen or so varied single bags from different record labels on the site. There’s no special plan to this, just whatever happens to be at hand when I can find a few spare moments with the scanner. Here’s the latest, or you can start at page number one and flick through them.

Record Store Day

One of the few days of the year when I try NOT to go near one of our remaining vinyl stores, preferring to leave it to the young shavers with the stamina to queue (I’ll nip in next week hoping that Record Collector has still got one of the Marianne Faithful singles for my collection!). But here’s a cartoon courtesy of those clever people at Modern Toss (who I hope won’t mind me reposting it in return for a link to their absorbing website!).

Hipgnosis

The death of Storm Thorgerson, one of the founders of the Hipgnosis design team, brings an end to over forty years of striking and ground-breaking album sleeves which he and his partner were responsible for. By way of tribute, I’ve put together a selection of their covers which I most remember (or owned) as a teenager. It’s hard to think of another design partnership responsible for so many famous covers. And award yourself a gold star if you can identify the sleeve these two ladies are from…

Vintage store ads

A couple of nice old record shop adverts, for Smiths and provincial record shops, which I scanned recently

Strictly EPs

Glamorous ballroom frocks of the early sixties adorn this set of German ballroom dance music EP sleeves exported to the UK, with details and a gallery of the best examples.

More cover girls

It’s been a while since the Top Of The Pops cover girls appeared here, so I’ve dug out another less well known series for this new gallery. The Flag label pushed their cover images a little beyond their more famous cousins (and even went topless on a couple) but they’re much harder to find today. So, set the solarization plug in to stun!

Shampoo giveaways

The vinyl album was ofter seen as the ideal promotional or competition item; here are two unique compilations released on behalf of hair care products.

Messing with Meek

Just another designer moaning about one of his careful creations getting hacked about! In this case a rare Joe Meek recording….