‘Bob Dylan came in on my day off’ – the story of Archway’s Harum Records: At Harum Records in Archway, Graham Umbo rode the crest of the vinyl wave. The shop – whose name arose from Graham and his business partner Mick Harding’s names – opened its doors in the mid-1970s. By that time, the record industry was booming. Label bosses had not long ago realised the huge money to be made by selling albums to young music lovers. Nestled among a terrace of small shops at the top of Holloway Road, Harum dealt mostly in chart music, but wisely catered to the local clientele, too. “We sold mainly pop records,” Graham told the Gazette. “But there was a minority of customers for Irish music in Holloway, a genre about which we knew nothing and had to learn!”
Fancy a job at one of Britain’s most successful independent record shops? Vinyl Tap has a vacancy: One of Britain’s most successful independent record shops Vinyl Tap has a job that may strike a chord with music fans. The store, which hosted Lauren Laverne’s BBC 6 Music show on Record Store Day, is looking for someone to work in its mail order packing department. The job advert reads: “We are now looking for an extra person to work in our mail order packing department based in our main offices in Linthwaite. The main day will be Saturday with chance of extra days at busy times and holiday periods. Candidates must be local, enthusiastic and accurate.”
LCD Soundsystem Isn’t Happy About These Vinyl Reissues: The band wrote in a statement that it “had no idea that these were even coming out. Just buy the records from DFA [the label co-founded by LCD Soundsystem frontman and principal songwriter James Murphy] like you have been able to for years.” It goes on to poke fun at Rhino’s press release, which referred to LCD Soundsystem as originating in London, despite them being one of the more famous New York bands of the new millennium…If you’re confused, you’re not alone.
Kickstarter has launched a new vinyl crowdfunding initiative: Make Vinyl hopes to provide musicians with tools and resources to press records. Kickstarter has teamed up with start-up record service Qrates for MAKE Vinyl, a new initiative aimed at encouraging new projects on Kickstarter to offer vinyl-related rewards. Between 5th June and 1st August 2017, projects submitted to MAKE Vinyl with at least one record offered will be in effect mentored and promoted by Kickstarter Music. Successful projects will then receive a discount when fulfilling their vinyl releases with Qrates.
Trent Reznor blows dust off the ‘Quake’ score for vinyl reissue: Quake was a groundbreaking game in a number of ways, and that included its soundtrack — id Software scored a coup when it got Nine Inch Nails (technically, Trent Reznor) to score the grim first-person shooter. Until now, though, listening to that soundtrack has usually meant digging up your circa-1996 game CD or (let’s be honest) finding a YouTube rip. Thankfully, you’ll soon have an alternative if you own a turntable. As part of a larger wave of back catalog releases, Reznor is making the Quake soundtrack available on vinyl — you too can listen to that memorable theme in your living room.
Def Leppard To Release ‘Hysteria’ 30th-Anniversary Box Set: Def Leppard will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its seminal album “Hysteria”, one of the best-selling and most influential releases in music history, with the release of “Hysteria (Remastered 2017)”. Set to debut on August 4, the remastered anniversary edition will be released in various formats via Bludgeon Riffola/Mercury/Ume — Super Deluxe Edition, Deluxe Version, 1 CD Vanilla Version, 2-LP Black Vinyl Version, and limited-edition 2-LP Colored Vinyl Version. The reissue boasts B-sides and live tracks, plus the audio for “In The Round In Your Face (Live)” on CD for the first time.
