Library Music: When and how did you first hear about it...

[Ian Townsend]

...and actually hear some? Any contributions either here or on the Waxidermy thread I started (http://waxidermy.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=43796&p=662786#p662786) would be greatly appreciated.

Even if it's just to say something like....'i think it was 96 at a club.'. I'm researching the route it took from being a music production tool to being a fully- fledged, collectable genre.

Be nice to know how recently you acquired a job lot too, from a radio station or similar. I've been surprised at how recently large collections have been found.

[mr sayers]

I'm pretty sure the first time I heard it was on one of them 'Dealers choice' (Bootleg comps) and the track was 'Rock bed'.:cool:

[Carlos]

In the place where I used to work, the sound department left a message in the intranet. It read "Box full of library music for free in the basement. Come and help yourself". There were about 500 cds :mad::o;)

[Col Wolfe]

If somebody posts up the KPM/AcidJazz/DenmarkStreet/Stairwell story again I think all my limbs will fall off.

[feenix]

...and actually hear some? Any contributions either here or on the Waxidermy thread I started (http://waxidermy.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=43796&p=662786#p662786) would be greatly appreciated.

Even if it's just to say something like....'i think it was 96 at a club.'. I'm researching the route it took from being a music production tool to being a fully- fledged, collectable genre.

Be nice to know how recently you acquired a job lot too, from a radio station or similar. I've been surprised at how recently large collections have been found.

First heard about library records in the late 90s from other record collectors but didn't chase any until I read more about them on Soul Strut and heard some mixes there.

[treeboy]

In the late 70s those Electric Banana lps were like hens teeth. Seems like you stand more chance of picking them up today. That was my first encounter. Never did manage to track them down at a price I could stump up for. I wasnt sure if the Acid Jazz story was urban myth or not. Someone (from a well known Brighton shop) did recently tell me that you can still request albums from KPM direct. I havent investigated, anyone know if this is true?

[sourcerer]

What's the Acid Jazz story you both speak of?:confused:

[treeboy]

So there we were one day in the acid jazz office at 21 Denmark Street London WC2. Another day of inflicting the Brand New Heavies and Jamiroquai on the world, and it was getting late. For some reason this left us wondering what the fire exit stairs might look like, so we opened the fire exit and ran into box upon box of records. In fact multiple copies (that's multiple 25 count boxes) of virtually every KPM record, going up the stairs almost to infinity (21 Denmark St is the address you will see on the back of these records). In fact too many to take in properly, so we grabbed a bunch and started to go through them.It was before anyone really collected these things (91?), The Big Beat's were all present and correct, and we started ripping a few of the tunes off, always saying that we really must make sure we take copies of these records home for ourselves.
So on the day that us lazy bastards finally get round to sorting it out, we open the doors and go to get the records we find an empty, swept stair case. The record have gone.
Years later our merchandising guy, who worked a couple of floors above us told me he had seen the records piled in a big skip outside by the owner of the building
From the vg+ site With apologies to Mr Wolfe, I'm sure they will grow back before you know it :)

[Ian Townsend]

Ouch.
Embarrassed I couldn't remember the tale.:o Glad someone asked.:)

[Mr Munch]

I think i have told this tale many, many times. Both on line and boring the arse of people in the real world but anyway, here is how i got into Library Records:

I discovered Library LPs by pure chance and good fortune back in the year 1997. At that time i was at uni/college (in Scarborough) and one half term i was visiting my girlfriend (now wife) in Newcastle (upon Tyne) as that is where she was studying. Whilst she was at Uni, she didn't have a half term break for some reason, i spent the day visiting Newcastle's many record and charity shops on the hunt for any vinyl i could find for cheep. I had only just got into record collecting with any real intent so i was still in that happy hazy time where everything you see is new and exiting, i knew very little about labels, names or even genres.

So on one of my trips round Newcastle i popped into a record shop, the name of which eludes me now but it was next to a big Jessops photography shop, and on the floor where boxes and boxes of strange looking LPs for the bargain price of 5 for £1. They were all KPMs which i had never seen before and there must have been hundreds of them mainly from the 1000 series spanning the whole catalog. I picked a couple of quids worth and took them back to the missus flat where i gave them a spin. I quickly realised that these records would be great for sampling with there funky bits, quiet bits, moody bits and of course the odd drum break. I returned to the shop the next day and bought about another fivers worth, not wanting to blow all my money on them as, well, if there on sale here for 20p a pop they cant be rare or worth much to the average collector so i will probably find loads more in the future.... If i had a time machine and could only use it once, i would go back in time to just before i found those KPMs, convince my younger self to get a student loan and buy as much as i could even if it meant storing them at my girlfriend/future wife's flat. I may also mumble something about keeping a check on my balls, but mainly i would ensure that those KPMs didn't slip me by.. I still have nightmares about it..

The next time i visited i popped back to the record shop to pick up a few more of these great bargain LPs but they had all gone (maybe bought by a future me who has traveled back in time and bought the rest... i can live in hope but as i don't even have a basic understanding of physics this is unlikely) but on a record stall in an indoor market i did find a lot of Bruton & De Wolfe LPs for sale. This time they were a pound a pop so i couldn't get as many and i was put off a little by the late 70s - early 80s dates, as i was living in fear of disco at the time.

Back in those days i had no internet, wasn't part of any record buying culture so i had no idea that Library records were becoming sought after by both beat makers and collectors. I naively thought that they were my little secret and i alone had discovered these great little records all by myself. This illusion was broken when i first heard "Easter Island (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRDwdOFdLoQ)" on Low life records which sampled a track of one of the KPM LPs i had picked up (gentle sounds vol 2 i think) and a trip to Vinyl Exchange in Manchester revealed a massive library record section complete with sky high prices! Since then i have been pretty obsessed by Library music and every time i visit a carboot sale i always daydream about finding that elusive box crammed with library LPs that i then by for 5 pounds for the whole box.. It never happens but i have found several bits and bobs over the years..

Anyway that probably dosen't help you in your research but its always good to get it off the chest, bit like therapy..;)

[treeboy]

That's the lot of the vinyl obsessive. We have all left stuff behind for one reason or another, only to return to an empty space. In the words of William DeVaughan "Be thankful for what you got":)

[mr sayers]

@ Mr Munch great story, the shop was Old hitz and a mate of mine got the rest of them for a fiver!

[Mr Munch]

@ Mr Munch great story, the shop was Old hitz and a mate of mine got the rest of them for a fiver!

A FIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Feckin hell.... if i knew that was all he wanted i could have had the lot!!! Even as a struggling student i could have scraped a fiver together..... gutted... i actually feel worse now... ah well, that's the luck of the draw i guess..

[mr sayers]

A FIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Feckin hell.... if i knew that was all he wanted i could have had the lot!!! Even as a struggling student i could have scraped a fiver together..... gutted... i actually feel worse now... ah well, that's the luck of the draw i guess..

Shit! I feel as though Ive just pissed on your chips there mate, which wasn't my intention!:o If it makes you feel any better they knew the shop owner very well so he probably wouldn't have just let anyone have them for a fiver...

[Mr Munch]

Shit! I feel as though Ive just pissed on your chips there mate, which wasn't my intention!:o If it makes you feel any better they knew the shop owner very well so he probably wouldn't have just let anyone have them for a fiver...

That does help a little bit... At least i now know if i ever build that time machine ill probably only need 50 quid or so.. :p

I actually went back to Old Hitz many years later and thought i would ask if there were any Library LPs knocking about, just in case they were sat in the back collecting dust. The guy behind the counter who i assume was the owner (although wasn't the chap i remember selling me the KPMs back in 97) said "yes, but there expensive". I told him about the ones i had got for 20p a go and he went a bit white...

While I'm here, i found a clip of the KPM track that was sampled in the Low Life tune i mentioned above:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfXmU_zx4cQ

Lovely stuff....

[mr sayers]

Not too sure why he would have said they had some but they were dear, as I got some great Chappell 'Mood and music' ones of them for £4 each just before they closed and the owner had set the prices!

[Mr Munch]

Not too sure why he would have said they had some but they were dear, as I got some great Chappell 'Mood and music' ones of them for £4 each just before they closed and the owner had set the prices!

Last time i was there was probably getting on for 10 years ago so maybe he lowered his prices. I got some good records from there back in the day, once got a load of decent Hip Hop 12s for peanuts... I hear Newcastle is pretty shit these days which is sad as i used to enjoy my trips there...

[Col Wolfe]

well, £4 a unit is quite a mark-up from 20p a unit ;)

[treeboy]

Last time i was there was probably getting on for 10 years ago so maybe he lowered his prices. I got some good records from there back in the day, once got a load of decent Hip Hop 12s for peanuts... I hear Newcastle is pretty shit these days which is sad as i used to enjoy my trips there...
Spent last weekend there, my partner was doing the Great North Run. Checked out Reflex, pricey new stuff. Couldn't find Steel Wheels, does it still exist?
Came up trumps in Oxfam

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRLyvQLkFWQ

Also, Don Fardon Belfast Boy
Tom Jones Looking out my window (bit of Keith Mansfield magic)
Billy Fury What do you think you're doing of

All 49p each!
Probably going back next year, so any good steers much appreciated.

[mr sayers]

well, £4 a unit is quite a mark-up from 20p a unit ;)

It is but it was the best part of 15 years later!

[mr sayers]

@ Treeboy....Steelwheelz closed a couple of weeks ago!

Nice finds in Oxfam, I take it was the one in town?:confused:

[Campag Record]

I was late to the party with libraries. I'd stopped buying records around 95 and it was only when i met Mr Sayers and Sie V around 2000 when i'd started buying vinyl again that i was schooled on easy and library. Back in the early 90's when i was doing the flea markets and junk shops i would have ignored such sleeves. Thoses KPM's in Oldhitz wouldn't have meant a thing to me and i would have flicked right past them. Shameful behaviour in hindsight!

[treeboy]

@ Treeboy....Steelwheelz closed a couple of weeks ago!

Nice finds in Oxfam, I take it was the one in town?:confused:

Thought as much. Yes it was the one in town, in the cheapo box on the floor! Is this your patch?

[mr sayers]

Thought as much. Yes it was the one in town, in the cheapo box on the floor! Is this your patch?

It is and I sometimes volunteer in there.:cool:

[treeboy]

So I am now tip-toeing away, very quietly, and pulling the door to behind me.........:eek:

[ironheadrat]

First time I heard of library music was when I got this tape (http://www.discogs.com/Touch-33-Islands-In-Between/master/10423) in the 80s and tried and failed to track down the Bruton lp. A schoolmate who had gone to work in TV and had an interest in exotica also once told me about 'special' records they used.

I was in the Toon when Mr Munch made his dicovery, but I''d long given up on hitting Oldhitz regularly. I did come across what I reckon was his record stall in an indoor market (on the Clayton Road mine was), bought about five but wasn't too impressed so I didn't go back. One of them was Music To Varnish Owls By, but I've no idea where it is now.

[Mr Munch]

I was in the Toon when Mr Munch made his discovery, but I''d long given up on hitting Oldhitz regularly. I did come across what I reckon was his record stall in an indoor market (on the Clayton Road mine was), bought about five but wasn't too impressed so I didn't go back. One of them was Music To Varnish Owls By, but I've no idea where it is now.

Ive just consulted google maps and if my memory and sense of direction is correct then it sounds like it was the same market. I did quite well considering i had no idea what i was buying.

http://www.recordkingz.com/product_images/d/brutonrockcity__39117.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b61HWjJZUEk/T56W6MaLpbI/AAAAAAAAAns/-lbZDfVPgpY/s1600/BRS+3+front.JPG

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pAZMHMzIfo8/T6Ue9z-5PFI/AAAAAAAAAq8/f-yAviSkyvg/s1600/Bruton_Music_Blow_Out_BRH10_front.jpg

All 3 are still among my favorites.

[Ian Townsend]

I was later than all a' youse to the goodness of libraries and picked up my first two in 2006 at a car boot sale after reading about them on VV. I lucked out by chancing on two absolutely cracking Bosworth's.

I don't know if any of you checked out the Waxidermy thread (http://waxidermy.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=43796)but some of the guys over there had some amazing hauls very early on in the late 80s / early 90s.

Thanks for all these stories and contributions. I'm gradually pulling together an article on the sourcing / trading and selling of these 'not for sale' items.