Hi-Fi Sound Stereo Test Record

Do you remember when people cared so much about the sound quality of their 'Hi-Fi' that they actually purchased albums to help set them up and test the quality ?.

There have been many of these albums over the years and this one was mine. Not that I had any idea what the hell I was doing with it. The sound quality of Showaddywaddy-Hey Rock & Roll didn't improve much once I'd fiddled with the bass, treble and speaker positions. But I thought I was doing something.

 

The type of person who usually bought these albums would have spent a lot of money on their system and when they purchsed an album in the shop they had to have a look at the vinyl first. Taking it out of the sleeve and holding it up to the light to make sure there were no blemishes. Then holding it on one finger to see if there was any sign of a warp. If they weren't happy they would reject it and we'd have to get another copy out for them to check. I once had a guy check and reject 10 copies of Dire Straits Brothers in Arms before he found one that was acceptable. Only to bring it back the next day because he could hear a slight 'click' during the intro. Amazingly he was also the same customer who refused to buy a CD player because the sound was too clean !.

 

 

Music Master Catalogue

Music Master 1990

Long before the Internet and Google search, if you wanted to look up information about a record/song/artist, you had to find out the old fashioned way by looking in a book.

Retail record stores across the country had to subscribe to a music catalogue that was so big it made the bible look like a pamphlet. Imagine a book that listed all formats, all track listings, all catalogue numbers, record labels & release dates for EVERY record that is currently available to buy.

That book was Music Master.

With monthly supplements to keep the information up to date and a full yearly reprint, thIs book was the music bible for the Retail music industry.

If anyone wanted to order a record this was the place to start. To order a title you needed three important pieces of information.

1. Is it still available?. 2. What label is it on? (Or more importantly who's distributing it?) 3. What's the catalogue number.

This book had it all. It cost an absolute fortune to buy and was a pain in the bum to flick through but I spent many happy hours looking though it trying to find classic stuff to purchase for myself never mind customers. You may have needed a magnifying glass to read the writing and the paper was so thin it could tear very easily, but it was an essential part of any proper record shop. I can find very little information on the net about when they started or stopped printing this book, how many editions there were or if anyone else remembers its existence. But, for me, it's a nice bit of nostalgia Just to see it again.

 

Oasis CD Singles Display

Found this the other day. Seems a shame not to hang it up again. A original piece of shop display material from the 1990s

Oasis CD Singles

 

Recommended reading

 

Music Master Supplement January 1986

 

Emerson Lake & Palmer

Not everyone who works in a record shop should actually be there. 

Years ago i remember a young girl i worked with being 'let go' because she had absolutely no idea what she was doing and had no interest in music outside the top 5. 

She filed things in the wrong places and couldn't tell the difference between a LP and a 12" single. 

We realised that we had made the right decision when someone found the Emerson Lake and Palmer Album Brain Salad Surgery Bagged up and filed away under....... 

Artist - Brian Salad 

Title - Surgery.