Northern Soul Urban Myth

[Timbob]

hi many years ago 1974 /75 was told by someone dont remember who, that crates of records from u s a were used to fill up cargo space,also as ballast.on ships is this true .the reason i ask, around that time i use to frequent a shop in ilkeston Derbyshire called daves surplus he was mainly into stamps and coins but the shop was full of records and sometimes there would be cardboard boxes full of demos . no this isnt a dream before you ask also never found anything other than a sam moultrie demo many thanks tim

[Barry]

hi many years ago 1974 /75 was told by someone dont remember who, that crates of records from u s a were used to fill up cargo space,also as ballast.on ships is this true .the reason i ask, around that time i use to frequent a shop in ilkeston Derbyshire called daves surplus he was mainly into stamps and coins but the shop was full of records and sometimes there would be cardboard boxes full of demos . no this isnt a dream before you ask also never found anything other than a sam moultrie demo many thanks tim

It's been discussed on here before, I heard the same story as a kid about Liverpool docks and the story went that they used to put a bar through the big hole in the 7"s and stack thousands on them and place em in the hold, the story also involved drilling holes in the 7"s to put a thin rod through to keep em steady - which was the deletions/sale stock drill hole,

[Swifty]

It's been discussed on here before, I heard the same story as a kid about Liverpool docks and the story went that they used to put a bar through the big hole in the 7"s and stack thousands on them and place em in the hold, the story also involved drilling holes in the 7"s to put a thin rod through to keep em steady - which was the deletions/sale stock drill hole,

Heard exactly the same Barry , also told many people the same thing , Chinese Fooking whispers eh?

Swifty

[Barry]

Heard exactly the same Barry , also told many people the same thing , Chinese Fooking whispers eh?

Swifty

You never put an ounce of thought into the fact that if this were true, somewhere in the US there was a man that just drilled holes in thousands of records.

[Swifty]

You never put an ounce of thought into the fact that if this were true, somewhere in the US there was a man that just drilled holes in thousands of records.

Just for ballast on ships coming to the UK and I bet he thought these will go down well in them Northern clubs !!!

That man had vision

Swifty

p.s. plus I told everybody that Micky Moonshine was Alvin Stardust - Doh! , haven't got the heart to tell them otherwise. I wonder how many people they told?

[Mike]

has to be true doesn't it

you have a empty ship sailing back to the uk after unloading at a usa port

as you have a empty load you need ballast so the ship still floats right

so do you pump on water for this ballast

or do you load on a few crates of something you can flog off cheaply at other end ?

Edited October 27, 2012 by mike

[Swifty]

has to be true doesn't it

you have a empty ship sailing back to the uk after unloading at a usa port

as you have a empty load you need ballast so the ship still floats right

so do you pump on water for this ballast

or do you load on a few crates of something you can flog off cheaply at other end ?

I'm sure they used some Mike but what did they do for the return trip , fill it up with Gerry & the pacemekers/ Freddie and the dreamers/ Beatles stuff ??

Swifty

p.s. wish they had !

[Chalky]

It's been discussed on here before, I heard the same story as a kid about Liverpool docks and the story went that they used to put a bar through the big hole in the 7"s and stack thousands on them and place em in the hold, the story also involved drilling holes in the 7"s to put a thin rod through to keep em steady - which was the deletions/sale stock drill hole,

someone said the same to me till I asked why drill a hole when there's already one there

[Roburt]

Certainly loads of the 'unsold-stock' US LP's that were everywhere in the UK in the 70's had come over as ship's ballast .... which was why high street record shops could sell them for 29p and upwards.

Edited October 27, 2012 by Roburt

[Mike]

does salt water affect vinyl ?

currently googling archives of 1960s new york - liverpool shipping lists and maps of shipwrecks off the coast of north wales

stand by for a "wanted - able bodied adventurers" type post later followed by a history channel docu next year

mike

[Barry]

Certainly loads of the 'unsold-stock' US LP's that were everywhere in the UK in the 70's had come over as ship's ballast .... which was why high street record shops could sell them for 29p and upwards.

The discount vinyl units like Yanks in Manchester used to buy out rock/mor stock and get stuff thrown in or alternately soul stock was used as a sweetener (freebies) to buy other stuff.

You could fill a shopping trolleyin the 80's with albums @ Yanks for about £25.

[Guest Nick Harrison]

Certainly loads of the 'unsold-stock' US LP's that were everywhere in the UK in the 70's had come over as ship's ballast .... which was why high street record shops could sell them for 29p and upwards.

Import LP's had the top right hand of the outer sleeve cut off and others had a ring punch hole also in the outer sleeve. And they still arrived as sealed !!

Edited October 28, 2012 by Nick Harrison

[Barry]

But then these import LP's had the top right hand of the outer sleeve cut off and others had a ring punch hole also in the outer sleeve. And they still arrived sealed copies !!

....the drill hole

[Guest Nick Harrison]

....the drill hole

Did not the import tax man clip and hole for certified owed duty at this end ?

(Or used as a method of avoiding any form of payment as post 29 states.)

Edited October 28, 2012 by Nick Harrison

[Barry]

Did not the import tax man clip and hole for certified owed duty at this end ?

Maybe mate, I just took em to be like the drill hole/paint dab to show they were old stock.

[Dave2]

has to be true doesn't it

you have a empty ship sailing back to the uk after unloading at a usa port

as you have a empty load you need ballast so the ship still floats right

so do you pump on water for this ballast

or do you load on a few crates of something you can flog off cheaply at other end ?

Gotta be true

the ballast inadvertantly got mixed together during rough sea voyages

That's where 'water damage on label' comes from

[Peter99]

You never put an ounce of thought into the fact that if this were true, somewhere in the US there was a man that just drilled holes in thousands of records.

Vinyl Driller Killer

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=driller+killer&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=650&tbm=isch&tbnid=1uLpn82aykA5pM:&imgrefurl=https://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2005/sep/09/3&docid=s3qv5bPQiLUm-M&imgurl=https://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2005/09/08/driller_killer372.jpg&w=372&h=192&ei=QAiMUN7qJcPH0QWHzYHIAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=277&vpy=327&dur=575&hovh=153&hovw=297&tx=182&ty=107&sig=103755185973893541576&page=1&tbnh=123&tbnw=220&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0,i:138

[Peter99]

p.s. plus I told everybody that Micky Moonshine was Alvin Stardust - Doh! , haven't got the heart to tell them otherwise. I wonder how many people they told?

Good thread on here about that Swifty. In the end it was nailed - wasn't it that ginger bloke from Scotland?

Peter

[Swifty]

Remember buying stuff that had stickers on re- Import Duty etc , mainly from Selectadisc but hey them was the days eh?

Swifty

[Diamondjim]

hi many years ago 1974 /75 was told by someone dont remember who, that crates of records from u s a were used to fill up cargo space,also as ballast.on ships is this true .the reason i ask, around that time i use to frequent a shop in ilkeston Derbyshire called daves surplus he was mainly into stamps and coins but the shop was full of records and sometimes there would be cardboard boxes full of demos . no this isnt a dream before you ask also never found anything other than a sam moultrie demo many thanks tim

Daves surplus also had a shop on London road Derby opposite Barry Rodgers motorcycles...think it was where most locals went to to trade in pressings and re-issues of the time...only thing of any note I ever found in there was the Accents...you better think again £1.10p...did hear of few tales of decent modern bits and British stuff found there.

[Carty]

as well as records coming over as ballast, american comics came the same way, they were always in the newsagents as a kid and i remember some of them were 3 of 4 years old at the time. these were mainly dc comics , green lantern batman superman etc the adverts in these comics gave an insight into what seemed like a magical world at the time,i suppose the love of soul music which came a few years later was an extension of this,having been fortunate to visit america regularly over the past 30 years i no longer have this view of the place at all, but from a kids viewpoint in the mid sixties america was it.

[Geeselad]

as well as records coming over as ballast, american comics came the same way, they were always in the newsagents as a kid and i remember some of them were 3 of 4 years old at the time. these were mainly dc comics , green lantern batman superman etc the adverts in these comics gave an insight into what seemed like a magical world at the time,i suppose the love of soul music which came a few years later was an extension of this,having been fortunate to visit america regularly over the past 30 years i no longer have this view of the place at all, but from a kids viewpoint in the mid sixties america was it.

it was the late 70's for me with the comics thing but I'm with you on the adds, never been to north america so I was made up to buy a 'twinkie' in macclesfeild last year.

[Mark S]

Bought quite a few water damaged albums in the early 70s from Robinsons records in Manchester ( Tamla, Gordy , Motown ) once you scraped the barnacles they played fine only the sleeves were knackered .

[Codfromderby]

Daves surplus also had a shop on London road Derby opposite Barry Rodgers motorcycles...think it was where most locals went to to trade in pressings and re-issues of the time...only thing of any note I ever found in there was the Accents...you better think again £1.10p...did hear of few tales of decent modern bits and British stuff found there.

got spyder turner, sharon scott black issue, tony mason and a few other from there, used to call in most weeks on the way back from work, happy days

[Davenpete]

There's an extension to this myth that claimed the reason the Beatles covered Arthur Adams etc in their early sets was because they used to pick the records up that had been washed up on the fore shore of the Mersey at low tide after they'd been dumped from the ships being loaded in the docks.

Total crap of course, why use vinyl that's relatively light weight when you can use gravel that's cheaper, heavier and settles nicely?

One thing that is definitely true is the fact that the small holes in US 45s are actually caused by the larval stage of the Vinyl Weevil - once confined to the hot Southern States of the US (they also attack pillow cases) they are a spreading problem due to global warming and are very hard to get rid of once you get an infestation. I'd be happy to sell anyone concerned about the damage they can cause to their collection some of the very expensive specialist moth/beetle crystals to put in their boxes - obviously with the reduction of the use of vinyl, these are very hard to get hold of, indeed the only brand still available is Gullible's Patent Beetle Crushers.

Dx

PS Remember the story about the Seven Dwarfs as in 'Stop Girl' actually being the Rolling Stones? (I guess Mick Jagger was Grumpy, Keith Richards probably Sleepy).

The best one of all though (young Mr Sway will remember this one) was that the musicians inside the Banana Splits were Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.

The one about Patrice Holloway being the lead singer of Josie and the Pussycats is true BTW - once asked Brenda.

Edited October 28, 2012 by DaveNPete

[Mike]

Total crap of course, why use vinyl that's relatively light weight when you can use gravel that's cheaper, heavier and settles nicely?

come on. settles nicely?

no ones saying that they used to dump loads of unpackaged loose vinyl as loose ballast

saying they used to use goods such as records , comics etc in lieu of taking on the normal ballast

total crap indeed

[Davenpete]

Actually however they were shipped here, I know for a fact that the two market stalls I used to frequent that sold cutouts (Banbury and Hull) received their vinyl with no sleeves and strung (using bailing twine as it happens) using the cutout holes.

The 'total crap' was more in reference to the Beatles thing, though I would say that ballast is ballast (by definition gravel - hence the name) and filling up an EMPTY HOLD on a return run with marketable goods is filling up an empty hold on a return run with marketable goods.

Dx

Edited October 28, 2012 by DaveNPete

[Barry]

Good thread on here about that Swifty. In the end it was nailed - wasn't it that ginger bloke from Scotland?

Peter

Imberboy's MM wind up was a classic.

[Rick Cooper]

Records as ships ballast is another NS myth. Why would a shipping company sailing from the richest country in the world sailing to Europe have difficulty filing a ship. In the 70's Global in Manchester shipped containers full of singles and LPs from the US and had to book well in advance to get a ship and pay the going rate. Records were dirt cheap in the US and the dollar exchange rate meant a profit could be made even after shipping costs and selling for under 50 pence.

The water damaged Motown LPs mentioned by Mark S (post 23) above got wet in a US warehouse when a fire was put out, I spent about 4 days sorting them in a New Jersey warehouse with Ed Balbier of Global. You should have seen the ones we didn't pick.

The drilled holes and cut corners of LP covers were so that taxes and royalties didn't have to be paid and distributors couldn't try to send them back to the record label for full price credit.

Rick