BBC record library

[Sceneman]

i heard whispers some time back about rare 45s being stolen and sold off on the quiet..any possibility it could be true?

Djs dont need em any more so what became of the record library ?are they being nicked and sold off ?

[Winsford Soul]

1 hour ago, sceneman said:

i heard whispers some time back about rare 45s being stolen and sold off on the quiet..any possibility it could be true?

Djs dont need em any more so what became of the record library ?are they being nicked and sold off ?

Way back in the late 70,s my first copy of Sue Lynne.  Don't pity me, had the BBC record library stamp on it and it was in the half round polythene storage bag. A few years after I sold it for £23 , Keith Minshull bought it at a Samanthas nighter for i think £70. Mad how certain things stick with you.  

[Tam La Motown]

I'm certain all vinyl records in the BBC Library will now be transferred to digital files for easier access. It seems unlikely that the BBC would sell such an important cultural asset. The BBC Library is one of the largest most complete collections on the planet. It's a bit like saying the Louvre has digital copies of all the great art treasures such as the Mona Lisa and are now selling the originals in a Parisienne flea market!

[Chalky]

57 minutes ago, Tam La Motown said:

I'm certain all vinyl records in the BBC Library will now be transferred to digital files for easier access. It seems unlikely that the BBC would sell such an important cultural asset. The BBC Library is one of the largest most complete collections on the planet. It's a bit like saying the Louvre has digital copies of all the great art treasures such as the Mona Lisa and are now selling the originals in a Parisienne flea market!

Phil Swern I think owns the company that provides the BBC's digital services.  I listened to an interview once when BBC was beginning to think about digitising and he said he already had them all digitised.  He has every top 40 record since the charts began apparently.

https://www.longlivevinyl.net/phil-collector-swern-interview/

[Widnes63]

1 hour ago, Chalky said:

Phil Swern I think owns the company that provides the BBC's digital services.  I listened to an interview once when BBC was beginning to think about digitising and he said he already had them all digitised.  He has every top 40 record since the charts began apparently.

https://www.longlivevinyl.net/phil-collector-swern-interview/

Thanks for the link Karl, interesting read. We do Pop Master every day in work , sitting in our scaffold wagon with a brew.

My ex wife used to work in the library of Liverpool Hope university, when they went digital they filled numerous skips with records and cd's.

[Michael V]

Records have been going 'walkabouts' from the BBC Record Library since  at least the 70's, as Winsford stated above (and I've heard other stories re. some 50's R n' R rarities)  I started collecting seriously in the early 80's and have found a few 45's(and LP's) with  the 'BBC Record Library ' stamp on over the years in charity shops,junk shops etc. Found a copy of Jackie Lee - The Duck on Fontana with the BBC Record Library label stamp in a junk shop in Catford,South London in the 80's,for example.

Also, London -based collectors may recall that about 10-15 years ago Reckless Records in Soho acquired a fairly large quantity of BBC Record Library 45's which they sold still in  the polythene storage bags as Winsford described;bought a few myself. Maybe these were duplicates  the BBC were disposing of-perhaps they have  official/unofficial clearouts of doubles and duplicates from time to time,which,along with 'borrowing' (shall we say)accounts for their occasional appearance outside the halls of the BBC over the years

[Sceneman]

3 hours ago, Tam La Motown said:

I'm certain all vinyl records in the BBC Library will now be transferred to digital files for easier access. It seems unlikely that the BBC would sell such an important cultural asset. The BBC Library is one of the largest most complete collections on the planet. It's a bit like saying the Louvre has digital copies of all the great art treasures such as the Mona Lisa and are now selling the originals in a Parisienne flea market!

djs are now superfluous to requirements as the progs are done by others well in advance ..so they just need to blab endlessly about twaddle to fill in ..how much are they paid now?peter young seems to have sold his collection before  he popped off .wonder who got em?

i  was referring to unofficial sales

[Chalky]

Didn't every BBC station have a record library? Manchester, Sheffield etc etc.  Wasn't there a haul in Manchester of old BBC stock? 

[Chalky]

according to figures recently the BBC Archives still has a massive collection of vinyl and CDs.  There is little doubt it will have been pilfered from time to time or records getting lost whilst out with the various shows using them.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Chalky

[Modernsoulsucks]

But wouldn't there be more than one library ?

I know a guy who got stuff out of BBC Manchester [not 60's].

And then there are overseas stations which I guess were operated by BBC World service or whatever.

Scal on here got in one and there were tons of UK 60's demos.

Which they wouldn't sell unfortunately !

 

Posted whilst you were typing, Chalky.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Modernsoulsucks

[Blackpoolsoul]

This contact might help

https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/music-recordings

[Steve G]

Interestingly enough a non soul friend went to a works Christmas do just round the corner from the BBC. They said I'd have loved it as it was full of records and a record player and you could select records off the shelves to play. They said thy all had the BBC stamp on them. Further enquiries (well I had to ask didn't I )revealed they were all LPs and the records they saw were  like Val Doonican and Mantovani. I am sure there wouldn't be any collectibles, the BBC are too savvy for that. Sounds like a job lot of "drossy MOR" sold off - the kind of stuff you can't give away at boot fairs.  

[Will]

1 hour ago, Chalky said:

Didn't every BBC station have a record library? Manchester, Sheffield etc etc.  Wasn't there a haul in Manchester of old BBC stock? 

Lots of BBC radio station record libraries existed, all around the country. I'd toured many of them by mid '90s and had legitimately bought a lot of records from them, during those years.

Recurrent comments by the BBC staff were 'make us an offer for them' and 'we need to make space'. It was frequently obvious to me, that the station managers/DJs didn't appreciate what they had.

[Blackpoolsoul]

Some of my best stuff came from Hospital radio stations and I guess like libraries they are all gone now or in Hospital radio DJ collections

[Will]

21 minutes ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Some of my best stuff came from Hospital radio stations and I guess like libraries they are all gone now or in Hospital radio DJ collections

I got lots from hospital radio too, but the BBC stations were the motherlode.

[Ric-tic]

In the late 60s early 70’s the BBC used to send big boxes (like 400 big) of spare 7” demos to children’s homes this may surprise some I mean for the fact that once they actually cared about kids in care...

[Soul16]

If memory serves me correctly, I read somewhere (Record Collector mag?) that the BBC auctioned off a lot of vinyl for charity on a particular day in the 1990’s. DJ Mike Read was the auctioneer and did it for ‘free’, other than being paid in a few vinyl 45s from the BBC Radio 1 / 2 library - one of which was said to be Frankie and the Classicals on Philips.

[Chalky]

I would imagine the BBC had everything or just about everything that saw a UK release, at least up to the demo stage and also many that didn't even get that far.

[SoulCor]

Just think what could(or is)in there tho,

complete runs of TMG(all demos)complete runs of the London label,Elvis HMV’s,all Demo’s on 78 and 45....enough to make a grown man wet himself...

[Will]

1 hour ago, 0787jo123321 said:

Just think what could(or is)in there tho,

complete runs of TMG(all demos)complete runs of the London label,Elvis HMV’s,all Demo’s on 78 and 45....enough to make a grown man wet himself...

Yes.

The beauty of the BBC's position was that they didn't have to ask for records. Everybody knew that they were the de facto, gold standard of British radio. To feature on a BBC playlist was to guarantee big sales. Therefore for decades, copies of probably almost all records that were issued in Britain, would have been sent to them, in the hope of some air time. They were the recipients of product 'pushes', rather than having to 'pull'.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Will
typo

[SoulCor]

47 minutes ago, Will said:

Yes.

The beauty of the BBC's position was that they didn't have to ask for records. Everybody knew that they were the de facto, gold standard of British radio. To feature on a BBC playlist was to guarantee big sales. Therefore for decades, copies of probably almost all records that were issued in Britain, would have been sent to them, in the hope of some air time. They were the recipients of product 'pushes', rather than having to 'pull'.

All mint and Unplayed too,but I’m sure there must be record collectors that work at the BBC,so if any ever came up for sale,they would have the best pick of the bunch,and pretty sure they would have rifled thru them already........

[Sceneman]

curious as back in the 50s to 60s BBC progs wouldnt have played anything decent even if they had some good 45s in the vaults as there just wasnt any program outlet as it was all on radio luxembourg and that was hard to hear on a tiny transistor radio as reception was bad ..but if you look at the vynil issued per week it was colossal.. BBC of the time was all billy cotton band show and music while you work .diabolical rubbish till the pirates came along and they would have their own demos and libraries

[Mark B]

didnt rich buckley get a few things from one of them as he worked for the BBC i think

[Mark B]

On 30/12/2019 at 14:00, Modernsoulsucks said:

But wouldn't there be more than one library ?

I know a guy who got stuff out of BBC Manchester [not 60's].

And then there are overseas stations which I guess were operated by BBC World service or whatever.

Scal on here got in one and there were tons of UK 60's demos.

Which they wouldn't sell unfortunately !

 

Posted whilst you were typing, Chalky. Rod where did all the stuff in the 70's in manchester come from that searling and you and dave macadam all went through. wasnt that radio station stuff.

 

[Modernsoulsucks]

Rod where did all the stuff in the 70's in manchester come from that searling and you and dave macadam all went through. wasnt that radio station stuff.

Got it from Indigo Studios but where it originated no real idea.

From the vague indications we got from the sellers it was more to do with TV. 

I remember Plymouth Grove being mentioned and TOTP was based around there from 64-66 so maybe that.

[Steve G]

This thread got me thinking. Who remembers the giant record fair at Ally Pally in 1979 / 80? What a fantastic event that was - did anyone not come away with armfuls of 10p gems?  The BBC organised it, but not sure if any of their surplus stock was included.  

[Dave Raistrick]

Who remembers the giant record fair at Ally Pally in 1979 / 80?   I was there with Chris Fletcher (Nott'm) We picked up all kinds of goodies that day including some US imports.

[Blackpoolsoul]

23 minutes ago, Dave Raistrick said:

Who remembers the giant record fair at Ally Pally in 1979 / 80?   I was there with Chris Fletcher (Nott'm) We picked up all kinds of goodies that day including some US imports.

I think it would have been 1979 Dave as in 1980 there was a huge fire and it took until 1988 to re-open, if memory serves me right.

[Woodbutcher]

56 minutes ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

I think it would have been 1979 Dave as in 1980 there was a huge fire and it took until 1988 to re-open, if memory serves me right.

The fire was in July of 1980 and although a major event it was not entirely destroyed.

I was at Ally Pally in June 1980 for the "Beat the Blues" festival/concert , the Jam gig in Feb/Mar '82 and numerous visits during '83-85' whilst building exhibition stands , so the fair could well have been between '80 and '88 in the temporarily rehashed building.  

[Steve G]

The fair was mentioned in one of the early Backbeats, I'll dig it out to find the actual date. 

[Rob Wigley]

The stuff of dreams ! Maybe one or two library's left in old colonial outposts in distant places on the Planet !

 

[Derek Pearson]

On 09/01/2020 at 11:27, Rob Wigley said:

The stuff of dreams ! Maybe one or two library's left in old colonial outposts in distant places on the Planet !

Hey up Rob - would ya believe some things are a lot closer than we think.....

I was selling at a record fair middle of last year and got talking to this young girl who was buying a hand full of 45's off me.

She was studying at a local university and happened to mention that she was helping out trying to catalogue all the records in the University Radio station record library which were kept un-filed and un-wanted in large shed somewhere out on campus.

After many miss-spent years as a young teenager playing cards for money where keeping a face straight was vital I just couldn't help miself. She must've noticed me frothing at the mouth and getting more and more excitable and with a little chuckle she said "Maybe I shouldn't have told you that"......

Derek

I also once got invited to look through a shed full of 45's from a relatively local hospital radio station record library (probably at least 30 years ago). I was only looking for 'northern' stuff at the time and bought very little. I dread to think what pop stuff I left behind? Every now and again I still wonder if that shed full of 45's is still there? One day I might just chase it up again.

[Kevin Jones]

Did anyone manage to buy any records off the couple from South Wales who had bought out the British Forces radio station in Cyprus. There were great buys in the beginning and then they got really wise to prices. I had quite a number of British releases, all mint and in company sleeves. Mid nineties if memory serves me well.

[Mgm 1251]

6 hours ago, Kevin Jones said:

Did anyone manage to buy any records off the couple from South Wales who had bought out the British Forces radio station in Cyprus. There were great buys in the beginning and then they got really wise to prices. I had quite a number of British releases, all mint and in company sleeves. Mid nineties if memory serves me well.

Was it VinylCountDown in Ponthir,between Cwmbran and Caerleon? I believe the guy was called Robin,every time I was going past he was never open,could see all the records thru the key hole in the door to the old shed where they were kept....

Edited January 15, 2020 by MGM 1251

[Lovemusic]

Talking to a friend last week, from the Wirral, and he told me stories about the archives at the BBC in Liverpool. He said they had multiple demo copies of everything to service the outlying radio stations. Some of these found new homes elsewhere!

[Kevin Jones]

On 14/01/2020 at 23:52, MGM 1251 said:

Was it VinylCountDown in Ponthir,between Cwmbran and Caerleon? I believe the guy was called Robin,every time I was going past he was never open,could see all the records thru the key hole in the door to the old shed where they were kept....

Yes, I am pretty sure that was the guy. I normally dealt with his wife, I asked if could call as I was working in Newport at the time but they were not that keen.  Picked up a Dee Dee Warwicke - Worth Every Tear I Cry. Happy Days !

[The Tempest]

On 14/01/2020 at 19:22, Kevin Jones said:

Did anyone manage to buy any records off the couple from South Wales who had bought out the British Forces radio station in Cyprus. There were great buys in the beginning and then they got really wise to prices. I had quite a number of British releases, all mint and in company sleeves. Mid nineties if memory serves me well.

YES ! I did , got the Mike Vickers Lp off them with On The Brink on it - it has BFBS Radio Stamp on the back - only cost me a couple of quid at the time 

[Wiggyflat]

On 30/12/2019 at 13:24, Michael V said:

Records have been going 'walkabouts' from the BBC Record Library since  at least the 70's, as Winsford stated above (and I've heard other stories re. some 50's R n' R rarities)  I started collecting seriously in the early 80's and have found a few 45's(and LP's) with  the 'BBC Record Library ' stamp on over the years in charity shops,junk shops etc. Found a copy of Jackie Lee - The Duck on Fontana with the BBC Record Library label stamp in a junk shop in Catford,South London in the 80's,for example.

Also, London -based collectors may recall that about 10-15 years ago Reckless Records in Soho acquired a fairly large quantity of BBC Record Library 45's which they sold still in  the polythene storage bags as Winsford described;bought a few myself. Maybe these were duplicates  the BBC were disposing of-perhaps they have  official/unofficial clearouts of doubles and duplicates from time to time,which,along with 'borrowing' (shall we say)accounts for their occasional appearance outside the halls of the BBC over the years

Bought loads of BBC stuff there....i picked up a Beautiful Night demo there but put it back because of the BBC stamp.I was served by Irish Pol who now lives in France

Edited January 18, 2020 by wiggyflat

[Gilly]

I used to have a UK Queen of Fools issue that had a rubber stamp "Return to BBC library" in purple ink 

[Becket]

Anyone have info on where these came from ?
Seen loads of great UK demo's like this - all with same writing for date and library file no.
Possibly another forces radio station - Cyprus ?
All have been mint probably unplayed when first hit our shores.
If the no. 16003 is to go by, they must have had thousands.
(saw a SS Heatwave once in the 2xxx range).

Cheers................         Tom.

[Dobber]

could be many copys of darrell banks on black london out there?

[Chalky]

3 hours ago, Dobber said:

could be many copys of darrell banks on black london out there?

Don't think it left the plant for distribution did it?

[Cover-up]

9 hours ago, Dobber said:

could be many copys of darrell banks on black london out there?

If it was in a radio station archive, it'd be the promo they were sent.

I seem to remember when all the BBC stock turned up 15 years or so back, there was talk that the BBC had many titles in triplicate and, as previously mentioned, had libraries scattered around the UK which were being assimilated. So they were downsizing to "just" having everything in duplicate.

I know somebody who visited the BBC library for a Record Store Day feature a year or two ago and apparently it was absolutely vast - just an insane amount of records. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08mdly5

And lastly, apparently, there was a feature on a daytime show in the 80s where listeners got in contact with a story about a record they had which had gone missing - the circumstances surrounding it etc. I think they finished it when listeners would get in touch claiming to have lost their Tintern Abbey single (£1000 psych single, for example) while at a wild party, but eventually the powers that be clicked that a few of the stories might have been made up for nefarious purposes!

[Mgm 1251]

I think it was in the mid 1990’s that Thames Television(London Area)auctioned off their vast library to the public,they had been broadcasting since the early 1960’s and had received most releases since then.Aparently,when they came to value the stock of vinyl,they found that most of the heavier items had already disappeared ...oops... 

[Roburt]

Some of the BBC RADIOPLAY series of albums are well worth seeking out. Pressed up purely for internal BBC use, a few copies of each were sent out to every BBC radio stn. Some of the soul tracks included on these releases were specially licensed from the likes of Motown or US producers / recording studio guys. So there are 'unreleased takes' of some Motown classics (different versions from the released track) and totally unreleased stuff on other artists (Rudy Love, Gwen Owens, etc.)  ...... 

I've picked up a few of them down the years & even researched how the BBC came to get access to some of the unreleased stuff that was included on these LP's.

https://www.discogs.com/label/95546-BBC-Radioplay-Music

https://www.discogs.com/Rudy-Love-The-Right-Feeling/release/5517898

Edited April 13, 2020 by Roburt

[Ady Potts]

On ‎20‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 01:29, cover-up said:

If it was in a radio station archive, it'd be the promo they were sent.

 

Strangely enough they did send out issues, then the BBC stamped them. Here's a TV & the Tribesmen stamped issue. There's white demo copies of this. These BBC programme sleeves are poly lined & caused a reaction with the vinyl creating a frosted effect.

[Mickjay33]

i remember djing and Kid Jenson radio 1 days was guest djing at local collage he came on stage played a few tunes and gave a few away these had the bbc stamp on them 

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Mickjay33

[Karl s]

Not northern but Theres a shop near me (I wrote about it years ago in the soul of jamaica Section i think)

that has/had bbc library stamped boss reggae 45s mint ive had a fair few Over the years on crab  , studio one , coxsone , upsetter , orange trojan , pama you get my drift all killers but pricey  They are still sround if you know where to look

 

[Merve]

On 01/01/2020 at 09:59, Steve G said:

This thread got me thinking. Who remembers the giant record fair at Ally Pally in 1979 / 80? What a fantastic event that was - did anyone not come away with armfuls of 10p gems?  The BBC organised it, but not sure if any of their surplus stock was included.  

One of the most embarrassing days of my life ....I had been sold some gear that turned out to be laxative....I felt sorry for Tommy Taylor & Tony Warot who were in the car with me 

[Davetay]

The 1st record l saw/had with BBC stamp on it, was a Stateside demo of "That's What Love Is Made Of" 

Picked up in 70 or 71 and sold to the Late Dave Ellson