Today we spent a couple of hours in a basement in Newton Heath, North Manchester, looking through literally 1000's & 1000's of vinyls, picture discs, cassettes and 8 tracks. The collection belongs to George Davenport and is all his Pandemonium Record Shop stock.
There's a bewildering amount of music and despite being checked by collectors over the years, more vinyl than you could look through (let alone listen to) in a day, week or even month. The place isn't open to the public but you can make an appointment to browse, although not necessarily buy. Unfortunately for both George and the amazing music archive that's stored there he is facing eviction and the stock will be destroyed, lost for ever. George is at a loss as what to do and the landlord seems to be set at getting him to leave, with no other option. The building is old and badly kept meaning there's alot of water damage to the stock already (we saw 100's of 1930s jazz shellac 12's in a terrible state...)
Some friends at production company Tunafish Media [ based just down Oldham Road @ The Sharp Project ] are in the process of making a documentary about vinyl obsessives, with George featuring amongst others, which they hope will draw attention to the cause and hopefully find a solution to what will potentially be, a massive loss of an amazing music archive...any ideas? Get in touch if you'd like to know more or could help George with a storage solution.
Here's a few photos we took today, not best quality...
Some of the water damage below - getting worse by the day...
We hope a solution is found soon - if not, it'll be a sad end to collection obsessively gathered over many years...
UPDATE: I've added a few more images below. Got video to upload too. No sign of any aA stock in there mind...
Discussion on DJ History too.
Update 25/01/12: There's a Pandemonium Records website that's been put together by Alistair @ Moscow Radio.
Update 27/01/12: Manchester Evening News ran a feature today about er, the feature above.
Further reading: In 2005 the Manchester Evening News interviewed George when his dispute with the landlords began - read it here. Recordshopcity.co.uk have a feature on Pandemonium Records here & they've now featured this article here
Update 25/01/12: There's a Pandemonium Records website that's been put together by Alistair @ Moscow Radio.
Update 27/01/12: Manchester Evening News ran a feature today about er, the feature above.
24 comments:
I did once get him to actually sell me a record in about 1990. It was the Dion album produced by Phil Spector and he charged me £30
I remember Pandemonium records, it was an upstairs shop on Oxford Road in the late 1980s, yards away from Johnny Roadhouse. To the fledgling record collector that I was at the time, it was like heaven, such was the scarcity of some of the stuff he had in there but to put it politely, it was no place to look for a bargain. I stopped going in there when word went around that he'd started charging people just to walk into the shop. One thing I can say about Mr Davenport is that he never sold himself short.
All very well having an amazing collection but when it's full of damp and mould and had rats chewing on it.It becomes worthless.A real shame.
Yes I used to shop in Pandemonium on Oxford Rd in the early 80s. I found the propietor a friendly but quite assertive personality. I was after a very rare record by Ed Askew on ESP Disk. He said he had it at home... and the very next day he bought it in for me. He looked it over and said it would be quite expensive. I offered £8 which was quite a lot for a 2nd hand record back then. He accepted and the deal was done. I wouldn't sell it for £100 today.
I hope he finds a home for his collecton.
wow! you actually got in where so many have failed, that's amazing news and the photos and story are very poignant. I truly hope there is some solution that doesn't involve the tragic loss of such an incredible collection...keep at it guys, Steph, On The Corner, Beech Road - http://www.onthecorner-cafe.com (who do stock Akoustic Anarky!!)
you need to contact the guys at http://www.sounditoutdoc.com they made a film on records shops and have loads of contacts to maybe save this?
you need to contact the guys at http://www.sounditoutdoc.com they made a film on records shops and have loads of contacts to maybe save this?
mark @ future artists / chapel street / salford
I've got that Q-Tips album in your picture. is it worth somthing? i know nothing about it...
We can't let this be destroyed, better to let people take away a box each than go to the tip. Maybe the guy should shut himself in and drown A bit like the woman in fahrenheit 451.
my name is jacob dyer and i live in bristol. it is fantastic. i sound like barnaby bear. i like barnaby bear. one time he went to france. i went to france. but some kid burnt my neck. i didnt like it.
You're a "wankyer", Dyer
I hope this can be saved - surely someone has a suitable place for all this stuff before it's lost forever.
Surely if he let people actually purchase some records he could afford to rent a new stotage space with the proceeds?
You can rent spaces for next to nothing these days so I can't see what all the fuss is about.
WTF get that black gold out of the basement ffs! gah!
George was a legend. He made me a tape of the 'Babylon' soundtrack back in the early 90's for a fiver. He wouldn't sell the LP as he said it was as 'rare as rocking horse shit'. Hope he can save it.
A few year ago there was a similar case in the USA, that collector simply put his collection on eBay and sent a press release to several newspapers. I'm not sure how much he sold it for in the end, but it was a considerable amount of money (somewhere between a 100,000 and a million dollars).
Thank you for the feedback - we're going back next week & I'm sure George will be enthused by the interest - he, maybe unsurprisingly, does not use the internet so will print this page for him...
Yes, there are easy solutions. Either:
(a) selling it
(b) giving it away
(c) binning it
Whether he'll wish to do any, we'll see...
In 1992 or thereabouts he copied the Cardiacs Janice Long sessions for me for a fairly steep price. Can't fault his business sense if you ignore the legality of it
If it's so much of a treasure trove why not sell some records, pay the rent and don't get evicted! Simples.
So he's being screwed over by his landlord not once, but twice!?
There are laws that landlords need to follow you know, that being to keep the (rented?) accommodation in a decent state of repair, and not a wet hole. And now he wants to throw him out!?
Unless I'm missing part of the story, I suggest he take his landlord to court!
No sympathy for someone who allows their collection to get in this state. All that water didn't come in overnight, if he really cared that much he would of acted before now. Bottom line is he obviously doesn't want to sell anything and hopes he can attract some attention as a charity case and get a solution for free instead of putting his hand in his pocket. Watered damaged stuff yeah, but mostly just shitty C90 cassettes.
http://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/uploads/7/1/4/7/7147924/599564079.jpg
I remember back in the 80's buying 2 x You've Got Foetus On Your Breath albums from Gorge for £70. It was a lot of money but it made my day.
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