Collecting 7" Vinyl

[Beechwoods]

I've started developing a bit of an interest in collecting 7" vinyl of late. To be honest though, I find the whole scene quite confusing. I was hoping that maybe some of the old (or young but knowledgeable) hands here might be able to help shine some light on the subject...

The kind of things I'm wondering are:

• How come there are so many 'promo', 'demo', 'radio station' versions of older singles, versus the original public releases.
• Pricewise, how come these non-public releases are often cheaper than the originals?
• What are the best resources for 7" discographies? Most general discography sites are quite light on 7" releases, indeed they're quite light on non-CD releases full-stop.
• What are the best online shops for well described 7" releases?

It's be interesting to know who here collects 7" vinyl as well...

[The Grand Wazoo]

From The Grave

Surely there must be someone out there in AoS-land who knows a bit about 7" singles?

[Rare Bird]

Times change, no getting things for free anymore! Acitates were generally pain labels & low quality vinyl. On the contrary regarding cheap prices, promo's should fetch nice sums if it's the right single.It was generally prohibited to sell a promo & should state this on said thing, as is prohibited to exporting Japanese articles.

Dunno what you mean about 7'' Discography! list of promos a certain bands promos they had issued in their Discography?

[Beechwoods]

Here's a good example of poor quality Discography information... a quick glance at Gemm indicates a plethora of single releases that are not documented, and Wikipedia sets the standard most online discographies follow, where singles are completely ignored. Discogs lists a handfull. Surely there must be some dedicated discography sites that focus on singles?

Laura Nyro at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Nyro#Discography

Laura Nyro at Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Laura+...les-EPs&q=&p=1

Laura Nyro on Gemm: http://www.gemm.com/c/search.pl?curr...untry=&seller=

I know what you mean about promos sometimes being collectable, but that doesn't always seem to be the case. Maybe it's something peculiar about Ms Nyro?

[Rare Bird]

Check out Affinity & Three Dog Night's covers of Laura Nyro's 'Eli Comin'

[Techno Commander]

I had a nice collection of 7" vinyl on my juke box (1980s Rockola). I used it as a "workshop stereo" for many years, before gettiing rid of the workshop.

[Marco]

Hi Nick,

I have about 300 7" singles, mostly of 70s and 80s pop music, which I obtained second-hand from car boot sales and record shops, where you can still get them. There's a shop in Liverpool I go to that has 1000s of them!

http://www.trocadero.com/69aintandane/

It's mainly a quirky little shop that specialises in Chinese curios and collectables, along with vintage clothes, but they have quite a selection of second-hand 7" singles and LPs. I always pick up something when I'm there.

I record from the 7" singles via my Techie and CR-7 to make up compilation tapes for the car. You can see how deliciously up-to-date I am with technology!

However, I enjoy the process and find it lots of fun, as I have zero interest in bloody soulless low-fi (in comparison) ipods and such like

Unfortunately I have no idea how to answer your first three questions, as that side of music doesn't really interest me, but in terms of your last question, if its new stuff you're talking about, a lot of Indie music today is released on 7" singles, and I have bought some of it myself, see here (amongst other places on-line) for some details:

http://www.indierecordshop.org/parlo...cord-store-day

Marco.

[Alex_UK]

Nick - I don't believe there is a comprehensive 7" vinyl discography site out there - I think because it is such a huge task, it only seems to have been taken up for specific artists, usually on fan sites. I've never used it myself and you would need to subscribe (24 hour trial available) but Record Collector has an online Rare Record Price Guide - but it will only cover any 7" with a value over £5 (EPs £10, LPs £12 and CDs £18.) You can also buy the book, of course if you want to go old school!

http://www.rarerecordpriceguide.com/