Additions to the site have been a little infrequent of late which is to be expected at this stage of my collecting but that doesn’t mean I’m not still on the hunt. These days however the focus is more on acetates, test pressings and the like.

Recently I stumbled across an acetate that the seller didn’t seem all that interested in and seemingly neither did other collectors which struck me as a bit odd but hey, that kept the price way down so it was worth a gamble. That gamble paid off.

The label clearly stated the track as “The Story of Rock & Roll”. On one side a vocal and on the other, the musical backing track. Before giving it a spin I fully expected it to be the version found on New Nilsson Songs but as it began to play something was different. After listening to it all the way through I was convinced this was an alternate take but to be very sure I put on my copy of New Nilsson Songs and sure enough it was different.

I reached out to the seller asking how he had come to acquire the acetate. He informed me had met the daughter of legendary producer/engineer Larry Cox after he had passed away and had purchased part of his collection. With this information I began trying to track down Larry’s daughter. It turns out Larry had two daughters and after making contact with Julie, I was put in touch with Gina who informed me she also had several Nilsson reels but the labels were barely legible and they were so damaged they could’t be played so had been disposed of. Argh! Still, I had this acetate and after I made a digital transfer I sent a copy to Harry’s son Kiefo who confirmed it wasn’t a version he’d ever heard before either.

If you’ve never heard the original version of Story of Rock & Roll, point your mouse here and to hear the newly discovered acetate version click here. As Kiefo remarked, “real deep cut stuff”.

Ah, adventures in record collecting. You do the research, you hunt, you stretch the limits of your own patience and determination and then of course there are the many hurdles to overcome if your purchase is made online. Will the record arrive as described? Will it arrive at all? One never knows but hopes for the best.

Recently I stumbled across what appeared to be a decent copy of a Dutch 7” pressing of Nilsson’s All I Think About Is You / Old Bones on a Dutch web site.

A few emails back and forth and I proceeded with the purchase. Upon payment I sent a note to the seller just making sure they’d remove the record from the sleeve prior to shipment. Most sellers know to do this in order to avoid the disc slicing through the sleeve or cover during transit. I’m usually a little hesitant to mention it as it can be a bit insulting to a seasoned record seller but if I’ve never purchased from the seller before, it’s a common sense move. On this occassion the seller assured me he’d sent hundreds of records and never had a single complaint. You can see where this is going.

The packaged arrived in a record mailer designed for the shipment of 45s. That was a pretty good sign. What was not such a good sign was the sound of the record sliding around inside. The seller had not removed the record, had not added any stiffeners, had not placed the record and sleeve in a protective outer sleeve or anchored it in any way to the interior of the mailer. The bottom of the sleeve was of course split. Thankfully not too terribly bad but it could have easily been avoided. When I contacted the seller to let him know the record arrived (a courtesy I extend to anyone I buy from) I let him know about the damage and the disappointment I felt especially as I’d specifically asked him to remove the record. His response was that he was sorry but he’d already packed the record when he received my request. Hardly an excuse – especially as “packing” involved dropping everything in a box and adding a piece of tape but there you go.

I’ve written up a detailed article on how to clean records and now I’m thinking I might need to write up a tutorial on how to ship records. Still, it’s all part of the adventure of record collecting.

Another Nilsson Portuguese pressing found its way into the collection recently. One of those strange cases where the tracks and the cover art don’t match up. One assumes RCA decided the imagery of Nilsson Schmilsson would be more successful despite the tracks coming off Son Of Schmilsson.

This acetate of Nilsson Sings Newman was spotted on a Japanese auction site and whoa boy was it a toughie to get hold of. The seller would not respond to my entreaties to please consider selling to someone outside of Japan but I was determined and where there is a will, there are often people to help.

While I was sure the seller would be impressed with my dazzling ability to use Google Translate, my suspicion was a native speaker might get further. Thankfully, a kind former colleague agreed to act on my behalf. Many emails were sent. Much pleading was done. The auction clock was winding down and we didn’t seem to be making much progress but then little glimmers of hope. Eventually, the auction did end and we’d still not come to an agreement. One of the biggest hurdles with purchasing records from many Japanese sellers is the payment method. It seems bank transfers are most common, but only from another Japanese bank account. On this occasion however, the seller finally relented and thankfully agreed to use Paypal. With payment method settled, everything fell into place and now another piece of Nilsson history sits on the shelves and has been added to this archive.