ON THE RECORDs

Far from being yesterday's fading, forgotten format, vinyl records have survived and flourished as the music medium of choice for not only baby-boomers, but all ages. Every record a collector acquires comes with a story of its own, and the recent Covid-19 lockdowns prompted many vinylholics, including Graham Sharpe, to look more closely at their reasons for collecting, take stock of existing collections and rediscover old favourites. Vinyl Countdown followed Sharpe's journey to over a hundred record shops across the globe, from Amsterdam and Angus, to Bedfordshire and Budapest, Tennessee and Wellington. Now, ON THE RECORDs: Notes from the Vinyl Revival explores the impact of recent global events on the record industry and considers the reasons why vinyl remains a beloved - and booming - format. It includes interviews and contributions from voices across the industry - shop owners, record company insiders, online/postal sellers, auction organisers, market traders of vinyl, amateur collectors - who share their stories with candour, warmth and humour. A mesmerising blend of memoir, travel, music and social history that will appeal to anyone who vividly recalls the first LP they bought and any music fan who derives pleasure from the capacity that records have for transporting you back in time.

Graham Sharpe is 70 years old, without any discernible medical qualifications, other than personal exposure to acne, cartilage & gallbladder removal, oh - and prostate cancer. A journalist by trade, he made a name - of sorts - for himself by spending almost half a century publicising bookmakers William Hill, winning awards along the way, and creating one himself - the world's most prestigious and richest sports-based literary prize, the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. For 60+ years a Luton Town and Wealdstone FC fan, 58 of those as a vinyl record collector, in which guise he wrote the well received Oldcastle title, Vinyl Countdown, Graham has been for 46 years married to long-suffering Sheila, been for 40 years a Dad of two, and for 5 years a grandfather. He hopes this is far from his last book...