Beatles top the chart — for antiques

Press, 21 August 1979, Page 17

Beatles top the chart — for antiques

By

RUPERT BUTLER,

Features International

Would you pay $4OO elch for a couple of Beatles records? Or $4O apiece for some recent Elvis Costello discs? There are plenty of people who will, as discs from comparatively recent hit parades become the latest collectors’ pieces. . So if you have some half-forgotten pop discs — particularly 45 rpm EPs — now is the time to sort them out, dust them down, apd see what they are worth. You could be in for • surprise. <Ted Carroll, who runs "Rock On,” a specialist sß>re in London’s Camden Town, is one of the growing number of record dealers astounded at the rate at which big money is changing hands for singles and albums made by artists from the 19505, 19605, I and even the early 19705.

"Chart-toppers from only the day-before-yester-day are rapidly becoming part of the antiques market,” he says. For instance, an EP called “The Move Live At The Marquee” is worth more than $4O. And Vince Taylor with his “Brand New Cadillac,” on Parlophone, is edging towards that sort of money, with specialist collectors queueing up to buy. “Prices are rising all the time. Sums of between $6O and $BO for a single record are nothing to the real fanatics,” Ted Carroll says.

There is a particularly big vogue for unusual pressings, too. “The Japanese who have been buying the Beatles’ records, She Loves You and Please Please Me, were attracted because

they were imported from India. They had a scarcity value. And the important thing about the Costello number was that it was on a demonstration disc. Novelty helps to determine price.” Even the notorious punk group, the Sex Pistols, are getting into the nostalgia

class. The notorious “God Save The Queen” can be priced at $3OO. Limited editions — records made by The Clash group in 1977, for example — are fetching $BO, but Presley with a very early recording of his “Blue Moon of Kentucky” can command $6OO. Ted Carroll started out in New York in the late

1960 s pedalling records from a barrow; he opened his British shop in 1971. At that time he was the only dealer in yesterday’s pop, but today numerous dealers are keeping the market buoyant. Belgians and West Germans make up the most ardent collectors, going

particularly for artists such as the late Buddy Holly, The Who, and Jerry Lee Lewis. By no means are all record dealers happy about the vogue for yesterday’s hits. Tommy Steele or Alma Cogan, who recorded on old-fash-ioned 78s, had a healthy market until a couple of years ago. And earlier

there was always a steady market for sedate 1930 s and 1940 s dance orchestras and big bands. But these days, 78s are not fetching high prices. Between $2 and $4 each is the average 78 value, except among really fanatical specialist collectors. "This is because there

have been so many rerecordings from 78s. People find the old discs clumsy and fragile,” Ted Carroll says. “They need to be in absolutely fac-tory-fresh condition and there are hardly likely to be many 78s arbund like that.” Leading world-famous auction houses like Sotheby’s are now turning

down, sales offers of entire original 78 rpm albums by even such world-famous artistes as Caruso. “Re-recordings are now so common, and the sound quality so good, that the age of a record is no longer solely the attraction except to a very small group of fanatics,” says Fiona Ford of Sotheby’s. Even the most conscientious record dealer finds himself hard put to draw up any sort of market analysis of prices. “Prices are determined on a sort of grapevine system. It’s impossible to publish a catalogue,” Ted Carroll says. “Somebody could come in tomorrow and ask for Johnny Ray. records and be prepared to spend up to $lOO for them.” A disc by Johnny Burnette may not send you

wild, but in the collectors’ world it could be worth more than $4OO — as currently is “Earth Angels” by The Penguins., All collectors stress that records must: be in top condition. They are ultrafussy and want something practically mint from the press. A tidy and clean sleeve can help. “Collectors are strange people. Many hever actually play the records they buy. It’s the artist they are storing away lovingly,” one dealer says. “This is gbod for me, because the discs eventually find their way back to the market in perfect condition.” Footnote: Readers with collectors’ pieces who want to sell can contact Ted Carroll at “Rock On,” 3 Kentish Town Road, London, N.W.I. . ’