My big flexi disc collecting feature in the Scottish Courier paper/magazine has been put back until 30th May (curse you Alan Cummings article!) but you can see it on the newspaper’s website right now if you like. I do look a bit worried in one pic but I’m not, I’m just an old record collecting obsessive.
Carnoustie collector Shane on lifelong vinyl obsession including rare Slade Christmas invite
I remember my father bringing home a flexi disc after he’d attended his works Christmas do when I was about 6. He worked in the transport department at Lever Brothers. The song was a promotional disc with lyrics set to the tune of Fings Ain’t Wot They Used To Be. I played it to death and could still remember the lyrics well into my teens.
Great stuff, Gardenmeister. Though a casual reader might at first think from the headline that you are a collector of Carnousties.
I believe that flexible Carnousties have been banned by the EU under Health & Safety rules.
ha! yeah if there was a Carnoustie flexi you can be sure I’d have it!
That is a nice looking collection esp given you flogged the first iteration.
I’ve a few flexes lying around somewhere.
interesting article with some impressive photos of you and your record collection.
But what about those missing years spent living abroad when your record collecting was put on hold. From Milton Keynes to Carnoustie via ???. And were there no record shops at all?
I suspect you have a few tales to tell….
‘Milton Keynes to Carnoustie: The Quentin Gardener Story’ – surely a best-selling memoir right there!
Or indeed a blockbuster movie with a killer soundtrack!
…a very crackly soundtrack.
aww thanks for your kind words guys (I assume it’s guys, I only know one lady record collector) To answer Kaisfatdad, I didn’t/couldn’t dig while I was in Asia, but I did keep a diary of the crazy times, deaths, drugs, trekking etc, but sadly no records. I started again from scratch but I am having to cull quite a bit as I have ended up with 2 other friends collections from their wills! But my wife doesn’t mind what I do “as long as you keep them in your room” which happens to be the front room haha, but she doesn’t mind she loves her dog and the chickens, bless her understanding.
The article notes that you wonder how much your old collection would be worth today.
Probably not as much as you think.
Remember Ex R1 DJ selling off his collection some years ago? He got nowhere near the presale valuation.
Flexi discs were my entry into being a pop consumer because I was still on paper round income when I got to the age of 13. Flexipop magazine (I think) had a Depeche Mode rarity in that it was an early album track and the song’s title wasn’t quite right. I also remember Silent Command by Cabaret Voltaire and XOYO by the passage. I played them a great deal because in the year or so before the big bucks started coming from the supermarket job, these were the only records I had to call my own.
I may have misremembered but didn’t Smash Hits sometimes have flex discs? I’m sure I have a Skids and XTC one.
Yes they did. The Skids one had “Olympian” on it and the XTC one was called “Ten Feet Tall”. I looked up the XTC song, but I remember them both really well.
And so did NME/MM – I have the Suede one for Dog Man Star.
These are those, ta!
Cool.
I own precisely one flexi disc. Komakino by Joy Division that was free when it came out. You just had to go in a record store and ask for one
https://www.discogs.com/release/185044-Joy-Division-Komakino
Very interesting article. I remember the Monty Python flexi from the NME. The only other one I remember owning was a Genesis one which if my memory serves me well was called Twilight Alehouse. Long since discarded
I blame flexidiscs on my folkie obsession. Well, a little bit. FROOTS, when it was still Folk Roots, launched itself as a glossy with a Cooking Vinyl flexidisc on the cover. This contained Oyster Band, Michelle Shocked and probably a couple of other from their then roster. I cancelled my Q sub the same day.
Somewhere in my long-ignored 7″ singles box is the “Teach Yourself Heath” flexi from Private Eye.
A parody of language tutor albums* recorded by a Python or two, teaching listeners how to speak like Conservative PM of the day Edward Heath.
*Something else for that Going, Going thread, I suppose.
I have a nice pair of flexi-mixes for your listening pleasure
Dansette Conquest : record player demo disc
Jupiter Organ demo disc : Delicado
Double Diamond : 60’s beer advert
Trafford Health Authority : heart problems chat
Madame Francesca : Virgo stars 1961
Levi’s Jeans : Meet The Levi’s People ‘68
Radio One : 5th Anniversary jingle
The Rally Rounders : Bike Beat
Worthington Ale : 60’s beer advert
Steiner Products : care for your hairpiece
Zomba Books : 80’s Pop Quiz
Jaques Loussier : Hamlet cigars advert
Fisher Audio : Invitation
Flexi Sales for Industry : promotional disc
Frederick Judd : Practical Electronics ‘67
Virgin Records : Lentilmas
Barry Gray : Supercar
Disc & Music Echo : Sound Of The Stars – The Beatles
Patrick Allen & Cliff Johns : Mood Elegance perfume
Courage : 60’s beer advert
Golden Wonder crisps : Have You Heard The Noise
Young Londoner Shoes : Step! Step! Step!
and for further listening
Monty Python : Tiny Black Round Thing intro
Ronnie Bond : You’ve Never Seen Anything Like It
Bob Monkhouse : Bulmers Cider Comedian Kit intro
Pontins Holiday advert
Midland Bank advert : Car Talk
Supergroup : Barclaygirls
George Newness : Chambers Encyclopedia
Midland Bank advert : Chick Chat
Midland Bank advert : Noisey Money
Reed Employment advert
Raleigh : Tandem Bike Beat
Barry Green : Suzy Shake a Tail
Valerie Singleton : Bendix Washing Machine
W.S. Crawford : Drink a Pint Of Milk a Day
Eric & Ernie : Happy Birthday
Sainsburys : Job Application
Jim Johnson : Sound Of The Moog
National Geographic : Songs of The Humpback Whale
Terry Wogan : Fight The Flab
Joy Division : Komakino
Kid Koala : Blues Bits
Mood Music sampler : As You Remember Them
I still have the Disc and Music Echo Beatles flexi disc. – I think you had to fill in a coupon and send off for it. It is still in the envelope it arrived in.
I think my only other one is a Rolling Stones Exile promo.
The only one I recall is ‘My Face’ by John Foxx. I recall it being yellow and quite liking it – and this upload suggests it must have been with Smash Hits.