Recently a friend suggested I try to acquire some Russ Henderson vinyl I wanted via Discogs. I’d landed on this site a few times but had never really investigated it. When I checked it out, I was disappointed to find only two Russ Henderson titles were listed there, the 1966 vinyl album Caribbean Carnaval! (sic) and the CD compilation London Is The Place For Me 2, which features a Henderson track taken from Caribbean Carnival; only the latter was available in the Discogs marketplace, but needless to say I already had both it and the release it is taken from. I double-checked my copy of the 1966 vinyl and ‘Carnival’ is spelt correctly on the sleeve and labels, the spelling error had been generated in the Discogs listing, although I’ve now amended it.
My interest in Russ Henderson stemmed originally from the fact that he lived in a flat beneath my mother at 24 Bassett Road way back when in the sixties. He is also a supremely groovy, if sometimes overlooked, musician. A few years ago I went into a used record shop in Bexhill-On-Sea, and was flipping through some sixties vinyl when the owner asked me what I was looking for. I told him I wanted anything by Russ Henderson other than Caribbean Carnival. He told me he was an expert on rare records but he’d never heard of this act. I explained that Henderson was a highly regarded jazz musician but that he’d also led the first steel band on the streets of London. The shop owner asked me if I was looking for anything else. I told him I wanted some releases by The Global Village Trucking Co. He proceeded to scream at me to get out of his shop, wailing as I left that he was a vinyl expert and I must be making up names because he’d never heard of this band either. In reality, the vinyl nerd simply didn’t know the depths of his own ignorance. My mother, Julia Callan-Thompson, had been acquainted with The Global Village Trucking Co. The Globs, as they were fondly referred to on the seventies free festival circuit, don’t particularly groove me; but I was still interested in getting my mits on their releases for research purposes primarily…
The Globs aren’t too well served on Discogs either, they don’t even have their own page, just entries for their appearance on the double compilation album Greasy Truckers Live At Dingwalls Dance Hall. When I looked there was no sign of The Globs sole long player at Discogs. This served to remind me that I’d missed the documentary BBC4 broadcast on The Globs then (1972) and now (2008) last year… and it ain’t available on BBC ‘Watch Again’ either! Having investigated a few records that had some connection to my mother’s life at Discogs, I figured I might as well go the whole hog by moving on to looking at myself. When I searched for myself on Discogs, I turned up an artist profile, but again the discography was very partial. I have four albums to my own name, three fiercely independent productions and one that came out on Paul Smith’s King Mob label which was also indie, but distributed by Sony. Strangely this latter title, my best distributed and promoted record, was missing from Discogs. Likewise, the list of releases I either appear on or contribute tracks to was very patchy.
So I figured I’d join Discogs and add my missing releases. That said, I found completing and submitting the form for my King Mob album Pure Mania such a pain in the ass, that I’m not sure I can be bothered to add my missing compilation and guest appearances. What do you think? Should I go for it or is this wasted effort? I certainly can’t be arsed to add other omitted King Mob releases; such as Ken Kesey in the form of recordings made of the Acid Tests, and Charles Bukowski. At first I was surprised by what I couldn’t find on Discogs, but gradually the limitations of the site began to make sense to me. It suffers from all the faults that disfigure huge swathes of the web, since it is both a market place and a popularity contest (other people vote on the accuracy of your submissions). The only reason I can see to add items to Discogs is either because you have a copy you want to sell, or because it is a release on which you feature. The idea that someone would upload all the items from their record collection not already on Discogs is mind-numbingly depressing; the term anorak isn’t insulting enough to cover a saddo of this calibre! A series of searches showed I have several dozen releases not currently on the site – ranging from Eddie Bo (whose discography is incomplete) to Ward 34 (whose only single isn’t listed, yet anyway) – and if I was to do a thorough investigation, I suspect I’d find what I have that isn’t there runs well into three figures…
Just in case you’re interested, my still rather partial profile on Discogs can be found here. Likewise, I mentioned Technorati earlier this month, and following on from that I joined BlogCatalog. If the aesthetics of boredom really grove you, then you could do worse than check out the latter site, starting with my page, of course, which is here.
And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – www.stewarthomesociety.org – you know it makes (no) sense!