Tape trading in 1989

DavidA

Junior Member
I was clearing out an old box today and found this letter from 1989 and it reminded me what collecting Smiths rarities was like at that time.

I had heard that a friend of a friend of a friend was a Smiths collector and got his address. I sent a letter asking what he had and he replied with this A4 sheet. From there, over the postal system, there was some negotiating, some tape-to-tape of C90 cassettes and finally (some weeks later) a package of some recordings I hadn't heard.

Of course, none of this is news but it reminded me of the amount of effort required. Also, it seems like the cassette version of Thank Your Lucky Stars (before it became a bootleg) included Meat is Murder.
 

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This takes me back.
My specialty was letraset - if you see any non-typed or handwritten tapes, but having great lettering - c'était moi (probably).
I still have some of the templates that ended up photocopied - good days.
Regards,
FWD.
 
Man I remember those days fondly. I traded for a great number of shows and in the early '90's actually bootlegged a few - many of which came out well. By the time I had a good routine down on how to smuggle in a recorder and managing the best sound possible without tapping into the soundboard - Moz shows were scarce in the States (post-Your Arsenal and pre-Maladjusted).

I did manage to get a few Gene and Suede shows recorded. If I had them close I would rummage through that ol' shoebox and break out them MAXELL XL-II C90s!
 
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I'd love a digital copy of all of them.
Man I remember those days fondly. I traded for a great number of shows and in the early '90's actually bootlegged a few - many of which came out well. By the time I had a good routine down on how to smuggle in a recorder and managing the best sound possible without tapping into the soundboard - Moz shows were scarce in the States (post-Your Arsenal and pre-Maladjusted).

I did manage to get a few Gene and Suede shows recorded. If I had them close I would rummage through that ol' shoebox and break them MAXELL XL-II C90s out!
 
I think that’s why I keep all the stuff I got gave and got from others. It’s the memories. It really was about communication (sometimes a lot of long distance phone calls as well) and purpose. Things we need.
 
been saying on here for years,everything is too easy these days,gone are the days of rummaging arouund markets and cd fairs.
 
Alec in Manchester. Stood at the front of loads of gigs recording them. If you talked to him, he was all too happy for you to send him a blank tape and he’d send I back with the gig on it. Last saw him at a PJ Harvey gig in Manchester about 10 years ago. Think he’d stopped recording by then, though it would have been harder to tell from the old days when he’d be stood holding his mikes, or even he whole Walkman up.
 
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