Today’s posting should have been from SWC, but I’ve elbowed it into next week so that I can have a wee rant.
I love books almost as much as I do music. I’ve well over 500 of the things lying around various corners of Villain Towers, constantly resisting the urges of Mrs V to get rid of some of them. I’ve a fondness, you won’t be surprised to learn, for books about music, musicians and pop/rock history. There’s nearly 200 of these in the collection, of which around half are biographies or memoirs.
Hearing the news that Bobby Gillespie is about to have his story published was quite exciting, and discovering that the book is being published on 28 October 2021 means it’s a no-brainer for being added to the next Santa list. The fact it’s only taking things up to the release of Screamadelica is even better news as it will inevitably have a huge focus on my home city and the environs in which Bobby grew up.
The info came via one of the few social media things I keep up with and clicking on the link led to an immediate increase in my blood pressure.
Tenement Kid can be pre-ordered just now from a number of places, including Waterstones, the largest book chain in the UK, where the asking price is £20 for a signed copy.
The publisher, White Rabbit, has this info on line:-
As well as publishing in hardback, ebook and audio – all of which are available to pre-order now – TENEMENT KID will be available in two special collector’s editions:
It turns out that one is an ‘Independent Record Store Special Edition’, consisting of 500 copies which will be signed, numbered and stamped, in a bespoke Green slipcase, for which the price is £49.99
The second is a ‘Rough Trade Store Special Edition’, consisting of 1000 copies, again all to be signed, numbered and stamped, but this time in in a bespoke Red slipcase, for which the price is, again, £49.99.
Fair enough if you’re a big fan, but not enough to make me justify the additional £30 for something that I won’t have in my hands for another seven-and-a-bit months.
Here’s the thing….five Independent Record Stores have links available for the pre-order. Drift Records in Totnes (which is SWC country), Resident Music in Brighton, Norman Records in Leeds, Piccadilly Records in Manchester and Monorail Records in Glasgow. Two of the pre-orders, in Manchester and Glasgow, are already sold out.
Now, I may be wrong, and they have been snapped up by fans who have something to really look forward to, but I can’t help but be cynical and reckon folk are just taking a punt on the fact there are only 500 of things and have a plan to put their copy up on-line in early November in which they will seek to make a tidy profit. It’s the sort of behaviour that quickly put me off Record Store Day when the shops would be teeming, not with fans but with speculators, and has become increasingly common as singers/bands/labels put out limited edition copies of albums, usually at a premium, which quickly sell out before all too soon appearing on Discogs or the likes.
To illustrate…..
Monorail had a limited exclusive edition of As Days Get Dark, the new Arab Strap album, which came out just seven days ago. It included a bonus flexi disc, signed by Aidan and Malcolm and the flexi discs were limited to 600 in total. The asking price was £22.99 and unsurprisingly, given their popularity round these parts, it sold out in the blink of an eye…..to the extent that I missed out and had to settle for a copy without the flexi at £2 cheaper.
This special edition with the flexi is already on Discogs.
There are three on offer.
£80, £95 and £129 are the asking prices.
All described as mint, sealed/shrink wrapped and unplayed which means these fucking parasites paid £23 for something they had no intention of ever playing just so that they could look to make a killing.
Now, do you think I might be right about Bobby Gillespie’s book?
mp3: Primal Scream – If They Move, Kill ‘Em
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Hm, I reckon you’re on to ’em, JC. The regular signed copy sounds well worth it – for what purpose I don’t know! As to the ‘green’ or the ‘red’ slipcase versions…pah!
Shoot speed, kill light!
The publisher’s special editions are a scam preying on completists and collectors, so hardly surprising if the ebay dealers try to exploit the same market. Rough Trade (and Monorail) should not be colluding in this rip-off. I ordered Bob Stanley’s Fall book and advance orders got a signature (of no value or interest to me) and a limited edition print (might be nice) for no additional cost. I ordered in advance because I love The Fall, admire Bob Stanley’s writing (and songwriting of course) and have a residual respect for Rough Trade. They don’t charge you until they despatch the book either.
An appropriate song for today…
Gonna wait until it’s in the bargain bin. Not sure Gillespie has anything new to say anyway. After the way that he and Innes treated Denise Johnson, I’ve nae time for him anyway
Wait a second…this post very much suggests that Bobby Gillespie knows how to hold a pen or …is there any actual evidence of this….?
Great post, JC. An old story about a new story. And bad news for
completists. I’d imagine many T(n)VV have fallen for similar
marketing ploys over the years. Three different print editions:
you’d need to be loaded…
The special edition market has become another RSD style farago- with the inevitable resale/ Ebay sell ons. I’ll wait for a paperback I think, I’m not sure the world needs a slipcase edition of Bobby’s autobiography and I’m never that arsed about signed copies. As Drew says, I can’t see Bobby’s going to add a huge amount to the collective sum of human knowledge. But I’m sure he will make it very clear that Primal Scream are a working class band. And that he is working class from a working class area and was into working class bands from working class areas. He’s working class you know. He mentioned once before.
TVV is so excellent because the comments are as good as the posts. Thanks @Mr Ed and Adam for cracking me up and getting the weekend started with a smile. Now I have to find a way to get the phrase “I can’t be arsed” into a legal brief…
Since you took me to the last ever (ha!) Strap show, you are more than welcome to my flexi disc. ( Got it with the CD. Not sure why!)
@billisdead – how was Denise Johnson treated by Innes and Gillespie? I remember an interview for ‘Vanishing Point’ in 1997 when they said she “didn’t get the call” as an explanation for her absence.
If there’s not a least 4 chapters on Gillespie’s Stint as drummer in The Jesus & Mary Chain, then I’m not interested… In all honesty, I’ve stacks of music biogs/autobiogs at home but I won’t be planning to shell out on any version of this one, and it’s unlikely my local library will get a copy in 🙂
I’m also bored with the over-priced exclusive editions of books, music and other media which are so far beyond my reach that I just don’t want to bother. Mind you, I was bit like that with gigs, so I think the feeling has always been there: in my 20s, I’d rather have spent £35 seeing 5 bands in a sweaty, small venue than one ‘big’ band in an enormodome.