No longer are vinyl records seen as a relic of the past, but a resurgence of a particular musical culture. For Todd Gledhill, owner of Waxman Records, it’s about more than just the music, but the hobby of collecting, the particular qualities of the physical records and the chance to meet other record collectors across communities.
“I think people like how tangible records are,” he said. “It all really becomes an experience; there is a collectible nature to it and for some a sense of nostalgia.”
For three years now—and six shows—Gledhill has been organizing Record Shows for the community of North Bay.
“When I opened my record store in 2013, I wanted to bring something like this back to North Bay. And what really motivated me to do this was to give myself the opportunity to get out and do some digging for records,” Gledhill admitted, noting how he also wanted to share this opportunity for the community and other collectors. “I always take some time to myself to check out the other vendors’ collections and see if I can check a few records off my wish list.”
Other than just collectors, Gledhill mentioned it was a chance for vendors across the area to bring their collections together for people to peruse. Of the nine collectors, he was the only local one, with some coming from across the province and even from Quebec.
One such vendor is Felix Desfosses of Rancheros Records in Rouyn, Quebec—who brought along a special guest on Saturday, John Ranger, a Canadian lead musician for the ‘70s band, Illustration.
“Après-Ski OST, a masterpiece. In 1971, John Ranger and Illustration were asked to compose the original score for the Québécois movie, Après-Ski. The result is a complete side of magistral deep funk and instrumental jazz. Some of the best funky music ever recorded in Quebec,” Desfosses said. “The movie failing to achieve success, the soundtrack was soon forgotten. In the early 2000’s though, the record began to raise interest among funk record collectors throughout the world, reaching up to a $300 value.”
Ranger said in 1970, the Rolling Stone headline was ‘Big Band Rock : In the beginning, there was Blood, Sweat and Tears. But right now the band to hear is Illustration, a unique and infectious group personality,’ and that he had the chance, with Illustration, to play alongside many names like Tina Turner and shared the stage with Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, Miles Davis, H.P. Riot and Funkadelic, to name a few.
“I know a lot of younger people who are looking to the past for music,” he said, making note of the reissuing of the OST, as well as the resurgence of records. “They realize it was good, but they missed it since they weren’t there and now they have a chance to hear it.”
In 2011, the Après-Ski soundtrack was reissued on LP and CD by Pluton records, out of Montreal, and distributed worldwide by Light in the attic records. Only 500 copies of the LP were pressed and sold out very quickly, while 1,000 CD’s were printed. Only 10 copies of the LPs in a single box of CDs were available during the Record Show.
