The collector questions




What do you collect, and why?
I collect good music which, by my own standard, is today very hard to find and more than ever strongly related to independent releases. I am interested in contents more than artefacts and the sixties and seventies being the real era of eclecticism are my favourite periods of time

How big is your collection?
Ten thousands lps or so and more than ten thousands cds. Being a professional music journalist the flow of new material is constant

What is it worth?
I’ve being paying insurance since 1980…
it worthies a lifetime of love for music and include many rare pieces and complete collections of labels whose music i love and support as full Bluesway label, a subdiary of ABC, small but wonderful conceived Skye label by Gary Mc Farland/Gabor Szabo, Johnny Otis’s Blues Spectrum, Jesse Colin Young’s Raccoon records.
In the “singles” section there are many gems as american and english artists singing in italian and picture sleeves covers especially conceived and designed for the italian market as Stax or Atlantic black artists on italian Ri-Fi label or James Brown on Polydor

How do you store it
Having worked in import record store in Firenze from 16 to 20 years old (Contempo records) i learned a lot. Both lps and cds collections are divided in genres; blues, rock and jazz are the easiest to catch for my professional purposes. The lps are stored in a large and heavy cherrywood library originally designed by my personal architect for my home’s living room, very dry place at constant temperature any time of the year. The space for cds is never enough and my office became recently something like a warehouse for cds but i have mixed feeling and not keen staying away from them. I have the same feelings with books, i don’t like have them away from me. You must take care of your personal culture, live with it and help yourself to make it grow

What’s the rarest item in there?
I own many rare items, of many kinds. From radio show and live albums produced only for radio purposes – to which i am still strongly related to as my work at the Rai, Radio televisione italiana for the last 25 years is still going. I can point you to rare albums bought at the original issues time as the most part of my Vertigo collection as Nucleus and Gentle Giant. I wish to recall Nick Drake’s Bryter Later first pressing bought in second hand Ealing record shop in 1973 for the equivalent of 15 p or welcomed late discoveries in the dustbins as Sunforest on Decca Nova bought for 5 euro this past summer.
In the blues section the Percy Mayfield’s albums on Rca and the extraordinaire “My Jug and i” on Ray Charles’s Tangerine still gives shiver to my spine.
In the “Summer of love section” i would rather says the Country Joe Eps or San Francisco Label’s complete collection.
There ‘s a section of rare italian album as the live 1976 Parco Lambro an audio documentary of and era and the beautiful Joel Vanderbrooek ‘s Brainticket third album, “Celestial ocean”, produced by the band in Roma for RCA Italia as the original Morgan Fisher’s Morgan album. I recalled RCA put together a showcase in Firenze for the band who went nothing because even RCA didn’t know what to do with them…
The 45 singles section has some rare items: italian were very good at doing picture sleeves, they had some creative graphic professionists for doing cover for artists as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding or Arthur Conley.
Having written a book on the italian sixties scene( “Mondo Beat”) i spent long time collecting italian most obscure bands form that era. Adriano Celentano’s Clan label is the next i wanna definitely collect catalogically number by number
Other projects includes finishing my Cadet Concept label collection, the psychedelic label toy of Marshall Chess, which introduced to the world the great Rotary Connection band led by the magnificent voice of the late Minnie Riperton.
Even Marshall in his home New York’s country house doesn’t own a complete series of it
I have a huge collection of music books from the sixties and autographs and exchanges of letter with artists.
My late discoveries is a 16 unused negative film of photos of The Beatles live at The Vigorelli stadium in Milano, June 1965 front row.
My two personal assistants look for records every day for me when i’ m busy with Rai or teaching history of rock music and journalisms in high schools.

What’s that elusive gem you’re still looking for?
The first that comes to my mind is The Loading Zone’s “Umbrella” on private pressing which i am strongly against paying 250 $ as it has appeared lately very often on ebay for being so rare. Actually I’m studying the Sound Stage Seven’s originals catalogue numbers.

How do you track stuff down?
Internet is good source if you have time spending searching but i mostly love the intimate, dusty atmosphere of small record store where i enjoy listening to somebody else’s conversation. There the happenings are not far or different from the ones at the pub the day after the football game: everybody is trainer, producer, record company man, journalist. I have great fun and can’t live without it and i’ m happy in Firenze there’s a least a place where these loving events still takes places. It’s a small world with a secret language and mythological figures: from Cambridge, Boston to Mill Valley, San Francisco, from Paris to Firenze!!
I still have fond memories entering into Dobell’s after a long walk on grey rainy day as a 15 years old and remains stunned by the characters acting in the store

Is it easy to find non-Italian (US, UK, whatever) pressings in Italy?
Yes it is simple as many importers grew in the late sixties and early seventies.
I can easily count 10 proud owners of Dr’z ‘s Vertigo album with original cover who are to be added to the 200 copies that Barry Winton mentioned to be originally sold in his Vertigo article on RC 315! In Firenze one import service alone brought over 200 copies of Greasy Truckers Party and about 1000 copies of original Hawkwind’ s silver cover “doremifasollatido” which sold it out over a five days period (the band had previously played in my town…)

What special records does Italy have that you can’t get anywhere else?
45 singles picture sleeves are the most sought after.
In 1988 i compiled an album of Motown singers singing in italian called “Nero Italiano, quando il rhythm & blues si cantava in italiano”. It included any Motown artist who in the sixties published a single sang in italian for the local market. It was published by local RCA on lp, cassette and cd and sold very well. That happened when Motown was still on RCA Italia as it was in the Sixties. In 1996 the compilation was reissued on Polydor when Polygram got Motown but since Universal Italia entered the picture the situation about rights of the masters has become tricky. Or maybe it is a matter of people, willings and sensibilities…
How often do you listen to your collection?
My record collection is at my full disposal every day! I play records from it from it day by day. I start my day playing piano for 30 minutes and then for my coffee time, which is the length of a full lp, i choose a record from the collection accordingly to the mood of my previous time spent playing

How will you eventually dispose of your collection? (Donate? Leave it for children?, etc)
I actually in the middle of making a deal with the representatives of the town of Firenze for donating to the cultural offices of my town my collection for supporting the creation of a local rock foundation with me as director/curator. It has to have a proper budget for increasing some sections as the one about older and rare magazines and underground video section, a florid art in the eighties, now fully in the hand of record companies and MTV

What’s your all-time favourite record?
I am still ready to surprise myself every single day of my life.
I can’t live without VDGG Pawn Hearts, Steely Dan Aja, Nick Drake Pink Moon, Paul Butterfield blues band debut album (mono version), Talking heads Fear of Music, Moby Grape’s debut (mono version), and, lately, Arcade Fire’s Funeral. Brilliant!