1975: GRAMOPHONE COLLECTOR with 13,000 RECORDS | Nationwide | Classic Music | BBC Archive

[@CPorter]

Fellows, who don't know anything about this stuff, you need to know that this guy was a Discographer. He researched the releases of--and all the history behind all of the major record labels, and plenty of the minor ones too. He worked with other discographers to figure out the dates and all basic details of the majority of 78RPM records we know of today. Working directly with the archives of those labels and their modern company owners. Without him, you likely wouldn't be able to just look up the exact date of Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" on Bluebird 78RPM and find out the year, the month, and date; all personnel on session, AND all other songs recording on that session AND all other labeled releases of that song. Or for the vast majority of other songs and recordings. He was also one of the first of his kind too. By the time of his 2011 death, Brian had published countless discographies, and paved the way for all future music research for the 20th century.

[@76ToneCrome]

Brian's death metal collection is legendary in the home counties.

[@Farold_Haltermeyer]

He only collects Scott Burns produced Floridian semi-technical pre-melodic lo-fi d-beat test pressings though

[@brucenicoll4373]

Death metal on 178

[@davidcarrol110]

You should have seen the size of Brian's Betamax collection-from Sheffield to Stockholm.

[@TravelHonestly]

What a wonderful voice this chap has. Could easily have been a BBC radio announcer.

[@MediaArchive2-z9f]

He was.

[@mewsdo]

78s are an invaluable resource when looking into our musical history.... and they are like blocks of stone! Heavy as anything, but such well-made objects... thanks for posting this great video! BTW, the shellac discs do melt down to make great piano varnish, if surplus to requirements...

[@brianbrino4310]

My early days were always surrounded with Gramophone records! Fats Waller was always present in my Dad’s collection!

[@RolandoRatas]

Strangely enough he binned his Bros 'Push' record in the bin.

[@ajs41]

One of my favourites.

[@RolandoRatas]

@@ajs41 I listened to a few of Bros's hits back on Spotify recently and they're like masterpieces compared to pop right now.

[@AchtungEnglander]

I adore eclectic experts like these. They make the world so much more interesting.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Didn't know Vic Reeves collected all this.

[@paulwilliams-fx6rf]

I had a part time job in a shop that sold brown goods and white goods, it also sold records. This was 1968/69. The shop "Giles" was in Hatch End, Middlesex. Brian Rust lived in Hatch End, I wonder if he ever visited the shop. It was years later that I became aware of Brian Rust, I have his books. I have always been interested in records and their history.

[@lifegenius763]

Love this one of lovely smooth cosy vintage music 👌🙏

[@thebeatcreeper]

I used to dig vinyl with this cat in the 1920's.

[@zulfiqarali9808]

Hilarious collection Dexterity and passion at its best

[@Aldderan]

Died in 2011, I wonder what happened to his collection.

[@jagolago-bob]

He probably took it with him.

[@littleshoemaker]

I believe some of it was bought by Michael Dutton of Vocalion Records.

[@eduardo0796]

Mr. Rust was about 53 years old when this film was made, but he looks like in his 70s or more. Looks like it wasn't an easy life.

[@insomecc]

Some people just age worse than others matey, maybe he was a heavy smoker

[@TheStevenWhiting]

I believe it was a "thing" back then like in the 80s on Bullseye "Dave" and "Ted" would come on, surely in their 40s as they looked it only to discover they were in their 20s.

[@postscript67]

No, he looks about 53. He just wasn't wearing jeans or long hair or acting like a teenager like so many of today's 53-year-olds do.

[@bardo0007]

His wife looked a lot younger

[@dadianjaneyulu152]

No Words Endarao Mahanubavullu Ku Vandanallu 🌹🌹🌹

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I wonder where is collection his now?

[@timmelia7551]

In a rubbish bin by the M1 .

[@SwingBandHeaven]

Brian Rust, a name ive heard many times over the years so it is very interesting to finally see and hear him. I would say that he looks far older than the 53 i believe he was at the time of this being filmed and as for throwing away most of a collection he had picked up on his way home from picking them up..... 😮 although the view of all things old in the 1970's was very different to today.

[@heckelphon]

Yes, I thought that was cavalier. He might have been able to glean only a few diamonds from the collection, but just to dismiss most of it as "rubbish" and to say he jettisoned it into a bin "on the M1" made me wonder at the attitude.

[@SwingBandHeaven]

@heckelphon I guess how people viewed these old records then (and old objects in general in the 1970s) is very different from today. Any of my reject records tend to get passed on to other collectors and resifted and so on. One man's rubbish is another's treasure and all that

[@danielc6106]

​@@SwingBandHeaventhere have always been collectors of old things. It's not something that suddenly happened after the 70s. Not to have sold or offered the "rubbish" records to others and instead just binning them says a lot about his character. What a dick.

[@SwingBandHeaven]

@danielc6106 78s were regarded in the 70s by most as junk of little interest. When I first started collecting them in 1977 there were piles of them in most junk shops and markets and I had no competition sifting through the piles. This changed in the 80s and the prices from then on have gone up and up. With places like ebay where there is now a global marketplace whilst prices can be high its much easier to find a specific record which was never possible before the internet - although looking though a pile of 78s in a junk shop with pot luck as to what's in there was always very exciting, to me at least.

[@jc626]

I read your first 11 words in the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi

[@DenkyManner]

He looks like Vic Reeves with a prosthetic pointed head

[@hopebgood]

I hope that old lady who gave Brian Rust her husband's prized collection of records never saw this to find out he'd just binned most of them. What a thoughtless, arrogant thing to do. Boo.

[@mrlotusmic]

Was almost a future fast show sketch. Smoking

[@76ToneCrome]

Nice.

[@mixedstaples8030]

didn't even get to hear the tuba solo :/

[@850iStyle]

Good to know where the stash is hidden 😂

[@djtomoy]

he was just waiting for spotify to come along

[@tacituskilgore9803]

A quick Google search revealed that Brian Rust passed away in 2011. I hope his kids are taking good care of this record collection

[@TheStevenWhiting]

I hope he didn't burden them with the task and instead said "Do what you will with my collection after I'm gone. Do not burden yourself with it, if it is too much for you". Parents should never burden their kids with looking after their collection after they've died.

[@whatamalike]

​@TheStevenWhiting 100% I'm have a largeish record and retro game/console collection. 90% of which I'll have probably sold over the next few years so that when I do kick the bucket my family won't have a bunch of random crap to sort through

[@ArchyL303]

😊

[@sivens6209]

00:00 "My analyst says I exaggerate my childhood memories, but I swear, I was brought up under the roller coaster in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Maybe that accounts for my personality, which is a little nervous, I think." - Annie Hall 1977 (Directed by Woody Allen)

[@Nick-X]

He traded it all in a few years later for a pink promo copy of Sylvester's 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)'

[@robertlevin5257]

I've got that in my box. 😅

[@asa1973100]

Can’t say i blame him

[@fredo1070]

He also has the world's largest collection of pirate memory games.

[@ChromosomeSyndicate]

If everyone had more passion for everything the world was more a happy place.

[@syedalamgir5838]

My mother had a huge gramophone records.

[@MediaArchive2-z9f]

I don't normally buy 78s as they are crap on a modern vinyl recorder or player and are just scratches and very heavy and breakable and acetate shellac and the shellac can ruin the needle but this collector has some impressive stuff.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

If you play them with the same needle you use on LPs and 45s, they will sound like crap. On a modern deck with a proper (wider) 78rpm stylus, you'd be surprised how good they can sound, especially the 78s from mid-late 50s.

[@MediaArchive2-z9f]

​@@djhrecordhound4391 mine were from early 1900s. I had Vaughn Monroe: Ghost Riders In The Sky. That was the only great quality one I found.

[@davidwyatt850]

Perhaps you didn't listen to those records he played - from the 1920s, played properly with the right needle - yes, a bit of hiss & crackle, but far from crap & "just scratches"!

[@fenderengland]

Drove to Sheffield to be given 1500 records from a widow and he chucks a load in the bin. Nice collection but still a prick

[@jagolago-bob]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[@heckelphon]

Glad to see that a number of people are picking up on the supercilious attitude he was happy to display on this occasion.

[@mickeydodds1]

The ones who binned were probably 'rubbish' as he termed it, you know run of the mill ordinary stuff and silly records - as an expert, he'd know instantly what to keep and what to bin. And besides, with 13,000 records in his collection, he'd simply have nowhere to put the 'rubbish'.

[@soultwinz]

is the right answer.. seem to be a lot of comments on this video which are born out of ignorance.. about the man himself.. the style of music... and record collecting in general

[@mpf6514]

Postscript - I believe the old lady’s 6 foot 4, 16 stone son saw the broadcast, furiously drove down the M1, and completely filled Brian in. He was left slumped on his study desk, breathless, with his big baldy head spinning around on the turntable.

[@heckelphon]

Producer thought nothing of cutting in images of the turntable spinning an entirely different disc to the one playing! While we heard Annette Hanshaw singing they cut in lengthy shots of the record not yet played. "The camera never lies." Yes it does, and is manipulated by photographer and producers to convey whatever they want!

[@littleshoemaker]

I noticed that too

[@NoosaHeads]

Brian Rust 1922-2011. He was 53 in this video (1975). 1975 was a good time in England. The fuel crisis had largely abated. England was getting back on its feet (albeit with really bad inflation), and Britain still was largely British, heterosexual, white, Christian and civilised. I still felt proud, wherever I went, to proclaim my nationality - with great pride. I don't feel that anymore, sadly. Tony Blair came along and set about deliberately destroying the UK. Mission accomplished.

[@Progressive_Canadian]

I'm a progressive so not a big fan of looking in the past unless it's to use the past as an example of what not to do. Having said that it is pleasurable to see somebody so happy doing the things that they love to do. I think that's the value of these BBC interviews.

[@littleshoemaker]

Silly to just ignore the value of “looking in the past” like that. Just because you have a certain political stance doesn’t mean you should neglect history.

[@Progressive_Canadian]

@@littleshoemaker Sure, whatever.

[@78spinner44]

That is what you have to say publicly about this excellent film?!? Ladies and gentlemen, here we have an excellent example of the "problem with the world". Someone very proud AND boastful of their narrow view and understanding of the world. Pleased with their ignorance. Amazing. Hahaha, "don't look to the past for anything relevant to the future." Hahaha. Right. What a nutjob. Or perhaps @Progressive_Canadian is just a troll doing his best to annoy or waste people's time. Who knows. Well, I have had fun commenting on this moron's writen opinions.

[@Progressive_Canadian]

@@78spinner44, oh, I'm so flattered that you took the time to craft such a thoughtful and well-written response. I particularly enjoyed the part where you called me a "nutjob" and a "moron" - it's always impressive to see someone's vocabulary skills on full display. But let's get to the meat of the matter, shall we? You're accusing me of being proud and boastful of my "narrow view and understanding of the world", yet you're the one who's resorting to name-calling and personal attacks. That's rich, coming from someone who can't even be bothered to proofread their own writing (it's "written", not "writen", by the way). And as for my comment about not looking to the past, I think you might have missed the context. I was saying that I don't dwell on the past, but rather use it as a lesson to inform my views on the present and future. But I suppose that's too nuanced for someone as clearly enlightened as yourself. So, tell me, @78spinner44, what's your take on the film? I'm genuinely curious to hear your thoughtful and well-reasoned opinions. Oh wait, I forgot - you're too busy calling people names and making spelling mistakes to actually contribute to a meaningful conversation. 🤣

[@littleshoemaker]

@@78spinner44 it certainly seems a strange way to look at the world to me. The past can be entertaining and informative regardless of one’s political beliefs. This is the danger of allowing politics to cloud your entire worldview.