There was a time when I had managed to collect almost the entire Chiswick Records catalog, leaving out duplicates and re-presses, with only a few missing items. I would say about half of this collection remains in my possession. I sold a couple of the big-ticket items when I was especially broke (which I regret) but most of them managed to migrate away mysteriously, of their own accord it almost seems.
Unlike missing Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, and UFO, Ramones and Robyn Hitchcock, whose absences can be blamed on this or that girl rage-confiscating them over the years, there isn’t a crazy ex-girlfriend I’m aware of who could be plausibly counted as a Chiswick fan. For instance, would any conceivable girlfriend steal Sniff ’n’ the Tears? Would anyone? Kind of a puzzle.
I have managed to restore the LZ, the TL, the BS and the Ramones over the past few years; haven’t got around to trying the UFO and Robyn Hitchcock (who feels more “natively CD” than the others, so I haven’t tried to address the vinyl gap there.. yet.)
Replenishing the Chiswick catalog would be hugely expensive now and quite a hassle, and it probably won’t happen. It doesn’t matter too much really. It was just a stupid thing I did, once upon a time. Kind of miss some of them, though.
Ain’t insomnia grand?
(Cross-posted on Medium.)