Elspeth Buggery
aka Chris Adams
About 25 years ago a copy of the July 1983 Hacienda in-house video recording of the Smiths fell into my hands. My copy had originally been supplied to Rough Trade by Factory Records. Evidently to save money, those canny Mancunians had simply recorded over one of their own Ikon video releases (a Buzzcocks title) and sent that over-recorded VHS tape along to Collier Street in a plain sleeve.
What I therefore have is a (high quality) playable copy of the show made from Factory's own master tapes and thus the equal or superior to any and all other versions of this show currently in private hands. I estimate that it has been played fewer than a dozen times. It's now been carefully transferred to DVD (for my own use) so I no longer need to own the original.
The full provenance of the tape (i.e. how I came by it) may have to remain shrouded in enigma for now, nevertheless this is a toothsome, desirable and exceedingly rare item for collectors of early footage of the band . It IS rather difficult to value though. Over to you, the cognoscenti...
What I therefore have is a (high quality) playable copy of the show made from Factory's own master tapes and thus the equal or superior to any and all other versions of this show currently in private hands. I estimate that it has been played fewer than a dozen times. It's now been carefully transferred to DVD (for my own use) so I no longer need to own the original.
The full provenance of the tape (i.e. how I came by it) may have to remain shrouded in enigma for now, nevertheless this is a toothsome, desirable and exceedingly rare item for collectors of early footage of the band . It IS rather difficult to value though. Over to you, the cognoscenti...