How I became a record collector

As a 14 year old boy from Belgium I bought my first ever LP in 1970. The golden age of vinyl. At a time during which the singles market of the sixties was slowly making way for a more LP focused music business. Back then you had to make every penny of pocket money count. And when your humble savings turned out to be insufficient to buy yourself a record, you could still spend hours gazing at the records in the display window of your local record shop. A small consolation prize.

The first Spencer Davis Group vinyl I acquired at some time during the mid-seventies was a German pressing of the Gimme Some Lovin' compilation album. Just because I adored the band's music. Songs you rarely heard on the radio. My earliest attempt at collecting vintage records came about at the beginning of the eighties when a local record store owner and DJ sold his entire personal record collection. One of the singels I purchased was the French EP Somebody Help Me, including an intact jukebox tag that unfortunately did not withstand the test of time. To this day Somebody Help Me is still my favourite Spencer Davis Group song.

Since record stores were still flourishing, there wasn't really much vintage record collection as we know it nowadays. Most music was still available on vinyl in one form or another. I slowly but steadily expanded my own record collection with what is now called classic and hard rock. Sometimes record stores would sell large parts of their stock which allowed me to snatch certain items at ridiculously low prices.

With the commercialisation of the CD at the end of the eighties you could get lucky that someone gifted you a couple of their records because they were replacing their vinyl collection with 'much more durable' CD's.

The rise of the CD inevitably caused the vinyl market to dwindle. Luckily, the first record fairs popped up at the beginning of the nineties and you could also find a large amount of vinyl at garage sales and flea markets. In most cases however the supply was geographically limited to pressings from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, the UK and the US.

It is only with the rise of the internet and websites like eBay that it finally became possible to acquire pressings from far away countries, even though in some cases and still to this day they can cost you a fortune. Vintage record collecting quickly became a hobby that got out of hand.

What can you expect from this website

Although The Spencer Davis Group is named after its rhythm guitar player it is quite clear that Steve Winwood was the key figure and musical genius of the band. His later career only provides further proof thereof. For that reason this website only covers the Steven Winwood era of The Spencer Davis Group, the band's most interesting period from a musical standpoint.

This website is an attempt to map out the complete worldwide discography of The Spencer Davis Group divided by country. The vast majority of records I own myself and therefore I used scans of my own material to start of this webiste. For the missing items I made great use of this thing called the internet. Record collecting is not an exact science. I display the records as I bought them with the record covers I bought them in. In addition, for some records it is not always easy to find out their exact release date. In case you spot a mistake, mix-up or missing item I of course welcome you to let me know. Corrections and additions are of the utmost importance to keep this website relevant, so do not hesitate to get in touch!

Since compiling a collection like this takes a lot of time and effort, the discography will initially be confined to a limited number of countries. Over the coming months and years this discography will gradually be expanded, supplemented and where necessary corrected. A precise and complete worldwide discography of The Spencer Davis Group - The Steve Winwood Years is the ulitmate end goal.

Have a good time whilst delving deep into the discography of my favourite band of the sixties !