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Name: David Wight
Comment: I recall in the early seventies a shop called 'Sounds' opening in my home town of Ware - No.33 High Street. It had a great selection of progressive rock albums. I was most envious as one of my classmates got a job there!

Name: Simon Fuller
Comment: I can help with this one. The Sounds record shop was run (not owned) by a guy called Howard Slade. I was great friends with him and his nephew Tony Parker. The owner was a guy called Mark (not Mark Salt - Mark was a friend of Howard's who also lived in Fanshawe Crescent, Ware, a great musician and like Howard a guitar player). The owner Mark was not to be seen very often, from memory he lived in one of the small villages between Ware and Stevenage. Howard was the guy to see for everything new on the prog rock scene and influenced massively what I should be listening to. Although he originally lived with his parents in Fanshawe Crescent, he lived later in the flat above the next-door shop (not directly above - there was a very elderly lady living there). Howard had thousands of 33s in the flat and how the floor took all that weight I'll never know. The reason I got to know him was through playing in a couple of local bands myself. Howard originally played with a Richard Hale group called RDX. (Their bass player was Keith 'Thud' Dutton and vocalist John White, who I still keep in touch with via Facebook.) He then went on to play with a band called Wandering Spirit. Howard's girlfriend (Jan Raxworthy - who he then went on to marry) is the sister of Carol Raxworthy (married to a longtime friend of mine, Richard Whitborn, who was our keyboard player and still plays in a local band and who I still keep in touch with via Facebook) and was an absolutely stunning Presdales schoolgirl when they first met. I've been trying to track Howard down via Facebook but unfortunately had no luck. Have also tried to track down Keith Dutton but also had no luck. One of my enduring memories of Sounds was the fabulous sound system he had in the shop - fantastic quality speakers and deck. VERY LOUD! Best regards from Germany - I'm originally from Richmond Close, Ware.


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