The Grail Hunt: UK & Ireland - A Vinyl Lover’s Travel Guide

Everyone who loves music is looking for something: a record heard once and never found again, the album that played in a room they still remember, a sound that belongs to a city they have never visited, or one they left long ago.

That is what a grail is in this book: not simply a rare record, but the one that means something to you, and that sends you looking.

I wrote The Grail Hunt: UK & Ireland as a companion for that search, for anyone who loves vinyl. It takes you through twenty cities across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and the road between them, where the music was made and where you can still find it on vinyl.

Along the way, I list more than 200 record shops and a hundred records I love for what they say about these places. It is not a shopping list: each one is part of how I remember them. I show you how to tell the right pressing from the lookalikes, and every price is checked against what copies really sold for on Discogs.

Whether you are a collector, or someone who simply wants to hold that music on vinyl again, this book is meant to be with you when you find it.