Wednesday, November 15, 2006

DRASTIC PLASTIC

I love my Vinyl singles collection, I have about a thousand of these small round pieces of 3 minute history, everything, from all gendres of music. They are small snapshots of early memories & emotional history. A soundtrack to my life right up to the moment I stopped buying them.

Last year I sold all my long players, some 300 of them including boxed sets & autographed albums. I just didn’t have the space or capacity to keep the collection together but I held on to my 45’s.

There is something about the warm crackle produced by dropping the play arm on to a single & that momentary air of anticipation, just before the song kicks in that I adore. It takes me back to adolescence, to the nights spent lying by my record player endlessly playing my ( at that time ) small collection of 45s.

Then along came punk; the record industry prompted by the success of independent labels, & guerilla marketing woke up to the possibilities of the 45. They started to appear in picture sleeves, coloured vinyls & limited additions. Some of the 45’s I own could only be obtained by mail order straight from the artist themselves. Scritti Polliti’s first single springs to mind “ Skank Bloc Bologna”.

On the other side, my passion found me scouring second hand record shops looking for those elusive sides I wished to own. I turned up some real classic pieces of vinyl history in this way, James Brown singles, Early Ska or Bluebeat, Psychedelia etc etc.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoy listening to digital cd’s, I have no problem with them, they are easy to use & of course a damn sight easier to produce than vinyl. Which is a big plus as a home studio afficiendo. However, there are certain times when, with a turntable, a big pile of singles, wine & snacks you can have a very pleasurable evenings entertainment.

Listening to

Everything under the Sun

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