My real Vinyl Adventure began in 1973 when I started secondary school aged 11.
Prior to that my family had owned the obligatory two-tone Dansette record player and later a sideboard style radiogram and there were a handful of records around; Mom’s A Walk In The Black Forest by Horst Jankowski, Dad’s 10” Peter Sellers album, a few Beatles 45s & Sandi Shaw’s Puppet On A String (the first record I can remember buying with my own pocket money). And like most families in the 70’s we watched Top Of The Pops every Thursday.
But upon entering grammar school in September 1973 I was exposed to the world of “Serious Music”. Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple & Black Sabbath were the giants of rock music at the time and their albums were carried as a badge of honour.
BBC2’s The Old Grey Whistle Test hosted by ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris and the radio shows of John Peel and Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman quickly became essential viewing & listening. Whilst the music tabloids Sounds, The New Musical Express & Melody Maker were purchased almost every week.
During the 70’s my local town of Dudley in the West Midlands had three dedicated record shops; Graduate Records, Barry James Records and Studio Musica plus Woolworths, Boots, WH Smiths & John Menzies (the latter had a very good music department) also sold records. That made seven places to buy records in one small town… records were very big business. 10 miles away in the centre of Birmingham, Virgin, HMV, Threshold & The Diskery offered even more eclectic selections of stock to choose from.
During that first academic year I can remember buying Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Brain Salad Surgery, Genesis – Live, Wings – Band On The Run, Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon, David Bowie – Aladdin Sane, Roxy Music – Stranded and Monty Python’s Matching Tie & Handkerchief (which had two concentric grooves on side 2 which completely freaked my out on the first few plays; I kept hearing different sketches!).
When it came to buying my first serious turntable I had been eyeing up a Sony deck which had a strobe! Ooohhh! However, my elder cousin who worked at the BBC in London convinced me to go on the waiting list (a waiting list!) for something called a Planar 2 from a new company called Rega. A wise move! That deck gave me years of musical enjoyment and I eventually sold it for slightly more than I paid for it.
As my collection expanded, so did my musical tastes. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Live At The Lyceum was my introduction to reggae. Joni Mitchell’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns lead me to investigate John Martyn – Solid Air, Bob Dylan – Desire and other singer/songwriter & folk artists. I’ve played drums for a long time. My favourite drummer then was Phil Collins and his favourite band at the time was Weather Report; Weather Report’s Heavy Weather lead me to discover Miles Davis’s A Kind Of Blue and the universe of jazz (J-A-Z-Z is the only 4 letter work that my wife finds offensive, so it is referred to as “the J word” in our house),
Long before designer trainers and computer games became trendy, being amongst the first to discover a great new artist was the height of cool. My discoveries included Little Feat’s The Last Record Album, Patti Smith’s Horses and the debut album by The Ramones (on import before the UK release).
Whilst not turning my back on what was referred to as Boring Old Fart Music by the New Regime, I embraced the best of the Punk & New Wave artists. Ian Dury – New Boots & Panties, The Clash – London Calling, Elvis Costello – Armed Forces (purchased on the release day with the fold-out cover, art cards and free EP) and Talking Heads – Fear Of Music (with its textured cover and free Psycho Killer live single) remain firm favourites.
By the late 1980s vinyl seemed to be a dead format. Many albums were not even getting a vinyl release. So in 1990 I made the monumental mistake of selling my turntable (Linn LP12) and record collection in order to finance a really good CD player (Meridian 206) and copies of my favourite albums on CD. That collection included first pressings of many classic albums of the 70’s and 80’s, the original black sleeve EMI release of the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK and almost all of the first 50 Stiff Records singles (and many promos)… a BIG mistake.
So I spent the next 15 years as a ‘digital only’ listener, which was OK but every so often I’d find myself missing the vinyl experience; holding a cover that was often a piece of art itself, having lyrics & sleeve notes that didn’t require a microscope to read and, of course, the sound.
In 2006 my new partner (now my wife of 13 years) encouraged me to buy another turnable (a Rega Planar 3) and so I finally got back into to vinyl. As well as record stores and charity shops I also built my new collection via a certain well known online auction site.
For one such purchase of multiple from the same seller I went to collect the records to save shipping costs. The seller had the collection he was disposing of in his office in Birmingham. Whilst there I picked out around another 20 albums he hadn’t yet listed. We really hit it off and spent ages chatting, realising we had very similar tastes and had attended dozens of the same concerts in and around Birmingham. The next day the seller called me and said “I really can’t be bothered with listing all these on Ebay; would you like the rest of the collection for £…” (a very reasonable price for the size, quality and condition of the collection). So I had an instant record collection to start listening to and a new friend; we are still in touch and meet whenever I’m back in Birmingham. Ironically, he’s now purchased a turntable again and is replacing many of the albums he sold to me!
I work as a Tour Manager in the music industry and on the rare occasions that I get a few hours off duty whilst away, I research the best local record stores and head out in search of vinyl. On more than one occasion I’ve had to buy extra luggage to get my purchases home. Crate digging is a really good way to clear my head of work; my wife refers to record stores as ‘the audio creche’ or my ‘happy place’.
And I’m always looking (and listening) to expand my musical tastes. Whilst I still listen the artists I grew up with, I also enjoy many current performers such as John Grant (Queen Of Denmark), Midlake (The Courage Of Others), Alt-J (An Awesome Wave), London Grammar (If You Wait), First Aid Kit (The Lion’s Roar), Self Esteem (Prioritise Pleasure) & Public Service Broadcasting (Bright Magic).
I know that high-res digital music has the ability to sound equally as good or better than records (and I do own an Innuos music server and Linn streamer) but I’ve come to realise that, for me, sitting down with a physical record from my collection (currently around 1200 albums) and listening to it start to finish on my turntable (another Linn LP12) gives me the most musical pleasure and satisfaction.
