Author Archives: Vinyl Connection
AERIAL VIEW
From the time she topped the charts with her swooping, swooning debut single “Wuthering Heights”, Kate Bush has been a unique—and uniquely talented—voice. When her first album came out in 1978, Kate was just 19 years old, inexperienced in the music industry but possessed of both confidence and determination. It was the young singer/composer who […]
HOT ROCKS
After the lively conversation about Goats Head Soup, I thought I’d better redeem myself with a truly timeless collection of early Rolling Stones hits. * There have been too many Stones compilations to count, but Hot Rocks 1964—1971, one of the early ones, is amongst the best and has rarely been out of print. Originally […]
73 FROM ’73 | AN INTRODUCTION
From the time I first extracted the more than three hundred 1973 albums in the VC collection I knew that 73 FROM ’73 would be a challenging project. And that was before I’d even researched the holes in the stash. No New York Dolls! Betty Davis overlooked! Where’s Aerosmith? Oh, the shame. Then I mulled […]
HIGHLIGHTS
Although there is little to be gained from scrutinising end-of-year stats, it’s hard not to be a bit curious about what was viewed. It’s also tempting, on New Year’s Eve in particular, to reflect on the year in blogging. So let’s have a very brief look at the bar chart, make a couple of all-too-obvious […]
BOXING DAY [PART 2]
More CD boxed sets that somehow found their way into Vinyl Connection headquarters during 2022. * This beautifully curated set has facsimile album covers, including the gatefolds. Several albums have bonus tracks, mostly live, and the booklet is high quality too. All in all, a set I was delighted to have as I’ve never owned […]
BOXING DAY
Let’s get the bleeding obvious out of the way from the start. I love vinyl and have acquired more than a couple of discs this past year. But it sure is an expensive obsession. One of the features of my 2022 purchasing has been the discovery of how many excellent CD boxed sets are out […]
1972: ALBUM COVER EXTRA
THE ART OF THE LP — 1972 Here are three albums that didn’t make it onto the 72 FROM ’72 list. If, however, the ranking had been about cover art and design they would have polled very well indeed. * This LP by Family is a delightful conception, beautifully realised. The retro bakelite TV offers […]
1972 COUNTDOWN: #1
#1 DAVID BOWIE THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST & THE SPIDERS FROM MARS When The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars was released on 16 June 1972 Bowie’s small but loyal London fan base were immediately enthusiastic. The colourful theatricality, the fizzing energy, the entire glam “look” of […]
1972 COUNTDOWN: #2
2 YES — CLOSE TO THE EDGE Some facts: Close to the Edge was released on 13th September 1972 as Atlantic Records SD7244. It was the band’s fifth album and was a critical and popular success, reaching the Top 5 of album charts in both the UK and USA. There are three pieces on the album: the […]
1972 COUNTDOWN: #4 — #3
4 NEU! — NEU! ‘Hallogallo’ fades in with a repeated guitar dot over a strange percussive clack. It insinuates itself into the room and your consciousness, an hypnotic groove, repetitive yet captivating. Welcome to the strange and wonderful world of Neu! The beginning of the Neu! story is part of the early Kraftwerk story. Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger […]
1972 COUNTDOWN: #7 — #5
7 WISHBONE ASH — ARGUS On this, their 3rd album, British guitar band Wishbone Ash managed to fuse contemporary rock sensibilities with both British mythology and progressive arrangements. The twin guitars of Andy Powell and Ted Turner, interweaving and harmonising, add a glistening melodic flow to songs that hint at medieval sketches without ever crossing […]
1972 COUNTDOWN: #10 — #8
10 DEEP PURPLE — MACHINE HEAD 1970’s Deep Purple In Rock and 1971’s Fireball set the bar high for British heavy rock. Yet Deep Purple managed to top those two fine records with their seventh long-player, Machine Head. Prosaically named after the metal gear arrangement that adjusts the tension on guitar strings, the music is […]
