Author Archives: Vinyl Connection
10 TERRIFIC RECORD LABELS
A visual post of some favourite record labels * Which of these do you like the most? What label would you add? *
FINGERS LIKE SPIDERS
Most of us can remember those family visits we were forced to endure as a child. The Uncle and Aunty who served the stale biscuits, Dad’s former work colleague and his wife whose own child, fully two years older, totally ignored the visiting juvenile, the Grandparents whose dusty, dim house imprisoned you for the mandatory […]
NOT PANTS
Here is the groove test. Spin “Green Onions” by Booker T. & The M.G’s and if your booty doesn’t shake, your hips don’t swivel, your head doesn’t nod or your fingers snap, man, you dead to the rhythm. “Green Onions” was the lead track and hit single from the 1962 album of the same name, […]
FILE NOTES
If you have an awful lot of music, the question inevitably arises, ‘How should I file it?’ The debate has been raging forever, or at least since Thomas Edison kicked off music collecting. In fact these pages have recently seen some lively Commentary. That’s file as in ‘put a physical object somewhere where you stand a better-than-even chance […]
ANTISOCIAL IN THE INNER SANCTUM
Music Room full yet? Almost [smile] Can I check it out? Er… Sure [Are you lint free? Dandruff free? Dusted? Scrubbed? Fully prepped?] New shelves! Neat. All the better to file you in, my dears. Alphabetical order, of course. [covert sigh] A, top left. Z round there, low. No system, no find it. Compilations? You, […]
COMPACT COLLECTING
It’s not all vinyl! vinyl! vinyl! here at Vinyl Connection^. Half a lifetime of collecting Compact Discs has resulted in a well entrenched habit, meaning a steady trickle of the little silver coasters has entered VC Headquarter over the past twelve months. Here is a selection. King Crimson — Absent Lovers, Montreal 1984 [DGM 2007] […]
ENGLISH EVERGREENS
2016 — Top Five New Releases Although Vinyl Connection managed a respectable bag of new release during 2016, less than half of them actually made it to these pages during the calendar year. We were onto the new one by post-rock instrumentalists Tortoise back in February and rushed towards the release by local artist All India […]
2016 — SOME ALBUM COVERS*
* ARRIVING AT VINYL CONNECTION THIS YEAR Continuing an end-of-year tradition by sharing ten album covers that made an impression. Electronic music, particularly that made on analogue instruments, remains a favourite genre at Vinyl Connection. There have been a few releases that have made an impression, particularly this fascinating archival release by Suzanne Ciani. The cover art, part […]
AN IDEAL PRESENT
Christmas trading at Max Rose Electronics was rarely frantic but usually busy. Which was just as well. Like many small businesses, Max relied on a significant spike in December sales to coast through the hot holiday months of January and February. In those years when I was a part-time sales assistant on Friday nights and […]
2016 — THE FIELD OF JAZZ
…Being Part 2 of the Vinyl Connection end-of-year round-up Could this be the 10 days of Jazz Christmas? Not really, just highlights selected from those jazz discs arriving at VC this year, presented in chronological order. * Solar system huge, supernova-hyped. To these ears, pretty disappointing. As someone 1537 times wittier than me observed, those vocals just evoke Star Trek every time. Visit […]
CHRISTMAS DREAMING
Want a Christmas album by a New York composer of Jewish heritage that is totally not a turkey? Step this way. John Zorn started recording in 1980 at age 27. Later than Mozart, certainly, yet in the years following he has amassed over one hundred recordings under his own name. And there’s more. He has […]
2016 REPORT FROM THE FIELD — PART 1
Top Five Secondhand Record Purchases It is revealing that there was more than enough material in the acquisitions book to produce a Top 50 list of secondhand records entering the Vinyl Connection domain during the past twelve months. We are talking fifty highlights, by-the-by, not gap-fillers, pass-markers and also-rans. So much good music and such […]
