Category Vinyl Hunter Gatherer Tales
THE ROAD TO RESTRAINT
I remember seeing a striking cover on shelves in the mid-70s… a slender wrist rises up, clasping a silver ingot like a futuristic advertising photograph. The skin tones are dull, muted, as the shot is taken against a bright white light, a small bright rising star behind the argent rectangle. Behind, surrounding all, a deep […]
RSD 16: COMMUNITY AND COMPETITION (QUIZ #3)
Chatting to several Record Store owners in the lead up to this year’s ‘International Record Store Day’ there was a sense the hype has well-and-truly overpowered the original idea. The releases were patchy, the prices exorbitant (and margins reduced); there was a sense of store owners being blackmailed via RSD propaganda into ordering LPs of […]
IS YOUR DEODORANT STRONG ENOUGH?
Just recently, while introducing an album with significant input from Steve Winwood, (Stomu Yamashta’s GO), I wrote about Terry Hounsome’s Rock Record 7. To illustrate both the intricacies of the book and the impressive count of Winwood appearances, I cited an example of an album not worth pursuing. With self-assurance and confidence, it was noted that […]
HILLAGE RIFFAGE
In some ways, packing for a year in a different hemisphere is easier than preparing a suitcase for two weeks at the beach. I pondered this conundrum back in 1996 as I prepared for an extended relationship cultural exchange in Germany. Often the answer to the question “How many? How much?” was answered with the […]
SPIRITS AND GREMLINS
Last summer holidays I made a two hundred and fifty kilometre round trip to visit a Sunday Market. A mate was holidaying nearby –or rather, we were staying near the newly acquired beach house of he and his partner– and I discovered that Geoff (unlike Vinyl Connection readers) had not been to the Kongwak Market. So off we […]
A KIND OF 2015 LIST
Biggest crush What does it mean when you go, in a mere few months, from never having heard of an artist to buying four albums new? Probably that you have too much time on your hands and money in your pocket. Nevertheless, I became very taken with the lively retro-electronica of Zombi. They combine elements […]
FIELD TESTING THE THEORY
It is a funny thing, the vinyl hunter-gathering lifestyle. Although I have a number of tasty records in transit from exotic locations world-wide (all right, you got me; from the US and UK), the prospect of a record fair last Sunday was too good to miss. A leave pass negotiated, off I trotted, returning home a […]
YOU SCROOGE, YOU LOSE
Having had a crack at describing categories of record collectors (called Vinyl Hunter-Gatherers around these parts), this post continues looking at further case studies, your correspondent once again being the mandated patient. Sorry, that should read ‘volunteer’. Enthusiast (B): ‘Excellent — a very satisfying find. Wonder if I can swing a discount’. Chicago — Live […]
DIGGING
TOWARDS A TYPOLOGY OF VINYL HUNTER-GATHERERS While admiring the melodic pop savvy of Paul McCartney, I’ve never felt compelled to follow his solo career that closely. I was always a Lennon man. Yet you cannot help picking up info and vibes about an album —a magazine article here, an on-line mention there— which eventually resulted […]
INCOMING! [EARLY EDITION, SPRING 2015]
Here is a selection of the music that has crossed the threshold of the Vinyl Connection den of musiquity this month, with some notes on the why-s and wherefores. ♦ The Nice – Ars Longa Vita Brevis [1968 / Let Them Eat Vinyl, 2014] The second album by the sometimes psychedelic, proto-prog band who were by […]
AGHARTA GLASSES
There have been occasions when Vinyl Connection has grouched about how much stuff is required to step outside the house. We have been heard to talk movingly of those long gone, halcyon days when a chap simply strolled breezily out the front door unencumbered by anything other than his thoughts. Nowadays it requires a hold-all […]
HOLIDAY HUNTER
Summer at Vinyl Connection often means a beach holiday, preferably with some walking options nearby to satisfy the more active half of the VC partnership. This year we have just returned from ten days in Gippsland, a coastal region two hours south-east of Melbourne. When the weather does not shout ‘Beach!’, we visit various towns and […]
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