Tag Archives: Record Collecting
SEEKERS, CATS AND CONVERSATIONS
When looking back at a year in pop, there’s a strong pull to pick out the gems, the keepers, the game-changers. All well and good, but such a focus ignores what the record buying public actually forked out for. Recall how The Beatles crowning achievement “Strawberry Fields” b/w “Penny Lane” was kept from the UK […]
THE LATE ROOSTER
For more than four years I’ve wanted to write about the first LP I bought. Over a year ago I finally squeezed out a first draft. Didn’t really like it and the file sat there on the desktop staring dolefully back at me whenever I glanced around for blogging inspiration. The second version stripped back […]
BIRDS OF PARADISE
Browsing the ‘Cover Pairs’ posts for the compilation/deletion project, I came across SEABIRD [COVER POST #37]. Having written on Chick Corea’s Return to Forever—my first ECM album and a record that still brings great enjoyment—it’s time to tell you about a favourite feel-good album, Paradise Volume One by Australian composer/musician John Sangster. Now Mr Sangster […]
COVER PAIRS COMPILED [PART FOUR]
Another compilation of the ‘Cover pairs’ posts from the early days of Vinyl Connection. (The other comps are linked at the bottom of the page) In case you were wondering, the name of each pair post was a song title. Hope you find something to enjoy. * #51 BREAKFAST CLUB Larry Coryell / Alphonse Mouzon – […]
STRANGE THINGS
This week I noticed that Vinyl Connection was about to turn four. There have been a few stutters, but we are still spitting out regular posts on everything from 60s folk to twenty-first century electronica, from funked up Miles Davis to European Prog. Along with periodic celebrations of album cover art, of course. Vinyl Connection has […]
BODY SPIRIT SYNTH MAGICK
Is that a trickling water feature or a leaky lavatory cistern? If you were at The Festival of Mind Body and Spirit at the London Olympia between the 21st and 29th of April 1979, the question would probably not have bothered you. Blissed out on asparagus acid and tripping on tofu, a sample bag of […]
COVER PAIRS COLLECTED [PART THREE]
Give the people what they want. Or as the wonderfully named Roman, Juvenal, put it: give ’em “bread and circuses”. Good advice for popularist leaders everywhere. A couple of requests arose from the last cover pairs post. So today we have doctors and naughty bits. * Three Dog Night “Hard Labour” [Dunhill/ABC 1974] National Health “National Health” [Esoteric […]
COVER PAIRS REDUX
It all started with an idea that it would be fun to display some album cover art on the walls at Vinyl Connection Headquarters. Having a couple of suitable frames lolling about in the music room, it was simply a matter of negotiating with Ms Connection over where they should hang. Either side of the ugly old wall furnace on […]
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, […]
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 […]