On the 28th April 2012 to mark record store day, a special limited edition 7” picture disc of Bowie’s Starman will be released with a special Top of the Pops mix of the track on the b-side!
Now to me and everyone else who was buying music prior to 1992 or so, this is a classic blast from the past. Although I pretty much stopped buying 7” singles sometime in the mid 80’s preferring instead a 12” format of anything a band had released as a taster of its forthcoming album I will certainly be trying purchase a copy of the Bowie release.
These days if a band decides to bother releasing a single at all, it’s normally as a download and if it’s released as any other formats it will be a CD single (normally a charity single or the annual X-Factor rubbish). People who no longer by music in a tangible format will buy the download and sometimes not even the entire album, just the songs they like. Fair enough but for me I like to buy an album and then download it onto my iphone.
Anyway I digress. Back in the early 90’s I worked for HMV and it was still a record shop in those days. Two floors, albums and singles downstairs and everything else upstairs including videos and special interest music. There was still a fairly considerable rack containing vinyl and most record company reps who came into the store touting their new releases would offer the three formats, vinyl, cassette and compact disc. At this time cassette was probably the most popular format going and we would always order these in bulk, less compact disc’s (they were still growing as a format) and a token number of vinyl albums. By 1993 the entire vinyl rack had vanished and new releases were not ordered in this style even if available.
Vinyl was dead, cassettes were so yesterday and CD was the future! I remember a few people coming in and buying an album in CD format but lamenting that they were being forced to change how they bought their music. I felt obliged to defend the company policy that CD’s were the future and that no one really bought vinyl anymore and I remember debating with one bloke who was particularly passionate who told me I was missing the point! I did not really see it at the time but he was so right!
I’d been buying vinyl for nearly 20 years and I’d abandoned it so casually to usher in the new format. No longer would anyone be walking home with 12” shaped bags with Our Price, Virgin or HMV logo’s on the side, no longer would side one and side two of an album matter, it would just be a track listing. That was particularly sad as pre 90’s it was significant to how much you liked an album, did you prefer side one to side two? Some albums I’ve had on CD for years I still think of as having sides rather than a track listing. Bowie’s Low is a classic case in point although there are hundreds of examples!
Most decent record stores, and I’m not including HMV in this as it’s no longer a record store (in fact I have no idea what it is now and nor does HMV) are starting to reintroduce a vinyl section as some bands and artist’s now insist that their new release is included as a vinyl format. Retro style record decks are also easily available so lets face it, there is no excuse for not buying back into everyone (of a certain age) favourite format.
So what exactly is it about vinyl and the ability to buy it new from a proper record shop again that gets me so excited? It’s the nostalgia as much as anything also you really have to look after it CDs and cassettes were idiot proof. There is nothing tangible when you download music. Records have a tactile quality like nothing else. There was a ritual involved in playing records. Pulling the sleeved 12 inch black disc from its sleeve, the unmistakable smell of the record. The care involved in making sure that you held it in the right way and didn't leave greasy finger/thumb prints on it, didn't scratch it. It was a sign that you really cared about proper music if you knew how to care for a record. Putting it on the turntable, lifting the arm holding the needle to get the record revolving while you gently held a record brush to the vinyl to collect any dust and prevent static crackle. Carefully placing the needle onto the record so as not to scratch it, the slight hiss sound before the track started. The skill with which you learned to read a record and its grooves and could tell where favourite tracks began an ended - no automatic jumping to the tracks you loved so obsessively that you wanted to play them over and over.
Long live vinyl and what next, a return of the audio cassette? I hope not, I never actually bought a cassette!
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