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Vinyl Records

I used to have a large collection of albums, maybe around 200 or so, from two main periods: the late 60s to mid 70s ie pre-punk; then the following few years, the years of punk, new wave, and reggae. It all stopped when I sold my records in 1983 to help fund my travelling which ultimately led toa near four years working my way around the world. I say working my way but actually I onlt worked in three countries - Greece, Australia, and New Zealand. All the rest I managed to do on what I had earned from those jobs.

Anyway a couple of years ago I got a record player for my Christmas and started buying albums again. And now, being an out of touch old fogey, re-bought some of the albums I already had eg. Exile on Main Street, and Blue, and bought as vinyl for the first time many albums I had bought as CDs. eg. Love's Forever Changes.

In the interim years I had totally lost my love of punk and new wave so I haven't bought any more of those, not even Never Mind The Bollocks, though I made an exception for the wonderful Bob Marley and the Wailers.

Despite my son's best efforts I still can't properly get into contemporary music, probably because I haven't tried to break through the unfamiliarity gap.

But recently I've not been so keen on adding to the standards or expected albums from my now classic late 60s to mid 70s era. So no Neil Young, Bob Dylan, etc. Whereas a year or two ago even seeing the album covers did something good in me, now they're kind of samey in my mind. But what I found on Amazon earlier this week was that a lot of refound live or radio performances by bands are now being released as - relatively cheap - vinyl records. So I got my first one - early live performances in Europe by The Move.

So I like the idea of buying niche albums by bands from that classic period, rather than their classic ones, which I already know, both musically and album covers. It'll be interesting to see if this form of cllecting holds sway for any length of time.

One of the things that particularly interests me about this is the idea of imperfect and incomplete things. Demos, first takes, early versions, unedited ones, etc. Live music has a similar unpredictability about it. I like demos, often more than the finished versions.

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