Vinyl recordings didn’t go away, they just took a nap in the digital age. People still like the warm tones you get from a vinyl record not to mention the interest of the sleeves. Increasingly I find, as I get older and my hearing gets weaker, that Mono recordings on vinyl are a better listen than digital stereo. So its good to see vinyl record sales are on the rise again.
Pubs and bars are increasingly becoming a haven for those interested in hearing and playing vinyl records. If you go to The Marquis in Covent Garden the staff don’t just pull pints but spin records from the racks behind the bar. Down at the Post Bar near High Cross you can take over the decks and play your stuff.
The Marquis
At the Antwerp we’ve got a single deck (be good to get two one day!). It comes out on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays for Spins and Needles – our vinyl record night along with knitting. So anyone can come along and play vinyl. Don’t worry if you don’t have any because we have a small donated collection of vinyl records at the Antwerp that folk are welcome to dig into.
Be warned the Antwerp house collection is a very eclectic mix. Hopefully it will grow into a really good selection over time. The collection started with a charity shop style dump of generally low price “best of” recordings on labels like Music for Pleasure, Marble Arch and Readers Digest. Our six record Readers Digest box set of sixties and seventies pop had bever been played. It turned out they are a treasure trove of great tracks. We also did well with rock and roll and easily listening so Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard augmented by Tony Bennett, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond. We even have my old Mum’s copy of the Sound of Music.
Later we were given some more interesting LPs. So we’ve got a bit of Motown and Stax, one Abba album, one by Talking Heads. My favourite is our single Bob Dylan album, Nashville Skyline, on Mono. There is the odd bit of soft rock like Fleetwood Mac. In our jazz section we have a bit of Pharoah Sanders and Sergio Mendes. Alas we’ve only got the one reggae album which is a surprisingly good Music for Pleasure compilation. The list goes on. So far the crown jewels of vinyl collecting have eluded us. We’d like some better vinyl donated please. Like The Beatles Sergeant Pepper’s, The Stones Satanic Majesties, Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, Led Zeppelin III, Bob Marley Exodus and Hendrix Are You Experienced, Michael Jackson Thriller. To name a few.
Our stack of singles recently got much better from a dump of 80s belters. We now have a decent core of sixties, seventies and 80s. Last week’s donated bangers included Michael Jackson, Prince, Bowie and Blondie. The weird and interesting award went to a copy of Human League’s Being Boiled on the Fast record label .
What is surprising is that virtually all of the donated vinyl is playable. Just a wipe with the carbon fibre brush, spray with vinyl cleaner and final wipe with a microfibre cloth is all that needed in most cases. I was advised against sticking records in a bath of washing up liquid as it just concretes in the dirt and possibly soaks off the label. So please let us know if you have any better quality vinyl you’d like to give away. We’ve probably reached the point where we could challenge a DJ to put together a decent playlist just from the donated and re-loved vinyl in our collection. Anyone fancy taking that on ?