Records are enjoying a revival!
“Mum this stuff is awesome! You should totally listen to it!” That was my teenage son ‘discovering’ my 80’s vinyl collection and my father’s collection of 78s. Because of course my dad and I know nothing about music while he and his friends are experts.
In the age of the strangely invisible digital sound file, I watched his burgeoning love affair with these solid pieces of sound history with some amusement. 78s in particular are very tactile: the thick, heavy shellac, the dust, the stiff card cover. There’s a richness about them which time hasn’t dulled.
In the way of teens, Charlie began to google his latest obsession.
“Mum, did you know that in the early days they discovered that recording a piano while it was on the floor made it sound too tinny, so they suspended pianos in the air and made the pianist perch on an elevated platform? Cool?”
I had to concede that I did not know this!
Over the coming weeks I also learned that because there was no sound equipment early on, there was no way of modulating the volume of a singer to prevent distortion when recording. To get round this, a someone stood behind the singer reading the score,
and
when a particularly high note or loud phrase was imminent they pulled the singer away from the mic! Wonder what Mariah Carey would make of being manhandled like that?
Our language even evolved to reflect our love 14
of records. The phrase ‘In the groove’, ‘Groovy’, ‘To groove,’ all relate to the grooves on a 78, LP or single.
In spite of all the studio shortcomings, collectors of old records swear the sound quality of 78s in particular has never been surpassed. The hiss and scratch caused by the patina and deterioration of old shellac discs appeals to them.
As Charlie’s interest deepened, he spent a lot of time in specialist record stores and at collectors’ fairs. A surprising number of people deal in vinyl or 78s or both, and most of them are friendly individuals with a wealth of knowledge they are happy to share.
It’s a curious fact that in the age of huge TVs and surround-sound, the sound quality of the music many of us listen to is going backwards, because often we listen through tiny earbuds or mobile phone speakers. It is also curious that many young musicians, steeped in electronics, are rediscovering the joy of playing with sound on vinyl and shellac, in much the same way that the scratch and mix DJs of the seventies, eighties and nineties did.
Lots of us must have an old record player stashed in the attic along with our old vinyl LPs. We may even own a few 78s, inherited from our parents. The heyday of CDs lasted a mere 15 years, but there is more than 60 years’ of music recorded on to these older formats. Think about that. Perhaps it’s time to get them out, dust them off, and introduce a new generation to the joy of tangible sound.
To advertise in thewire t. 07720 429 613 e.
the.wire@btinternet.com
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