Vinyl Transports

In my time I have owned three reasonable collections of vinyl records.  All of them were lost on the shoals of life.  

Breakups, poverty and emigration for the most part.  

I have resisted the temptation to return to vinyl as a post-modern fad but I have over the years picked up some records with a view to eventually getting round to buying something to actually play them on.

My listening devices have spanned 50 years.  From a Dansette Gramophone as they were called, to the early cassette players, to a Midi system, to a Walkman, a CD player, the MiniDisc player, MP3 device and now often enough listening online on my PC or phone.

Recently I saw a deal on eBay for a device to actually play records.  It was a bargain. £15. Now at that price you don't expect HiFi sound quality.  You don't get it either.  

At any rate it is no worse than the auld Dansette (I wish I still had it), of which I see examples going at £200 these days.

The thing arrived and I set it up.  Looking through the motley collection of records I actually possess, the first that came to hand was "On The Road With The Foundry Bar Band" Springthyme SPR1012.  

I chucked it on and through the surface hiss and crackle I was treated to a piece of time travel.  Taken back to a time of hope and optimism and youth. 

Love, belonging and a stream of wonderful memories.  There were tears in my eyes. 

For those of you who are not familiar with the Foundry Bar Band it is a wonderful record.  Its wonder is not in its virtuosity or it's phonographic quality but instead in the truth of the performances.  

This is music played by musicians who personified their tradition. A tradition of participation and activity.  Not a tradition that saw music as something to passively consume. 

It is an ethic and a tradition that I value and seek to carry on in every branch of my musical practise.

At the forefront of most of the cuts is the accordion of Bobby Dewars. The celebrated Jim Reid sings as well as his cousin Bobby Reid. 

Just a few days earlier in the car I had tried to remember the word of Jim's song "I'll Follow The Ploo".  The chill that ran down my spine reminded me of the real power of music. 

Jim and Bobby Reid as well as Bobby Dewars are now gone from us. In fact almost everybody who played on the record is now gone. Many people whose lives they touched will recall them fondly. 

Funnily enough, at the time it came out in 1983 I never had "On The Road" on LP record.  I did have it on a cassette tape which I played to death but still have somewhere in a box.  I need to buy a Cassette Player now.