Waxing Lyrical - Vinyl Revival
We speak to some of Kent’s record store owners on why they think vinyl is making a comeback
Gatefield Sounds, Whitstable
For me, the first piece of music I acquired was on vinyl. But I was born in nineteen-eighty- something, so records were still the staple way for artists to record and release music. And that is how the whole world bought it, too.
But it didn’t last for long, with cassettes, CDs, minidiscs and eventually digital forming the chronological development of music as a product.
Of course, there will be many of you who stand up and say: “I have always bought vinyl records”, and okay, I will have to believe you, but I think it would be fair to say that turntable loyalists were in the minority with dedicated DJs and record obsessives making up a vast amount of sales.
However, it is back. And it’s not just old people reliving their youth. There is a new generation of wax lovers.
It has been explained to me that you can tell who is old school and who is new school, because the former describes them as records, while the latter describes them as vinyl. Whatever, you call it, demand means there needs to be a supply and in Kent we have seen new record shop openings easily reaching double figures and beyond. Here we have picked out a couple of the ones we like.
Dan Salter, Creekside Vinyl, Faversham
Has the quality of stereos/turntables kept pace with the surge in vinyl interest?
Most definitely. In the £120 plus bracket - Akai, Project, Reloop and others continue. But definitely not in the awful sub £80 suitcase market - Crosley, GPO, Steepletone - those things are toys and nothing else.
Ever lent an album and not had it returned?
If so, what was it, and who do you suppose has it? Easy......'Blue' by Joni MItchell.......and who has it? To all my exes.
Is 'scratching' a musical art form, or a detestable destruction of vinyl?
Absolutely an art form...it has its place. Yes, it damages records but I’d like to think no one is scratching a First Press of Ogdens Nutgone Flake.
Name an album or three that deserves, but is yet to receive the vinyl treatment
I’m going to include albums that may have once been but need re-reissue at least.
1. Takuya Kuroda - Rising Son (Blue Note). It was once on wax but Bluenote have not yet re-issued it.
2. Brad – Shame - Still waiting for a re-issue I believe.
3. The Davey Brothers - Monkey No.9. They are good friends of mine, and it was a great double album but was produced in CD only.
Why are vinyl stores beginning to return to our high streets?
Simple. Because they should have never left!
Humberto Pena, Vinyl Head Cafe and Record Shop, Ramsgate
How long do you allow customers to linger before asking them, ‘can I help you’?
That’s a funny one. I am always available and aware. How the shop
is, you can see one side, but not the other, so some people think that’s it’s a small collection that isn’t categorised.
But out the back of the shop, there is more structure to it. So I will go and say hi and show them the other collection and direct them.
Name one smell which is better than the inside cover of an album sleeve?
Well I can think of many smells, equally as good, but I best not go into it.
Any vinyl anti-scratch coatings you can recommend?
With vinyl I always been very traditional. With a wet cotton cloth and then a dry one. That works
well. Unless it is a very old piece of vinyl that has very deep dirt.
The only thing that really cleans a vinyl properly is the needle, because that actually gets into the grooves.
Greatest artwork on an album sleeve?
Wow, there are so many. Prog-rock bands tend to have the most beautiful covers.
I am very lucky to own an album from the Affinity label. They are some of the most collectable records. (It’s a compilation album of tracks from 1970). It is this woman lying down by a lake, it is really beautifully created.
What the most valuable piece of
vinyl that you own?
I own a copy of Please Please Me by The Beatles in Gold Label, that is the most expensive because it would go for £3k-£4k.
Why is vinyl back?
It is the way forward. For me it has always been. I never went in for the CD era, I was still buying everyone’s vinyl when they were selling it. It is the whole ceremony with the vinyl of taking it out of the sleeve and putting it onto the player. It’s special.
Nick Pygott, Vinylstore Jr, Canterbury
Name a current vinyl favourite – artist or album – with customers
Big sellers are driven mainly by new releases, which lately have been the likes of Arcade Fire, Radiohead and Ride. We do particularly well when we get "indies only" versions, the stuff you won't see in HMV or on Amazon... Recent Shop favourites have included Elder's new album "Reflections of a Floating World" which has had alot of love.
Why not remove the vinyl- tinted glasses and admit it...digital is clearer, more powerful, transportable and better all-round for getting great new music ‘out there’?
No, digital doesn't sound better! It's simply not true. On an even halfway decent system, vinyl sounds WAY better: bigger, fuller, richer...."Clearer" is debatable, but clear is boring and sterile: "LIFE has surface noise" as John Peel once said.
Why have vinyl and record shops returned to the high street?
I think people in general have belatedly seen through the lie that digital is somehow preferable. And in fact streaming and vinyl actually compliment each other quite nicely - you can use Spotify etc for the voyage of discovery, which then gives you the confidence to spend the £18 on the physical album.
It's important that people are buying the record players again, and that the record companies are investing in producing vinyl again (it is more profitable for them!)
It is easy to get too hung up on the format. Ultimately, it's the owning and enjoying of amazing music that matters, regardless of whether it's a record, CD, or cassette. But records just happen to be more tactile, and have an indefinable sense of permanence about them.
George Clift, Hot Salvation, Folkestone
Why are vinyl stores beginning to return to our high streets?
I reckon there’s a natural return to collecting and hoarding physical stuff. A hive- mind craving for ‘stuff’ in our nice, clean, clutter-free 21st century homes.
We define our characters as teenagers by the badges and flags we stand by, and there has been a move away from this in adulthood. I think archiving, living in and showing your ‘stuff’ is a compulsion that helps us discover who we are. Plus if you DO have the first four Sabbath on Vertigo Swirl, you win life.
One piece of vinyl you’d fight to save from fire?
I’d try and rescue my copy of Remain In Light by Talking Heads.....
First album you ever bought?
The first album I ever bought would probably have been Diamonds and Pearls by Prince, on CD, when I was nine or 10. My parents got me started dead early.
Had any top musicians/celebrities rifling your album racks? If so, who were they and what did they buy?
We’ve not had many major celebs through to be honest. Our good friend and neighbour Jessica Hynes (Spaced) bought her turntable and a stack from us though. I did see Bob Geldof in here a few weeks back for a window shop.
Plus we’ve had through, some of the lasses and lads from Kenickie, All About Eve, Hookworms, Bossk, Cowtown, Virginia Wing, Sievehead, and a load more.
Jon Ashby, Gatefield Sounds, Whitstable
Gatefield Sounds (originally from Faversham) has been in business for 45 years, and you’ve been here for 27 of them, is vinyl back for good, or will it gradually fade like an old prog-rock track?
Vinyl never went away, there is a lot to be positive about with a new generation discovering classics and new music on the format.
Classic black? Theme-coloured? Clear? Which vinyl is best?
A limited theme or coloured vinyl is cool and lots enjoy collecting them, but a classic black vinyl is great. The quality of vinyl just keeps on improving.
What is your audience? Old timers reliving their youth? Or a new wave of wax worshipers?
We have a very diverse audience, people are buying the soundtracks of their youth as well as discovering new artists. We also have eight year old kids coming in for bands such as The Smiths. It’s great to have a good mix of ages coming into the shop.
Name an album you’d happily see turned into a novelty clock ’cause it’s shite?
Any one of the Mrs Mills albums I've got left over from collections.