I used to work with a guy called Niclas Herle when I was younger, a real smart guy and someone who I have no doubt has now gone to the very top, he was always ambitious and was one of those magnetic figures who everyone wants to be around. Nic and I bonded initially over a shared love of music and I used to love getting into reviews with him and have discussions about who was better than who, amongst other music geek questions. Nic had always been someone who did things a bit differently and at that time, around 10 years ago, he was very passionate about his vinyl records, something which bemused me to be honest. I couldn’t believe the money that he would spend on vinyl at first, but slowly and surely he convinced me to get involved and I have been collecting ever since, and this is how.
Details
One of the reasons I used to love speaking with Nic is because we both loved the details around music, we wanted to know who was producing, which tracks were sampled, who played the guitar etc etc. At the time I was selling my CDs because of the conversion to digital music and it dawned on me that the information was given any longer, but rather you had to search for it. With vinyl however it isn’t the same, you have all of that information right there on the back and that was something which I really love.
Bargains
Niclas used to tell me about how he’d go digging in record stores and charity shops, looking for ‘gold’. I never really saw the appeal of this but he took me along one day two have a dig for records and to be honest, it was love at first dig. Flipping through all these amazing albums of bands and artists which I loved, seeing some incredibly low prices for well kept copies, it was a real rush and I’d say that this is still my favorite part of collecting vinyl.
Playing Records
I can remember making fun of Nic early on because whilst he was still getting a record out of the sleeve I was already on the second track of the album on a streaming site. He would retort by telling me that I just didn’t understand and he was absolutely right. There is a real ceremonial aspect of playing records which you just fall for when you do it. Selecting the record, taking it out of its sleeve, carefully placing it on the deck and lowering the needle, it really brings the theater back to playing music and I for one absolutely adore it. It is of course far easier to play music online, but there is something which is lost about how easy it is and how little effort you need to put in.
If you are a music lover and you are in doubt as to whether or not this is something you’d be interested in, my advice would be to give it a try.
