Disposing Of My Vinyl Collection (Not Happening)

Introduction

Three years ago, I published a story about selling my CD collection on Discogs, which upset a few people who know me because they thought I was trashing my music collection.

These are just CDs that I do not think I will play again, so they may as well go to a new home. The one that I wish would go is a Kid Rock one, maybe some lowlife will pick it up, or I might just bin it.

I do believe that my music should be easily accessible and these I play on my CD player:

The intro music is "Rock and Roll Records" by JJ Cale, and though I love rock and roll, my tastes are far-ranging and eclectic.

Disposing Of (Some Of) My Vinyl

Space is infinite when we talk universally, but in a house, space becomes a premium commodity. The music I chose for this bit is Hawkwind's "Space Is Deep", which has one of my favourite solos ever, and I can't make out if it is Nik Turner's treated saxophone or just a synthesiser played by Del Dettmar or DikMik.

I have just found out what was behind the title of this album, which was their first with Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister. This is from Wikipedia.

Title, Sleeve and Philosophy

The package was put together and titled by graphic artist Barney Bubbles and is a continuation on themes he introduced with In Search of Space carried through and culminating in the Space Ritual. The title refers to the assignment of syllables to steps of the diatonic scale (Do-Re-Mi, etc.). It alludes to the music of the spheres which Bubbles expounds upon:

The basic principle for the starship and the space ritual is based on the Pythagorean concept of sound. Briefly, this conceived the Universe to be an immense monochord, with its single string stretched between absolute spirit and at its lowest end – absolute matter. Along this string were positioned the planets of our solar system. Each of these spheres as it rushed through space was believed to sound a certain tone caused by its continuous displacement of the ether. These intervals and harmonies are called 'The Sound Of The Spheres.' The interval between Earth and the fixed stars being the most perfect harmonic interval.

• Do – Mars – red
• Re – Sun – orange
• Mi – Mercury – yellow
• Fa – Saturn – green
• Sol – Jupiter – blue
• La – Venus – Indigo
• Ti – Moon – violet

So I was thinking I need to get rid of some vinyl to make room for anything worthwhile I might see. I really do believe that I have everything I need, but then I see something else that I would like. This is one I picked up today.

The thing is, and I am not getting precious about it, is that CD is the Mcdonaldization of music, it makes it convenient. I don't know what that makes Spotify/Streaming, the PotNoodling or Kebabization of music.

When I play music on the record player, it does sound better to me. I still listen on my phone when I am walking, and on my CD player when I am working and that is just for convenience, and it still sounds fine.

I recently bought Led Zeppelin IV on vinyl and was disappointed that it sounds a bit tinny, but Led Zeppelin III sounds fine.

The other thing with vinyl is the artwork and packaging of the sleeves, whereas CDs usually come in a generic jewel box. I wrote these pieces about music presentation:

Often, I do not want to sell my vinyl because of how it is presented. It provides something else to enjoy while I am listening to the music. That gives me an extra reason to keep the record.

Conclusion

I was once told I was behind the times because I will not use Spotify. They are nothing but thieves and do nothing for music. I see memes from people complaining that they can only rent their music via a stream. They can still buy albums and artists would benefit immensely from that.

Thank you for reading.

These are five of my favourite record shops: