By most people’s reckoning, 1991 was a strong year for albums (apart from those a little older who cite 1972. Whatever). Screamadelica, Out of Time, Loveless, Blue Lines, Achtung Baby. Oh and err… Nevermind of course. 
So, it might surprise you to know that Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque (from where What You Do To Me came) finished above all but Nirvana’s grunge-juggernaut in NME’s end of year top albums poll, beating even that Spin magazine’s own list.
Not bad for a band who were once described (to me at least) as sounding like listening to your Dad mowing the lawn.
Tag Archives: my bloody valentine
The Art of the 12” Single. And a Cry for Help.
Much of my vinyl attic “archive” (as I never refer to it) is made up of 12” singles. I think the first one I ever bought was Thompson Twins’ King For a Day picture disc, sadly no longer in my possession and probably thrown out when my sense of undergraduate post-modern irony was underdeveloped. Which makes me wonder what that Rick Astley one is still doing in there…? And that’s where my problem lies… Continue reading
The price of vinyl
So, as I continue to explore my boxes of vinyl in the loft, I think it would be nice to have some more up to date records to listen to and write about. Most of my collection stops around 1992 after the purchase of my first CD player and this means that there’s a lot of really great albums I own which I can’t really write about. DJ Shadow, Blur, The Beatles, Orbital et al all only exist on cd in my world.
That in mind I’ve been looking at how much new(ish) vinyl costs. And I’m astounded. It’s become a rich man’s play thing. The new Bowie album will cost £23 when it’s released (fittingly on April Fool’s Day). The Beatles stereo remasters are £20-£30 a pop, or £350 as a box set. Suede’s new one? £16 please.
Record at Random 