Wrote a blog a while back on the wonderful experience of listening to vinyl records. A nice subject to muse on. I was reading some poetry where words were put down purely for their glorious imagery and synergy in collective space. A dance of mythological, faerie, real life and surrealism. Marc Bolan did this to perfection.

Small girl with the smiling ‘gibbon
Bridled with an orchid ribbon
His curved brow in Scarlatti fashion
Boots that ride the night sky eagle.

From Salamanda Palaganda.

Bowie too.

Time takes a cigarette.

Puts it in your mouth.

From ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.

The old blog read quite long. An altered slightly ‘extract’ of a couple + of its paragraphs here.

Put on a piece of bought vinyl. ‘A’ side is ‘Dansette needle put back to starting groove’ and played and played. Turn the 45 over and……WOW! It blows your ‘B’ side mind and ecstasy extends into the profound experience of a life long vinyl loved. Actually. Many people probably understand this phenomenon when vinyl was all there was. However. No one will ever get the same personal vibe link of this personal ‘yours and yours only’ journey and experience. It belongs to that moment in time that is exclusively yours.

Then you play both the A and B sides all day long. Flipping and turning with a constant smile on your face. Great ‘B’ sides on a piece of vinyl leave you feeling the best you ever hoped for. That you realise that here is someone I could love as an artist forever, for being so prolific that the music stood the test of time. It’s simply a ‘life time and forever’ affair.

When you have lived these early teenage years of bedroom ‘lock yourself aways’. These joyful personal ‘self analysis’ with personal ‘this is my… own….written …..for……me…….music’ alongside your realisation of ‘my Gosh, Yes!, that really is me!’ stories from the profound experiences of these belong to you only lyrics that are simply yours. And yours alone. I can even hear my front doorbell, my Mum shouting my name up to me from downstairs (I think I had my music too loud) etc. within the vinyl grooves at specific points. I also still get triggered reminded of the time of year when some vinyl records were first listened to through the olfactory presence of bonfire odours, Christmas smells, Chocolate Easter eggs, etc.

Back to current.

Soon it will be time to redecorate the ‘Den’. I hope to have a bed settee/sofa bed for visitors. Also a few nicely chosen books, DVD’s, CD’s and Vinyl, alongside a decent music centre/DVD Player, the laptop and a writing space for the fountain pens on shelves with a small well thought out media centre too. A place to sit and relax. Myself, my wife and visitors too. The view from the window, depending on where I place the sofa bed, will be either ‘forest up top hill’ or ‘out to distant sea and peat bogs’. Vinyl can be played whilst sitting in comfort and drinking coffee on a comfy sofa.

Vinyl will more than likely be first choice musically. Since? CD’s and MP3’s are all ‘Angst and Maelstroms’. A situation of turmoil. Unfortunately……..nothing matches the warmth of listening since vinyl. Too clean. Need a bit of scratch noise. And a few skip a scratched out beat or two that establish the way you listen to same song from that moment on. Love vinyl. I still buy it when having the choice. In all it’s thump as the needle engages, scratch only intro and bang into intro with subsequent blips…….It establishes the imperfection of life that shows the reality of imperfection that IS life at times. And that is how listening to it embeds the songs into your memories.