Over the past couple of years i've slowly gathered a small collection of 7" singles. It's been a hotch potch of buying records in charity shops and car boot sales, getting the odd new release that looks interesting, collecting Belle and Sebastian, Shrag and Manic Street Preachers records and records from the excellent Where Its At Is Where You Are (WIAIWYA) 7777777 singles club - which offers up 7 limited edition 7"singles over the course of the year.
This has been amassed as some kind of way of having some physical manifestation of my musical tastes. Digital music is all very well and good but it is strange having all that music and not having anything to show for it - i missed that old days of having a record, cassette or CD and a sleeve to look at and read. To redress the balance i've chosen to collect 7" singles.
It had to be vinyl because it's a collection thats meant to act as an antithesis to the digital age of music and cassette and cd are both still digital music albeit it on a physical format. Vinyl is analogue - the sound is physically imprinted on it in the form of grooves. Ths gives it a different sound you don't get on an audio file.
Why singles? Well, a combination of factors. The size is more space effective for a large collection, the artwork can be quite cool and it can be a cheaper product to get and there's more to get for each artist than just concentrating on albums. Also it's a way to document great songs.
This leads me to my latest idea - which is to make a list of the most important songs to me, from the various stages of my life. Songs that have caught my ear, or spoke to me in some form. The idea is to then try and obtain all these songs on 7" singles as a document of my life and its many ups and downs.
As i make the list i'll be blogging about each choice, one per day for the forseeable future.
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