Drop the needle

I used to stare at it. A box full of yellow coloured sleeves with various images and unusual vinyl discs. I would literally pick them out one at a time. Slowly stare at the images, photos and pictures. They seemed to me like relics of an age I didn’t understand. I understood a tape cassette more. I understood how I used to take the slack out of it with a pencil, to stop it being chewed up by the cassette deck.

I learnt how to play them, carefully pulling the vinyl disk from the sleeve and gently placing it on the turntable and dropping the needle on the outside edge. I listened to a lot of different artists beyond my years. Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield, early Michael Jackson, Syreeta, Stevie Wonder, Sly and Robbie and the odd Grace Jones LP (the sleeve art was vivid as fuck to me)

Looking back on those young years in the early/mid 80s I see it not just as my admiration of music. More I see it as how ideas can be left idle, left alone and never engaged, never played, never explored. If I had a £1 for every time I had a brilliant idea I never wrote down, I’d have at least a grand to speak of in my bank account.

My point is…vinyl can look cool, but ultimately its for playing and listening to. Its an artefact with a labour of love behind it whether its Stevie or Robbie. Always keep reaching for new ideas. Some will live and grow a life of their own, some will die and disappear but they at least had their day in the sun.

Until next time, #embraceinfinity friends.