I Will Not Buy This Record, It Is Scratched

Yes, this week Contrast Podcast takes us back to the age of vinyl as contributors dig up their favourite 45s and offer them up with a good side order of nostalgia. And what luscious nuggets! 'Public Image' by PiL - one of FiL's all-time favourites!! Aztec Camera's 'Oblivious!! Oh my, I'm hyperventialting

For all you youngsters in the audience, before them megabytes and shiny cee-deez came along, music often came in the form of plastic discs etched with grooves that were played on contraptions called gramophones with needles and large trumpets. Indeed, listening to music in those days was a cumbersome and dangerous process requiring complex problem-solving skills to decide whether to play one's vinyl platter at thirty-three or forty-five revolutions per minute. Getting it wrong often meant deep puncture wounds from the needles or even decapitation from over-rotating records flying through the air. You kids don't know how easy you have it...

But I digress. As usual, you can download the podcast from here, or subscribe using this digital, analog-free feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ContrastPodcast.

And now let's cue up the record, shall we?

(00:00) Scott Walker - Jackie
Tim from The face of today
(03:47) Jenny Lewis - Paradise
Eric Metronome
(07:33) Booker T. and the M.G.’s - Green Onions
Deek from Pod of Funk
(11:48) Marlena Shaw - California soul
Tim from The Daily Growl
(15:09) Nino Tempo & April Stevens - Deep Purple
Steve from Domino Rally
(18:39) The Spare Blushes - Um, yeah, whatever
Tristesse from And before the first kiss
(23:48) Superchunk - Mower
Bob from Gimme Tinnitus
(28:21) Screaming Lord Sutch - Jack the Ripper
Ross from Just Gimme Indie Rock
(31:25) Dickie Goodman - Mr Jaws
Tom from Other People’s Toys
(34:03) Stories - Brother Louie
Natalie from Mini-Obs
(38:25) Leatherface - Little white god
Jamie from The Run Out Groove
(42:53) Subway Sect - Ambition
FiL from Pogoagogo
(46:59) Pale Fountains - Something on my mind
ZB from So the wind won’t blow it all away
(50:25) Aztec Camera - Oblivious
Crash from Pretending life is like a song
(54:20) Frank Sinatra - All my tomorrows
Michael from The Yank Sizzler
(58:20) PiL - Public Image
SAS Radio

As mentioned in a recent post, I've only just managed to hook up a rickety old turntable to my PC, and the vinyl I have on hand is limited. However, I do have a couple more ripped-from vinyl tracks, both played at 45rpm that were in the running:

Carter USM - Sheriff Fatman (buy here

Ah, memories of Jim Bob and Fruitbat, two skinny blokes with squiffy hair and cycling togs onstage at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, circa 1992. And I once saw John 'Fat Bastard' Beast at Hammersmith Tube Station. But I digress - ripped (imperfectly) from the 1989 12-inch single. Oh, and USM stands for 'Unstoppable Sex Machine.'

Birdland - Paradise (buy here for one lousy US penny!!)

Birdland raged hard for about a year between 1989 and 1990. They were meteoric, carving a white-hot trail through the night sky with a clutch of fantastic songs and electric live shows. Indeed, they inspired the Manic Street Preachers to take up arms. But alas, like the shooting stars they were, they fell back down to earth and drowned in a sea of grunge, mismanagement, and a poor first album. 'Paradise' was the band's second single, and is ripped here from the 1989 12-inch released by Lazy Records.

And for those of you Hungarians wanting English lessons, I point you here.