UK: DESPITE THE DOMINANCE OF THE COMPACT DISC, VINYL RECORDS ENJOY A NEW LEASE OF LIFE AS THE FORMAT FOR THE HOTTEST DANCE MUSIC AND AS COLLECTORS' ITEMS

Record ID: 387039

  • Title: UK: DESPITE THE DOMINANCE OF THE COMPACT DISC, VINYL RECORDS ENJOY A NEW LEASE OF LIFE AS THE FORMAT FOR THE HOTTEST DANCE MUSIC AND AS COLLECTORS' ITEMS
  • Date: 1st July 1996
  • Summary: STEVE DAVIS FROM EMI RECORDS SAYING "IT BREAKS DOWN INTO TWO DIFFERENT AREAS; FIRSTLY, THE REAL SPECIALISTS WHO ESCHEW ANYTHING THAT IS DIGITALLY ENHANCED IN ANY WAY AND THEY WILL SEARCH FOR WHAT THEY CONSIDER TO BE THE ULTIMATE IN SONIC PERFECTION. THEN THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT YEARN FOR THE DAYS THAT THERE WERE BIG BLACK RECORDS THAT YOU USED TO CARRY AROUND AND BE A BADGE
  • Embargoed: 16th July 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAONQF7BXR2ZXFEFQ7UUMP0JX7
  • Story Text: When the compact disc was invented in the 1980s, it seemed like the days of the old vinyl records were numbered.

    Yet vinyl is still with us, so much so that EMI records chose to celebrate its centenary with a special reissue of some old vinyl favourites, ranging from Frank Sinatra's "Songs for Swingin' Lovers" to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". The collection of twenty records - including Nigel Kennedy's "Four Seasons", "Ziggy Stardust" by David Bowie, and the Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks" - is selling so well that EMI Records executive Steve Davis says that the label is planning to release a second series later this year.

    Whilst records such as these appeal to the collector, it was really the explosion of electronic dance music which turned out to be the saviour of vinyl, because disc jockeys still need to work with turntables to produce their own original music mixes.

    Fans of the compact disc cite the almost clinical purity of sound as the main advantage of the format, whilst vinyl aficionados insist that records bring a warmer quality to the music. Compact discs are more durable; vinyl records have the added bonus of large covers with intricate artwork and handy lyrics for those who like to sing along.

    Vinyl collector Barry Winton has eight thousand records in his collection, worth an estimated 80,000 pounds. One record alone - a low-numbered copy of the Beatles White Album - is worth 12,000 pounds. The lower the serial number of the album, the closer its provenance to the Fab Four themselves.

    Yet when Winton listens to music, he's more likely to reach for a compact disc, because he is afraid of damaging the records in his collection. He specialises in the "progressive" music of the 1970s, but has accumulated records of all kinds during his career as a music journalist. According to Winton, the most valuable records are those that were issued as special promotional items, as often they contain tracks that are not included on the albums on sale to the public. Ironically, albums that did not sell well when they came out can be valuable now, simply because fewer copies exist.

    The new vinyl of the nineties is not released in vast numbers either, because fashions in dance music change so quickly.

    The London nightclub The Ministry of Sound is also Europe's largest independent record label, selling dance mixes created by the club's regular disc jockeys, who are celebrities in their own right.

    The hottest dance singles are often released only on vinyl, because they are aimed at music professionals in nightclubs and specialist radio stations, who work with turntables rather than compact disc. Whilst the most successful records are subsequently released on compact disc to reach a mainstream audience, more and more enthusiasts are playing their vinyl at home.

    Ministry of Sound Media Director James Bethell explained that the club had also started broadcasting a specialist dance music programme on Kiss FM radio in the United Kingdom, because fans as young as sixteen years want to keep up with the latest tracks, even though they are too young to visit nightclubs.

    Mark Wilkinson is a regular disc jockey at the Ministry of Sound, specialising in house music, as well as running a dance music record shop and producing his own records.

    He prefers the sound of vinyl, and says that he needs to be able to manipulate the record on the turntable to achieve a number of special effects. Sometimes he will play two copies of the same record at the same time, with a slight lapse in synchronisation to create a "phasing" effect.

    In fact, for many disc jockeys, music doesn't end with a recording - the recording itself is the raw material for their own customised version of a song, mixed live in a one-off performance.

    Now the compact disc itself may be in danger of becoming obsolete as new music formats like the CD ROM come onto the market, but vinyl seems set to survive for a while longer.

    "We're keeping the flag flying," said Wilkinson, "there's a good vibrant scene out there and there's a lot of people who are still into it".
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