I’ve never been what you might call a collector of vinyl. I started out in the late 70s picking up tracks that I liked, and eventually bought vinyl to play out with as a Hip Hop and House DJ. 99% of my vinyl collection was used as a tool, a receptacle that conveyed music to the dance floor, thus what I have left isn’t exactly in the very best of condition. But now that I have the space and cashflow, I’ve started collecting vinyl and am picking up tracks that I should’ve had in the first place.
But last week, after picking up a lesser known electro gem from 1984, in mint condition and still sealed, I experienced another vinyl-based dilemma — should I treat this sealed gem from almost 30 years ago with reverence, put it on the shelf, and leave it in its factory fresh condition? Or should I do what is supposed to be done with vinyl and play the damned thing?
The track, Video Control by X-Ray Vision, existed on a less than ideal cassette recorded from the John Peel Show way waaay back when I was a fledgling DJ. It’s only in recent times that I’ve decided to restart my record collection, and fill the gaps, as well as buy new vinyl too. But doing so has led me to question my motives a little. I seem to be in state of mind where I buy vinyl because I can, because I want to say I own them, but struggle with the concept of breaking the seal to play them at all, which seems quite wrong to me.
So vinyl collectors, what do you say? Are you all about buying records to play and enjoy them, or simply to look but not touch? It did pain me to open the sealed vinyl, but I do feel better having unwrapped it, put it on my turntable and actually play it, something that I plan to do all the time now. It’s about the music rather than the future value for me.