Books/ A Fabulous Creation - vinyl records

By Narendra Kusnur

Book: A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives
Author: David Hepworth
Genre: Vinyl records
Publisher: Penguin Random House, UK
Rating: ****

Slowly but surely, the long-playing record or LP has made it back into the collections of aficionados. There was a time, of course, when it was the main means of music consumption, besides the radio.

British journalist David Hepwortth, who has written for music magazines Smash Hits, Q and Mojo, looks back that that golden era when LP was king. Appropriately, A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives focuses on the years between 1967, when the Beatles released their iconic Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, to 1982, when Michael Jackson made waves with Thriller .

Most audiophiles have their own stories of collecting or exchanging vinyl records. Likewise, Hepworth mentions a series of personal anecdotes, but what makes his account different is his description of how the LP became a lifestyle and status statement.

The wait for an album's release, the experience of visiting stores like Tower Records, HMV and even small outlets, the tendency of people to use records to impress the opposite sex, the thought that went into the making of album covers, the role of the Press or the disappointment listeners faced if they didn’t like something are all illustrated through examples. The writer talks about how he was lucky in one instance, when he was unhappy after buying Pink Floyd's 1969 release Ummagumma but the record store let him exchange it for Fairport Convention’s Liege & Lief.

Let’s look at some trivia and nuggets of information Hepworth mentions. To begin with, there's the origin of the term ‘album’. Earlier, listener’s had to listen to symphonies and long western classical pieces over a series of 45 rpm records. They would collect them in special wallets with different compartments. Since these resembled photo albums, the name stuck.

Examples of trivia abound. Mick Jagger began his first conversation with Keith Richards at Dartmond railway station in 1961 after he saw the latter carrying the Rocking At The Tops record with Chuck Berry on its cover. The Rock Machine was launched in 1968 as a series of budget-price compilations using songs by artistes who didn’t get much radio airplay or press coverage – it featured the likes of Leonard Cohen, the Byrds, the Zombies, Taj Mahal, Blood Sweat & Tears and even the famous Bob Dylan, because some of his songs were too long to be played on air. Wonder if Mumbai's Rock Machine band knew that.

The success of Donna Summer’s ‘Love To Love You Baby’ in 1975 created a sudden demand for ‘sex music’, and boosted the career of Barry White. By 1982, the LPs market had begun to decline, thanks to the success of the Sony Walkman portable cassette player and the tendency of flamboyant acts like Adam & The Ant, Human League and Dexys Midnight Runners to release singles. Record labels thus started introducing new features like giving bonus songs and posters with the albums to attract sales. In the case of Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell, the  album artwork was printed on the actual record.

Being such a vast subject, Hepworth is choosy about what he puts down in print, and a bit of favouritism naturally creeps in. Thus, readers may feel that while there is adequate representation of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Todd Rundgren, Fleetwood Mac and Rod Stewart, there are very short mentions of Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Queen, Grateful Dead and Dire Straits, and not a word on Deep Purple.

Readers may also tend to carefully read about acts they are fond of or familiar with, ignoring interesting tidbits about, say, Joy Division, Blondie or King Crimson. Also, this book focuses totally on rock and pop, avoiding jazz or the blues, which also had some great albums during the time-frame chosen.

These are smaller issues, of course. The larger picture of the importance one gave to collecting LPs has been covered with great depth and analysis. And there’s a real bonus at the end, where Hepworth lists a series of records that have been special to him, with a small brief on each.

There are some predictable choices, and there are some rarities. The list would definitely make you think of adding variety to your record collection. It may want you to pick up Song Cyle by Van Dyke Parks, Marquee Moon by Television or Living My Life by Grace Jones – if you find them in their physical LP form, that is.