Many years ago, when I was very young, my grandma and I would go to the local auction each weekend, looking for interesting bargains - basically, it was a place that sold off the contents of dead people’s houses. Invariably, I’d find many many things that I wanted to buy, and bid on them for 50 pence; usually, I’d win, and my grandad would end up having to come out with the car to collect us, and all the junk that I’d won. Some of it was useful, old computer gear, stereos, that kind of thing, most of it was absolute trash and went straight into the bin - after discovering that it didn’t work, then taking it apart and failing to repair it, usually due to losing interest.

One such purchase I made, was a 1960’s era portable record player, made by fidelity; the picture on the left is, bar a few slight differences, exactly the same as the one I bought for around 50 pence. Upon getting it back home, I plugged it in to see if it work, and it did, quite spectacularly. My grandma went rooting around in her bedroom, and came back with about 60 gramophone records, dating from between 1940 and ~1960, which we proceeded to play. She then promised to give them to me if she could use the record player to transfer them onto cd. This was duly agreed, and I’ve been hulking about 1/2 a tonne of shellac around with me since I began living on my own.

While tidying my room, which invariably looks like a bomb has hit it with clothes strewn everywhere, I came across the box of records, and spent the afternoon listening to them. There’s something about the way the music sounds emenating from the one mono speaker that the record player has, combined with the scratchiness of the needle. It’s raw, full of emotion, completely unlike the music of today. I think I’d happily trade places with someone living in the 40’s just on the basis of the music they had. Yes, the music only plays for 4 minutes before you have to change the record, but that makes it extra special, you’re involved in the sound itself, not a mere observer.