“When I grew up there was a magazine called Record Collector. I suppose it’s still around. To some extent this phenomenon sums up the essential difference between today and yesterday. Years ago, you and I collected records. It was an art and we spent a lot of time perfecting the art.
In Åhus, the small seaside village of 9,000, where I spent my teenage years, there was no record store. So, the urge to collect must have come from some other place.
Acid House Kings | Would You Say Stop?
Our father, who was and is a massive Elvis Presley fan, dedicated a full room to his record collection. Or more specifically, to his Elvis Presley record collection. Maybe 400 or 500 Elvis Presley albums filled the room, making it a strange, a little religious place. Of course, Elvis Presley, did not release 400 or 500 “real” albums, but bootlegs, rare compilations or one-market-only versions made the art of record collecting possible. And desirable.
In the 80s and 90s, the amount of time I spent in record stores, at record fares, and on mail order lists was by most people’s standards enormous. Looking back on it, it makes no sense to spend that amount of time for the music alone. It must have had something to do with the records themselves, the 12” and 7”sleeves and the art of collecting.
The greater the difficulties in finding what you wanted and the more time you spent, the sweeter the sensation when you hunted down your quarry. It was a fantastic feeling. Success! Victory! Superiority over other members of the human race! There was a small, but important difference between the people who owned Brighter’s “A Winter’s Tale” flexi and those who did not. And it felt really good to be among the 300 (or 500 or 1,000) who owned it.
And who said size does not matter? It does. Comparing the gatefold sleeve version of The Smiths “The Queen is Dead” to its digital sibling is both unfair and unnecessary.
And then we have the sound issue. All cherished mid and late 80s CDs sound, well, terrible. Whereas your vinyl versions of the same albums spinning on your Rega Planar 3 turntable sound alive, warm and just lovely
Acid House Kings | Under Water
When our first single was released in 1992, it was on vinyl of course. The songs are quite frankly bad, but I still love it, especially the format (a 7” four track EP).
We hope our new album “Music Sounds Better with You” will be seen as a classic pop album. At least, the vinyl version has all the attributes of one. It’s 10 songs. Five songs on side A, five songs on side B. Just like it should be. It’s short, just over the 30 minute mark. Just like it should be. The cover looks splendid as a 12” poster. Just like it should.
Music is something you consume, but records are something you collect.” —Niklas Angergård
Acid House Kings’ brand new Music Sounds Better with You will be released on vinyl on March 22nd.
Acid House Kings Official Site | Myspace
