After having been
compensated for my vinyl loss due to the flood at the end of May, I’m feeling mixed emotions right now.
I’d have preferred the whole affair had never happened, but it did so one has
to bite the bullet and come to terms with the situation. Loads of my records,
some of them my most treasured and valued, were either destroyed or completely
devalued due to the surprise bursting of a pipe behind the bathroom sink. Having said that, I had just started to
catalogue my collection on Discogs a month or two before. Once I actually knew
how many records I’ve got, the next step would have been to sell quite a few of
them and free up some space. I can’t lie when I say that a large number of
those damaged would have been up for grabs.
So in that
respect the disaster saved me a lot of work. I wasn’t in a hurry though, and
could quite happily have let events take their course, selling at a leisurely
pace would have been no problem for me. The water changed all that however. So
this morning I took a load down to the council tip. This wasn’t a pleasant
experience, as each time I threw a few into the skip, the one on top looked up
at me and induced multiple Proustian moments. Short term memory has fluctuated
over the years, but I am effortlessly transported to another time and place
after having exhumed older records to play them. Unfortunately this wasn’t such
an occasion. Old blokes at the tip felt sorry for me, I could see it in their
eyes. One or two approached me and asked what I was throwing away and why.
‘Have you got any albums there mate?’ ‘Some” I said, ‘but they’re damaged and
mouldy. You’re welcome to take what you want, but I doubt you’re into early
noughties Chicago-inspired house.’
It wasn’t just
that, but there was lots of it. Lavish Habits comes to mind, as well as Greens
Keepers and a load of Brett Johnson stuff. Aesoteric Records, Panhandle Records
. . . I loved this stuff . . . I had to
chuck Dave Clarke’s albums away, not that I’d played much of this stuff for a
long while, but that’s not the point. Memories came and went so I shut my eyes
while putting them out of their misery. The memories and the records that is,
most of which had been contaminated by mold over the past few weeks lying at
the top of the stairs. Had I been able to save them all I would have, but the
house is far too small to be able to have vinyl covering every available square
centimeter. In any case, another plus is that I’m now going to be a lot more
selective.
I haven’t bought
many records since the start of the year, and don’t feel that I’ve missed out
on much. I also feel that the market is stagnating a bit. I always have a list
on the go at Juno, and often take a while to get around to buying what’s on it,
usually being spurred into action buy one or two choice bits disappearing from
it while I procrastinate. However, recently stuff has been staying put for a
lot longer. Maybe what I’m interested in has suddenly become less in demand,
but I don’t think it’s that. Discogs is playing a bigger and bigger role and
the market is becoming more self-perpetuating. Anyway, what next?
