There was definitely a time in my life when I bought vinyl simply because it was there. Back in the early 2000's, it wasn't commonplace to find anything good on vinyl in high street record stores - HMV and the like typically had a small section that was mostly dance 12"s and the occasional good 7". With the HMV in Winchester I thought that by buying all the 7" records they got in that were remotely my taste, they might get more. I wanted to start the vinyl revolution myself, but I suspect it took a lot more than one long-haired dude buying vinyl in Winchester to reach the point we're at now.
A good example of this rampant vinyl buying is this 12". I was a fan of Radiohead (and still am), but was fine with just having the albums. However, this 12" single was a mere £2 in HMV (£1.80 with my student discount!) so I didn't even think twice about buying it.
First thing to note is that There There sounds incredible on 12" at 45rpm; the deeper grooves really benefit and I've never enjoyed the song as much on the album as listening to it here. Worth the price by itself. However, the things I was most excited about at the time were the b-sides - Paperbag Writer and Where Bluebirds Fly. The former is a nice song, and very indicative of where Thom Yorke's solo career was heading, as well as Radiohead to a certain extent (most recent album excluded). It's nice, but definitely not an album-candidate. The latter sounds like what I imagine a stroke is like at the start, and the glitches continue throughout whilst Thom sings some things that might at certain points be words (but mostly aren't). Again, another fine b-side, but I'm glad it wasn't on the album.
Hail to the Thief was a funny album - after the excitement of Kid A (and my inability to get into Amnesiac) I was excited to hear it, but it took a long time to get into. The trick, it turned out, was to listen to all the songs individually, rather than the album as a whole. I stumbled across this trick by accident, after my mp3 player kept playing me great songs from it when I had it on shuffle - eventually I realised there were 14 great songs on that album. A 12" single of one of the (many) highlights then seems incredibly appropriate.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 3
Cost: £1.80 new
Bought: HMV Southampton
When: 08/06/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
