Record Fair
I was excited to stumble across a record fair. I hadn’t heard one was being held in Stirling on the weekend I was in town, so it was good to feel that buzz I get when I see the opportunity to browse music with like-minded folk. Maybe it’s my age, but I was brought up with physical media and even that was scarce in my youth due to the cost. Taping music off the radio and swapping records for a listen was common. There were only one or two television programs featuring bands. Dedicated music channels and streaming was not a thing.
There has been a resurgence in vinyl records which is good to see. I have a record player, but I don’t have the space at present to have it setup along with my vinyl collection, the bulk of which is wrapped up in storage in my garage. The rare vinyl I have is under one of my desks for safe keeping. My book collection and guitars and synths along with a sizeable CD collection take up what space I have, along with my writing desk. I’ve never been a sound purist in the sense I don’t bother what media is being played, it’s the music rather than the sound quality that I’m interested in. I’ve collected CD’s for many years mainly due to space and portability. If my study was twice the size then I would have the record deck setup. I do miss the large cover art that accompanies a vinyl record and I need a magnifying glass (which I do have) to read the small print on the CD inset, but such is the allowances I have to make.
Browsing online has its place, but for me it does not match the thrill of finding something I don’t have in my collection, didn’t know existed, or had an idea it did, but hadn’t got around to tracking it down. I spend a huge amount of time online due to my job, my research and my writing, so browsing online for stuff is something I do, but I much prefer to be out as it helps to reduce my online time, while finding it more enjoyable.
I’m a huge fan of Pink Floyd and collect music and books to do with the band. The image accompanying this blog post shows the two CD singles I came across while at the record fair. I didn’t have these in my collection so I was very excited to make the purchase. I have the tracks on other CD’s, but I didn’t own that physical media and hadn’t actually seen them before. The first was Learning to Fly from 1987, the second one High Hopes from 1994.
Although I have the album the single Learning to Fly is taken from, this CD single is an edited version of this track along with an edited version of One Slip. The third track on the CD is Terminal Frost and is the same as the album version. What is exciting for me is the fourth track which is an additional take of Terminal Frost which is described as a DYOL version. This stands for Do Your Own Lead and the track is a remixed version without the guitar parts. I didn’t know this version existed and as someone who plays guitar, has a black fender strat and Dave Gilmour is of my favourite guitarists, this was a fantastic find. It makes playing along with the track so much fun, allowing me space to improvise and experiment with both the music and the tone.
High Hopes (one of my favourite Pink Floyd tracks) is described as a Radio Edit version along with Keep Talking, also a Radio Edit. The third track on the CD single is a live version of One Of These Days, recorded at Niedersachsenstadion Hannover in August 1994. This is where my geekiness really shines through. Immediately I had a mystery on my hands, as I didn’t know if I had ever heard this version. Once back home I checked the Pulse CD (a live recording in the UK and Europe according to the sleeve) and noted that this doesn’t contain a live version of One of These Days. The DVD concert footage of Pulse does contain a take, but this was recorded at Earls Court in London in 1994. I have managed to find another version that up to this point was unknown to me.
Believe it or not, I only paid ten pound in total which was a real bargain. I paid cash, which is a rare thing these days, but I still carry a couple of notes with me and I can’t be certain but I’ve a feeling they were only taking cash as a payment machine costs money and being in the Thistle Shopping Centre, there are ATM’s less than a minute away. It was random chance I turned up that day, and the fair was already in full swing when I arrived, so I was lucky to be able to add these two worthwhile additions to my collection.
The Fiction Factory 