Every Record Tells A Story and i40 Publications – the book publishing arm of Everything Indie Under 40 – are today hugely pleased to announce the publication of a new book – a “Greatest Hits – And More!” of the blog called Every Record Tells A Story: A Vinyl Handbook
You can buy the book by clicking this link to the online store
The journey a record has taken by the time it reaches your turntable is a long and convoluted one.
There’s the life experience of the musician, the events in their life that shaped them, the hours spent learning an instrument or how to sing, and the craft of songwriting, perfecting their voice, the thing they want to say that will chime with the experiences of others.
Then, if they’re lucky, there’s going out and performing, getting a record contract, putting the songs onto tape in a recording studio. It’s already a miracle.
Once the record is released, it might sell a few thousand copies, or a hundred, or millions. It’s a statement by the performer and writer of how they feel: right there, right then, it’s the most honest expression about what it’s like to be, say, Aretha Franklin, teenage mother of two children given up for adoption, or Tony Iommi who loses the tips of two of his fingers the day he is due to turn professional as a musician, or even Andy Mackay, about to board a train and bump into Brian Eno and form a band called Roxy Music.
Then there’s the journey the record itself takes…
Once made, the physical record is bought by, say, Cathy Davies in 1970.
Cathy cherishes it, but she later divorces, or dies, or falls on hard times, or stops listening to the record for other reasons – who knows? – and then it changes hands again a few times maybe, before the record lands in my record collection, and I look after it, until I eventually pass on, and my wife or kids chuck it on the skip, or sells it to the local record shop, and so the whole process begins again.
It’s quite a journey, and there’s a story to every record that’s made.
It is all these many journeys that the Every Record Tells a Story blog seeks to capture, and which now, for the first time, you can read in an actual, physical book.
Perfect for those moments when the broadband fails.
EDIT: the book is now sold out
The new book, Every Record Tells a Story: The Vinyl Handbook is published on the 21st September 2020 by independent publisher i40. The indescribable thrill of having a signed copy may even be available if you contact me on Twitter (@Every Record). The downside is that it will be signed by me.
The book features a foreword by the very lovely and wonderful best-selling author of Broken Greek, Pete Paphides, and is partly filled with off-beat stories about our favourite musicians, and is partly a guide to help make the most of your LPs, turntable and music collections.
The stories include:
Why the Flaming Lips aren’t stoned quite as often as you might think …
… what links Black Sabbath to Gypsy jazz and talcum powder …
… the link between Gwyneth Paltrow and Brian Eno that isn’t Coldplay.
Why Bernie Taupin’s mum is a tidying sort of hero …
… why Chris de Burgh may have held a grudge against Nick Drake …
… and why, despite what Journey may have you believe, there is no such place as South Detroit …
… all while deciding whether to buy these records on vinyl or CD, what to look out for when buying second hand, and why it all matters … or doesn’t matter.
Record collecting is easy, perhaps, if you have loads of money and only buy new records. But there is much to be enjoyed from finding bargains in the second hand racks – especially if you know what to look for – and sometimes those bargains can sound better than the newer, often more expensive, records too.
The Vinyl Handbook will contain a few new musings for regular readers together with articles that hopefully will be regarded as old favourites (rather than wayward, annoying nephews) to long-standing readers of the blog. There’s plenty you won’t be able to find online. All in all, everything you need to sharpen your record buying skills while reading about some of your favourite LPs and the musicians who made them.
On a personal note, I never dreamed when starting the blog in 2012 that I would end up on national telly, on the radio and much less with a book published, just in time for Christmas, and in a format that appears ideal to fit into Christmas Stockings and which may make the vinyl-and-music-loving people in your life love you just a little bit more. Or something.
So I would like to say thank you to everyone who has dropped by and read my meanderings over the last eight years. All this is your fault thanks to your support and encouragement.
Every record tells a story 
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