LPs, CDs and Mp3sIt Goes to Show You Never Can Tell

When I posted yesterday's news about this Christmas being the digital music Christmas, I made an effort to find a rock quote that mentioned the technology of the era...because that 'record machine' in Eddie Cochrane's Twenty Flight Rock was no doubt affordable and portable. And check out the lyrics here in Chuck Berry's Mississippi romance:

It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well
You could see that Pierre did truly love the madamoiselle
And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell,
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale
The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale,
But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast
Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz
But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

I will assume that the 'seven hundred little records' were 45s. The common currency of rock-n-roll music for a long time until album-length rock became ascendant. And Eddie's rockin Queen would have a fine collection of Sun 45s herself. Put your cat clothes on...

Ticharu makes a great comment under the post:

I currantly own over 3,ooo CDs but the writing is on the wall. Smaller is better. Full circle can't be far behind, where once again musicians will make a living simple playing live for an audience.

And it occurred to me that full circle has already been reached, in part, as the Mp3 of a single song standing alone or in the mix of many, many songs on the Mp3 player is well and truly a descendent of that 45.

Another thought: album length vinyl is actually on the rise among certain groups. I recently thrilled to finding an album from an obscure British psychedelic band called Forest that had first been released in 1971. Looking at the cover in the Brighton Record Shop, I was perplexed to see a web domain for the record label printed on the cover. After buying the album and -- so very carefully -- taking it home, I opened it up to find I had a brand new record! Re-issued obviously, but manufactured in this decade. Delicious!