I'm going to be completely self-indulgent for a few moments and mark this blog's 14th birthday. I don't consider it an achievement as such, but it is very odd and unexpected.
When I first got things rolling on 21st March 2008, I was sat with my laptop on a cheap IKEA sofa in a poky flat in Walthamstow with a small plastic box of 45s at my feet. At that point, I reckoned I would have enough material stashed to one side to keep the blog active for a year or so, and then who knows? Certainly, the idea was never for this to be a long-term project; rather, similar to the many other corners of blogspot, my imagination didn't stretch beyond getting read by 40-50 like-minded people who enjoy a bit of a conversation before I got tired and abandoned the whole idea.
I've completely ploughed through that plastic tub of singles since, moved house twice and changed jobs (although my domestic arrangements are a separate/irrelevant issue, I realise) and for the last decade at least, the blog has been sustained by whatever records I've managed to unearth in any given month. They're sifted through, sorted into piles of uninteresting mediocrity, unexpected novelty or genuine goodness, then the best examples are ripped to mp3, scanned and uploaded. As strategies go, it's incredibly flawed and depends on me quickly finding interesting records that haven't already been given wider exposure - a harder task as the Internet gets increasingly crowded and the likes of Spotify and brilliant labels like Cherry Red become more efficient at hoovering up obscurities and making them available to the public.
If ever you've spent a month on this blog where the pickings have felt slim, that's the reason. It's only as good as the material I'm able to find, but I'm more often than not rescued by the peculiarities of the music industry - especially in the sixties and seventies - and the near bottomless pit of material out there.
Whether this blog is still here next year or not - or indeed, whether we all are - is up to so many delicate and niggling factors, but hopefully I've got another good twelve months ahead. That's as far into the future as I can ever really look. And now... back to business, I think. And a big salute to everyone else who is still mp3 blogging even though it's supposed to be a "noughties thing".
10 comments:
Belated happy 14th! I don't remembered how I stumbled across your site, but it's been an absolute goldmine and a pleasure to read. I regularly listen to "The Dance" by The Colours thanks to you.
Hello, we have the blogs www.Classic-Rock-Covers.com and ChilloutSounds.blogspot.com/ If you want put our links to your Blog List. We already put your blog to our Blog's Blog List. Thank you! :)
Happy 14th from a devoted listener.
Thanks for all the hard work, I've been enjoying the blog for years!
Many happy returns! You are doing an excellent job and we all thank you for this!
Congratulations David with the 14th !! anniversary of this blog
Hopefully you stay for a while, and I will thank you so much for the sometimes hard to find songs you've posted
Greetings from Belgium
Albert
....a couch and a tub of undiscovered to my ears singles....heaven!
Congratulations! And thanks so much for all your work. I've discovered a mountain of great music through your site and expertise. I hope it's as rewarding for you as it is for your audience.
i first started flicking throgh boxes of singles around 1967 in 2nd hand shops, so it's nice to be doing that again especially as this box contains added info the odinariynes of which with the possibility of an unexpected surprise makes it addictive.congratulatios for 14 years... which was my age in 1967 !
14yrs! Well done, I try to visit here weekly, and I’m often surprised at the ‘treasure’ you uncover, keep up the good works.
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