Did you have an enjoyable National Album Day ? Last weekend, vinyl aficionados around the UK and further afield queued up in the hope of laying their mitts on such auditory delights as a limited edition pressing of Sisters of Mercy’s Floodland album (“black ice galaxy vinyl”), a green vinyl edition of All Saints’ eponymous 1997 debut and a “custard yellow” vinyl printing of The Waterboys’ iconic Fisherman’s Blues LP. This raises many questions. What is “black ice galaxy vinyl”? Are the foamy joys of Fisherman’s Blues enhanced by the addition of “custard yellow” to the experience? What would happen if you were to have a bowl of custard while listening to the custard yellow edition of the record’s hit single, “A Bang on the Ear”? Would Waterboys singer Mike Scott materialise in front of you, like the villain from Candyman and begin to warble in your living room? It has to be an outside possibility, surely.
But the real question is how humanity ever let vinyl mania get this out of hand in the first place. A few days after “National Album Day”, WH Smith announced it would begin stocking vinyl for the first time in 40 years. Next month, meanwhile, physical media fans can look forward to “ Record Store Day Black Friday” – where there is the opportunity to pay £40 for a green vinyl edition of Scarlett Johansson’s 2008 album Anywhere I Lay My Head – or, to give it its alternate title, “Scarlett Johansson Has Listened to One Song In Her.