Audio Journal by MJA Smith : 29/06/09

I've always resisted buying a USB turntable as a matter of principal. Sure, I fully accepted that having one would make recording vinyl easier, but I have a really high-spec turntable already and I was always concerned that a USB deck wouldn't compare, quality-wise. So it was a surprise even to myself that when a colleague offered me her ION system for £45 I barely hesitated before agreeing to purchase it from her.

I have lots of vinyl, but never listen to records anymore. I hardly even listen to CDs either since MP3 players came along. But would I sell my physical collection if I made a back-up on my iPod? Never. I've wiped my iPod by accident once and am still loading stuff back on over a year later. Nevertheless, in adherence to a decluttering initiative my wife commenced a few years ago I stuck some old records in a spare record bag and agreed to flog them, as painful as it may have felt, on eBay. A couple of years have passed and I've yet to part with a single one. My excuse was that I still liked the songs but wasn't especially bothered about keeping the actual records, so I needed to back them up somehow. It's not especially difficult to do this, but when your turntable lives under your bed and you don't have a lot of time, well, it doesn't take much to make you not bother.

Within fifteen minutes of setting up the ION turntable however I was already onto my first recording – the Third Version EP by sometime Beastie Boy keyboard player Money Mark. The EP includes the emotional soul vocals of 'Sometimes You Gotta Make It Alone' (listen here) and the kazoo-led funk of 'The Grade' (kind of like a Sesame Street tune from the seventies – listen here), both of which I think I heard him perform at All Tomorrow's Parties in 2004. If you like hip-hop beats and organ grooves, Money Mark is your man. This was the first record from the bag of vinyl that I'd intended to sell, but have I tried to sell it on eBay now that it's backed up? Nope. Instead I've contacted a record shop on Berwick Street in Soho in an attempt to get rid of the lot in one go.

I've been on a bit of an Eighties tip over the past couple of weeks. Some would say I've been stuck in the Eighties musically since the Eighties. There are a few reasons for my latest renaissance for the Day-Glo decade. One was buying The Virgins album (see last week – I won't attempt to rehash my praise for that excellent band / album yet again) which has almost legitimised my affections for the music of twenty-five years ago. Another was the song 'Annie I'm Not Your Daddy' by Kid Creole & The Coconuts (such a good song – I will not apologise), played toward the end of the Island Records documentary I wrote about the previous week.

The final reason was the album Fore! by Huey Lewis & The News. I bought this – on LP! How retro? – in the closing-down sale at my local Zavvi and thanks to the USB turntable finally got to listen to it. This band take me right back to school discos, 'dancing' to the song 'Power Of Love' from the Back To The Future soundtrack. It is what it is – a brash, stadium-friendly pop-rock album which now sounds woefully dated. Nevertheless, the tracks 'Jacob's Ladder', 'Stuck With You' (such a soppy tune, but I love it) and the conformity anthem 'Hip To Be Square' are all excellent. Check out just how Eighties this album is with this photo from the sleeve below.

As this is a music blog, I guess I should say something about Michael Jackson. I've never liked his music and considered him hugely overrated, but that wasn't what I was going to say. I will say this: just before Christmas, 1987, when I was just eleven years old and in my final year at primary school, we had a Christmas party in our classroom. Our teacher encouraged us to bring in tapes to provide the music, and the only one I had then was Human Racing by Nik Kershaw; everyone but me thought it was rubbish (it's not and I still love it).

The first girl I ever had a crush on brought in Bad and I remember dancing with her to the songs on that album. Consequently, whenever I hear anything from that album it reminds me of what it's like to think you're in love as a kid. Whilst I will never consider myself a Michael Jackson fan, I'm grateful to him and his music for that one, very specific and beautiful innocent memory from my youth.