The pleasure principle

Some pleasures I indulge in and why you should do the same

As the quality of reissues improves and older pressings in good condition become rarer, I notice a growing trend among certain collectors: buying cheap reissues to play, and original pressings to hold. Hold, but never play, that is.

I don’t agree with this approach, but I understand the rationale behind it.

I don’t agree because I find it really sad. Your favourite record, sitting on a shelf, gathering dust. Waiting.

I enjoy certain pleasures from time to time. I’m not one to keep the fancy champagne glasses stored away for an eternity, endlessly waiting for a special occasion to justify the indulgence.

Every day can be a special occasion. Sometimes on a quiet evening at home with my husband we like to dress up. Yes, even if we are getting a takeaway pizza. I wear a nice shirt and silver cuff links, put on some aftershave… glam it up, so to speak. We open a bottle and treat it like a date.

Another great pleasure: travelling. This one was in Mexico, in a a secluded, idyllic corner, with (you guessed it) tons of champagne.

With vinyl it’s the same. Needless to say, if I spend hundreds on a rare pressing, you can be sure I won’t be spinning it every single day. All within certain measure, of course. I’m British, after all.

My point is that if you buy records primarily for enjoyment, your decisions should be guided predominantly by the type of sound or record you enjoy the most. There’s no point refraining from spinning the pressing you know will give you the most pleasure just because it’s more valuable.

If you clean your equipment properly (and regularly), the degradation will be minimal compared with the immense pleasure you will feel.

As your collection grows, the potential value of your records will quickly reach the four-digit region. Yes, a beginner’s collection can easily be worth thousands (GBP/USD/EUR).

The irony is that many collectors are blissfully unaware of this.

There’s a certain freedom when you are completely clueless about the value of your collection. A bit like a toddler playing with a diamond.

Equally, being fully aware comes with a (different) price tag attached: the should I or should I not spin dilemma.

If your main motivation is reselling (which in a way could be seen as delaying the onset of pleasure, but that’s a discussion for another day), you should be on the lookout for rare pressings of highly coveted records, and keep them as intact as you humanly can.

So yes, to maximise gains, maybe go easy with the spinning. This doesn’t mean don’t play them at all, just be careful when you do.

Some collectors buy two identical copies of the same record: one to keep in shrink and the other to play. This is a different strategy, which I myself use from time to time.

But when you only have access to that one version you know sounds better — yes, that version, the one that just feels right — and you refrain from spinning it because someday you may want to resell it, you are depriving yourself of the main pleasure the record can give you.

Besides, even if you don’t spin it, you will still need to clean it regularly. The record is not going to clean itself.

The worst you can do to a valuable record is let it accumulate dirt. Playing it occasionally gives you the chance to choose the right time to take it out of its sleeve, admire it in all its beauty, dust it off, clean your stylus, place it carefully on your turntable and… let the magic begin.

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Sometimes I feel this whole record collecting thing would be a lot easier if I didn’t like music that much or if I could swear hand to heart that I don’t give a damn about resale value. I chose the hard way, it seems.

Like with many things in life, the truth is always more complicated than we would like to admit.

Next time you find yourself wondering whether or not you should play that record — you know, the one it took you ages to find, the one you can proudly call an investment, the one your friends are jealous of — do yourself (and the record) a favour: just play it.

Carefully, slowly, ceremonially. In company or alone. But go on and play it. Savour every note, get lost in the sound. Let it take you for a ride.

At the end of the day, if you love your records, you can be sure they will love you back.

Thanks for reading or listening and, as always, happy spinning.