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Tracklisting & More Information
Side 1. Celtic Requiem
Side 2. Nomine Jesu
Coplas
The 33rpm Vinyl Long Player, or LP as we know it today, began its life in 1948 as a replacement for the more fragile 78rpm shellac discs. The main benefits of the vinyl LP were improved durability and the capacity to record up to 30 minutes of music on each side. However, it wasn’t until the mid-1950’s, and the birth of Rock N Roll, that sales of vinyl LP's began to escalate.
Pressings from the UK have always been highly regarded amongst collectors. This is especially true of LP's manufactured during the 60's and early 70's. The superior quality of the heavyweight vinyl, along with the technical skills of the cutting engineer, meant that sound reproduction was always of the highest standard. Genuine UK deep-grooved first pressings, direct from the master tapes, can now achieve huge prices and are much in demand in Mint condition.
The first stereo LP's became available in 1958, however these did not become really popular in the UK until the mid-to-late 1960's, making early UK stereo pressings, and late UK mono pressings, very scarce today. Many albums in the 60’s were issued in both mono and stereo versions. Opinion is divided about which is best, with both recordings offering a different listening experience.
Picture sleeves on UK LP's evolved throughout the decades. Imagery progressed from simple band photos towards more imaginative designs that were sometimes more memorable than the musical content. Psychedelic covers were often as weird as the sounds on the record inside! Many collectors regard the sleeve to be just as important as the vinyl and UK album sleeves from the 60's & 70's can be sought after as much for their high standards of manufacture as their imagery. Many UK sleeves were laminated, and the strong flip-back construction has helped many of them survive today. They are pure works of art that the compact disc era has not been able to match.
From the late-70’s and into the 1980’s the packaging became more elaborate, often including printed inner sleeves, lyric inserts, a bonus poster or some other novelty. Record companies kept finding new gimmicks to help sell their product and many of these extras were exclusive to UK issues.
By the early 90's demand for vinyl albums was in decline; CDs were becoming the dominant format, to the point where many artists no longer released their albums on vinyl. When they did there was just an initial first pressing, limited in number and quickly deleted from catalogue. However, recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in vinyl, both new and old. Classic albums are once again being remastered and reissued, sometimes as limited edition audiophile pressings, although many collectors still believe the original pressings sound best. Whatever your preference, vinyl is here to stay, and although the debate rages on over the superior sound characteristic of vinyl compared to CD, there is no doubt that UK vinyl LP's are among the most desirable pressings of this superb format.
LP RECORD
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