Max Décharné

Loved and lost | 21 March 2019

From its inception in 1948, the LP played an intrinsic part in the lives of millions, until superseded by compilation tapes

issue 23 March 2019

On 19 June 1948, the modern LP was unveiled at a press conference by the Columbia Records president Ted Wallerstein, who, as Billboard magazine reported, ‘demonstrated listening qualities of both 10- and 12-inch vinyl microgroove platters’. The company issued Frank Sinatra’s long-player, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, a week later.

The title of David Hepworth’s new book might therefore imply a starting point of 1948 — similar to the approach taken by Travis Elborough’s excellent 450-page history of the album, The Long Player Goodbye (2007) — but Hepworth’s book is both narrower and more autobiographical, largely confined to the years 1967 to 1982.

Following on from last year’s collection of articles, Nothing is Real: The Beatles Were Underrated and Other Sweeping Statements About Pop, Hepworth continues his customary policy towards potential objections, best expressed in his earlier work, 1971 – Never A Dull Moment: Rock’s Golden Year (2016): ‘The difference is this: I’m right.

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