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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