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For nearly 60 years, since the arrival of the long-playing record in 1948, the album has provided the soundtrack to our lives. Our record collections, even if they’re on CD, or these days, an iPod, are personal treasure, revealing our loves, errors of jugdement and lapses in taste. Self-confessed music obsessive, Travis Elborough, explores the way in which particular albums are deeply embedded in cultural history, revered as works of art or so ubiqitous as to be almost invisible. But in the age of the iPod, when we can download an infinite number of single tracks and need never listen to a whole album ever again, does the concept of an album still mean anything? THE LONG-PLAYER GOODBYE is a brilliant piece of popular history and a celebration of the joy of records. If you’ve ever had a favourite album, you’ll love Travis Elborough’s warm and witty take on how vinyl changed our world.
Reviews
He's got a happy knack of stuffing sentences with facts, colour and incident
Pleasingly compelling... Elborough is a charming, funny and frequently fascinating guide
Reassuring air of cultural authority... impressive depth of perspective... admirably persuasive
Fascinating... very fresh and clear
Wonderful book... a great thundering roar of nostalgia for the LP record.
Elborough has the passion of a true enthusiast... but he's also an indefatigable researcher, who has somehow seen a clear path through the vast amount of material to write a book that reads easily and well but also wholly coherently. Richly enjoyable.
highly entertaining
an affectionate adieu to the format
Lovingly researched
pacey narrative
Very good
a P.G. Wodehouse guide to pop history
a timely paean to the sound of the needle hitting the record
