In 78 Everyone Born In 45 will be 33⅓

Introduction

This is a nine-year-old excavation from Seven Days In With A Few extras thrown in.

Chris Morton designed a lot of the artwork for the label and this is my interview with him here.

And one of his exhibitions

In 78 Everyone Born In 45 will be 33⅓

"In 78 Everyone Born In 45 will be 33⅓" was a very clever tagline for a Stiff Records compilation "A Bunch of Stiffs".

This is what it says on Wikipedia:

The label's marketing and advertising was often provocative and witty, billing itself as "The World's Most Flexible Record Label". Other slogans were "We came. We saw. We left", "If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth a Fuck", and "When You Kill Time, You Murder Success"[4] (printed on promotional wall clocks). On the label of Stiff's sampler compilation Heroes & Cowards was printed: "In '78 everyone born in '45 will be 33-1/3".

Thinking about it, this statement is true every century.

For those who need an explanation singles play at 45 rpm and LPs play at 33⅓ rpm and the album was a compilation of singles released in 1978. That got me thinking again about numbers and measures, how inconsistent they are in certain areas. Imperial weight you have 16 ounces to a pound, 14 pounds in a stone, a hundredweight is 8 stone (112 pounds), then a ton is twenty hundredweight.

For vinyl playing speeds we have 16 (usually for spoken word), 33⅓ for long playing albums , 45 rpm for singles and 78 rpm for singles prior to the seven inch and made out of shellac rather than the more durable vinyl.

I know it's #33 but I am choosing "33⅓" by Jesus and Mary Chain because every time I get the chance to include one of my favourite bands I will take the opportunity, and it gives you more decent music to listen to.

And Some Songs

I could have dropped this in the Vocal Critique or Art Communities but that would be cheating as it is really some observations related to the nature of vinyl records and some vinyl records that are in my collection, so they can be part of this short playlist.

These are some of my Stiff vinyl records some 45s and and some 33⅓s

Devo - "[I Can't Get No] Satisfaction"

Although this was originally released on Booji-Boy records the version I have has the Stiff imprint on it which you can see if you zoom in on the picture, and this ended up on many Stiff and other compilations.

This is an "unusual" cover of the Jagger/Richards Rolling Stones classic that some Stones fans were not happy about, but I believe Mick and Keef thought it was great and so do I.

Jane Aire and the Belvederes - "Yankee Wheels"

This is an absolutely brilliant record and I decided I'd like a vinyl copy and it was going for ridiculous money. I checked again a few weeks later and the price had dropped into the realms of affordability.

I don't know how to describe the sound of this, but take a listen and tell me what you think.

Larry Wallis - "Police Car"

A live take on this is on the Five Live Stiffs album but this is the single and it is an excellent riff-driven song. Larry was originally guitarist with The Pink Fairies and their albums are definitely worth searching out, especially the songs "City Kids" and "Do It" and they did a twenty-minute version of "Uncle Harry's Last Freak Out" which was captured on the first Glastonbury Album.

Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias - "Snuffing In A Babylon"

I went to see this musical at Drury Lane in London and they were selling sticks of "Snuff Rock".

So I'll close this piece here, and thank you for reading and listening to a bit of my present and past.