Hellooo! A while ago I took a trip to my local record store, Replay Records, and grabbed a few vinyl cast recordings! I've been slowly growing my vinyl collection and now have a good few cast recordings and soundtracks! I also recently bought a case to hold them all which I wrote a review of! I haven't seen or listened to any of the shows I bought the cast recordings of so I'm excited to listen to them all!
First, I went for the 1956 My Fair Lady Broadway cast recording featuring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. This vinyl was the bargain price of £1.99 so I couldn't resist. The cover featured an illustration along with a fair (get it) amount of text and I liked the use of red to contrast the muted colour scheme. The record also included a plain white inner sleeve.
Next, I went for the 1976 London cast recording of Hair. This was also £1.99 so again, I couldn't leave it behind! I really like the cover artwork for this vinyl and in particular, the colours in the background. The inner sleeve for Hair was an orange, CBS advertisement sleeve which I thought was quite unique.
Finally, I grabbed the 1984 concept album for Chess! This one was £3.99 as it was a double LP and I LOVE the branding throughout the whole packaging for the records. Due to the fact it included two records, it was a gatefold sleeve with branded inner sleeves for each LP. I loved the simplicity of the cover artwork for the Chess double LP and how the branding was continued throughout the inside and reverse of the gatefold sleeve, including the inner sleeves. I also loved that it included a lyrics book!
All three of these shows have also recently had revivals both in the UK and on Broadway! Over in the USA, My Fair Lady is currently residing at Lincoln Center Theater on Broadway. Meanwhile in the UK, Hair began a 50th Anniversary tour of the UK last month and a 30th Anniversary production of Chess took to the London Coliseum stage from April to June last year. I like that these shows weren't forgotten and were revived with new productions and although I haven't seen them myself, I imagine that the newer productions of these shows are modernised for present audiences.
I love collecting vinyl records as I've always liked having a physical copy of albums. I have a huge CD collection and with vinyl making a comeback, I've started to grow my collection of those too. In a world where streaming music is taking over, I still prefer having a physical copy of everything and I think it's important to support the high street and particularly independent, local businesses, such as local record stores! That reminds me! This Saturday (13th April) is national Record Store Day, which celebrates independent record stores and includes limited edition releases that will only be available on that day! I love a good limited edition so Record Store Day is always a good way to find them!
Thanks for reading!
Sophie
