I can remember when my dad bought a Dynatron stereogram with Garrard turntable back in the 1970s. My mum played The Carpenters and John Lennon and my dad would often play classical music. Their record collections were limited though and growing into a teenager I wanted my own system and own music. When I was 15 my dad bought me for Christmas, a Sanyo system of separates with a fantastic direct drive turntable with stroboscope. I had no records t that time soon started collecting. I remember when a school trip to the National Science Museum offered me and my school-mates a diversion to Harrods where we came back with various LPs, from Queen to Led Zeppelin. My choice was Eric Clapton’s 1970 debut solo album, which I still have now. I bought quite a few more with pocket money of course and one particularly memorable shopping trip was when my dad bought me 3 albums for passing my ‘O’ Levels. One of these was ‘Burn’ by Deep Purple, which I still regard as one of the seminal rock albums ever made.

Once I got into my late teens my head was turning to CDs and the vinyl collection became abandoned and it took another 25yrs for me to join the vinyl revival and think about resurrecting a working turntable. Sadly the Sanyo deck was long gone, I’ve no idea where, but my father in law came to the rescue with a poorly Pioneer PL12 which I’m managed to get running. Partnered with a vintage Pioneer amp and some suitable speakers, I now have a basic system, sadly nothing audiophile, but a start. I dare I will get a much better setup at some stage as I re-discover the charms of vinyl.

Finally getting Cosmograf on to vinyl is a big deal for me and listening to all those big rock albums in my bedroom in the 80s, it would have been quite a thrill to know that all these years later I would be making my own albums. Perhaps I should buy my mum and dad another vintage stereogram and present them with my new record…