Do you know 'Scythian Suite'?　-Murakami radio-

    As I've mentioned before, I collect old analogue records. These people are generally known as 'vinyl junkies': they have little interest in CDs, and downloads are like, "Where in the world are you?" Or something like that.
There is a book called Vinyl Junkies by Brett Milano (Kawade Shobo Shinsha), which has several passages that make you say, "Yeah, that's right". The author's collection is mainly rock music, but regardless of the field of music, vinyl collectors have a common mentality all over the world.
The book opens with Prokofiev's Scythian Suite. It was played by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati on Mercury Records and was blown in 1957. It was one of the first stereo records released in the world and is known for its excellent recording.

The film begins with a group of record lovers gathering in a Boston suburb to listen to this hard-to-find record in front of large loudspeakers. 'Touch the edges,' they say. 'It's round and smooth,' Pat says, tracing the rim of the record with his finger. (omitted) The coated paper jacket is carefully inspected and the eye is drawn to the black area on the disc where the sound grooves end. There is a small circled letter I (i) on it. This is an I for Indianapolis, meaning the record was pressed at RCA's Indiana plant. In other words, just like genuine drugs, there has been no cheap mixing or tampering." The state of mind to feel greatly pleased or sad over such a trivial matter is something that non-junkies can hardly understand. But fortunately or unfortunately I can understand it. Incidentally, the auction price of this LP is around a hundred dollars. To tell the truth, I also own a copy of Dorati's 'Scythian Suite'. The letter I is also stamped on the end of the groove.

I mainly collect jazz records, but if I go to a second-hand record shop and don't find anything of interest, I have a little extra time on my hands, so I end up looking through the classical boxes. Then I think to myself, "I'm bogged down in all this," but if I find something interesting at a reasonable price, I'll buy it. Scythian Suite" is one such album. It was cheap (three dollars) and I didn't even know it was that valuable until I read this book. But the playing is superb, the sound is wonderful and it is hard to believe that it was recorded more than fifty years ago. I'm still blown away by the frankly wildness of it when I sit down to listen to it in front of my big speakers. The rough-hewn, massive weight is something that has somehow been lost from modern, sophisticated recordings.
'Once the music is deceptively mellow, then the gongs join in, and the thunder rumbles again. 'This is it, this is heavy metal,' the monomaniac says loudly, which blends in with the song like a vocal part. 'Listen up, Led Zeppelin. You're a bunch of pussies!' Amazing, isn't it bliss when you can get this excited straight off the bat about a single record? Don't you think? No？?, that's fine.

This week in Murakami

I went to Amami Oshima on a whim recently and spent a lot of time on the beach picking up shellfish. I never get tired of it.