I thought I’d spend half an hour to do a quick check of Spotify versus some of my old vinyl. From my crates I simply picked up the first LP for each letter in the alphabet and then checked it against the Spotify library.

Pretty much all of LPs are from the late 70s/early 80s and as expected there’s solid bulk of synth-pop, post-punk , a whiff of prog (Gabriel, Nelson, Mackay) and a few Scandinavian acts. I used to buy a record a week or so for years and turned to CDs in the mid-80s (first CD: The best of Ennio Morricone, 1984). No attempt was made to hide uncool records, so yeah — I do own Sade’s debut (who can forget that Face cover) and blues-rock.

Just browsing through the list and looking at the side links in Spotify I am pleased to see that they host the early Ultravox! records (with extra tracks, I never bothered to rebuy them on CD) and also records I never owned but probably should (Cristina’s debut [really? It sounds like Baccara. Ed]).

Ten out of 27 is not too bad, but I am not ready to throw out the vinyl just yet.

• ABC - The lexicon of love: Yes
• Babij Jar - Stalingrad: No, Norwegian punk/postpunk
• Cabaret Voltaire - The Crackdown: Yes
• Dalek I Love You- compass kum’pass: No, English synth-pop
• Echo and the Bunnymen - Porcupine: Yes
• Fabulous Thunderbirds - Butt Rockin’: No, although there’s plenty other by the band
• Peter Gabriel - II (aka Scratch): No
• Paul Haig - Rhytm of Life: No
• Iggy Pop - Lust for Life: Yes, the insurance salesman is here
• Michael Jackson - Off the Wall: Yes
• Kai Martin&Stick - Simmarna: No, Swedish post-punk/new-romantic
• Langsomt Mot Nord - (self titled debut): No, Norwegian folk/rock/tronica
• Andy Mackay - Resolving Contradictions: No, Roxy sax-man not listed
• Bill Nelson - Northern Dream: No, some Nelson is in there; but not his debut
• Only Ones - (self titled debut): Yes
• Pale Fountains - Pacific Street: Yes
• Q - none, last on P is Jimmy Pursey’s Imagination Camouflage: No
• Raga Rockers - Forbudte Følelser: No
• Sade - Diamond Life: Yes
• Yukihiro Takahashi - What, Me Worry?: No
• Ultravox! - (self titled debut): Yes
• Alan Vega - Collision Drive: No
• Waitresses - Wasn’t tomorrow Wonderful No, (but - there’s load of Ze samplers)
• X - Ain’t Love Grand: No
• Yachts - Without Radar: No
• Z - none, so last in the last crate is Young Marble Giant’s Collossal Youth: Yes