What is the role and value of vinyl records in this age? With the advent of music streaming services, what is the worth of a vinyl?
We reach out to Little Ong, an avid collector of vinyl records. He is also the co-founder and the creative director of fFurious, a multidisciplinary creative agency.
Little shares with me how he began his collection of vinyl records. He explains that back in the 80s, the music formats of the day were radio, cassettes and vinyl records.
However, radio rarely played the music he liked and cassettes had their downsides such as so-so sound quality, mould, tangled tape and whatnots.
“So when I started making my own money through part-time jobs, records were the obvious choice since they had the large artworks to ogle at and they gave you the best sound quality money could buy then.”
A Love For Music
Little has a penchant for music.
He recalls, “my earliest memory of music came from the Hui Brothers movies in the mid-70s such as The Last Message and Private Eye because of their catchy soundtracks. I also remember my mom’s disco era cassettes of bands such as Boney M and the Bee Gees.”
He also had a period where he listened to The Chipmunks who had thematic cover albums. He adds that it “likely opened the gates to many genres of music.”
However, like many – his music taste was defined during my teenage years in the 80s where electronic new wave groups segued to alternative guitar rock bands.
What started out as a plain passion for music has manifested in a vast collection of vinyl.
“There are about 800 records in my collection, with the earliest ones of 50s vocal jazz artists like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole but most are indie/alternative/shoegaze rock, some pop, electronic, folk, soul, and jazz of the bossa nova variety.”
Little shares that the first records he played were his dad’s modest collection – he remembers being drawn to Prince’s self-titled album and Michael Franks’ The Art of Tea.
“I can’t pinpoint the first record I bought but it could have been either the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack, The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Darklands or Dick Lee’s Connections – all from 1987.”
Sustained Passion
Little says that he wouldn’t consider collecting vinyl a passion, but rather enjoys the pleasure of listening to music on vinyl.
“I still listen to music through mp3s, streaming and even YouTube but when I come across an album that I really like, it makes me want to own it on vinyl.”
He says that with vinyl, it’s a format that requires a dedication to listen. The process is also more time-consuming compared to popping in a CD or the sheer convenience of streaming – it’s as analogue as it gets. But in the process of doing so, he finds that his attention to the music is more focused.
“You’ll need to have the luxury of time to play vinyl and it sure feels like a luxury to me when I’m able to spend a good stretch of time just listening to records after records and let the music transport me.”
Yet, on the quality of music on vinyl records, Little confesses, “You’ll often hear pops and crackles from an aged record or if it’s dirty, which adds to its charm. That randomness can be expected when a vinyl record is played and that’s fine with me.”
Yet another aspect that draws Little to vinyl records is its design – probably more so as he’s a designer himself.
“The first record that I had that was a bit unusual was The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, which came with a cardboard insert consisting of things such as a stand-up picture of The Beatles, sergeant stripes and a fake moustache that you could cut out.”
“Recent releases such as Cornelius’ Mellow Waves came in a packaging that had a popup gatefold sleeve that contained a booklet and a phenakistoscope animation disc.”
Little found a way to infuse both music and design through vinyl records.
He explains that given his exposure to music, it was only natural that he desired to design for music too – especially once he started collecting vinyl and became in awe at the myriad styles of art and design that grace the sleeves.
“I’ve been quite fortunate to do a fair share of designing for music through work for a music magazine, gigs, festivals, events and music releases, in all kinds of formats such as flyers. posters, packaging, publication, websites, exhibitions and more.”
The first album that he designed was for a Singaporean band, Silverspy, in 1995 which was released on cassette.
“From there, on my own and with my team at fFurious, I’m quite pleased to have worked on about 30 Singapore music releases. Most were on CDs, cassettes or digital-only releases, but there have been a couple on vinyl; one was One Man Nation’s When I Was Young, I Was Easily Amused and most recently, TypeWriter’s What You’re Feeling Is Not Enough.”
Making Memories
For Little Ong, some of his most memorable moments thus far were from when he first started collecting vinyl records in the late 80s. “I used to spend my after-school hours at record shops,” he says and begins naming a few of these shops.
“They were fun to dig at and check out new music, and great places to bump into similar-minded friends. Some things never change – I find myself digging for vinyl at shops like Hear Records or Memory Lane when I have the time. When I travel, I will make sure to check out the local record shops too.”
He recalls how a group of vinyl record lovers would meet at Peninsula Plaza on Saturdays to buy imported records from a few well-tuned friends who had mail ordered them in on their own. Otherwise, they would meet up to borrow and lend records to each other.
“I visited an old schoolmate of mine who was a fellow record collector with similar music tastes as me. He knew I had restarted my vinyl collection, and since he hasn’t played his records in years, gave me a carton of about 50 records of his. That was the best surprise Christmas present I had that year!”
When I ask if he has ever thought about stopping his vinyl collection, he admitted that he did.
“My original vinyl collection was sold off at a flea market in Clarke Quay when CDs came around, thinking that was the future of music. That counts as one of the biggest mistakes of my life!”
Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember every single title that he had in my original collection because the gap from that fateful day to when he started collecting again was about 2 decades.
“But when I restarted my collection again a few years ago, I did my utmost to locate those that I remembered to be the favourite ones from the original collection and I’ve been successful at that, even if some of them now came with heftier prices.”
Plans for the Future
I ask Little which Vinyl record he is intending to get next. He seems a little unsure. “I don’t have one in mind but I can tell you the last 3 records that I bought were Felt’s Ignite The Seven Cannons, Belle Adair’s Tuscumbia and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’s self-titled debut.”
Little Ong concludes the interview saying, “If you enjoy the music, buy the vinyl, a t-shirt or any merchandise of the band. Your support could possibly enable the band to make even more good music for you.”
To find out more about Little and fFurious, click here.
