Light out for the territory: why you should never get a second copy of a favourite album

"That's why I cover my ears when you talk to me / That's why ..."
- Tom Vek, The Lower The Sun

So there I was, a few days go, bent over a box of cheap CDs in a charity shop. I say cheap, they were in fact cunningly-priced - a pound each or three-for-£2. CDs, eh? Clunky, plastic-y things. I've mentioned them before on this blog. Out of fashion and ignored for years but now known to be a "bargain" among the muso types who trawl the charity shops ("There's never been a better time to buy CDs. Look at these! 10p each, including Best Of Joy Division ..."). They're not, speaking as a format-agnostic, especially my thing but they're not something I avoid either. I'll get 'em if they look good, I won't if they don't. This isn't my point though. No! What I'm talking about here is not so much format fatigue or format fashion - but format double-up fear! Or something like that. Back to my charity shop story: so after I'd rifled through the big box of CDs I ended up with six discs for the princely sum of £4. One of them was a Tom Vek album, We Have Sound. Know it? Pretty good (I'm listening to it again as I type these words of wisdom ...). At the time my thought process as I looked through the box of CDs was something like this: "Ah, Tom Vek, yeah not bad. I've got an album by him which is decent. This is probably worth getting. Er, hang on, could it be that this is the one I've already got though? What's the one I've got actually called? Hmm, no idea!" Etc. 

Tom Vek: the one and only!

So, in a toss-up between the Vek and a Hot Chip CD, I got the Vek. Why? Because I've already got quite a bit of music by Hot Chip, while Vek is more of an unknown quantity. And - of course - it turns out We Have Sound is the same album I already have on vinyl. Fuck! Money wasted. One of my three-for-£2 CDs - worth 66.66 pence recurring - gone, money down the drain! Hmm, music on more than one format. Has it ever been a good idea? My instinct has always been that it's unnecessary, wasteful and innately conservative. My musical mission, so to speak, is to get my hands (ears?) on as much good music as I can before I die (or go deaf). Having music on more than one format is a distraction, acting as a sort of drag. What I want is diversity, not duplication; onward movement, not doubling back. Anyway, this has been my lifelong rule (or instinctive approach). If I see a second-hand album for sale at even the cheapest price I won't buy it if I know for sure I already have it (on whatever format). Regardless of the "appeal" of the thing at hand. I could be in a down-at-heel charity shop confronted by a Velvet Underground Andy Warhol vinyl (first pressing, mint condition blah blah) priced at five pence and I still wouldn't get it. Nope, I've had that sucker for years! I stick to this even in situations where I've got "just" a home-recorded C90 tape of a particular album. Why get it again? Just to have a CD copy or whatever? Pointless! Self-indulgent even. (Full disclosure: the only exception to my don't-get-extra-formats rule has been the few things I've downloaded - for free - for a bit of computer-based DJing, though even this has been fairly rare). No, the point has always been to go into new musical territories, not retreat into terra cognita. 

To me, the £50 quid man phenomenon was always an abomination. Middle-aged music-buyers going to Fopp or HMV and buying CDs of albums they already had on vinyl (then possibly jettisoning all their vinyl, or - like a mid-price Dorian Gray - putting them all in the attic). A perfect example of capitalistic over-consumption. Do you really want to enrich a record industry so cynically greedy that it would push a buy-it-all-again project? How the executives at RCA, EMI, Warners etc must have enjoyed the sight of people buying all their music again, but ... at higher prices. They're still at it of course. Just with the formats reversed. Now you're supposed to junk your CDs and buy - re-buy or even re-re-buy - all your favourite ("classic") albums on newly-expensive vinyl. Ideally as part of the latest "Record Store Day Drop". You will consume! And on this date! Anyway, leaving all this - the grosser side of music consumption - aside, what of the more subtle quandaries of format duplication that I began by talking about? Is it ever worth getting a duplicate copy of a decent album (or single or whatever) on a different format? My answer: no. Never! OK, I'll admit (from memory) to having availed myself of a second copy (on CD) of New Boots And Panties!! and The Head On The Door because they were literally being given away. But even this type of format duplication is not to be encouraged in my opinion. No, like Huck Finn, you've always got to light out for the territory ...

So, will I actually keep my needlessly-purchased duplicate Tom Vek? My Vek clone. Maybe, at least for a while. But if you read this blog and you want a CD of Tom Vek's We Have Sound - get in touch, you can have it. Only, I'll be requiring absolute proof that you don't already own a copy ...