I love TYA...

Singles probably don’t matter as they once did, but the term ‘singles’ lives on even in the digital age. Only now it refers to one track. It’s nowhere near the same thing as it was but I think it lives on because listening to a single track is something you want to do, not wanting to spend 40 minutes listening to an album.
I have 11 boxes of singles, you’d love them if 7”ers are your thing. I used to have 5,000 but I sold about 3,500 that were not interesting which I’d got in job lots, so what’s left is either classic or rare or unusual like this Ten Years After German single. I love TYA, as you know and have almost every UK album and single released and a few European single releases, including French promo’s.
This single, two tracks from the Rock n Roll Music To The World album in 1972, illustrates well what I find about singles that is so seductive. It feels like an antique, being 52 years old. And has travelled down those last 52 years unscathed. I love that. It’s history, art and music, all in this little package. It’s a picture sleeve, so you get a live photo from the early 70s to go with two tracks which last 7 minutes in total. It wasn’t a hit so it’s probably quite rare, though not expensive. The music exists in isolation - just a blast of rock from a very good album.
I also like that to play them, you have to sit by the turntable, taking them on and off. Making an effort is good. But everyone who collects singles knows this already. I can see why they’re attractive to some young people - they seem to be from long ago and something of a curio. This only came out in Portugal, Germany and Austria, which again is something from the past. Most things are universally available on the internet.
The fact singles are widely derided as much as those who collect them are, makes me love them even more. Over the next week’s I’ll show you some more from my excellent collection.

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