Listening to music can be a sedentary existence. You put on the appropriate recording and settle down in your favourite chair / sofa (delete as appropriate) and let the music wash over you. Occasionally I have listened to an individual waxing on about not having to get up and change the music after 20 minutes because they can listen to a full album, with extras, via their chosen streaming application. More, they use playlists of never-ending music. To be honest, I’ve never really done or got the playlist thing. Maybe I just like to listen to someone else’s carefully crafted playlist on the side of an album… the way it was meant to be. The art-form which is sequencing a recording so it flows.

You don’t agree with me?  Well, tough! Because I’m on a roll, and I’m suggesting that it’s time to get off your lazy arse and reclaim the joy that is music. Moreover, for those who can, it’s time to reconnect with, or explore for the first time, a very special format… the compact cassette! OK, that got your attention! But I’m not going there. I mean, do you really expect me to suggest you do that? This is way better: it’s time to embrace the love for the 12” single. Five to fifteen minutes of a truly amazing listening experience.

Being a lazy arse is nothing new. In 1932, RCA Victor pioneered the 33 1/3 20-minute-long record which effectively stopped you having to get up and change your 78s. To anyone who has experienced a nice 78, you know all about the dynamics, which can be utterly jaw dropping. Spin forward and we come full circle to the revolution that is the 12”.

Take a 12” piece of vinyl and cut one long track or, at a push, two longish tracks. So what? Yeah, yeah… you need to get up a lot more to change tracks but: fewer grooves per inch of recording surface allows the engineer to cut a wider groove. As the cartridge is a vibration measuring device, a wider groove allows for larger modulation, meaning you can cut with higher gain (louder) and achieve a better dynamic range. Put simply, you give the cartridge more information to work with. Couple that to mastering at 45rpm and the results can be astonishing! Deeper bass modulation and more top-end information. A hit in the clubs with disco and dance music where gain and dynamics are required but, at home on a nice system… Oh my word, it takes you to a whole different level.

Those of you familiar with the work of Peter Gabriel, or his one time producer Daniel Lanois, will know how carefully crafted the work was. Gabriel himself launched the entire back catalogue of albums remastered at 45RPM a few years back. I have them all and they are rather excellent. But I also have a copy of ‘Biko’ cut as a 12” single and a copy of Lanois ‘The maker’ from his first and long deleted album ‘Acadie’. I’m sure there are a few interested eyebrows being raised there. Yup, definitely not club music. I have Billy Bragg on 12” too and they all make me smile but I’ve left the best to last, the stuff that might have limited engagement until you actually sit down and play it. I say sit down… it’s really quite hard to do as you want to move with the vibe of the music.

From my collection there are a number of things that just make me smile. Anything from the Frankie Goes to Hollywood camp, Heaven 17’s ‘Temptation’, Adamski ‘Killer’ with Seal on vocals, Bronski Beat’s ‘Small Town Boy’, and the mightily entertaining Right Said Fred’s ‘I’m Too sexy’ and House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’. What you all need to do is hunt out Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’. Fifteen minutes of utter infectious magnificence. Or my current favourite: Soft Cell with Marc Almond and the rendition of ‘Tainted Love 91’. The top-end pops and sparkles and the track just drives along for well over twelve minutes. About 4:30 minutes in, something remarkable happens: ‘Tainted love’ morphs into ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ in such an effortless way that it catches you totally unaware. That said, you’ll sense that something is going to happen, just not what.

So my point: don’t dismiss music either because it’s in a form that you think might be an irritation or a genre that you’re not sure about. The 12” single will get you moving and grooving to the rhythms and smiling at things with infectious regularity. Most of your favourite artists will have 12” versions of well-known tracks just waiting to be played with two obvious bonuses: you’ll hear them like you’ve never heard them before and there are versions and specific tracks that are not available elsewhere. The Daniel Lanois 12” of “The Maker’ has two live tracks on the B side. There are various remixes of staple tracks too. Take Bowie, for example. So many cracking versions of so many well known songs that take on a whole new presentation.

Go get digging into your collections or the charity bins and find some magical cuts. A word of caution, however, if you want it and it’s a good price just buy it rather than walk away. If you go back it may be gone. Do remember that lots of this stuff may have been used in clubs so will have been in and out of the sleeves leaving the surface looking a bit rough but most DJ’s look after their stylus and in turn what’s in the groove. And it’s what’s in the groove that matters.

Iain, March 2025

PS: I want a copy of Grace Jones ‘Slave to the Rhythm’ if anyone sees a copy 😉 

PPS: I was listening to Frankie Goes to Hollywood ‘Two Tribes’ on Sunday when the neighbours were out……jaw dropping bass lines.

Written with a nod to Martin L, who unknowingly sparked the need to write this all down but ironically has no way to play 45rpm 😉 It’s torture!