Like many, I grew up listening to my parents’ music collection. My dad was a massive Elvis fan, and had a pretty decent vinyl collection as well. First pressings of the older records, and what I really liked, a good selection of 7”. As a little kid, I wasn’t allowed to use his Marantz set up, but when I was 7, dad set up his old Garrard record player, so I could play his records myself. Obviously, proper instructions were needed. You don’t touch the grooves, just the edges and the labels, etc. For this ‘how to look after your records, and how to play them’ lesson, he used his ‘Return To Sender’ 7” from 1962. Put the record on the platter, select the speed, drop the needle, etc. We’ve all been taught this at some stage in our vinyl journey. He showed me how to do it, and then I had to do it all a few times, to get the tick of approval. Those first notes of the song ‘Return To Sender’, always remind me of that day. From that day on, I was ‘in control’ of what I was listening to, and absolutely loved it. Still do. Sadly, my dad is not with us anymore, but his ‘Return To Sender’ 7” is now part of my record collection, and I’m very proud to look after it for him. I have even told my kids the story of how to use the record player with this record.
