The Vinyl Countdown

Ever since the arrival of the long-playing record in 1948, the album has acted as the soundtrack to our lives. In The Vinyl Countdown, Travis Elborough explores the way in which particular albums are deeply embedded in cultural history, revered as works of art or so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible. While music itself has experienced several different movements over the past sixty years, the album has remained as a constant.

The record survived the invention of the cassette, the walkman, and the CD, only to find itself on shaky ground today. In the age of the iPod when we can download an infinite number of single tracks and need never listen to a whole album ever again, does the concept of the album still mean anything? We're in the middle of a vinyl revival but the way we're listening to music has changed beyond recognition in the last ten years.

Elborough moves chronologically through relevant periods letting the story of the LP, certain genres, youth cults and topics like sleeve designs, shops, drugs, education, unfurl as he goes along.

The Vinyl Countdown is a brilliant piece of popular history, an idiosyncratic tribute to a much-loved part of our shared consciousness and a celebration of the joy of records.