Joe Jackson's Vinyl Record Store

At a time when record stores are closing down at a rapid rate due to the popularity of downloading music from the internet Joe Jackson does his bit to offset that trend.

Archive: Summer 2009

Information on and audio links to all of the programmes from Summer 2009.

Archive: Summer 2008

Information on and audio links to all of the programmes from Summer 2008.

About the programme

Although he doesn't sell records, this summer Joe is opening a virtual vinyl outlet on-air, called Joe Jackson's Vinyl Record Store.

Why? Because Joe, who started buying records 40 years ago, is a self professed vinyl junkie, mostly because of the hi-fi sound compared to the compressed CD or MP3 file sound. And even though bands like U2 are reissuing their old albums, such as Boy, on vinyl he believes that too much magnificent music in the vinyl format has been lost along the way. Joe cites The Rock Machine Turns You On, as an example of this. It was the first rock LP he ever bought, and the one he has chosen to kick off the new series with.

It is one of those sampler albums that introduced millions of people to classic songs such as I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, by Bob Dylan, Time Of The Season by The Zombies and Sisters Of Mercy by Leonard Cohen, he says. As a cultural artefact it also has hilarious, quasi-hippie sleeve notes and all of this has been lost in time because the LP was never issued on CD.

The same is true, Jackson believes of the work of artists such as Miles Davis, Christy Moore, Doris Day, who too often have their Greatest Hits anthologised but we don't always get the original albums as they were released. The series will also feature a 'Lost singles and lost EPs' show. All of this music, however, Jackson points out, ironically, is now available in its original form on the Internet for the new generation of music lovers who download their music or buy LPs, EPs and singles.

Joe Jackson's Vinyl Record Store is produced by Aidan Butler