Interesting article by Dave Stelfox in the Guardian about the demise of the 7″ single and the riddim album. Both are to be welcomed – JA 7″s are often of such bad quality as to be unplayable, and riddim albums usually consist of two decent cuts and about a dozen half-arsed attempts, and often don’t even contain the version (what we would call the instrumental). I’m sure there will be a lot of sad and nostalgic record collectors outside Jamaica though. From the article, quoting David Rodigan, who hosts the reggae show on Kiss 100 FM:
It’s a reflection of the economic realities in Jamaica that the emotional motivations of overseas collectors have for years propped up vinyl manufacture. Particularly in Europe, people still want to own reggae in that form because it helps them connect to the music’s original roots and culture. Now that’s coming to an end, though.
