When was the last time you purchased a vinyl record? Can you even remember? Well, if you can't remember, you're sadly out of touch with the music world. This is because, according to various music associations in America, the market for vinyl records in the USA will apparantly increase by 25 percent in 2011. And the American market doesn't purchase as much vinyl product as Europe. So far from being dead, vinyl is actually making a worldwide comeback. So get onto the net and check out all the wonderful vinyl product that is out there.

I am a record collector. No doubt about it. I am crazy about singles. Those little vinyl records that were manufactured usually to support or promote the larger vinyl record called an album. The choice of songs to put out as a single always fascinates me. The record company usually has a large influence in this decision. Sometimes the choices are very strange indeed. I have made mention already about the third single taken from the Split Enz album "Conflicting Emotions". Their final album "See ya round" also produced a baffling decision by those invloved. The first single "I walk away" was a no brainer. Excellent choice. The collector in me would have loved to see a few releases of that single, in different coloured sleeves (red/black, green/black to go with the excellent black and white sleeve that appeared in the shops). The second single released was "One mouth is fed" from side one of the album. As already mentioned as well, this was Neil Finn's side of the record. Neil's ballad "Voices", which brings side one to an end is a much more rousing song, and would have made a far better single. "One mouth" sank without trace, and with it any chance of a third single emerging, or the album appearing in any overseas market besides Canada. The Canadians had always loved the music of Split Enz, and they released the album in a special grey cover instead of the usual orange one. Nice touch! Anyway, due in part to poor marketing of the songs, another chance for Split Enz to make some serious inroads into the international sales charts went begging yet again.

New Zealand music month has got me thinking about our greatest ever band. Much has been written about Split Enz, and most of it has been in glowing terms. Listen to the music though, and you realise that the Finn boys were capable of writing some pretty average tunes. The wonder is how some of them actually made it onto the albums. Before every album was due to appear on the record shop shelves, there was usually talk from the songwriters that they had far too many tunes, and only the best made it onto vinyl. Well, I shudder to think what some of the songs were like that didn't make the grade. The Conflicting Emotions album was considered by many as their weakest post-True Colours effort. Tim Finn was already thinking about his solo career, and his single taken from the album didn't set any sales charts on fire. "I wake up every night" was the third single behind the excellent "Strait old line" and "Message to my girl" (both Neil's). It does't say much for the album if this was considered the next best song after those two. "The devil you know" was much better, but that was Neil's as well. Maybe they thought one of Tim's offering had to be recognised. The final album "See ya round" was a fine album, and it was a nice touch to have all the band members contribute a song. But Neil's well was obviously not endless. He's in fine form on side one. But his offering on 'the band' side, side two, is less than inspring. With a title like "Kia kaha" you'd expect something special. It originally appeared around the time of the Conflicting Emotions album. Perhaps it should have stayed there. I can't help thinking he must have had other gems waiting in line. Just goes to show, our greatest ever songwriters were human after all. Now, when is Neil Finn going to deliver an international chart topper again?

Oh yes, by the way, there will be an interesting little Flying Nun exhibition going in to the South Library this weekend (7 May 2011). It will be there for the rest of the month of May, and possibly into June. So all New Zealand music fans, and Christchurch people in general, go and have a look. And remember to make a comment in the comments book.

It's New Zealand music month again. Every year it creeps up on me. This year, with all the seismic drama we've lived through here in Christchurch, the music month has not only crept up, bit has somewhat overtaken me. Yesterday, I pulled out one of those free weekend newspaper magazines from a pile of papers. It was dated May 2010, and featured Roger Shepherd on the cover. You know who he is, I know you do. I read the article inside, about how he has gone full circle and bought back a share of the record label he began, after spending years away from the scene. Well, it appears he was nudged out by corporate music influences, but the exact story is murky. The main thing is that he is back! The New Zealand music industry has changed so much since the golden years of Flying Nun records. I certainly hope that the commercial naivity and do-it-yourself bedroom technology which characterised Flying Nun records isn't lost entirely in the new regime. I believe there is room for both the worldly and the innocent. The giants and the minnows. Music should be allowed to be edgy, risky, low-brow, challenging, or even downright terrible. New Zealand has the ability of being at the very forefront of groundbrealking musical frontiers. We've done it in the past, and with the sense that Flying Nun records is now back home again, a brave new world of local music professionals beckons.