Old vinyl returned to WCL after 30 years

Wellington City Libraries has always had a music collection for our patrons to borrow. The original format for this service was, of course, vinyl.

The Wellington City Library vinyl collection dates back to when the 1939 Library (later to become the City Art Gallery in 1992) opened. At that time they wanted to make a statement with ‘new’ and ‘modern’ collections, the establishment of a “gramophone record” collection and a listening room was part of that.

Initial offerings were of the classical genre only, with later some spoken word recordings, such as Shakespeare and poetry. This was long before the introduction of the LP, so this material would have been on shellac 78s, and an 'album' would have been a large photo-album type book containing multiple 78 shellac discs in individual sleeves.

Like all public library collections, it moved in tandem with the evolution of popular music and societal shifts, going on to encompass everything from children's music to modern jazz, pop and rock bands, as well as plenty of New Zealand material.

Many people no doubt have fond memories of numerous old record shops in Wellington, and our vinyl collection was popular for a number of years in the basement of the old library building. However, vinyl as a format would begin a slow decline following rise of the compact disc in the 1980s, and the EMI record pressing plant shutting down in 1987.

It made its way to the new Central Library building on Victoria Street when it opened in 1991, but was disestablished as a viable lending collection in 2001. Vinyl, much like VHS tapes, was seemingly consigned to a certain time in our collective cultural history, never to return.

Or so we thought at the time... but 15 or so years later we found ourselves the first library to relaunch vinyl to a new (and older) generation of music lovers, and we now have vinyl collections in four sites across our library network: Te Awe, Johnsonville-Waitohi, Karori and Newtown.

Found in a garage in Wellington after 30 years, here are five records form our original vinyl collection, spin-cleaned, re-sleeved and re-catalogued back into our collection to remind us of the cyclic nature of physical media formats...

Low Profile were a New Zealand alternative rock band of the 1980s, formed by Phil Bowering (formerly of The Protons) and Steve Garden (Last Man Down, National Anthem), recording on the Jayrem label.

Greg Johnson was born in Auckland. He joined the early new wave scene at age 15, playing in bands at live venues in New Zealand, including Mainstreet Cabaret, the Reverb Room, The Windsor Castle and The Esplanade Hotel. In 1987, he signed with Trevor Reekie, who owned indie label Pagan Records, releasing an EP under the name This Boy Rob before starting The Greg Johnson Set.

Toy Love were a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Paul Kean. Toy Love was one of the most important groups to have emerged in the immediate aftermath of punk in late 1970s New Zealand. They are also one of the most mythologised.

The Narcs are an award-winning New Zealand band that was formed in 1980 in Christchurch by bassist Tony Waine, drummer Bob Ogilvie and guitarist Garth Sinclair, who then departed and was replaced by Australian guitarist/singer songwriter Andrew/Andy Dickson. The band worked in both NZ and Australia, recording a total of four albums and playing alongside such acts as Midnight Oil, Split Enz, Elton John and Queen.

Let's Planet are a Wellington band formed in 1985 but disbanded early in 1987. The band was then re-formed in 1988 by Alan Galloway and Caroline Easther following Caroline’s return to New Zealand from touring Europe and recording with The Chills. Let's Planet have since built a strong following through live work and through supports for international artists including Paul Kelly, R.E.M., The Proclaimers, and Throwing Muses.