News

Welcome to the March issue
Like many HFC readers I enjoy the occasional mooch around a record fair in the hope of discovering some long-lost gem or snaffling up a bargain. And what I’ve noticed recently is the number of prospective buyers enquiring of sellers what they should use to clean their records.

I put this down to the fact that a lot of people have just started to assemble a collection, inspired by all the noise around the vinyl revival, plus the fact that, before it made its comeback, the kit those old records were being played on probably wasn’t that sophisticated and a swish with the ol’ damp cloth would probably have sufficed.

Now, though, there are all manner of splendid carts to extract the very best from the grooves and, with the escalating price of new vinyl, people are seeking out ‘used’ alternatives and these will doubtless need a thorough buffing up.

What was also fascinating was the baffling variety of solutions proffered to the cleaning conundrum, so we thought it would be fun to test out a few of the most popular new devices to see which best removes the snap, crackle and pop with the least cost and effort.

Elsewhere in the issue there’s a celebration of Nick Drake, a ton of new launches in Audiofile, a step back in time with R.E.M. and all the usual letters and opinions.

Hope you enjoy!