Back in the mists of time, people used to play music from big chunks of plastic called "records". These came in various shapes and sizes, although most were round and 7 or 10 inches in diameter. To play them you put them onto a "record player" and they span round while a little needle wiggled merrily in tiny grooves cut into the plastic (commonly called vinyl).
Anyway, as I as rooting through the cupboard we store all our crap that we don't know what to do with I found what is pictured above. 
It's a demo flexi-disk sent out to members of the fan club of a band called The Family Cat.
The Family Cat (this link goes to Wikipedia) were an early 1990s indie pop band. They never really made it big, but had a modest and dedicated following of which I was one.
The letter that came with the record says "You have in your hand the first fruits of these labours [recording their new album] "Rockbreaking" was recorded at 3:30am on a tape recorder with a dodgy pause button and it's in this state of the art format that [the record company] have decided to present it to you: Guaranteed one play of passable quality. "Sneaky" Pete Charlton the band's fence advises taping this historic first play for posterity and using the disc to line the cat tray". The envelope is postmarked 23rd April 1993.
Using the miracle of 21st century technology one can, should one wish, convert ancient bits of vinyl to those new-fangled mp3s so that people can listen to them on their "ipods". So, in the spirit of preserving a once 'great' British band (and seeing as nobody 'tapes' music any more, here is the aforementioned flexi-disk in all it's digital glory. Of course, since it's from original plastic there's crackles and in once place a small jump of the needle, but it's here for you to remember the band by, or learn of them afresh.
Right click here to download. Of course, I understand hosting this for download is technically illegal, if any of the band want me to take it down I will; In the meantime, share it with your friends.
