This week’s Guardian Guide has a cover feature on how 1989 was a momentous year for music. Granted, the vast majority of the population was buying records by Jive Bunny and Jason Donovan, but, for those of us who were less easily pleased, 1989 offered a host of fantastic albums that can be looked back upon 20 years later as true classics.

The Stone Roses, Technique by New Order, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays, Doolittle by The Pixies, Bizarro by The Wedding Present, Paul’s Boutique by Beastie Boys, Three Feet High and Rising by De La Soul… The list goes on.

Here’s a 1989 Spotify playlist featuring tracks by most of the above. As is the nature of Spotify, you can easily click through to many of the full albums.

One of the tracks on the playlist is Sensitive by The Field Mice, who were on much-loved indie label Sarah Records. A whole bunch of Sarah compilations have recently arrived on Spotify, and it’s fascinating to consider how the delivery of these songs has changed in 20 years.

Back in 1989, if you were like me, you’d peruse Sarah’s lovely hand-typeset catalogue lists, complete with evocative dispatches from exotic Bristol written by label co-founder Matt Haynes. If you were lucky you might have heard the odd song on Peel, or read a review in the NME, but largely you made your selection based on the reputation of the label and its bands without having heard a note.

Then you’d send off a postal order – a postal order! – along with your wishlist, and wait 28 days. Eventually, the records would arrive – 7-inch vinyl with folded sleeve slotted into a polybag, usually accompanied by a handwritten note from Matt. And you would place the record on the turntable, blow dust from the needle, and for the first time you would hear the delights of Another Sunny Day, or Heavenly, or Brighter, or The Orchids.

Fast forward 20 years, and if you want to hear The Joy of Living by Blueboy (and you should) you can get it instantly, free, no postal order required, and without even bothering to download it, via Spotify. Part of me thinks that’s progress, but another part realises that we’ve lost something, and that actually hearing the music was just the end part of a bigger, more enjoyable, experience.

Sarah Records closed down in 1995. The label released 100 singles, plus a few albums, and then took out half page ads in the NME and Melody Maker announcing that Sarah was finished: ‘Didn’t YOU ever want to create something beautiful and pure, just so that one day you could set it on fire, and then watch the city light up as it burned?’

So here’s a Sarah Records Spotify playlist. And here’s a complete label search of every Sarah track on Spotify, including five compilation LPs. [Unfortunately the tracks on the Engine Common compilation are all mis-titled.] If you want to get some background info and sample some of the sleevenotes, visit Matt’s blog.

Paul Music, Technology