My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
I was walking out of Crossfit after a particularly grueling workout (we had to max out on weight for front squats and then do 5 rounds of the following: 20 weighted jump squats followed by 200 meter sprints.)
It was fun, but boy was I winded. As I stumbled toward my car, I saw a man carrying a stack of vinyl records. And he was headed to the trash bin. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was throwing them away. I asked if I could look through them.
Immediately I saw two Cars albums, some Darryl Hall & John Oates, and one from the Beach Boys. My heart raced. I've been really, really good about not adding to my too-large vinyl record collection, but this was more like a rescue mission. As I went through them, there were some misses, to be sure, but also some pleasant surprises, such as albums for Winnie the Pooh that my children will just love. He told me he was bringing more out and I was welcome to them. It was at that point, somewhat out of it, that I began looking around for the candid camera that was surely taping my delight.
I took 80 in all, hoping my husband wouldn't get too mad at me. I asked the guy what the deal was and he said he had to move. When I asked where, he replied that he was moving jobs but didn't seem to want to tell me any more. He did thank me for giving his records a good home.
Isn't that awesome?
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Sep '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
I've been carrying around all my old LPs for years and years even though they seldom get played. At one point, they stayed boxed up through two moves. Never missed them. Then I moved into my current place where I had extra room, and out they came.
Once I arranged them into my customary slightly askew but generally alphabetical order and stepped back to take a look, my heart gave a few quick beats. The pattern of colors on the spines (or lack of spines where my cat had scratched them away long ago), it was all totally familiar, like a line-up of old friends. I knew instantly where everything was, almost by feel.
Took out an album, spun it around in my hand, stuck it on the old turntable, gave it a spin, pulled out the record cleaner and gave it a dusting, dropped the needle on the disk... all strong muscle memory tasks, stuff I'd done for years and then stopped doing, totally familiar. Then that lovely rich sound, punctuated by pops and groove scratch.
I still don't play them much, but I'm really glad they're there.
May '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Mollie - Would you like any of my Crosby 78's? Perhaps an old Tommy Dorsey record with very small print that says "Vocal refrain by F. Sinatra"?
May '11
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Mollie- You just reminded me I need to find a turntable. I have literally a ton of vinyl and no turntable to play them on. You also remind me that there are hardly any record stores anymore. When I was a teenager I used to spend hours at a time at a local quasi-hippie owned record store. Cherished memories. Thank you.
Dec '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Actually, some artists are still recording on vinyl.
I have a modestly large collection and probably 4 turntables; probably, because I just collect that stuff and don't count.
I practically doubled my vinyl collection when I was clearing houses, prior to demolition for a dam project, and found large carboard boxes full of albums, left behind. Serious, old, R&B stuff, which may say something about where we build dams.
Meanwhile, I also (different adventure), found a case of Disc Washer wood blanks and the felt blanks for the pads; if you folks need or want original Disc Washers (not new copies, but sans fluid bottles), I can hook you up!
Dec '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
1) One man's trash is really another (wo)man's treasure.
2) You're lucky to be the recipient of a charitable donation. The guy should have dropped the rest of his vinyl off at the Goodwill or Salvation Army.
3) Or he could have seen whether his collection (or pieces of it) had value on eBay or on music-related sites.
Feb '11
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
It's nice when things like that happen. I still spin LPs w/ apologies to no one. Also cassettes. I have managed to whittle down the LP collection to under 100, and cassettes to maybe 50. My 25 year old niece likes LPs, loves The Beatles and even some pre-rock era stuff that I listen to a lot. So she is getting my stereo system and I get to start over. Found a cool 1980s Sony turntable still unused in original box and will build up another system. For anyone in the DC area, Record and Tape Exchange in Fairfax has loads of cool vinyl, mostly with reasonable prices, and well organized.
Dec '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
I cried when Madman Moskowitz passed away. His collection was over 50,000 vinyl and much more.
Congrats on the score!
Dec '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Somehow I think my encounter with the Latex Angel will not pass the CoC.
Feb '11
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
I work in the archives of a state university, and a little while back came across a 1971 issue of the flagship campus's paper which included a photo of an old neighborhood friend. He was the guiding light behind a record selling enterprise named the Ho-Che-Mao Record Co-Op, and the delicious little irony is that the point of the accompanying article was that these property-is-theft types were having a problem with shoplifting. "Hey, brother, after the revolution everything will belong to everybody, but for right now you're gonna have to pay for that copy of Electric Ladyland"
That said, I still like a lot of that music and am wondering if any of the Ricochetoise have suggestions about technology for transferring vinyl to other media. (I know, analog purity and all that, but I want to listen to it at work and in the car)
Feb '11
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Fascinating.
I remember about 3,000 years ago when the Egyptians came up with papyrus and I had to stop taking notes on wax tablets. That was a tough transition for me.
May '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Years ago, someone gave my dad a turntable designed for transposing the music into mp3 files. After seeing the gift still unopened many months later, I foolishly volunteered to do the work for him. Forty or fifty records are still waiting to be transferred. Thank you for reminding me. No, really, thank you (jerk)!
Casette tapes were already the norm when I was a kid, but I did buy a couple vinyl records just because they were so cheap; Motley Crue and Deep Purple, I think. One day, I'll give them to my nephews as frisbees.
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
I'm so glad that there are other Ricocheters who understand the allure of listening to music as God intended -- on vinyl.
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
F. Sinatra? Never heard of him. And yes! I will email you.
Jul '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
And he was skipping to the trash bin.
Cars and Hall & Oates..... Sweet find.
Jan '11
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
For me, a golden opportunity. For my wife - groans of dismay and distress. I just bought an old Sony cassette player, so I can drop at least some of my several hundred cassettes into digital format for posterity. Who precisely that "posterity" is, though.....
Apr '11
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Vinyl is the civilized way to listen to music. CD players are much improved over the first generation versions, but I almost always think LPs sound better, especially for details like the attack on the bass and the impact of a kick drum. Today's vinyl is mastered and manufactured to a very high standard.I bought the Beatles stuff again a couple of years ago, and the new remasters are terrific. Still, the UK and Japanese pressings I own still sound better.
Edited on September 1, 2011 at 7:31pmSep '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
Sound quality on vinyl varies just as much as it does on CD. But those clicks and pops on vinyl are never going to be found on a digital pressing, and they're inevitable with LPs. (The more loved the LP, the more you play it, the worse it gets... it's poetic, but kind of a kick in the pants.) That matters more to most people than the delicate differences in sound quality between the two media.
That said, there are some differences, and the one that I notice most is the drum sound. For me it's the snare mainly: on well-produced LPs, the snare just pops. Cymbals can also be more life-like on vinyl. A good CD can do cymbals well, but most of the time, they lose a lot on the high end. I think bass is generally better on CD... maybe not the attack as you point out, but the deep bottom holds up better on digital.
Dec '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
"Jeff Karr
That said, I still like a lot of that music and am wondering if any of the Ricochetoise have suggestions about technology for transferring vinyl to other media. (I know, analog purity and all that, but I want to listen to it at work and in the car)"
Jeff, this thread may be dead, so I may see if you have an email link. I recommend Polderbits. I have tried the machines that make the copies and been very unimpressed; I like this software better... You will need (probably) a pair of RCA jack cables, that convert down to a 1/8th inch stereo input for your computer. It's very easy to do with that software, as you can find out with the free 7-day trial. So all you would actually have to buy is the RCA/1/8 inch cable. One problem with conversion is that you wind up with one, continuous MP3 file and no breaks. If it were me, I would stop the process after each cut, as it is very laborious to go back in and create breaks, with the software.
Apr '11
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
"But those clicks and pops on vinyl are never going to be found on a digital pressing, and they're inevitable with LPs. (The more loved the LP, the more you play it, the worse it gets... it's poetic, but kind of a kick in the pants.)" I've had light tracking turntables for more than 30 years, and LPs I've owned for longer than that have very little wear. Now, I do have about 3000 LPs, so that may account for the fact that they don't sound worn, but if they're well cleaned and well cared for, records will sound fine.
Sep '10
Re: My Encounter With The Vinyl Angel
No doubt you can take care to preserve your records, and I haven't always had very good turntables. Aside from that, though, it's interesting that some people react so negatively to any kind of groove sound. Having become used to the empty-space background of CDs, they perceive the presence of any kind of mechanical sound to be off-putting. To me, there's a kind of comfort in that noise. It's not that I prefer it exactly, but it does evoke an emotional response in me. Rank nostalgia, I guess, but there it is.