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It's the New Style
March 05, 2008
I've got record fever, the vinyl kind. Wax. I've always picked up records here and there and have a decent stack, but recently it all sunk in. A buddy of mine has been snatching them up left and right. Then, I went to my friend's place at Snoqualmie Pass a couple weekends ago.
My friend John has an impressive collection. In fact, it's the only way he listens to music in his place. Every time I go up there, I spend hours thumbing through his vinyl and throwing records on the player. Really good stuff. Just when you think he wouldn't have something, he does. It's so much fun. So much better than scrolling through an iPod and saying, “Neat, can you burn me a copy?” Don't get me wrong, digital music is great for it's convenience and portability, but this is different.
For instance, I hit the record store with AH last Friday after work. The new vinyl section had lots of good stuff. Lots of $16 dollar good stuff. That's great once in a while. But what I really love is the used section. Records on the cheap, used, a little worn, smelly. That's the goods. You end up grabbing stuff you usually wouldn't, like a Madness record. A record that has the original Stiff Records mail order form from 1982. You just can't replicate that. Like I told Aaron, I like the albums where someone wrote their phone number on it. Or the limited edition, silkscreened (new) Hot Water Music record I got, where they screwed up the hand-numbering and had to cross it out and start over. I love that element of imperfection that you can only find in records. Even the pops and hisses during playback become charming.
So now, for better or worse, I'm on the hunt. And I've more or less sworn off buying CD's entirely. I've got my eMusic account, and I'll pick up vinyl from here on out. It will be ridiculous, and so much more fun. I don't want the expensive eBay garbage, just the real stuff.
When I buy CD's now, I rip them right away on my iMac, flip through what little artwork they have, and then they disappear into a closet. Bands and labels also seem to be putting less effort into packaging because of this, much like the era of band websites is essentially dead because of suckSpace. So that doesn't give me a lot of incentive to buy them. At least records give you the impression that you're collecting a piece of history. And yeah, they're cumbersome, but that's part of the deal.
If someone showed you that they had London Calling by the Clash on their iPod, or the original London Calling LP (the one with the lyric insert!) which would impress you more? Exactly.
So, in roughly the past month, here's what I've picked up (in no particular order):
- More Specials
- Elvis Costello - Trust
- The Clash - Black Market Clash (10 inch! Favorite record of all time, in this format specifically)
- Madness - One Step Beyond
- All - Problematic
- Madness - The Rise & Fall
- Run DMC - Raising Hell
- Bruce Srpingsteen - Nebraska
- Drive Like Jehu - S/T
- Jimmy Cliff - In Concert, the Best of...
- Violent Femmes - S/T
- Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
- Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - Greatest
- Cheap Trick - at Budokan
- Elton John - Greatest Hits
- The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
- Merle Haggard and the Strangers - Songs I'll Always Sing
- Dolly Parton - Greatest Hits
- Hot Water Music - Til the Wheels Fall Off
- Drag the River - You Can't Live this Way (ill gotten gains! Woops)
- The Explosion - Flash Flash Flash
- Run DMC - Tougher than Leather
- fluf - Road Rage
Posted by Aaron on March 5, 2008 08:47 PM| Permalink