Why I Love Collecting Vinyl (Records)

Loeffelholz

I have a VERY basic Audio-Technica AT-LP60...which feeds into an RCA amplifier (100 watts per channel)...which feeds into brand-new (this last Spring) Bose 301s, which fill the space of my music room quite nicely. I bought my childhood home from my mother in May - which proved fortuitous, as she was incapacitated by multiple strokes in August...the setup of the space is limited because of the shape of the room, and the location of a wood-burning Franklin stove, so the turntable is about ten feet (albeit to one side) from one of the speakers, and so - at the volumes at which I play stuff like the Beatles, the Who and Led Zeppelin! - the sound waves in the air are able to actually vibrate the needle, even when the dust cover is down, which creates a 'warbling' effect that limits the volume to some degree.

It's interesting to note that when playing MP3s - compressed digital - the only limit is one's own eardrums, as the Bose 301s can safely handle 200 watts each. This seems to be prima facie evidence of the comparative richness of the Old Analogue B-)

Golrush007

Those LP60s look like very nice turntables, especially for people getting started on vinyl. One of my big frustrations is that even though vinyl is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, the mainstream retailers are selling terrible quality turntables to vinyl newbies who don't realise how crappy they really are. The problem is worse here in South Africa, because those poor quality Crosley and ION turntables are virtually all that is available on the market (except for high end audiophile equipment.) The excellent products which are available in the US and Europe such as the Audio Technica LP60 and LP120, and other good entry level turntables, are simply not available. So the record shops are selling very expensive 180g vinyl reissues and the people are playing them on awful Crosley Cruiser and other such rubbish equipment which not only sound bad, but are not good for the records either.

Loeffelholz

My latest mono Beatles acquisition is a brand-new 180-gram reissue of With The Beatles...of course it sounds fantastic; that music recorded in 1963 can sound this good---and that the hits still stand the test of time IMHO, if some others like 'Devil In Her Heart' DO sound a bit creaky---says something about the band and their producer. George Harrison's multi-tracked lead vocal on 'Roll Over Beethoven' sounds amazing.

Only three more Beatles titles to go---Beatles For Sale, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour...and then of course I'm going to grab the reissue of Hollywood Bowl with the mixed-down crazy crowd noise...and a copy of Let It Be...Naked when I can afford it

Napoleon Plural

I bought the reissue single of Paperback Writer for £4, a bargain but actually it doesn't sound that good. Vinyl can be a lucky dip, I'm not dissing the single but that particular pressing.

For all that, I got out an old copy of Let It Be, never my favourite album, but with a few glasses of French Malbec to accompany, it sounds brilliant. It is also devoid of any silly McCartney songs, not that I'm against them usually, but the lack thereof does add to the album's gravitas. It's a proper balls out adult record, and from The White Album onwards you got the feeling that the Beatles really were just making the music they really wanted to do, of course you could argue that ultimately led to their split. Side 2 of Abbey Road is another stonker of course.

I also picked up a mint condition of The Pogues and Kirsty Maccoll's Fairytale of New York - did that ever make it big Stateside. Sounds great, just as well for a fiver. Who'd have thought after all these years that Kirsty would be in her grave for over a decade now, while Shane goes on and on...

Loeffelholz

I actually think side 2 of Abbey Road is one of the best sides in rock and roll -{ I've always considered it the band's extended coda.

Loeffelholz

Just got two Pink Floyd masterpieces, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, in the brand-new 2016 180-gram reissues by Pink Floyd Records...all original posters, packaging and art design exactly duplicated. Warms this old fellow's heart B-)

Loeffelholz

Just ordered Blue & Lonesome, the Rolling Stones' first album since 2005...a double-LP of classic blues covers from the '30s through the '60s. Just released today

Napoleon Plural

Loeffelholz wrote:

Just got two Pink Floyd masterpieces, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, in the brand-new 2016 180-gram reissues by Pink Floyd Records...all original posters, packaging and art design exactly duplicated. Warms this old fellow's heart B-)

Let me know how these sound. Why did they change the cover to Wish You Were Here?

As for Side 2 Abbey Road, yes, it's brilliant but it's odd because it shouldn't be. I mean, there is no Lennon classic on it like Tomorrow Never Knows or A Day in the Life, nor any Lennon standard. No Macca standard either such as For No One or Got to Get You Into My Life. There is a Harrison standard of course, though the Sun Sun Sun refrain goes on a bit too long imo.

Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam ought to be a bit rubbish really but it all flows really well. Usually it's the Macca songs that set off Lennon's stuff nicely. I mean, I'm Only Sleeping sounds great coming off the back of Eleanor Rigby, and A Day in the Life sounds great coming off the back of Sgt Pepper reprise. Macca's songs tee Lennon's up, but here, for once, the superb You Never Give Me Your Money sounds great coming after Lennon's Because, which while no standard, is brilliant. Also, Macca's stuff sounds like the sort of thing Lennon would write too, so it's less divisive, it sounds like the Beatles as they started out, when the numbers were interchangeable rather than being Yer Blues v Honey Pie. You wonder if Macca didn't do it deliberately to win his partner over, perhaps like he did in Band on the Run, as Let Me Roll It is really a Lennon homage.

Moreover, from the White Album onwards you get the feeling the Beatles are just being a band and doing what they want, they are grown ups now.

Re Let it Be, it benefits from not having Ringo on it imo, as he generally got lumbered with the indulgent gimmicky numbers, which I don't always mind but wouldn't help this album. That said, Ringo did great on stuff like Boys and Matchbox, rock n roll songs, so probably could have been gifted a song had the album genuinely followed its original intent, which kind of got lost in the shuffle.

Loeffelholz

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Loeffelholz wrote:

Just got two Pink Floyd masterpieces, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, in the brand-new 2016 180-gram reissues by Pink Floyd Records...all original posters, packaging and art design exactly duplicated. Warms this old fellow's heart B-)

Let me know how these sound. Why did they change the cover to Wish You Were Here?

As for Side 2 Abbey Road, yes, it's brilliant but it's odd because it shouldn't be. I mean, there is no Lennon classic on it like Tomorrow Never Knows or A Day in the Life, nor any Lennon standard. No Macca standard either such as For No One or Got to Get You Into My Life. There is a Harrison standard of course, though the Sun Sun Sun refrain goes on a bit too long imo.

Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam ought to be a bit rubbish really but it all flows really well. Usually it's the Macca songs that set off Lennon's stuff nicely. I mean, I'm Only Sleeping sounds great coming off the back of Eleanor Rigby, and A Day in the Life sounds great coming off the back of Sgt Pepper reprise. Macca's songs tee Lennon's up, but here, for once, the superb You Never Give Me Your Money sounds great coming after Lennon's Because, which while no standard, is brilliant. Also, Macca's stuff sounds like the sort of thing Lennon would write too, so it's less divisive, it sounds like the Beatles as they started out, when the numbers were interchangeable rather than being Yer Blues v Honey Pie. You wonder if Macca didn't do it deliberately to win his partner over, perhaps like he did in Band on the Run, as Let Me Roll It is really a Lennon homage.

Well, Lennon had that huge chunk of side one of Abbey, with the opener 'Come Together' and the sprawling 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)'...I just regard side 2 as an amazing amalgamation of three songwriters, with George's 'Here Comes The Sun' intro-ing the medley essentially.

The Floyd records sound *great*...the cover of 'Wish' hasn't changed - still has the guy shaking hands with the guy on fire - my understanding is that the original release was covered in opaque black plastic, with the round 'robotic handshake' illustration...with the cover we know inside. This reissue replicates that.

I will say that I recently acquired a new Japanese import of Floyd's Animals in blue vinyl, with a whispy-white 'cloud' effect marbled in...the sound quality (while very good), isn't up to the standard of my new 'Moon' and 'Wish.'

Loeffelholz

Picked up a copy of "Magical Mystery Tour," thinking it was mono...and then realized I'd accidentally bought the stereo But it sounds great, and I'm not going to dilly with it. Still looking for mono "Beatles for Sale" and "Help!"...plus maybe "Yellow Submarine"...I'll be having the reissue of "Hollywood Bowl" sooner rather than later.

Mr Snow

I got paid the nicest compliment today from a young lady working at my local Hi-Fi store. As I was waiting she asked me if I would like to purchase the latest Xbox straight from the cooker. I responded with: “I wouldn’t know what to do with it; I still listen to vinyl records”. (i.e.; the reference being my age, I don’t play computer games and a lack of understanding of modern day technology). Her response was “well that makes you one of the coolest people I know”. Anyway, I just wanted to share that as it made my day and brought a smile to my face. We went on chatting about how vinyl records are back in vogue these days and what they’re worth (or could be potentially worth) etc.

Back on topic, I don’t buy vinyl records anymore but I have about 250 that I will never part with and here are just some in my collection:

Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin
The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball – various (very hard to find apparently)
Abbey Road – The Beatles
Black Magic Woman – Santana
Who’s Next – The Who
Honky Chateau – Elton John
Ten Years After – Recorded Live
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

And many others mainly from the 60’s and 70’s that are mostly in very good to mint condition.

Personally I prefer listening to CD’s, but to me having an original vinyl record is almost akin as to having an original Ian Fleming novel.

Loeffelholz

OGG007 wrote:

I got paid the nicest compliment today from a young lady working at my local Hi-Fi store. As I was waiting she asked me if I would like to purchase the latest Xbox straight from the cooker. I responded with: “I wouldn’t know what to do with it; I still listen to vinyl records”. (i.e.; the reference being my age, I don’t play computer games and a lack of understanding of modern day technology). Her response was “well that makes you one of the coolest people I know”. Anyway, I just wanted to share that as it made my day and brought a smile to my face. We went on chatting about how vinyl records are back in vogue these days and what they’re worth (or could be potentially worth) etc.

Back on topic, I don’t buy vinyl records anymore but I have about 250 that I will never part with and here are just some in my collection:

Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin
The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball – various (very hard to find apparently)
Abbey Road – The Beatles
Black Magic Woman – Santana
Who’s Next – The Who
Honky Chateau – Elton John
Ten Years After – Recorded Live
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

And many others mainly from the 60’s and 70’s that are mostly in very good to mint condition.

Personally I prefer listening to CD’s, but to me having an original vinyl record is almost akin as to having an original Ian Fleming novel.

That's a very nice and sampling, OGG007 {[] I have the Secret Policeman's stuff on DVD, but not on vinyl...I do have Monty Python's complete discography on vinyl though B-) I have three 100-LP crates, but they're not full yet; I have empty LP mailing boxes in the front of each to keep my collection from shifting round too much This past year I've been preoccupied with reacquiring essential stuff---stuff that deserves to be heard in high-definition audio---i.e., uncompressed and non-digitized. Naturally, I've a wide collection of iTunes; they're convenient and portable. But when I want to sit back and really experience a piece of music, IMO vinyl is the way to go.

I'm nearly done getting the 'must have' stuff now...but I'm ever on the lookout for a pleasant surprise, at some garage sale or thrift store...

Loeffelholz

Just received my 180-gram reissue of the Beatles' "Live at the Hollywood Bowl," remixed and re-mastered by Giles Martin (son of Sir George) to separate and reduce the ridiculously loud crowd noise/screaming that made the original 1977 release of these '64/'65 shows nearly unlistenable. Here, the crowd noise is reduced, and the performance is much more accessible - it's a great deal of fun to hear music this old sound so fresh, and energized. Of course, their studio work is what defines them...but this is a worthy addition to the library of any Beatles fan.

Highly recommended -{

Loeffelholz

Picked up a vintage 45 rpm copy of The Ballad of John and Yoko, with George Harrison's excellent Old Brown Shoe as the 'B' side...these aren't included on the 'Mono Masters' triple-LP set that gathered up the rest of the non-U.K. orphan Beatles singles...granted, this 45 is in stereo, but it still plugs a hole in the collection. Currently, the only U.K. album release from the Fab Four I'm lacking is Yellow Submarine.

Napoleon Plural

Do you mean the soundtrack with one side George Martin, or the Yellow Sub songbook which is all Beatle songs digitally remastered and rejigged for the movie re-release?

Picked up a fine copy of FYC's Raw and the Cooked for a quid, good loud sound but imo vinyl started to sound a bit thin or something in the late 80s.

Loeffelholz

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Do you mean the soundtrack with one side George Martin, or the Yellow Sub songbook which is all Beatle songs digitally remastered and rejigged for the movie re-release?

Picked up a fine copy of FYC's Raw and the Cooked for a quid, good loud sound but imo vinyl started to sound a bit thin or something in the late 80s.

I was thinking about the half-George Martin one ?:) Didn't know there was an all-Beatle tune reissue. I'll research that one. No hurries, naturally B-)

Napoleon Plural

It's on Wikipedia too if you want to research it.

Loeffelholz

Napoleon Plural wrote:

It's on Wikipedia too if you want to research it.

Yeah, it looks like that version has songs from other Beatles albums, which is unnecessary duplication IMO. I'll probably just pick up the original 1/2-George Martin version.

Napoleon Plural

Ah, well, it would be and that's what I thought when I saw it doing well in the charts on its release. I mean, what gives? Turns out the whole thing is digitally remixed, not just remastered, so for those listening thru the headphones it sounds like a better mix than the new, simplistic stereo mix of the time. Hey Bulldog sounds great, for instance. This is a big deal for some who never really got on with the stereo of olde, preferring in fact to go with mono for that very reason, and it sounding punchier and paradoxically more modern.

That said, it is a digital remix, so not analogue. Like Let it Be Naked.

Loeffelholz

Let It Be...Naked is on my wanted vinyl list because it is closer to the band's vision than what Phil Spector gave us in 1970...but I'm not terribly fussed about having other copies of their tunes I already have on LP...and I've got their entire catalog on iTunes if I crave a digital rendering.

Napoleon Plural

They're selling the remastered Abbey Road LP as a part-work in the John Menzies chain.

Only a tenner, what could go wrong?

Well, that's the price you pay for an education... an education into digital sound.

It sounds alright. Clean. Efficient. Not really that different to the Abbey Road LP I got in the 1980s really.

It's just... compressed somehow. Stripped of vitality, animus, anything. I listen to the tracks and feel my teeth gritting slightly. It's all a bit... irrelevant.

I won't be getting any more of these digitally remastered vinyl records.

Loeffelholz

Just acquired the brand-new limited-edition 180-gram copy of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass B-)

Wow. Not inexpensive...but worth it.

Loeffelholz

Here's a curiosity: a UK-manufactured (under EMI) pressing of Pink Floyd's live double-LP Delicate Sound of Thunder - bought for $1 American...and shipped from Moscow for $20 )

Still far cheaper than anything available in the US domestically. Took two months to get here...and is in mint condition. Go figure {[]

Napoleon Plural

I understand there's going to be yet another Sgt Pepper release to mark the 50th anniversary, all rejigged.

It's embarrassing to reveal how much I have spent on this album over the decades, and it seems to be a case of diminishing returns.

I got it on mono because producer George Martin said that you hadn't heard Pepper unless you'd heard it on mono. Okay, but it sounded compressed and dreary but surely that was because I'd got the remastered mono on CD. So I got it on vinyl, but it didn't sound much better...

Then I got the Blue Beatles album.



Second hand for a quid from the local record store. The sleeve was battered, so that accounts for it, but he sometimes offers up gems in the bargain bin section for the hell of it.

Couldn't really go wrong, and side one is Pepper Duluxe really, it's Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, Sgt Pepper, With a Little Help... Lucy in the Sky, A Day in the Life and All You Need is Love.

We all know the songs, but they sounded superb and imo better than in the 180g remastered vinyl Sgt Pepper. It was just the cut of the vinyl, like a superb vintage. Suddenly you recalled why you loved the songs in the first place, it's the sound of them.

Side 2 was not so good, not least because most of the songs might be better in mono. Not least I Am The Walrus, which kicks it off. In stereo it is a bit cod-ELO silly Lewis Carroll stuff, daft lyrics, kind of yeah all right John you've got the studio to yourself so mess about, Paul is writing Hey Jude by the way.

Mono, and I am the Walrus is a different beast. John's vocal is punk. The whole tone is different. The nursery rhyme lyrics suddenly create an effect, it is quite sinister. It counts for something.

If the stereo Walrus belongs to ELO, the mono version belongs to Kate Bush's Hounds of Love. It's not silly.

The stereo version owes more to Sgt Pepper era, the mono reminds you that the White Album is just around the corner, and that it was to be called A Doll's House. Glass Onion is a sinister sounding song, and Walrus is in that category - a sneer.

Walrus in mono is on the B-side of Hello Goodbye. Hello Goodbye works better in stereo, as heard on the Blue album because the effect distracts from the slightly repetitive melody and lyric.

MMT and Fool on the Hill are okay in stereo, but Hey Jude, Lady Madonna and Revolution are imo better in mono, tighter and less baggy.

The pall of the Let it Be sessions casts its shadow over the rest of this compilation, possibly due to the artwork and maybe because the albums seemed jollier than the single releases.

Loeffelholz

I've been collecting Tom Petty stuff, posthumously, and am impressed with the consistent quality of the man's songwriting.

Lately? I've picked up T. Rex's essential Electric Warrior, and am exploring Elton John's brilliant '70s catalogue.

Napoleon Plural

You've been collecting it posthumously? Does that mean you're dead Loeffs? I think we should be told.

I got Beatles All You Need Is Love on a single. Mono I guess, and more affecting that way. It's a humdinger, though the B-side is not such quality, I mean maybe that one got played more. Baby I'm A Rich Man is a good B-side and it's rare to have a double Lennon single.

Ticket to Ride is another good one in mono single. It has a dark, brooding feel to it. Suddenly you realise why this was seen as a leap forward from the other singles. It has a sophisticated sound, a world away from I Feel Fine just a few months earlier. Things moved fast then, didn't they?

Dirty Punker

Not surprised there is a thread on this, since more vinyls were sold in 2015 than 1985.
However, apart from these being display pieces, records should be left in the past.
But if you like the artwork, I totally get it. I'd be the same with Laserdiscs if they still made em.

caractacus potts

why should they be left in the past? some people obviously like to listen to them, you have other choices if you don't want to, and CDs, if you can find them, are cheaper than ever
personally I always found the 20 minute time limit per side helps to concentrate my attention, like watching a tv episode

the display piece thing I think is part of a problem with vinyl these days, why I'm buying less: its gotten so expensive, when a decade ago I could find most any album for less then $5-. I literally have seen young folks at record shops buying stacks of LPs, at $20- or $30- a piece, loudly telling the world they don't even have a turntable, theyre going to put them up on their walls as art ... that drives up the price of the remaining copies for the rest of us, and will inevitably worsen the condition of those records they have bought but never intend to listen to, they certainly will never be thinking about proper vinyl care


some Beatles vinyl I bought recently: the Magical Mystery Tour double ep, and admittedly that is more of an objet d'art
also in my recently acquire pile:
Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane
Thelonious Monk Criss-Cross
Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus and More (a Prestige "twofer" repackaging older material)
Miles Davis Some Day My Price Will Come
Grateful Dead From the Mars Hotel

Loeffelholz

Dirty Punker wrote:

Not surprised there is a thread on this, since more vinyls were sold in 2015 than 1985.
However, apart from these being display pieces, records should be left in the past.

Couldn't disagree more. It's high-definition sound - infinitely more rich than a digital reproduction. True, you can't play them from a small device in your pocket, but the fact that you're limited to one LP-side at a time makes the listening experience, IMHO, a much more focused and active affair. You don't really multi-task when you're listening to a record...you're busy listening to a record. So, if that inconvenience outbalances the quality of sound for some, c'est la vie.

Personally, I'm delighted by the medium's resurgence.

And yes, NP, I'm dead It's time the truth came out.

The Domino Effect

I have a digital sound system and turn-table and I have to say that there is just some music that just sounds better on vinyl. As you say, Loeff, there's a quality of sound, a depth, an emotion perhaps that doesn't exist in clinically-pristine digital recordings. I like both, but both have their place.