Why I Love Collecting Vinyl (Records)

Loeffelholz

...and my Bowie binging continues. Excellent brand-new 180-gram copies of Heathen and Reality have arrived---the former in blue vinyl, and the latter in clear. They look and sound amazing.

Golrush007

I'm really looking forward to payday at the end of this month. The last couple of months I've had to pull the purse-strings extremely tight, but soon I'll be able to go and shop around for some new additions to my record collection.

Napoleon Plural

Vinyl is variable. I don't know why the battered Rubber Soul in 180g mono that I got for a fiver from the charity shop plays better than the pristine Sergeant Pepper in mono that I spent £30 via eBay.

Maybe some records that look good can still be worn by overuse.

Anyhow, RS in mono, 180g is great, in fact a new contender for the best Beatle album ever! And I'd never rated it that much. I mean, sure, In My Life is tops, as are the two preceding songs Girl and I'm Looking Through You (I'm talking about the UK version of RS, not the US one that started with I've Just Seen a Face).

Otherwise, the standards are not always so great it seemed, Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood, Michelle, Nowhere Man are all classics, albeit not your favourite classics maybe. And there seemed a lot of filler, crap like What Goes On ('You never even think of me as someone with a name...' Just as well if your name is Ringo you big-nosed loser), Run for Your Life which Lennon hated, Wait and You Won't See Me, all a bit pedestrian, as are the two Harrison songs.

One night on a press trip in Wroclaw a fellow travel journo waxed lyrical about the album, saying that Run for Your Life was so nasty it was almost punk, and that Wait also had that latent menace, pointing out the lyric 'I've been good, good as I can be' suggested that Macca obviously hadn't been that good, it's a veiled admission along the lines of Norwegian Wood. Macca has a similar lyric on If You Wanna on the Flaming Pie album 'Make arrangements for the trip' has a menacing undercurrent hinting of drug use thanks to the lyric, though as he also can do really naff lyrics, you might not pick up on the subtext, and indeed I don't know if there really is one.

But on vinyl, mono, there's a sheer woodsy autumnal energy that is stunning, it is there on every song. It's not the words and music, it's the sound.

Even something like You Won't See Me... I mean, hitherto the repeated refrain of the title sounded naff, there was this awful falsetto twiddle that made it twee. Seriously guys, can you sort it out? But on my mono album it is not there... It is a slick and brilliant pop song.

What Goes On is still crap, however.

What's more, the end of side 2 there is a building tension towards the finale. Admittedly, Run for Your Life is not up to much compared to later finales like Tomorrow Never Knows, and indeed its country pop could belong on the previous album Help!, but at that time I think the albums ended with a business as usual finale to reassure the fans who'd bought tickets to their next gig that the Fabs were still the same unit, despite experiments within the course of the album. That's why Help! ends with Dizzy Miss Lizzy, which could have been on any album since their debut, after the groundbreaking use of the string quartet on penultimate track Yesterday. And why Beatles for Sale limps to its conclusion with Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby after the Byrds-like new Americanisms of the album generally.

Get to Revolver and thereafter of course and it's like, hold on to your hats, we're heading to the next phase....

Loeffelholz

I've got a 180-gram mono copy of Please Please Me on the way, about which I'm very excited; it will only be my third Beatles LP after the mono White Album and a stereo Sgt Pepper.

I've been sidetracked, strangely collecting more newly-dead man's music: various classic Bowie releases, such as Station to Station, Ziggy Stardust, Scary Monsters, Aladdin Sane and Hunky Dory. In addition, I've stumbled into four of the Eagles' six classic studio releases from the 1970s: Desperado arrived today (this was the one recorded in London(!) in '73). The other Eagles records I now have include On The Border, The Long Run and Hotel California---only the last of which is brand-new 180-gram audiophile vinyl.

I'm very much in agreement with your remarks on the variable nature of vinyl quality---therein lies the great adventure of collecting vintage pieces, and exploring those grooves. I've got a vintage recording of Andy Williams' Hawaiian Wedding Song from 1959, and it just sounds exquisite...whereas my brand-new 180-gram audiophile pressing of Who's Next sounds strangely flat to my ears; I was disappointed with the quality of the iTunes version of that record, and was excited to experience it on vinyl...but the general tone was apparently indigenous to the original recording sessions, and so much of it is still there, despite flashes of richness in certain passages. One never knows.

With regard to the amazing Rubber Soul...once again, I enjoy Ringo much more than you do, NP ;% ) ...and as I never really considered any of that album to be 'filler' in the stereo version with which I've always been familiar, your eloquently-stated appraisal of the mono epiphanies you've experienced make me very keen to acquire it (of course I'll have them all; such is the nature of my illness!). Run For Your Life has always been one of my favourite Lennon tracks.

Napoleon Plural

I felt a bit bad having recommended Sgt Pepper on vinyl mono, having listened to mine. Of course, I'd got the remastered mono CD, and it is okay but... I mean, I stand by She's Leaving Home being faster and therefore tighter.

Otherwise I think the stereo version has more magic to it, esp on side one, but the magic sort of fades on side 2, picking up only for the finale imo. Mono has less magic more charm, albeit vauldeville charm, and it is maintained into side 2. With A Little Help has a repetitiveness in mono not dissimilar to the rhythm section on God Only Knows, which imo sounds better in stereo than mono, unlike the rest of Pet Sounds (I have the remastered CD which has both stereo and mono versions).

But I have to confess, I was listening to When I'm 64 on the mono vinyl last week and just thinking, mate don't kid yourself, this is crap. And I'm not saying that as a dig against the song, just the sound of it on that pressing, I guess. The Beatles were all about the sound back then, that they are known as great songwriters makes us forget that a bit.

I wonder if there is a vinyl review website, you can't look up stuff like the vinyl Who's Next on Amazon because it just gives a generic review of the album.

I suppose what I'm saying Loeffs is that I hesitate slightly to endorse the new remastered mono analogue vinyl Rubber Sou as my one comes from the 1960s, and just because you never know with the new one til you've tried it...

Loeffelholz

Interesting. Well, my copy of Sgt Pepper is a brand new stereo reissue that I'm happy with, so a mono copy was dead last in my Beatles priorities anyway. My mono copy of Please Please Me is set to arrive today, so I'm looking forward to comparing...as I said, I have their entire catalogue on iTunes in stereo, (and I enjoy the reissued mono White Album!), so am not terribly trepidatious about gambling on mono vinyl, but I appreciate the heads-up {[]

Loeffelholz

Please Please Me arrived today, in glorious mono 180-gram audiophile pressing...and wow is it fantastic-sounding. Regrettably, my girlfriend's mother is staying with us at the moment, so I'm not able to stretch the legs of my new Bose 301s to full effect (she's a Beatles fan, at least! ) ...but I must say I'm happy with the decision to go monaural, and will likely continue on that course as I move forward with gathering up Beatles records for my final collection, at least until stereo is the only option for latter-day stuff like Abbey Road and Let It Be. I have a copy of A Hard Day's Night en route, along with Led Zeppelin II and the Stones' Sticky Fingers (that one an authentic original with the functioning Andy Warhol-conceived zipper ) ).

Loeffelholz

I recently acquired A Hard Day's Night in mono...and once again, it just sounds wonderful. The duplication of the original artwork and jacket design make these reissues truly fantastic.

In other developments, I lucked into a 'lot' of Bad Company's first four albums on ebay, for a total of $15, and am awaiting copies of Sweet's Desolation Boulevard and Lou Reed's Transformer B-)

Golrush007

I'm trying hard not to be too envious of your ever growing collection!

Golrush007

Just ordered a brand new 180g copy of The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street.

A friend gave me a gift voucher for a local online retailer (basically the closest thing we have to Amazon in South Africa) and it just so happens that they are offering a very good deal on Exile, so I thought now is the time to buy it. I can't wait till it arrives!

Silhouette Man

I wonder is it OK to include spoken word vinyl here as well?

And my first new vinyl purchase from a second-hand shop in years in this:





Had a quick listen last night and it plays perfectly. I love this type of thing (especially from the 1960s and 1970s) although I'm not an evangelical Christian, just a Christian.

Napoleon Plural

Golrush007 wrote:

Just ordered a brand new 180g copy of The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street.

A friend gave me a gift voucher for a local online retailer (basically the closest thing we have to Amazon in South Africa) and it just so happens that they are offering a very good deal on Exile, so I thought now is the time to buy it. I can't wait till it arrives!

Not sure if this enhances your parade or rains on it, but isn't there a new remastered vinyl edition of Exile coming out, it's remastered digitally but slow remastered, which enhances the sound they say (though it's still not as good as the original analogue Exile in its day, according to this month's Mojo magazine).

Don't know if you got the old not so good one or the new better one.

Golrush007

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Golrush007 wrote:

Just ordered a brand new 180g copy of The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street.

A friend gave me a gift voucher for a local online retailer (basically the closest thing we have to Amazon in South Africa) and it just so happens that they are offering a very good deal on Exile, so I thought now is the time to buy it. I can't wait till it arrives!

Not sure if this enhances your parade or rains on it, but isn't there a new remastered vinyl edition of Exile coming out, it's remastered digitally but slow remastered, which enhances the sound they say (though it's still not as good as the original analogue Exile in its day, according to this month's Mojo magazine).

Don't know if you got the old not so good one or the new better one.

I must admit to being the type of listener that wouldn't notice the difference between one version and another. Firstly, just because I'm not fussy. And second, I'm probably not listening to records on a system that would take much advantage of enhancements in sound quality.

On another note, a local record seller in Cape Town was offering a 15% discount on saturday in recognition of Record Store Day (which has no official presence in South Africa) and I picked up some nice second hand records.



Something Else by The Kinks. The Kinks are fast becoming one of my favourites. The record itself is not in tip-top condition, but still plays nicely.

Piano Man by Billy Joel. My wife is a Billy Joel fan, and I'm starting to get into his stuff too.

Soul Limbo by Booker T. and the M.G.'s. The title track is the theme tune for BBC Radio's cricket programme Test Match Special, which I really enjoy.

IA-SteveB

I have recently gotten back into vinyl. I grew up listening to a lot of good stuff on my parents' expensive Technics stereo. Bee Gees, Neil Diamond, Doobie Brothers, etc. I ran across a vintage shop in town that had hundreds and hundreds of albums for sale and it was a lot of good stuff. I immediately remembered why I liked albums ... the imagery. It is just fascinating to see what was cool and hip for the 70's and 80's. I remember looking at all of the photography and artwork as a kid and just marveling at the creative genius. Anyway, at $3 for most albums, it is a great find and they have a heck of a selection. I refuse to pay 10x that for re-releases you find at Barnes and Noble.

I have a 1983 Pioneer turntable and a 90's Sony receiver with a pair of Bose speakers. Kind of pieced together but it was all free and all I had to do was replace the cartridge in the turntable. I have picked up about 30 albums so far. My favorites are Kiss: Destroyer, Flashdance, Footloose, Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits and a few others. I find myself gravitating to ones that my parents had because it makes me really nostalgic for a time when the world was so much smaller.

Loeffelholz

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Golrush007 wrote:

Just ordered a brand new 180g copy of The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street.

A friend gave me a gift voucher for a local online retailer (basically the closest thing we have to Amazon in South Africa) and it just so happens that they are offering a very good deal on Exile, so I thought now is the time to buy it. I can't wait till it arrives!

Not sure if this enhances your parade or rains on it, but isn't there a new remastered vinyl edition of Exile coming out, it's remastered digitally but slow remastered, which enhances the sound they say (though it's still not as good as the original analogue Exile in its day, according to this month's Mojo magazine).

Don't know if you got the old not so good one or the new better one.

I'm probably with Golrush007 here; I too have a new 180-gram copy of Exile, and it sounds brilliant to my layman's ears as it howls out of my Bose 301s. Once I've got a good vinyl copy of something, there'll be no double-dipping unless my disposable income unexpectedly multiplies exponentially. That said, I'm very happy I just began my Led Zeppelin acquisitions, as I'll be holding out for the Jimmy Page-remastered 180s B-) So far I've got Led Zep II and Physical Graffiti...

In recent developments, The Who - Live At Leeds arrived today. Wow, what a fantastic rock and roll record.

Silhouette Man

Forgive me for being somewhat late but I've been meaning to post a link on this series of Jazz Vinyl Record reissues from De Agostini. I bought the first one a while back - Miles Davis' Different Kind of Blue. More details here:

https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collections/jazz-vinyl/

Loeffelholz

Silhouette Man wrote:

Forgive me for being somewhat late but I've been meaning to post a link on this series of Jazz Vinyl Record reissues from De Agostini. I bought the first one a while back - Miles Davis' Different Kind of Blue. More details here:

https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collections/jazz-vinyl/

Thanks for sharing! {[] That Miles Davis record is definitely on my list. I happened into some jazz instrumental records, many with the saxophone as the featured instrument. Fantastic stuff! I'm in favour of the revival of vinyl in all genres

Silhouette Man

Thanks!

Just as an aside, I wonder what ever happened to this thread's author, samurai4114?

He was a good member who brought interesting discussions to the table.

I really hope that he comes back some time as he hasn't posted here since August 2014.

Loeffelholz

Silhouette Man wrote:

Thanks!

Just as an aside, I wonder what ever happened to this thread's author, samurai4114?

He was a good member who brought interesting discussions to the table.

I really hope that he comes back some time as he hasn't posted here since August 2014.

Never met the fellow; that was during my extended sabbatical...but I'm grateful for the thread! :007)

Golrush007

Having listened to my new Exile on Main Street record, I am very pleased with it and I think it sounds really good although I have always thought the album as a whole has a murky sound mix which isn't entirely to my taste. Most of the songs on Exile are fairly new to me, as I'm only really familiar with some of the most famous tracks such as 'Happy', 'Rocks Off' and 'Tumbling Dice.' I'm looking forward to getting to know some of the other songs over subsequent listens. Some of the other tracks that I particularly enjoyed on the first listen were 'Sweet Virginia', 'Let It Loose' and 'Shine a Light.'

Most of my favourite Stones tracks are from the late 60s, so I'm very keen to get my hands on Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed next, which contain 4 of my top 5 Stones songs, namely:
Sympathy For The Devil
Gimme Shelter
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Midnight Rambler

Napoleon Plural

Not sure what to make of the whole vinyl revival thing when they're even selling new LPs in the local Sainsbury's.

Just a handful, over by the rather twee home section.

The pick is a bit odd, you have Sgt Pepper - only in Stereo; the mono remaster had been officially discontinued, as has the mono remaster of Revolver. Abbey Road is there, and then stuff like Hotel California, Bob Marley's Greatest, Rumours, Adele's latest. Nothing wrong with that, just wonder about the thinking behind it. Over in London's HMV the vinyl thing is in full flood, I mean the soundtrack of Some Like It Hot? Sweet Smell of Success? Touch of Evil? WTF? Not saying they're rubbish, but it's a bit obscure. Also, there's even an LP of The Thompson Twins, all shiny and new.

I feel a bit like Sly in Demolition Man shaking his head in wonderment as Sandra Bullock sings along to the frozen peas advertisement jingle like it's a classic.

Also, in the second hand shop they had M Faithfull's Broken English, £2, 'very good' and you know, if they had that for £15 all shiny and new in HMV I'd be thinking, well, maybe... but when it's cheap as chips, well, it's like when you see an expensive painting then you imagine it in the tat shop and think, okay, I'd pay £500 for that but not £20! It's the psychology of it.

Loeffelholz

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Not sure what to make of the whole vinyl revival thing when they're even selling new LPs in the local Sainsbury's.

Just a handful, over by the rather twee home section.

The pick is a bit odd, you have Sgt Pepper - only in Stereo; the mono remaster had been officially discontinued, as has the mono remaster of Revolver. Abbey Road is there, and then stuff like Hotel California, Bob Marley's Greatest, Rumours, Adele's latest. Nothing wrong with that, just wonder about the thinking behind it. Over in London's HMV the vinyl thing is in full flood, I mean the soundtrack of Some Like It Hot? Sweet Smell of Success? Touch of Evil? WTF? Not saying they're rubbish, but it's a bit obscure. Also, there's even an LP of The Thompson Twins, all shiny and new.

I feel a bit like Sly in Demolition Man shaking his head in wonderment as Sandra Bullock sings along to the frozen peas advertisement jingle like it's a classic.

Also, in the second hand shop they had M Faithfull's Broken English, £2, 'very good' and you know, if they had that for £15 all shiny and new in HMV I'd be thinking, well, maybe... but when it's cheap as chips, well, it's like when you see an expensive painting then you imagine it in the tat shop and think, okay, I'd pay £500 for that but not £20! It's the psychology of it.

A similar situation over here in our Barnes & Noble bookstores; iconic records such as titles you mention...and the prices aren't too far out of line. I've no doubt I'll be picking up something there at some point ;%

Meanwhile, I'm happy to report that just this morning I bought a near-mint (opened, but not played) 180-gram mono copy of Revolver on eBay for $15...especially if they've discontinued it! Adds some urgency to my quest for mono Beatles...when the pressing runs end, prices for a finite supply will go up

My current Beatles on hand:

Mono: Please Please Me, A Hard Day's Night, Rubber Soul, 'White Album'

Stereo: Sgt Pepper

Napoleon Plural

They seemed to have been caught by surprise with the whole Prince thing, I mean, a handful of his choicer albums would be flying off the shelves now. But nary a vinyl album to be had, then again, maybe he scuppered it due to his record label antics, not sure.

You can't even revisit his toons on YouTube however.

Loeffelholz

Napoleon Plural wrote:

They seemed to have been caught by surprise with the whole Prince thing, I mean, a handful of his choicer albums would be flying off the shelves now. But nary a vinyl album to be had, then again, maybe he scuppered it due to his record label antics, not sure.

You can't even revisit his toons on YouTube however.

Yes, he was notoriously guarded with his intellectual property...I would expect his label to issue some vinyl, as there will clearly be a demand---but then again, I'm still waiting for them to reissue Bowie's mid-career stuff, as they did with his first six releases...a decent-condition used copy of "Heroes" is going for well over $60 on eBay Too rich for my blood.

Loeffelholz

Received a brand-new 180-gram copy of the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed today. THIS is High Definition audio B-)

Golrush007

Great stuff...I'd love to get a vinyl copy of my own. If I had to pick just one, I'd choose Let It Bleed as my favourite Stones album. Gimme Shelter is obviously a true classic, You Can't Always Get What You Want is probably my favourite on the album and Midnight Rambler is also a firm favourite of mine. I also love hearing Keith on the bluesy You Got The Silver.

Loeffelholz

Golrush007 wrote:

Great stuff...I'd love to get a vinyl copy of my own. If I had to pick just one, I'd choose Let It Bleed as my favourite Stones album. Gimme Shelter is obviously a true classic, You Can't Always Get What You Want is probably my favourite on the album and Midnight Rambler is also a firm favourite of mine. I also love hearing Keith on the bluesy You Got The Silver.

There's not a bad cut on the record - my own personal favourite is the title track, which is also my favourite Stones song of all time On the inner sleeve, and the round label on the platter itself, is written: "This record should be played loud." B-) I did...

My mono copy of Revolver arrived today, so it's been a good week for music in my home -{

Napoleon Plural

What's the bit of vinyl treasure you regret giving away?

For me, it's Superman: The Movie.

It was a double album, and the first I ever bought. Naively, I thought that it being a soundtrack, it was basically a sound copy of the movie, and therefore the best thing you could get when videos and DVDs did not exist. Don't lick that toy, young man, it has lead in it.

So I put it on, and after the majestic theme, settled back and listened, waiting for the dialogue to start. It never did.

So I never listened to it much, and I don't even recall giving it away, but now I wish I could whip it out during a classic moment. Yesterday I happened upon the single 45 version going for 50p and snapped it up!

But the single version is slightly abridged... after the opening stately fanfare, there is normally a low rumbling, like an ominous gathering of hooves gaining to a crescendo like Omar Sharif emerging in the desert. This bit of brilliance is truncated, and it just goes straight into the (now rather) naff sounding theme.

Loeffelholz

Napoleon Plural wrote:

What's the bit of vinyl treasure you regret giving away?

For me, it's Superman: The Movie.

It was a double album, and the first I ever bought. Naively, I thought that it being a soundtrack, it was basically a sound copy of the movie, and therefore the best thing you could get when videos and DVDs did not exist. Don't lick that toy, young man, it has lead in it.

So I put it on, and after the majestic theme, settled back and listened, waiting for the dialogue to start. It never did.

So I never listened to it much, and I don't even recall giving it away, but now I wish I could whip it out during a classic moment. Yesterday I happened upon the single 45 version going for 50p and snapped it up!

But the single version is slightly abridged... after the opening stately fanfare, there is normally a low rumbling, like an ominous gathering of hooves gaining to a crescendo like Omar Sharif emerging in the desert. This bit of brilliance is truncated, and it just goes straight into the (now rather) naff sounding theme.

I had that full album, and enjoyed it a great deal And yes, I regret its loss as much as the many others (I never gave any away, and simply lost the whole lot). As a teenager, I even enjoyed the 'can you read my mind' bit ;%

Most recent acquisition: Genesis' Abacab. Flawless, cherry vinyl for $5

Golrush007

I haven't been collecting long enough to have given anything away yet! But if my track record with Bond books is concerned, I am unlikely to be giving anything away. My wife frequently shakes her head at the number of copies I have of the same Bond novel.