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| From | Mike Curry <mikecurry@hotmail.co.uk> |
| Subject | Re: Vinyl surprise (quite long, nostalgia-infused ramble, sorry) |
| Date | Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:26:59 +0100 |
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I'm one of the what now appears to be many people getting back into vinyl.
Up until April this year, the last new album I bought on vinyl was REM's "Out of Time", back in 1991.
At this time I was buying a mix of vinyl and CDs, but gave up on vinyl when the majors killed it off
thanks to their use of wafer-thin wobble board as an excuse for vinyl.
Mostly out of nostalgia I decided to buy an old Bush record player like the one my brother and
I had as kids back in the 70s. As soon as I did it, and started to play my old vinyl again (I kept
it all right from my first 45 - Lucky Number by Lene Lovich) I remembered just how much I loved
the sound, feel and even smell of records.
As the sound of the Bush is pretty limited, I went out and bought a nice Projekt turntable to go with
my Arcam amp. Wow, it sounds fantastic. I've spent the last few weeks picking up old vinyl from
ebay that my brother retained in his collection - Magazine, Pretenders, Damned, Siouxsie & the Banshees, XTC,
Kraftwerk, Sparks, even Dazzle Ships by OMD, as well as some classic Beatles, Byrds and Kinks that
I just knew would sound better on vinyl than most of the crappy transfers to CD that have never
been properly remastered.
I have so far stopped short of buying a new release on vinyl. I have what maybe a skewed logic here.
My feelings are that if something was recorded with the intention of being released on a digital format,
then that should be how I buy it. I am at the same time coming to acknowledge that a classic album
recorded and released in an analogue format, should probably be enjoyed that way too. I therefore look
at the increasing reissues of classic albums on 180 gram and 200 gram vinyl with some interest. The
majors are getting in on this too - particularly Sony/BMG, Universal and Capitol. However, it appears
that some, particularly Sony, are doing it on the cheap, just to cash in. The mastering is pretty shoddy
and although the vinyl quality is pretty good, the overall sound is inferior to a CD. Universal have 20 classic
albums coming out in early July (inc. Clapton, Cream, Blind Faith, Police, Van Morrison, Elton John, and
Steely Dan) - no news on how these are being mastered and pressed.
Of more interest are the efforts of small, highly talented individuals who have acquired the rights to master
and release a whole number of classic albums on high quality vinyl - Sundazed, Classic Vinyl and 4 men
with beards to name a few. However, these tend to be very expensive and done in limited runs, so the
value/cost soars almost immediately. Therefore I've heard very few of these and have only bought Love's
"Forever Changes". Has anyone else heard any of these albums?
I'm not sure how far the resurgence of vinyl will go. The majors will of course only be in it for the money.
I'm sure that Chrome Dreams II by Neil Young sounds great on audiophile vinyl, but at £30 (nearly $60),
I think I'll stick with the CD.
The indies I'm sure will continue to release vinyl in fairly limited runs, alongside CDs and downloads, as
they have been doing for some while.
One thing is for sure. I will continue to buy CD's, downloads and now vinyl again, because I like all three.
However, vinyl is the one which I really love.
For those who are interested, this is a pretty good place to start - http://vinylfanatics.com/
Mike.
> Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:16:07 -0700
> From: drewmacdonald1@gmail.com
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Vinyl surprise
>
> PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- It was a fortuitous typo for the Fred Meyer retail chain.
>
> This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition
> of R.E.M.'s latest release "Accelerate" inadvertently entered the "LP"
> code instead. Soon boxes of the big, vinyl discs showed up at several
> stores.
>
> Some sent them back. But a handful put them on the shelves, and 20 LPs
> sold the first day.
>
> The Portland-based company, owned by The Kroger Co., realized the
> error might not be so bad after all. Fred Meyer is now testing vinyl
> sales at 60 of its stores in Oregon, California, Washington and
> Alaska.
>
> Other mainstream retailers are giving vinyl a spin too. Best Buy is
> testing sales at some stores. And online music giant Amazon.com, which
> has sold vinyl for most of the 13 years it has been in business
> online, created a special vinyl-only section last fall.
>
> The best-seller so far at Fred Meyer is The Beatles "Abbey Road"
> album. But musicians from the White Stripes and the Foo Fighters to
> Metallica and Pink Floyd are selling well, the company says.
>
> "It's not just a nostalgia thing," said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman
> for Fred Meyer. "The response from customers has just been that they
> like it, they feel like it has a better sound."
>
> According to the Recording Industry Association of America,
> manufacturers' shipments of LPs jumped more than 36 percent from 2006
> to 2007 to more than 1.3 million. Shipments of CDs dropped more than
> 17 percent during the same period to 511 million, as they lost some
> ground to digital formats.
>
> The resurgence of vinyl centers on a long-standing debate over analog
> versus digital sound. Digital recordings capture samples of sound and
> place them very close together as a complete package that sounds
> nearly identical to continuous sound many people.
>
> Analog recordings on most LPs are continuous, which produces a truer
> sound - though, paradoxically, some new LP releases are being recorded
> and mixed digitally but delivered analog.
>
> Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow
> loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well.
>
> But it's not just about the sound. Audiophiles say they also want the
> format's overall experience - the sensory experience of putting the
> needle on the record, the feeling of side A and side B and the joy of
> lingering over the liner notes.
>
> "I think music products should be more than just music," said Isaac
> Hudson, a 28-year-old vinyl fan standing outside one of Portland's
> larger independent music stores.
>
> The interest seems to be catching on. Turntable sales are picking up
> and the few remaining record pressers say business is booming.
>
> But the LP isn't going to muscle out CDs or iPod soon.
>
> Nearly 450 million CDs were sold last year, versus just under 1
> million LPs, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Based on the first three
> months of this year, Nielsen says vinyl album sales could reach 1.6
> million in 2008.
>
> "I don't think vinyl is for everyone; it's for the die-hard music
> consumer," said Jay Millar, director of marketing at United Record
> Pressing, a Nashville based company that is the nation's largest
> record pressing plant.
>
> Many major artists - Elvis Costello, the Raconteurs and others - are
> issuing LPs and encouraging fans to check out their albums on vinyl.
> On Amazon.com, one of the best-selling LPs is Madonna's latest album,
> "Hard Candy".
>
> Some artists package vinyl and digital versions of their music
> together, including offers for free digital downloads along with the
> record.
>
> "We've definitely had some talks with the major retailers about
> exclusives on the manufacturing end," Millar said of United Record
> Pressing, which focuses primarily on independent recordings.
>
> An avid music fan himself, Millar says he has moved to vinyl in recent years.
>
> "Once I got my first iPod ... I'm looking at my wall of CDs and trying
> to justify it," Millar said. "The things I like - the artwork, the
> liner notes, the sound quality - it dawns on me, those are things I
> like better on vinyl." He welcomed back the pops and clicks, even some
> of the scratches.
>
> "I like that fact that it's imperfect in a lot of ways, live music is
> imperfect too," Millar said.
>
> Independent music stores, which have been the primary source of LPs in
> recent years, say many fans never left the medium.
>
> "People have been buying vinyl all along," said Cathy Hagen, manager
> at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland. "There was a fairly good supply
> from independent labels on vinyl all these years. As far as a
> resurgence, the major labels are just pressing more now."
>
> In this game, big retailers aren't necessarily competing head to head
> with independent sellers' regular clientele of nostalgic baby boomers,
> independent label fans and turntable DJs.
>
> "I cannot see that Best Buy or Fred Meyer would order the same things
> we would," Hagen said. "They aren't going to be ordering the reggae,
> funk, punk or industrial music."
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