Finyl Vinyl?

Recently my family and I acquired a turntable device that play the prehistoric black round 12" platters known as records. As the kids sat amazed watching the record spin around and around and the stylus run in the grooves that emitted the sounds of wonderful vintage music, I began to wax nostalgically about vinyl records.

For over 50 years the vinyl record format ruled. Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, those records played a big part of my life. From my Mom’s Elvis LPs to my father’s Johnny Cash records, to Paul Revere & the Raiders owned by my brother, music was playing frequently in my childhood home. My Monkees and Partridge Family records dominated once I was tall enough to reach the stereo. I totally rejected the 8-Track or cassette formats and spent my money only on vinyl. However, I could never come up with a way to play my records in the car.

Surprisingly, years after it’s death caused by the compact disc, vinyl is making a comeback. Sales of vinyl records has doubled in 2009. Record companies are reissuing classic albums from the past as well as pressing current hits on vinyl. Stores like Barnes & Noble and Best Buy have added record sections. Used records stores are still around. Amoeba Records in Hollywood stocks thousands of used albums and is seeing increased business. (At Amoeba Chris was able to score a sealed copy of an album of hymns from the 70’s sung by Pastor Chuck Smith)

Our kids had purchased some collectible vinyl recordings of some of their favorite artists and were looking forward to having a record party. I’ve been able to get most of my favorite records on CD or MP3 over the years. However there are some that have never been released in a digital format. It has been interesting to listen to some things that I have not heard in close to 20 years. Of course, I had to endure derision from Chris about my musical choices of the past. She had the audacity to greet the playing of my Kelly Groucutt album with the comment of “How horrid!”. This was spoken by the person who owns the disco version of the Theme from Chips and every Donny Osmond album ever released. I don’t need to go into what she said when I put on the Soundtrack to the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club movie.

My kids got a kick out of going through our collection of over 200 old records asking about the ownership of each one. They were able to guess a lot of them. Poco, Dan Fogelberg, America and Eric Carmen is Dad’s. Culture Club, The Motels, Bette Midler and Carole King is Mom's. Questions like who is Dan Peek, Joe Vitale or Randy Meisner came up frequently. The 10 minute dance remix of Dancing in the Dark just bewildered them. Much to her chagrin, Chris’ Mustard Seed Faith was never located. The kids, however, discovered a copy of Thriller that Chris had forgotten she even owned. The enlarged area for lyrics and graphics were intriguing to my son & daughter. They understood where the term “liner notes” came from after this.

It was a lot of fun because we spent time listening to music together. In this personal IPOD, individual earbud age we live in, the experience of communal music listening is often neglected. The pops, scratches and surface noise that used to drive me crazy felt soothing and comfortable. As I joined the kids watching the records spin, feeling the music more, I was a part of the experience. I was involved and not just listening to a sound piped directly into my ear from a sterile, cold and impersonal little 4 inch POD.

Do you have any vinyl memories?