I was very old school today.
I realized I didn’t have this on MiniDisc today, so I went real-time recording. It brought me joy.
I also did a few others…
An Excellent Series of Recordings…
…from our friends at Verve Records. Available on both black and colored vinyl, as well as CD.
Vintage Audio Pr0n
The rest of the world got a shitload of cool stuff that never made it to the States.
Why Buy CDs And Vinyl?
Vintage Audio Pr0n
Yeah, I’ve owned one…several, actually…over the years. They seem to come and go from my life and I never really understand why. They’re good, solid tables—they contain the same components as the venerable 1200Mk2 series—and Technics finally addressed the arm cueing issues of the previous Mk2 automatic and semi-automatics with this design.
Yeah, It’s Like That
Right there with ya, Charlie.
Another Excellent Pressing
Based on previous items I’ve purchased through Instagram ads, I have to admit when I first ordered one of these “Women of Song” recordings, I wasn’t expecting much, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Colored vinyl always catches my eye, and while the color of my initial purchase (Nina Simone) didn’t match the ad, the sound of the recording offset that enough that I tried another (Ella Fitzgerald, who—let’s face it—I’m an absolute sucker for). That vinyl matched what was advertised, and the sonic clarity and absolutely silent background sold me on this series.
The Billie Holiday recording is no exception, and I will be exploring further Verve releases in this series. If you like classic jazz and buy vinyl, check these out.
WTF?!
I got my copy in 2019 for half that amount!
In fact, if you peruse Discogs for colored vinyl copies of any of Madge’s albums, you’ll see the prices are astronomical now. Are the bookies expecting her to shuffle off her mortal coil sometime soon? It’s crazy!
And don’t even get me started on this one…
Keep in mind the prices noted are the average of all the identical items listed for sale on Discogs at that moment in time. Bedtime Stories (the two-disk reissue on pink vinyl) has been one of my holy grails for as long as I can remember, but to pick up a mint or near mint copy, it’s gonna cost you signficantly more than $155—like two to three times that.
And I’m sorry…even if I had the funds on my salary, short of winning the Lottery I’m not dropping $350-400 on a single piece (well, in this case 2 pieces, but you get my drift) of vinyl.
And while we’re on the subject of the financially unobtainium…
I don’t know where that $249 price is coming from, because if you actually go on the Discogs site, there are currently only two copies for sale and they’re nowhere near that amount:
(Click to embiggen)
Why so much for an incredibly popular recording that had millions of pressings worldwide? Because this one is autographed and pressed on brown vinyl. Brown dirt cowboy, get it?
There’s My Sylvester!
At Least That’s What I Tell Myself
In My Happy Place
No Lies Detected!
The Struggle is Real
Some Boys Are Just Born With…
When I was growing up and coming of age, vinyl (and to a lesser extent, cassettes) were the only real choices. Yeah, there was reel-to-reel tape, but who could afford that? Nearly all of my musical memories are tied to vinyl, with the exception of a half dozen or so CDs that really stand out in my memory.
CDs may come and go from my life (and as I’ve mentioned here several times, all of them did go after the fire two years ago), but after purging all my vinyl in the late 1980s and rebuilding and augmenting my collection in the 90s through today, vinyl is forever. Even if I don’t play it nearly as much as I’d like to.
And while I may balk at paying $35 for a new (or reissued) release, when you take inflation into account, that price is actually on par with the $5-10 I’d pay for stuff back in the day.
My Latest Acquisition
Prompted by this and an offline convo I had with one of my readers (you know who you are), I decided it was time to add Ray of Light to my vinyl collection. This 2-disk, 180g clear vinyl, Record Store Day/Black Friday 2018 special edition didn’t come cheap. It cost a bit over twice what I’m used to paying for new vinyl, but it was worth it.
Now I’m just worried that this purchase will justify shelling out twice that for the purple vinyl edition of Prince’s Purple Rain that I’ve been eyeing for years.
Truth
Spoken Like a True Old Fart
I’ve never been a Zeppelin fan, but damn if this meme doesn’t ring true…
Gorgeous
I’m a Technics 1200 guy through and through, but damn if this Marantz table— just as an object, if for no other reason—isn’t fucking gorgeous.
Maybe Some Madonna Too…
It’s a Kraftwerk-on-Vinyl Sort of Day
and…
Truth!
#truth
What is Stereophonic Sound?
RCA Victor, Living Stereo, What is Stereophonic Sound? ( 1958). Taken from Living Stereo inner sleeve.
A Thing of Beauty
Turn That Frown Into A Smile
Record Store Day Spring 2021
There was only one thing that piqued my interest on the list of RSD releases, and that was the 2-disk, 180-gram gatefold soundtrack of John Carpenter’s Village of the Damned. It arrived today, and I have to say it’s…luscious. Dynamic range and stereo separation are what vinyl is all about. And the soundstage? Absolutely silent. Equal to my German Kraftwerk recordings.
I’ve been doing this so long I remember the Receiver Wars of the 1970s!
Even Though I Now Own My Dream Turntable…
I admit I still have a soft spot in my heart for the much less advanced SL-1600. After lusting over my high school buddy’s SL-1300 for years, I finally scraped up enough money to buy my own—only to be greeted by the news it was no longer available and had been replaced with the 1600. The 1600 proved to be a much better table than the 1300, so I wasn’t disappointed once I started using it.
I gave it to my sister when I got a 1300Mk2 a few years later.
After I’d ditched all my vinyl—and turntable—in the late 80s, when I decided to get back into it in the mid 90s, I returned to a 1600 because the 1300Mk2 was initially unobtainium to me. (There was no eBay; I bought it at a used stero equipment store in Berkeley and the 1600 was the best Technics deck they had available.)
Sad, But True!
