Turntables and vinyls

[texmexpipe]

My wife gave me a turntable for my birthday and I received several records for Christmas. All this to say I've really enjoyed rediscovering the joys of vinyl. It holds many parallels to pipe smoking for me. It is a "finer" thing, it's not necessarily popular, it's not convenient, it causes one to slow down, and there is a certain amount of ritual involved in playing a record.
I'm a bit of an arrangement junky and I've enjoyed listening to records that I've had digitally and hearing new parts of the arrangements. My favorite albums for this so far have been Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker and Led Zeplin's IV

What are your favorite albums on vinyl?

 

[tinsel]

Congrats on your turntable. I'm also a big fan of vinyls. The sound quality is far superior to any other format, but I won't get into all that.
You are correct about them being similar to pipe smoking and one of the "finer things". There's a ritual. It's an immersive process. I ALMOST hate that music has become so mobile and easily available these days. It has become "the soundtrack to our lives" ... in other words, it's been reduced to background noise. Vinyl records remind me that sometimes it's good to stop, relax, and ENJOY the music.
My list of "favorite" vinyls is pretty long, but here's a few:
Zeppelin IV (we have similar tastes it seems)
Randy Newman "Sail Away"
Electric Light Orchestra "Out of the Blue"
Elton John "Madman Across the Water"
Supertramp "Breakfast in America"
The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
I could go on and on and on ... but I think I'll leave it there

 

[stickframer]

It is a "finer" thing, it's not necessarily popular, it's not convenient, it causes one to slow down, and there is a certain amount of ritual involved in playing a record.

Well said.I love the feel of handling a vinyl, flipping it over, and listening to an album in its entirety. Nothing else has that cool physical aspect.
Some favorite albums are Rush-2112, because the sings really flow together well, and it's awesome.
Neil Young- Live at the Cellar Door
Bob Dylan- 1962 Witmark Demos. I like this one because it's pretty much uncut, with a few screw ups and some commentary, etc.
There's plenty of others. I've got some releases from lesser known bands, mostly bought at gigs, that I'd never part with. Mostly folk/rock/country/blues type stuff.

 

[wolfe64]

That's awesome of your wife to get you those.

I am a turntable junkie. I love the sequence of having to prepare the LP before I play it.

I have 12 pairs of speakers, 10 receivers, 6 turntables, 1 1970's era console AM/FM/turntable and at last count which was a few months ago a little over 700 albums. I also have cassettes and 8 track tapes.
As far as my favorites, I can't really pin down any right now but it would definitely be 1970's or 80's rock and roll.
It's an obsession once you get started!!!!!!
And this is what happens after you get started........... :mrgreen:

 

[misterlowercase]

Wolfe,

that joint be jumpin'!!!!!

:clap:
I love records, grew up with 'em, and I'm a man of eclectic tastes because I grew up listening to the best radio station of all times,

WREK 91.1 FM

https://www.wrek.org/philosophy/

"a cornucopia of diversity" & "the sound of one brick scraping" were two of the promo adverts.
their playlist is still great even after all these years:

https://www.wrek.org/playlist/
All my stuff is in storage so I ain't been spinnin' anything much, but I enjoy roots rock like Spacemen 3 and spazztic stuff like 80's HardCore, and riff'd out dense metal, live jazz, free jazz, skronk and just about everything else.
I also have alotta 45's, mostly indie stuff from the 90's, but also some great novelty records from the 50's like Nervous Norvus or The Count Five etc etc...
...I like how back in the day that many of the 45's were recorded way in the red and sounded "hot" 'n loud because most kids were listening on those crappy portable jobbies with cheap speakers,

one of the "hottest" 45's I got is this one, it is LOUD!

get a copy if you ever come across one and you'll see what I mean
:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gPNDa7pZw8

:
I'm a sucker for looking up vinyl on yootube, I like it when they play the actual record, it's pretty cool, like one of those fake fireplaces kinda, puts you there, almost...
:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdkZp15Ontc

 

[roderick]

I definitely see the appeal of vinyl. I gave my son a turntable for Christmas, and he gave me a deluxe box set for Genesis first album From Genesis to Revelation on vinyl so that is my current favorite. It was funny because neither of us have used or talked about vinyl recently.

 

[misterlowercase]

I forgot to say,

Hendrix's Electric Ladyland is one of my faves to listen to.

Also,

Syd Barrett especially...
...and,

locked grooves are cool too!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unusual_types_of_gramophone_records#Sound_recorded_in_locked_grooves
"Expressway to yr. Skull" is one of my alltime fave trax!

(especially live, loud, and long!)
I did mailorder with RRR Records back in the day so along with alot of strange cassette tapes, I got some odd records too, I dove deep into the bins at the record shop, perhaps the Caroliner Rainbow album "I'm armed with quarts of blood" is the most unusual record I've ever bought, with carpet fuzz dirt and other detritus stuck to the cover, but I don't particularly enjoy listening to it because it is downright eerie creepy & somewhat scary!

8O

 

[michaelmirza]

I've actually made the same metaphor before between piping and listening to music on vinyl! It's about the atmosphere, the process, the aesthetic, and the multi-sensory experience all at once.
For me there's nothing that shines more on vinyl than jazz and blues. More specifically the two records I treasure most are "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis and "I Am the Blues" by Willie Dixon.

 

[mayfair70]

YES !!!
I have an AKAI turntable that I bought for 25 bucks 20 years ago and the needle cost me 70 bucks to replace. Sounds great though. In between receivers right now. Nice little Marantz to play my 75 pound Cerwin Vegas with, lowest wattage they'll deal with and they still shake the room.
Favorite Vinyl I own-
Otis Redding- Dock of the Bay

Beck- Odelay

Red Red Meat- There's a Star Above The Manger Tonight

Johnny Cash- Live at Folsom Prison

Beatles- Sgt Pepper's and Abbey Road

Zeppelin- IV

The Clash- The Clash

Jimi Hendrix- Live At Winterland

AC/DC- Highway to Hell

Dave Brubeck Quartet- Take Five

Monty Python- The Meaning of Life, Matching Tie and Handkerchief

CCR- Green River, Chronicles

Manuel de Falla- Ritual Fire Dance

and

Classical Music, Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass, Hawaiian and African Music, Jazz and a bunch of stuff I can't remember cause ITS IN STORAGE. :|

 

[stickframer]

Dock of the Bay is one of my hands down favorite tunes ever.
Micheal, I agree old blues and jazz sounds deadly on vinyl.

 

[mayfair70]

@stickframer

That Redding album has some gems...Ole man trouble, Tramp. I agree with you and Mirza, vinyl does justice to old blues and jazz for sure. I have noticed though, most recordings done on analogue can be put to digital and retain the brilliance and "feel" of vinyl. It depends on how the digital is mastered/mixed from the source material, I guess. One example is some Fred McDowell I have on CD released from old reels. You can hear him getting pissed and talking shit to the engineer, but when he plays the acoustic and sings, it sounds like he is right there in the room with you. From my experience, you stick a ribbon mike on a wall in a room with wood floors and good acoustics and it can be heaven. I just listened to Dock of the Bay on Youtube and it sounded horrible, both videos from different people, compared to my turntable setup. Equipment means everything. I always listen to music on the computer with Sony headphones I got in 1991 plugged straight in and they cover my ears. I always run across great sounding music where someone is complaining about the sound quality. ?? Analogue recording + digital format = good

Love this topic and thanks texmexpipe for posting!!!! I leave you with the best version of NIB I've ever heard...
Sabbath 1970 Paris- N.I.B.

 

[ejames]

I used to have a around 1000 albums,bunch of 45's and 40-50 8-tracks. Loaded them all up plus my turntable and 8 track player and hauled them to Arizona. Traded them for a motor. Still have maybe 50 or so albums and a few 45 and a bunch of cassettes. Records are in a closet. Cassettes are in my shop.

 

[beerandbaccy]

I love Vinyl and own three turntables, one with my stereo and 2 DJ style turntables. I collect funk and soul records and used to DJ a bit. I agree that the time and care that vinyl takes to collect store and play reflects the time and patience and love of quality that pipe smoking takes.
The consumer-bility and mobility of music degrades the experience for me. MP3 music is the mass produced cigarette to the Pipe and fine cigar that is vinyl!

 

[bonehed]

I received a mug for Xmas that reads "Cigarettes are to pipe smoking as Britney is to Bach."

::

 

[newfie]

Love vinyl. I have ~ 300 albums I've saved and still have a full Nikko Audio system I bought in 1990.
My favourites are an original pressing of Bloodrock - Passage, and the very first 2 rock albums I bought, Uriah Heep Live and Magician's Birthday.

 

[voorhees]

I got this one last Christmas. I also picked up a substantial collection of LP's my FIL picked up for free.
Lots of Beatles, James Taylor, Led Zep, The Who, etc. About 50 lp's total added to my approx. 50 I already had.

 

[pappymac]

Gave one of our sons a turntable for his birthday present just before Christmas. He's already started his vinyl collection with a variety of different genres including Deep Purple, Steppenwolf and Mumford and Sons. Took him to a place called 2nd & Charles to look at used albums (priced $2 and up) and he wound up $87. He did pass on a Janis Joplin 4 album box set that was priced at $119 and a Led Zeppelin collection that was $79.

 

[bigpond]

LP's, pipes and beards....these are the hallmarks of the hipster.
Before the LP resurgence began in earnest (think 2004) all the Salvation Army shops in the Cambridge area (Boston) had a massive clearance sale to empty the shelves of a backlog they just couldn't move which included LP's all priced at 10 for a buck. At the time, I was just start to expand in to what the audio nerds refer to as the "high end" (no offense, I'm a proud nerd of another sort), but I didn't yet have a turntable. I borrowed a receiver unit from the lab and replaced it with a decent radio, as that's all it had been used for.
Anyway, I think I spent $15 and came back with 2 crates of records and the worlds crappiest all in one turntable and set it all up in my postage stamp sized living room in the North End. 20 minutes later I got back in my car and bought all the lp's that would fit in to the back of my jeep. I went from shop to shop the next week and scored all the decent recording I could find. Most were classical and jazz, some rock. Somewhere in the mix was a 10 record set of clear red vinyl lp's that were part of a special presentation set of Brahm's. the recording quality was ok, and the vinyl was clear. Turns out this a big coup and I managed to turn them around for 1,500 each on eBay.
I kept all the rest and used the funds to buy a proper turntable and expand my collection.

 

[zack24]

I buy lots of new 180g vinyl from http://www.elusivedisc.com/New-LPs/products/979/ . You'll find many new recordings and a lot of old ones remastered at half speed. The quality is absolutely amazing!

 

[tbradsim1]

A couple years ago I bought 2 turntables that had USB connections to record to a computer and make copies on disc. I have a lot of old records and all my kids record collection. When they visited for Christmas they were still in box, I pulled one out and their eyes glazed at memories of their teen age years. Will give them the turntables so they can copy their memories. My Dad had a Cajun Niteclub and we had hundreds of LPs mostly old Country what we called Hillbilly, a moving company destroyed most of them, my Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzel, Ernest Tub were really missed. DAMN!