January 17, 2010

vinyl on vinyl.

for the past several months i shielded myself from conversations such as "you'll never believe the amount of records my dad just gave me from his vinyl collection" or "holy cow! today i bought the best dylan record for like a dollar!" whenever these conversations popped up, i would layer invisible brick and mortar in front of me, and there i would sit smugly. i was too cool for records.

then i received this from my mother for christmas...
it was not just a record. it included a poster, lyric book, scrapbook, and everyday i wonder if i send in money with the form if they will still except me for the elton john fan club. i thought, why not. what could possibly be the harm in owning one record?

then a mere two days later my manager handed me a rhinoceros record. i was a little curious as to how this ornately beaded rhinoceros brought back to life from the 60s jammed.
the next day as i happened upon my weekly pilgrimage to bookmans to buy a book for school, i subconsciously found myself in the back of the store. i was pawing through records searching for madman across the water. i kept searching, determined. as each record flipped forward my heart beat faster and faster. it had to be there, i could feel it, i somehow knew it was there. of course, it was the very last record in the stack. i clutched it close in silence. as i opened my eyes i noticed a curious old man watching me.
haven't you seen a true fan of music before? i asked.
he walked away, leaving me with my beautiful album.


there was nothing wrong with owning my favorite album of all time, right?
i mean, i HAD to have it. unfortunately, i decided the same thing for three more records.
fleetwood mac by fleetwood mac
damn the torpedoes by tom petty and the heartbreakers
tumbleweed connection by elton john
I had started a vinyl collection without even really thinking about what i was doing.
a week later, my friend and i decided to go goodwilling. of course, this lasted all of ten minutes. we found ourselves at eastside records. i walked in looking for some dylan albums but along the way down the aisle, i got sucked in by the love of my life. mr. tom petty. i walked out with hard promises.
i did not even realize until later that day, i had forgotten all about bob!

zia records was right across the street so naturally we just walked right on over. i was surprised to find wings wild life (linda and paul mccartney) in my hands.

done! no questions asked.
unsatisfied, we drove downtown to visit our friends at revolver records. we sat on the floor for three hours sifting through the $1 record bins.
tom petty and the heartbreakers

make it big by wham!
sometimes i am nice and buy things for my mother.

the wild heart by stevie nicks

new morning by bob dylan
voices by hall and oates
secretly my favorite purchase of the day.

rumours by fleetwood mac

joy to the world by three dog night
i guess the harm in owning one record is that you cannot just own one record. i have gone mad! i have cooled down a bit, but only because i refuse to buy an album until i have found southern accents (second best album of my life thank you very much) by tom petty and the heartbreakers. i realize that i could just go online and buy it but whats the point? there is something magical about finding that one record you have been looking for in a gigantic stack of other records. the anticipation eating away at you. it is just more gratifying to find something suddenly and unexpected than opening your mailbox and finding something you have been waiting on.
i wrote in all lowercase today, because i realized as i drafted this post that i never use capitol letters. i want this blog to be as true to my writing as possible. do you mind? would you prefer that i used correct punctuation?


bean is half a year old today!





4 comments:

Linda said...

Records!! I love it. As I write this, I glance at the shelves above me where all of my husband's albums are. He has most of the ones you featured here and I smile. I only wish I would have kept all of my albums which I parted with years ago, when I too thought I was too cool for that. Only to realize that no other medium can ever replace the coolness of records - as you mentioned with their full-size booklets, posters, artwork. Have you ever tried to make out the words for lyrics on a CD? Oh, that's right - you're still younger... but just wait until after 40. ;-) And, beyond that, it just doesn't serve justice to the original work.

Did you know there's a record store day?
http://www.recordstoreday.com/CustomPage/381

And I found this little tidbit from a recent news article, of interest: "Sales of vinyl albums have been climbing steadily for several years, tromping on the notion that the rebound was just a fad. Through late November, more than 2.1 million vinyl records had been sold in 2009, an increase of more than 35 percent in a year"

Personally, to me, there's a greater sound quality on the albums, even with the scratches. It just sounds... I don't know - more REAL...

which brings me to your last paragraph - I don't mind the lower case letters, as I'd rather everyone present themselves just entirely as they are. :)

Love the cute photo as well.

Have a great week!
Linda

Decor To Adore said...

Now if we only could get Big Daddy to fix the record player.
Are you going to the movies today? Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.

C. said...

Yess, I love love records! good finds :)


xo, C
http://owl-wings.blogspot.com

Isabel said...

I remember seeing that Elton record in my grandparent's basement and being transfixed with the cover art...