What are your views on the vinyl s(pl)urge?

[4000]

6 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Records are like old friends, and the ritual of placing the vinyl and dropping the needle is a pleasure in itself.

 

 

I got rid of much of my vinyl and don’t even have a turntable set up (although I do own one), but this is it. It’s like a tea ceremony. It’s not just about drinking tea. 😉

[Boodang]

My latest vinyl purchase. The Hobbit in 4 LPs (apparently an unabridged version would have run to 18 LPs). Who remembers Nicol Williamson? Great actor.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Boodang

[Skin Lewis]

7 hours ago, BigRedX said:

While there are some new good cutting engineers about these days, they don't handle the sheer volume of work that was being done in the 60s and 70s (backlogs are mostly in the pressing plants rather than the cutting rooms) and there are no well-known names like Porky (George Peckham) and Bilbo (Dennis Blackham) who back in the day were probably as important as the musicians and the producer of the records that they cut.

Absolutely this. Also, mix engineers would try to give these guys what they needed in order to get the best out of it, if they knew who was cutting it.

[Boodang]

The 'philosophical' reason I like vinyl (which only applies to pre digital recording); sound pressure waves are converted to an electrical signal by a microphone which is represented by lumps and bumps on a vinyl groove,, a cartridge then converts them back to an electrical signal which is amplified and moves a speaker diaphragm to produce sound pressure waves.... the process to listen to the music being a reversal (well, in principle anyway!) of the recording and all analogue.

With digital your are listening to a chip generating waveforms from a data stream. 

So when I play my Miles Davis vinyl I close my eyes and there's, philosophically, less of a disconnect between me and artist!!

Admittedly it's a zen thing and in no way is related to the quality of the reproduced signal!

[steve-bbb]

Have had some reissue pressings which sound dull and lifeless compared to 70s originals and ocassionally vice versa

 

only have one half speed master in the collection which is monkeyhouse friday and the quality is outstanding but then also some bowie reissues which sound decidely average

 

its quite nice when you pick up an old original 70s or 80s disc and the production and mastering are so good it still sound fantastic today albeit it with a few extra pops and crackles

 

then again there are some things also which both labels and/or artists have steadfastly resisted re-releasing, so if you want your copy then vinyl is the only choice

 

re the OP comments, the same near here with the big hmv store at bluewater shopping centre, extremley well stocked but extremley high prices too, but there are plenty of local shops fortunately covering both used and new vinyl at much better prices and better overall shopping experience imho

[Dan Dare]

I like my vinyl. I don't care whether or not it's the last word in fidelity and I appreciate that it's not the most convenient way to store and listen to music, but I don't care. YMMV.

[lozkerr]

1 hour ago, steve-bbb said:

its quite nice when you pick up an old original 70s or 80s disc and the production and mastering are so good it still sound fantastic today albeit it with a few extra pops and crackles

I suspect I'm in a minority here, but the hiss and crackle of old vinyl gives it a sense of history. I still have most of my records, including about 1,500 singles. IIRC, the oldest is a 7" of the Platters' The Great Pretender, which is dated 1956. I've got quite a few from the 60s and 70s too. The hiss and crackle increases the sense of them coming from a long time ago. Sometimes it's nice to play them and remember my youth. And there's something about seeing the spinning disc that makes it seem more immediate compared to a box of blinkenlights.

 

But anything I buy nowadays is CD by default. If stuff gets pulled off a streaming service, I still have it.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 18/02/2022 at 11:44, Skinnyman said:

I’m constantly amazed at how easily the music industry is able to find new (or old) ways of selling us the same stuff.

 

Over the years I have bought multiple copies of the same albums across different formats.

 

LP.

Quadrophonic LP.

Cassette.

Eight-track cartridge.

CD.

Digitally remastered CD with added bonus tracks.

CD box set Steven Wilson Surround Mix.

Streamed version from Spotify.

Lossless digital stream Amazon Music.

Ditto Apple whatever theirs is called.

180g Japanese pressed Vinyl reissue

 

I daresay there will be more “definitive” CD reissues over the next few years as the assets are sweated yet again

 

 

You, sir, are what is know to the industry as a 'Format Tart'.

 

No doubt you will be first in the queue for the 2023 Virtual Reality Interpretive Dance version with surround smells.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 18/02/2022 at 11:46, tegs07 said:

There was always something special about listening to vinyl in company, selecting the records and holding the covers that scrolling through an iPod or iPhone can’t replicate. Then there is the ease of skipping and just getting the best tracks and never appreciating the body of work in its entirety.

 

Vinyl is far from convenient but I totally get it.

 

Vinyl begs a degree of commitment, none of this hopping off to another tune halfway through. I like my music as curated by the artist, not an algorithm or a millenial...

[Woodwind]

Virtually all the music I listen to is on record or CD, with a few new tapes and minidiscs bought from bands when I'm at a friend's who owns an appropriate player.

 

The only times I stream music (primarily in previews on Boomkat or bandcamp or sometimes on excerpts in reviews) is to find out if I want to buy it.

 

And @Stub Mandrelhas just replied while I type with precisely what I was going to say about commitment and algorithm 😀

Edited February 19, 2022 by Woodwind

[casapete]

I think one of the reasons I'm sticking with the CD format is that I just can't get used to the concept of not owning music in a physical sense - as Woodwind says above, I only stream to see if I like an album then usually buy it on CD. Plucking music out of the air seems alien to me as a replacement, am guessing it's having grown up with a music collection to hand on vinyl/CD it's hard to let that concept go. Definitely an age thing I think.....🧓

[RhysP]

6 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

You, sir, are what is know to the industry as a 'Format Tart'.

 

No doubt you will be first in the queue for the 2023 Virtual Reality Interpretive Dance version with surround smells.

I've replaced knackered vinyl with the CDs of the same albums, but I've never been one for buying all the re-re-re-releases that get brought out.

I've bought a couple of things that have had extra tracks, demo versions etc. on them & I never found them to be worth listening to.

There was a reason these songs & out-takes were left off the original albums in the first place... 🙂

I have absolutely no interest in all these surround sound versions of old albums that seem to be very popular now either, I'm perfectly happy listening to an album as the artist originally intended it to be heard.

[Sercet]

13 minutes ago, RhysP said:

I've bought a couple of things that have had extra tracks, demo versions etc. on them & I never found them to be worth listening to.

That’s what Spotify is for. You can listen to those six CD extended sets of a 40 minute album without a huge investment. I agree, those demo versions are usually a one listen experience. 
 

[Skinnyman]

31 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

You, sir, are what is know to the industry as a 'Format Tart'.

 

No doubt you will be first in the queue for the 2023 Virtual Reality Interpretive Dance version with surround smells.

Pre-ordered it last month 😁

[Boodang]

I've discovered so much more new music as a result of streaming, so top bananas for that, but anything special gets bought on vinyl, if it's available. 

I've never been sentimental about CDs and have none left, but vinyl I've kept.

[tegs07]

51 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Vinyl begs a degree of commitment, none of this hopping off to another tune halfway through. I like my music as curated by the artist, not an algorithm or a millenial...

When I’m working or cooking streaming is a convenient solution. I sometimes skip tracks if they are a bit hectic for the task at hand. When I have free time though there is nothing like putting a record on the turntable and enjoying a drink and the album in its entirety as it was meant to be heard.

A think a decent hi-if would be an excellent retirement present.

Edited February 19, 2022 by tegs07

[Woodinblack]

I loved it when I was young, the whole ritual of the music, but then in my late teens and early 20s I moved a lot and it was a pain moving around. Then CDs came out later on and the sound quality was a revelation so I got rid of all my albums and got CDs. I loved the sleves and liner notes and records had more 'value' as objects than CDs, which I understand, but I couldn't be bothered with it now.

I mostly listen to all my music on random, but if I want to actually listen I will listen to the whole thing. Not very common these days.

[SteveK]

Those saying that they prefer to hear an album as the artist intended... you can do that when streaming: Just find album and hit the "Play" button, sit back and enjoy🙂

 

Just occasionally, the "skip" button is a godsend. The Beatles "White" album, Revolution 9 anyone?😉

Edited February 19, 2022 by SteveK

[BigRedX]

IMO there are very few albums where every track is a "must-hear" every time you play it.

[Stub Mandrel]

Just now, BigRedX said:

IMO there are very few albums where every track is a "must-hear" every time you play it.

 

The Wall?

[leroydiamond]

9 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

IMO there are very few albums where every track is a "must-hear" every time you play it.

I always listen to an album from start to finish warts (if there are any) and all, as old habits die hard.  Probably comes from growing up when analogue was the only game in town and track skipping was not an option on vinyl without significant inconvenience. The sequence of the order of the tracks was an important element of how I related to an album and presumably the track order would have been carefully considered by the artist(s). 

[BigRedX]

1 minute ago, leroydiamond said:

I always listen to an album from start to finish warts (if there are any) and all, as old habits die hard.  Probably comes from growing up when analogue was the only game in town and track skipping was not an option on vinyl without significant inconvenience. The sequence of the order of the tracks was an important element of how I related to an album and presumably the track order would have been carefully considered by the artist(s). 

 

Actually for any album released in the days before CDs, the track order was considerably dictated by the limitations of vinyl as a playback medium. As both the bandwidth and signal to noise ratio decrease the closer you get to the label it means that tracks with less frequency information would be put there. Ever wondered why the last track on each side of an album tended to be more "mellow" than the ones at the start? It's got very little to do with what the artist wanted and much more to do with what the cutting engineer would be recommending, to get the overall best sounding record. Also there's the need for each side of an album to be roughly the same length and ideally under 20 minutes at 33rpm. Not a problem if all your songs are 3-4 minutes long, but it does cause a problem for the placement of your band's 8 minute or more epic in relation to what else it will share the side with.

 

Of course you can ignore all of this and sequence the tracks in any order you want, but it will result in an less than ideal sounding record. I always used to wonder why some supposedly high energy songs at the end of side two of albums I liked never quite packed the punch of the version that was released as a single. Well that's why, and had they been placed at the start of the side they would have sounded much better.

[leroydiamond]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Actually for any album released in the days before CDs, the track order was considerably dictated by the limitations of vinyl as a playback medium. As both the bandwidth and signal to noise ratio decrease the closer you get to the label it means that tracks with less frequency information would be put there. Ever wondered why the last track on each side of an album tended to be more "mellow" than the ones at the start? It's got very little to do with what the artist wanted and much more to do with what the cutting engineer would be recommending, to get the overall best sounding record. Also there's the need for each side of an album to be roughly the same length and ideally under 20 minutes at 33rpm. Not a problem if all your songs are 3-4 minutes long, but it does cause a problem for the placement of your band's 8 minute or more epic in relation to what else it will share the side with.

 

Of course you can ignore all of this and sequence the tracks in any order you want, but it will result in an less than ideal sounding record. I always used to wonder why some supposedly high energy songs at the end of side two of albums I liked never quite packed the punch of the version that was released as a single. Well that's why, and had they been placed at the start of the side they would have sounded much better.

That being said, the track order in the analogue days was not up for changing for the listener,  regardless of how it was determined. In my case, the track order impacted on the listening experience and how I related to the album, so much so that regardless of format, I always listen to an album in its entirety. Back in the days at  gatherings for listening sessions, that was the norm and listening to side 2 before playing side 1 was a no no. The notion of skipping a track would have been sacrilege.

Edited February 19, 2022 by leroydiamond

[Nail Soup]

On 18/02/2022 at 08:42, Dankology said:

Jeffrey Lewis wrote a great song about it that I'm sure I've posted here before:

 

https://youtu.be/3urXygZXb74

That song is brilliant…. I’ve heard on 6music a couple of times, but good to hear it again. Interesting final chapter in the song!