The resurgence of vinyl
New record store owners say format alive and spinnin' in the iPod age
KALAMAZOO -- Blondie, Madonna, Tom Waits, Little Richard, Allman Brothers, Marty Robbins, The Doors, Gary Numan, Ray Orbison, The Damned, KISS ...
Looking over the albums Steve Williamson already had in the shelves as he moved into his Kalamazoo Corner Record Shop was like a trip back to the many ages of the vinyl LP. It's fitting that he has a beaded curtain to walk through to the vinyl showroom.
Williamson pulls out a 1974 album, "Tales Untold" by Kopperfield. All that's known about it is on the cover. It was recorded in Ann Arbor, mixed at Sound Machine in Kalamazoo. The cover art looks like an amateur painting from the side of a van, with a muscled warrior fighting a dragon outside of a castle.
The cover looks like it was drawn by a kid, "but it sounds like progressive-era Kansas," said Williamson, owner of The Corner Record Shop in Grandville who opened a branch Friday in Kalamazoo on West Main Street.
You can't obsess over such details on an MP3. It's part of the reason why, Williamson said, the vinyl record is back.
Jonathon Gruenke / GazetteCD Warehouse on KL Avenue is one of the last remaining record stores in Kalamazoo.
Kalamazoo has lost many record stores since the '90s: Boogie Records, Flipside, Music Express. When the '90s dawned, they held onto vinyl while selling CDs, but eventually big-box stores, online retail and downloading put them out of business. The CD Warehouse has bins of new vinyl and a few more of used, but those are surrounded by many more used CDs and videos.
So would a store devoted to vinyl work in Kalamazoo now?
"Oh, you better believe it," Williamson said.
Jerry Campbell / GazetteOwners of Grandville Corner Record Shop are venturing into Kalamazoo with a store The Corner Record Shop, 1710 W. Main St. Co-owner Steve Williamson is supervising the work prior to the store's opening last week.
Williamson noticed a few years ago that Kalamazoo record hunters were driving up to his Grandville store for the old thrill of flipping through albums. He thought he'd help them save gas, and with Grand Rapids record enthusiast John McIntyre joining as a silent partner, began lugging crates of vinyl south.
"He's the boss," McIntyre said of Williamson. But they're both geeked about the vinyl resurgence.
"You hear lots of stories about kids picking up mom and dad's records and finding an old turntable and finding how good that sound is," McIntyre said.
"With me, it's always been the sound," Williamson said.
Most audiophiles agree there might be some pops and crackles in the grooves, but analog has a depth of sound that digital doesn't capture. Responding to the demand, artists are releasing new albums on vinyl, such as Beck's "Modern Guilt" and Elvis Costello's "Momofuku." Both include codes for MP3 downloads so you can play it on an iPod.
Companies like Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab also are pressing new reprints of classic albums.
Williamson will have virgin vinyl, but most of his stock will be used. Some rarities will be pricey, but Williamson doesn't want people to think of albums as expensive antiques meant to be stashed away.
"Life's too short for that. Listen to it," he said.
And he'll have his dollar bins, so even moldy oldies can find a home. Some might still throw out old records, "but I even save Perry Como records," he said.
"Everybody put their heart and soul into those records," he said. It's etched into the grooves.
www.cornerrecordshop.com
Jerry Campbell / GazetteThe Corner Record Shop, 1710 W. Main St., opened Friday.
VINYL GEEKS SOUND OFF
Former record store clerks and vinyl obsessives share their thoughts on selling vinyl in the age of the iPod.
WHO:
Curtis McConney, founder of UFO Dictator Records, a local label that puts out vinyl-only recordings of local bands. He's also a DJ and owner of about 6,000 LPs and singles. "Oh yeah, first real record was probably a Toys 'R' Us Geoffrey record that was rubbed on the concrete at Grandma's house until it was dead."
Ronald Casebeer, who worked at The Rock Cafe in Battle Creek from 1985-93. "First record I remember buying was a 45 of Carl Douglas' 'Kung Fu Fighting' when I was 10 years old. First LP I bought was Kiss' 'Dressed To Kill.'"
Karl Knack, Battle Creek's Believe in Music, Flipside, 1987-95. "First LP I ever bought with my own money: 'ChangesOneBowie' (1976, on sale at Woolworth's for $3.88, price was right!)."
Scott Stevens, Flipside, Repeat the Beat, 1990-97.
Amy Stevens, Flipside, 1991-96. With husband Scott owns 4,000 LPs, 1,500 45s many 78s.
QUESTION: Can a vinyl record store work in this town and era?
McConney: "The kids know that vinyl is cool again because you could pay $1 to download a Blondie MP3 on iTunes or you could find the whole LP used for $1 and check out the rest of the songs, and the percussion won't sound like an FM clock radio speaker. MP3s are a joke."
Scott Stevens: "During my time at Flipside, we had a truly great and eccentric character who was a distributor of jazz/blues/folk music, and he would always tell me that I had 'the disease.' Of course he was talking about loving records and music but also about the curse of being a collector. There will always be people with 'the disease,' and I think Kalamazoo has enough of them (based on my experience in the biz) to make a true record store work around here."
Amy Stevens: "The last decade has seen music store after music store close, not only here, but also in major markets. Even the majority of well-established, well-known and well-loved stores are gone. However, the optimistic side of me would love for it to be successful. Vinyl does seem to be making a comeback."
Knack: "If you'd have asked me that a few years ago, I would have questioned it, as we were about to lose some of our last area indy vinyl outlets. In the short timespan since Music Express breathed its last, records started to have a renaissance among younger buyers now. It's not nearly as cool to own 'In Rainbows' as a download than as an LP."
Casebeer: "The used LPs, that's where the profit is as long as the prices are reasonable. Most stores pay about $1 for an average/common LP. Reselling that for $3.99 is reasonable and quadruples the shop's investment. When stores get silly and mark used records up to $10 or more, well, who really needs that anyway, right? 'Gotta buy food and gas, maybe I'll steal the download instead.'"
QUESTION: Records are old and scratchy and should be used as an alternative fuel source. We should all have our music on iPods. Your thoughts?
McConney: "iPods are cool, I've got one. I rip my vinyl on my computer and dump the tracks on my iPod for listening in my car or on trips. ... I know that a sewer line break in a dank basement can be the end of a crucial record collection, but drop your iPod in the toilet and 10 years of downloading the Internet is gone in a flush. Records are real. ... Have you ever seen somebody DJ a dance party with a laptop? The skill it takes to press play on your playlist while you check MySpace for fake females as nobody dances is totally awesome."
Casebeer: "iPods are awesome -- I love mine -- but MP3s are really just fast-food for your ears. On the road, in a car, sure I'll have a hamburger. I love hamburgers. But when I want a really good meal, I preheat the grill, use quality ingredients, savor the smells, flip the steak. ... Or, you can throw that burger wrapper in a land fill. Nobody's ever gonna open a used MP3 store."
Knack: "My Beatles records sound so much better than the CD versions. When the digital codes on the discs can no longer be read (a friend of mine has a 20-year-old CD that no longer functions, and it's scratch-free), and the iPods crash, I'll still be able to listen to my records"
Amy Stevens: "HUMBUG! I love my iPod as much as the next schmoe and am astounded by the portability and capacity, but there's such obvious audio fidelity issues with MP3s. Also, nobody knows the shelf life of digital formatting. We've got CDs that have died. ... The information is simply no longer readable. Vinyl lasts. Even when a record looks like it's been dragged through gravel for a year, it'll generally still play. And even if the oil shortage leads to power rationing, hand-crank record player technology already exists in Victrola form and would be pretty easy to adapt to 33-1/3."
[MLive]
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