Vinyl records are increasingly popular with youths

Fringed vests and platform shoes have long been tucked away, but vintage vinyl is finding a new audience.

Across SouthCoast, more and more people, especially teens and young adults, say they are rediscovering the authentic sound and impressive quality of record albums.

Vinyl phonographs were introduced in 1940 and ruled for the next 40 or 50 years before falling into near extinction with the arrival of cassettes, compact discs and MP3 players.

But despite the array of advanced technology in the music business, "old-fashioned" albums still find an audience. Local music stores such as Vinyl Stage Music in New Bedford and Newbury Comics in Dartmouth, as well as some thrift shops, offer vinyl-lovers a variety of old and new releases.

Several local record collectors shared how they began collecting albums and what they like about them.

Alison Cleveland, a 17-year-old Fairhaven High School senior and record collector for the past two years, said she first became interested in vinyl when she discovered her parents' old albums and found bands she liked among them.

She soon started buying her own records from her favorite bands including The Beatles, The Who and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Alison said she enjoys collecting because, "It's a lot of fun, it's like a hobby. Albums are more interesting than CDs. Sometimes just the art on the cover makes me want to buy a certain album."

While she doesn't think the quality of records is better than CDs, "They sound more realistic than the clean sound of newer technology," she said.

Bryan Cabido, a 19-year-old from New Bedford, has been collecting for about a year. He enjoys listening to records because "they are like a window into the past," he said.

"Most of the records I own were produced around the time the music was released, and I think that's really cool."

Bob Boyer, owner of Sunset Records in Somerset, said his customers range from 15 to 70 years old, but noted that, "Records have gotten popular with teenagers in the past few years."

One of his customers, Brandon Rebello, 23, of New Bedford, said he got into albums when he first heard The Beatles because he wanted to experience the music he liked the way it was released.

Teens tend to rebel against their parents in one way or another, very frequently in their musical choices. However, one of the things most of the young collectors had in common was that many of them got into albums and the music they listen to through their parents.

Many of their parents grew up in the 1960s and '70s when the songs became popular.

Brandon Freitas, 20, of New Bedford has loved the same music as his parents throughout his childhood. Although he discovered records on his own when he bought his first album, "The BeeGees Greatest Hits," at the age of 12, his musical taste came from his parents, he said.

"I love the vintage factor of them — everything about them from the cover art to just the fact that someone 40 years ago enjoyed this record the same way I'm enjoying it today," Brandon said.

The popularity of record albums among young people may not be an act of rebellion against their parents, but a rebellion of a different kind. Mr. Boyer suggests that it may be "a corporate iPod backlash."

Whether it's that or simply the history and eye-catching artwork that characterizes vinyl, for at least some of SouthCoast's younger generation, everything old really is new again.

[SouthCoast Today]