Metallica, Radiohead and other bands help the LP stage a comeback

Vinyl Gets Another Spin

Metallica's new release, "Death Magnetic," went on sale on Sept. 12, but fans who want the vinyl version may have to wait. Even when it was available for pre-order, the two-LP set was one of the fastest-selling music items on Amazon.com recently and is temporarily out of stock.

The heavy-metal titans are among a wave of artists putting out albums in an old format: the vinyl LP. Madonna and Coldplay recently issued deluxe vinyl versions of their latest records. U2 and Van Morrison are re-releasing their back catalog on vinyl. New LP titles are coming in the weeks ahead from Oasis, Bob Dylan and Kings of Leon.

The 12-inch vinyl LP record -- in decline for the past two decades, clung to only by DJs, audiophile nerds and collectors -- is making a stand amid the digital revolution. World-wide sales of LP records doubled in 2007 (from three million to six million units) after hitting an all-time low in 2006, according to IFPI, the international recording industry trade association. Global sales of CDs dropped 12% in the same period, after having fallen 10% the previous year. Turntable sales in the U.S. increased more than 80% from 2006 to 2007 and continue to rise this year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. "Last year and this year have been our busiest ever," says Kris Jones of London's Sounds of the Universe record shop, which sells more music on vinyl than on CD. "It's really crazy."

Record companies are looking for innovative ways to make people pay for music -- often music they already have in another format -- rather than get it free or at a reduced price over the Internet.

"There's a reaction against the commoditization of music" that downloading represents, says Mike Allen, a music industry consultant and former vice president of international marketing for record company EMI Group. "With vinyl there's something that has innate value -- a physical object."

Sound quality also plays a role. Vinyl fanatics have always maintained that LPs sound warmer and richer than digital formats. Some acts, like Beck, Tom Petty and Fleet Foxes, are playing to fans of both the old and new technology by including free CDs or MP3 downloads with vinyl versions of their albums.

Amazon recently launched a vinyl section with more than 250,000 titles, and bricks-and-mortar retailers like Best Buy and HMV are stocking more LPs. Indie record shops such as Other Music in New York and Amoeba Music in Berkeley, Calif., never stopped selling records.

Late last year, Radiohead made its new album available online and asked people to pay whatever they wanted to for it. But they also released the music in an $80 "discbox" edition, with two vinyl records, two CDs and a souvenir booklet. Even with the music available digitally for free, Radiohead has sold more than 60,000 discboxes. "People want to hold something," says Mr. Jones. "They like the pictures, the artwork."

So do older listeners, who remember when buying a new record was special. "You forget how gigantic the artwork was, how much more interesting the albums are than CDs or downloads," says Mr. Allen. "It's a bit of a lost joy."

[WSJ]

The Clash - Live At Shea Stadium VINYL

Recorded at New York’s Shea Stadium in 1982, Live at Shea Stadium captures the band at the peak of its powers and on devastating form. Bristling with energy and attitude, Live at Shea Stadium is destined to feature alongside James Brown at the Apollo, The Who at Leeds and Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison as one of the greatest live recordings of all time!

The Clash, opening for The Who on their farewell tour of the US, played two nights at the legendary Shea Stadium (12th & 13th Oct 1982). They had recently released the Combat Rock album, and the singles “Rock The Casbah” and “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” were enjoying mass audiences via MTV and radio airplay. Despite being the support act, the New York Post reported “there were as many Clash fans on those nights as Who fans.”

Recorded by Glyn Johns, the album features the second night’s performance in its entirety and shows the band at a fascinating and pivotal point in their career. They had risen from punk agitators to arena superstars and would break up less than a year later. One of the few remaining unreleased Clash treasures, the recordings have long been sought after by fans and were unearthed by the late Joe Strummer while packing for a move.

This is a legendary Clash concert – released in a historic year for Shea Stadium. More than an album, it’s an event.

Label: Epic/Legacy Catalog
UPC: 88697348801
Release Date: 10/28/08 (CD release date is 10/07/08)
$20.98


VINYL LP TRACKLISTING:

Side 1
1. Kosmo Vinyl Introduction 1:10
2. London Calling 3:29
3. Police On My Back 3:28
4. The Guns of Brixton 4:07
5. Tommy Gun 3:19
6. Magnificent 7 2:33
7. Armagideon Time 2:55
8. Magnificent 7 (Return) 2:23

Side 2
1. Rock The Casbah 3:21
2. Train In Vain 3:45
3. Career Opportunities 2:05
4. Spanish Bombs 3:18
5. Clampdown 4:26
6. English Civil War 2:39
7. Should I Stay Or Should I Go 2:43
8. I Fought The Law 3:22

The Clash - Train In Vain (Live)

Rodney gettin a Little Respect

Would you believe it's almost 4 years since we lost this amazing comedian? Rodney Dangerfield (November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), born Jacob Cohen, was an American comedian and actor, best known for the catchphrase "I don't get no respect" and his monologues on that theme.

coming soon on CD (are people still buying CD's?) ...

Rodney Dangerfield –
Greatest Bits

“The other night a mugger took off his mask and made me wear it.”
– Rodney Dangerfield

Available for the first time together, these are iconic comedian Rodney Dangerfield’s Greatest Bits. Rodney Dangerfield is the man who coined the catchphrase “I Don’t Get No Respect” and gave us some memorable performance in hilarious films as Caddyshack, Easy Money, Back To School, etc. He also had regular appearances on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, The Dean Martin Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show along with several extraordinary stand-up shows where he’d knock the crowd dead with his clever, side-splitting oneliners about his family, his wife, social situations and more.

Features extended bits from Rodney’s classic stand-up routines and a song performed by Rodney Dangerfield from the film Easy Money.
Rodney was recently featured in The Onion Movie, which was released on DVD this year.

Label: Shout! Factory
UPC 826663109900
Streetdate 11/4/09

TRACK LISTING
1. What’s In A Name (3:02)
2. “Am I Too Fast For This Table?” (from “No Respect”) (13:30)
3. “I Tell You With Bars I Am Never Lucky” (from “Rappin’ Rodney”) (11:58)
4. “No respect At All” (from “I Don’t Get No Respect”) (11:24)
5. Finiculi Finicula (2:31)
6. Rappin’ Rodney (5:09)

www.shoutfactory.com

Rodney Dangerfield - Rappin' Rodney (1983)

Look for cameo appearances by Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) and Pat Benatar.

Vinyl Revolution: In a Digital Age

Vinyl Revolution: In a Digital Age, The LP Record Makes a Comeback

A group of 20-something tourists from Istanbul are wandering along London's Portobello Road when one of them, Surhan Gebologlu, walks into Intoxica, a bamboo-covered record shop with an inviting array of LPs displayed on its walls -- everything from Sly and the Family Stone's "A Whole New Thing" to "Scientist at the Controls of Dub."

"I just got a record player," he says, inspecting a mint-condition copy of "The Queen Is Dead" by the Smiths. "My girlfriend bought it for me and I want to use it."

He's not alone. The 12-inch vinyl LP record -- in decline for the past two decades, clung to only by DJs, audiophile nerds and collectors -- is back. Sales of new LPs are on the rise -- the only segment of the market for physical-format recorded music (CDs, tapes and records) to expand during the digital revolution -- and more groups are releasing albums on vinyl, often creatively packaged in combination with digital formats. For young people just discovering vinyl and older listeners indulging in a bit of sonic nostalgia, a record player is suddenly a trendy new piece of audio equipment. Sales of turntables increased more than 80% from 2006 to 2007 and are continuing to rise this year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.

While LPs remain a niche product -- the sales figures are minuscule compared with the amount of music sold digitally -- their resurgence is notable. World-wide sales of LP records doubled in 2007 (from three million to six million units) after hitting an all-time low in 2006, according to figures from IFPI, the international recording industry trade association. Global sales of CDs dropped 12% in the same period, after having fallen 10% the previous year. In the U.S., sales of vinyl records increased 36% from 2006-2007 while CD sales dropped nearly 18%. Those figures are just for new purchases; they don't include the vast secondary market for LPs online and in used record shops.

"Last year and this year have been our busiest ever," says Kris Jones of London's Sounds of the Universe record shop, which sells more music on vinyl than on CD. "It's really crazy."

Ilpo Musto
Sounds of the Universe record shop in London's SoHo

Why the sudden interest in a bulky, old-fashioned format that costs more than downloading and requires equipment most people banished to the basement long ago? Some of it is due to increased visibility in a changing marketplace. Record companies are looking for innovative ways to make people pay for music -- often music they already have in another format -- rather than get it free or at a reduced price over the Internet. Vinyl is one way to attract buyers with something more tangible than a computer file.

"There's a reaction against the commoditization of music" that downloading represents, says Mike Allen, a music-industry consultant and former vice president of international marketing for record company EMI Group. "With vinyl there's something that has innate value -- a physical object."

LPs hitting the market in recent months have run the gamut from major acts like Coldplay and Madonna to hip new groups like Black Kids and the Hold Steady and even to indie bands who press a few thousand LPs and sell them at gigs. There's also a boom in vinyl editions of old albums. U2 just rereleased deluxe remastered LP versions of its classics "War" and "October." Earlier this year, Michael Jackson's 25th anniversary edition of "Thriller" hit the shelves in a vinyl edition with extra tracks.

Some artists are even rewarding buyers of their new LPs with digital versions of the music, effectively selling them the best of both worlds for one price. Major acts like Beck, Tom Petty and Wilco -- as well as newer indie sensations like Fleet Foxes -- have recently released albums on vinyl with free CDs or MP3 downloads included.

Radiohead's release late last year of "In Rainbows" was a watershed for the new sales strategy of value-added vinyl. The band made its new album available online and asked people to pay whatever they wanted to for it. But they also released the music in a £40 "discbox" edition, with two vinyl records, two CDs and a thick souvenir booklet. (Like the five LPs in the special edition of Metallica's new album, "Death Magnetic," the "In Rainbows" records are made to play at 45 rpm rather than 33 1/3, allowing for higher-quality sound.) Even with the music available digitally for free, Radiohead has sold more than 60,000 discboxes.

"People want to hold something," says Mr. Jones. "They like the pictures, the artwork."

So do older listeners, who remember the days when buying a new record was something special. "You forget how gigantic the artwork was, how much more interesting the albums are than CDs or downloads," says Mr. Allen. "It's a bit of a lost joy."

Sound quality also plays a role. Vinyl fanatics have always maintained that LPs sound warmer and richer than digital formats. "There has been a resurgence of vinyl among people who believe that with CDs and downloads the sound quality is not there," says IFPI's Francine Cunningham.

That was especially the case in the early days of CDs, when methods of transferring master tapes to digital formats failed to satisfy audiophiles. CD sound quality has improved greatly since then, says Mr. Allen, but there have always been people "who found digital music harsh and cold." The same is true with MP3s, which typically are saved onto players as compressed files, much smaller than the data on CDs, that sacrifice some audio quality.

There's also a novelty aspect. To a young buyer, a record is something unusual -- even something you listen to from start to finish as an artistic whole rather than on shuffle play. "People have gotten tired of downloading all of a sudden," says Chris Summers, manager of London's Rough Trade Records. "Young listeners crave something new. To them, vinyl is new."

London's Best Vinyl

The Internet has made it easy to find almost any record anywhere. Amazon's U.S. and U.K. sites have beefed up their vinyl sections in response to increasing demand (recent top sellers include the new Metallica and classics like Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"). EBay and the online Gemm network have created a huge virtual market for vinyl records by allowing small shops around the world to sell to anyone. Retail giants such as Best Buy, HMV and Britain's Fopp! have vinyl sections.

But the most rewarding way to shop for LPs is by flipping through the racks in a great record store, perhaps one specializing in your favorite kind of music. Plenty of small record shops have closed in recent years, but most cities still have a few. Collectors and experts favor places like Croc-o-Disc in Paris, Hard Wax in Berlin, Second Life Music in Amsterdam and Runtrunt in Stockholm.

For the best shopping, though, they head to London, where around 20 record stores are still in business, concentrated mainly in two areas, Soho and Notting Hill. Collectors go crazy in these shops, which cater to every taste from acid jazz and soulful house to punk to Afro-beat. But even casual buyers can while away hours looking through the racks.

For a continuation of this article and a list of the hottest London record shops, check out Wall Street Journal

Virtual Zeppelin

Musicians thousands of miles apart have managed to put together the best Led Zeppelin covers ever recorded.

Recently a group of YouTube musicians, who specialized mostly in making videos of themselves jamming along to CDs in their basements and bedrooms, formed a band, of sorts, called Virtual Zeppelin. In an Internet filled with musicians of every imaginable stripe and talent level, these guys share something special. They can play Led Zeppelin with freakish accuracy. The fact that they live tens of thousands of miles apart—from Canada to Japan to Northern Virginia—is no longer a barrier to putting together the best Led Zeppelin cover band in history.

The technology behind "Virtual Zeppelin" isn't rocket science. Each guy records his part. They pass around multitrack files along with individual videos, and the last guy in the chain mixes everything down into the finished product. Easy. And because of that, there's already a few similar projects popping up online—virtual mashups dedicated to Deep Purple, the Beatles and Kiss, to name a few. Almost as soon as you see and hear these things you understand the brilliance of it, and you just know it's going to be huge.

This is what Web 2.0 is all about.

Virtual Zeppelin - Over The Hills And Far Away


Virtual Zeppelin - The Lemon Song(Ultimate Remix Version)


Virtual Zeppelin - Ten Years Gone

http://www.youtube.com/jamesnorthernva
http://www.youtube.com/Munkybarz
http://www.youtube.com/mg4150
http://www.youtube.com/vanderbilly
http://www.youtube.com/user/bitwonk
http://www.youtube.com/jun626

[Channel Insider]

One of the Coolest Animated GIF's I've Seen - Totally Neon

Oh yeah, and if you wanna check out the new reggae track from Estelle featuring Sean Paul called "Come Over" click on the hot neon picture above for the mp3. Check it out, courtesy of Atlantic Records.

And YES, I know it's very simple to make that image in Photoshop and a gif maker (I could probably bang one out fairly quickly) but I've just not seen anyone do it before and create that blinking neon effect. Image above is compressed to fit the width of this blog column, so click here to view it full-size.

It's a Vinyl World After All

It's a Vinyl World After All, Michael Fremer's Guide to Record Cleaning, Storage, Handling, Collecting & Manufacturing in the 21st Century.

Learn the art and science of turntable set-up with noted analog authority Michael Fremer, Senior contributing editor, Stereophile.

Tour the famous Diepolz, Germany Pallas pressing plant with globetrotting analog expert Michael Fremer and see how they plate lacquers and press records at Europe's premier pressing plant. Then visit Record Technology Incorporated (RTI) and see how America's best record manufacturer does it. Eavesdrop on a mastering session with Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman at famed AcousTech Mastering, the world's only mastering room located within a pressing plant. Back in his listening room, Michael Fremer offers invaluable tips on record storage, record handling, record maintenance, cleaning and collecting.

Bonus features include interviews with RTI's Don MacInnis and Pallas's Holger Neummann. Includes PDF file on the DVD-ROM section containing more useful record care, cleaning and collecting information. Shot in high definition and released on DVD in a letterboxed format, this three hour long DVD is even more informative and entertaining than Fremer's first highly acclaimed DVD "21st Century Vinyl: Michael Fremer's Practical Guide to Turntable Set-Up." If you enjoyed, appreciated and laughed along with the first one, you'll love this one from the opening minute. No vinyl fanatic should be without this highly entertaining and informative production.

Features:
• Detailed set-up of a Pro-Ject RM-5 (RPM-5 outside the USA)
• Detailed set-up of a Rega P5
• Detailed set-up of a VPI Scoutmaster
• Using the techniques detailed on this DVD in conjunction with the manufacturer's instructions, you will be able to set-up any turntable, and align virtually any phono cartridge on any tonearm ever made
• Bonus Interview with George Marino and "tour" of Sterling Sound's Neumann cutting system
• Interviews with RTI's Don MacInnis and Pallas's Holger Neummann
• PDF file on the DVD-ROM section contains even more information and set-up tips
• Shot in high definition and released on DVD in a letterboxed format
• 1.33:1 (4:3) Aspect Ratio
• Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• NTSC - No regional Coding

Total Running time, 3:09:39

$29.99

Elusive Disc

New Exhibit Opens at USC: "A Sound Design: The Art of the Album Cover"

USC Libraries present: A Sound Design: The Art of the Album Cover

Friday, September 5, 2008 – Monday, December 15, 2008
Doheny Memorial Library
3550 Trousdale Parkway
University Park Campus
Los Angeles CA 90089-0185
Ground Floor Rotunda
Free

An exhibition of more than 50 iconic album covers showcases the expressive potential and stylistic variety of this popular art form. Innovative graphic artists like Jim Flora, Raymond Pettibon, and Andy Warhol created a visual medium for the music and identities of performers in jazz, rock, hip-hop, and other genres.

Back in the dark age of analog sound, before jewel boxes and error correction codes rendered them obsolete, quaint paper vessels were used to protect the delicate grooved vinyl our ancestors knew as the phonograph recording.

As the 20th century drifts ever farther in the rear-view mirror, cultural historians are taking a fresh look at such fading ephemera. That’s the idea behind a Doheny Library exhibition that opened Sept. 5.

“A Sound Design: The Art of the Album Cover” pays homage to a medium that charmingly wrapped utilitarian function in aesthetic expression. Co-curated by music library manager Robert Vaughn along with Tyson Gaskill and Andrew Wulf, the exhibit showcases 52 iconic record jackets – from jazz to rock, punk and hip hop – spanning the expressive potential and stylistic variety of this popular art form.

Indeed, Vaughn said, the exhibition underscores that for years, album cover art was the top vehicle for distributing popular art to a mass audience. An album that went gold or platinum would be handled, closely studied and cherished by millions of music fans who otherwise might not look twice at the work of Andy Warhol, Raymond Pettibon or Salvador Dali.

Maybe you didn’t know that Warhol was the cover artist on the Rolling Stones’ 1971 smash, Sticky Fingers, as well as the Velvet Underground’s eponymous 1967 album? And that Pettibon designed Black Flag’s 1982 recording, Six Pack, and Sonic Youth’s 1990 Goo? Or strangest of all, that the Spanish symbolist Dali designed the jacket for one of Jackie Gleason’s popular “mood music” recordings, Lonesome Echo?

The album cover movement started in 1939, when Alex Steinweiss, a Columbia Records graphic artist with an interest in poster art, decided to try something new. At the time, an album cover was a plain heavy wrapper with tombstone-style text, like you’d find on the cover and spine of an encyclopedia.

Steinweiss got creative with the music of Beethoven and Rogers & Hart … and bam. “It was night and day,” Vaughn said. “Album sales started to soar. There was nothing to think about.” Soon every record label was doing it. The Doheny exhibition features Steinweiss’ design for the Cleveland Orchestra’s 1941 recording of Showboat, and a jazz album, Continental Tango, for bandleader Marek Weber. At Columbia, designer S. Neil Fujita took up the Steinweiss mantle with a stirring design for the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Time Out (1959).

In the 1950s and ’60s, photography-design duo Francis Wolff and Reid Miles took jazz album covers to the next level – establishing a classy look that solidified the BlueNote label as the epitome of recording excellence.

The rock era produced amazing new collaborations such as the identity-defining, 30-year relationship between designer Roger Dean and the band, Yes. Sometimes it gave musicians a new creative outlet. The Doheny show features Brian Eno’s own design on his 1971 release, Ambient #1 Music for Airports, and David Byrne’s jacket for the Talking Heads’ 1983 album, Speaking in Tongues.

Other highlights from the exhibition include underground cartoonist Robert Crumb’s effort for Cheap Thrills, the 1968 LP by Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin’s early band) and Jimmy Grashow’s whimsical pop-up gatefold design for Jethro Tull’s (1969) Stand Up.

The exhibition – which features LP jackets, historical tidbits and a video kiosk juxtaposing album imagery with the audio it illustrates – also will have a Web component offering links to in-depth readings. In the music library – conveniently located adjacent to the Rotunda exhibition space – Vaughn will make CDs of featured albums available for use by curious listeners.

“A Sound Design: The Art of the Album Cover” runs through Dec. 15 in the Ground Floor Rotunda of Doheny Library.

[USC]

Jerry's Records - tonnage of $3 vinylrecords

Pittsburgh's $3-a-pop vinyl treasure trove

I keep hearing about how the LP is having a comeback, and that's great, but Jerry's Records has been keeping the faith for more than thirty-three years selling used vinyl in Pittsburgh, PA. I spoke with Jerry (Weber) himself last week to learn more about his shop.

It's a big place, with 13,000 square feet filled with LPs and there's a 16,000 square foot off-site warehouse with even more stuff. Jerry says 70 to 80 percent of his inventory is priced around $3. So clearly, he's not dealing in the rarities or the collector market, no, Jerry just likes selling vinyl. In fact, he never sold new vinyl. BTW, the store doesn't buy, sell or play CDs, Jerry's is all-analog, all the time.

Jerry buys 2,000 to 5,000 LPs a week, cleans each one, and puts them in new plastic inner sleeves. Scratched and beat up records are weeded out, packed in boxes of 100 and given away for free. Sounds like good fodder for vinyl art or sculpture.

There's tonnage of $3-a-pop rock, jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, gospel, E-Z listening, Latin, soul, funk, R&B, folk, comedy, soundtracks, etc. Jerry said, "It looks like I'm going to be the last man standing (selling affordable used LPs), a lot of guys don't want to sell the $3 records anymore. I want people to come here and look at records, that's what it's all about."

Need a turntable, cassette deck or speakers?

Jerry says if you really love music and don't have a turntable you're missing out. I agree. So if you're in the neighborhood, drop by Jerry's Records at 2136 Murray Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, or phone: 412-421-4533. Jerry also auctions LPs from his website, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "View Auctions."

[CNET]

New generation discovers warm sounds of vinyl

Earlier this summer, 22-year-old Erik Olson, of Grand Rapids, sold off his entire collection of CDs so he could invest in a new music format he finds way more satisfying -- thrilling even.

"I was getting bored listening to music. I was looking for a change," he said of his lock-stock-and-barrel switch to vinyl LPs.

Devoted iPod user Eric Feirick, 27, of Grand Rapids, just bought his first turntable, aka a record player, so he could explore "something different" musically, which in his case meant searching for old Al Green albums recently at The Corner Record Shop, 3562 Chicago Drive SW in Grandville.


Just down the aisle, I found longtime record buyer Craig Patterson, 46, who had pulled out a John McLaughlin LP and was scanning bins for Bill Chase jazz records.

"I never really left vinyl," said Patterson, a Grand Rapids audiophile. "If I'm going to sit down and really listen to something, I'll listen to vinyl."

Introducing the hottest technology in music today: Vinyl records.

No kidding: Those flat black 12-inch discs kids mocked just a few years ago as outdated relics of the baby boomer-saurus era have become the trendiest thing the ailing music industry has to offer.

Steve Williamson owns The Corner Record Shop in Grandville. "Everybody's jumping back into it," store owner Steve Williamson told me, noting he has made used and new vinyl record sales the backbone of his shop since it opened nine years ago.

"There's a lot of people who never quit playing vinyl. They were obstinate about it. It's not a novelty here. It's more the meat and potatoes of this place."

Big names on board

But Williamson also concedes younger customers -- teens and 20-somethings -- have helped boost sales. They have embraced records in recent years, buoyed by certain labels and artists who have started putting out new albums on vinyl again, often weeks ahead of their release on CD. They include big names such as Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, R.E.M, Coldplay and Radiohead.

Warner Brothers has even started an online store (becausesoundmatters.com) with pricey reissued vinyl compilations by The Doors, Eric Clapton, Metallica and others, plus new releases. Other big record companies are following suit, like Capitol/EMI re-releasing The Beach Boys' classic "Pet Sounds" on vinyl.

The numbers don't lie: Vinyl LP and EP shipments jumped nearly 37 percent from 2006 to 2007, up to 1.3 million units, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, and 2008's final stats will top that.

Herm Baker, store manager for Grand Rapids' Vertigo Music, 129 S. Division Ave., said he has had trouble getting enough shipments of new vinyl releases from manufacturers because vinyl-pressing plants around the company are running at capacity and cannot keep up.

Even mainstream retailers such as Best Buy are starting to test sales of vinyl records. Who could have seen that coming even 10 years ago, when about the only place you could find vinyl around Grand Rapids was at Dodd's Record Shop, an institution that has been around for 55 years?

Olson goes so far as to say CDs -- which saw a 17.5 percent drop in shipments last year -- are "kind of dead," slain mostly by digital downloading via the Internet.

So what's the attraction to vinyl records? It sure cannot be the skips, scratches and warps, though that might add to their charm. No, pretty much everybody who has discovered or rediscovered vinyl insists it sounds warmer and richer, especially if it's played through high-quality speakers and cartridges (aka needles).

John Williamson, of East Grand Rapids, looks over vinyl albums at The Corner Record Shop in Grandville. "There's something about it that just puts yourself at ease," Williamson said. "A record isn't going to be as flat (sounding). With CDs, there isn't going to be as much of the dynamic range. It sounds fuller on a record."

Of course, there's also the larger, more resplendent cover art and easier to read liner notes.

"The artwork and the presentation were almost as important as the album itself," Patterson said of records' heyday in the '70s.

Olson, who stops into Vertigo three or four times a week to browse bins or buy newer releases by artists such as Hot Chip and Godspeed You Black Emperor, even appreciates that vinyl records require a more active investment of time and energy.

Savoring the process

Rather than the simple click of a computer mouse to listen, there's the routine of searching for an LP, placing it on a turntable and putting the needle on the record.

"I like the process. It's more about the hunt. It's fun trying to find what you want," said Olson, who has also acquired part of his dad's old record collection. "I've never gotten so excited with buying CDs."

On its surface, the resurgence of vinyl "all seems so ridiculous," conceded Baker, who seeks used vinyl from anybody who's willing to part with a collection, as does Williamson. Both stores also sell turntables. "I'm surprised at some level, but I can appreciate the aesthetics of vinyl, its vastness, the sound quality. I'm just happy I've got something I can sell."

Baker estimates new and used vinyl records make up nearly 40 percent of Vertigo's overall sales; it's about 70 percent at the Corner. Even 45-rpm records have a devoted audience, said Williamson, who has a back room filled with them.

Mario Leon, owner of Grand Rapids' The Beat Goes On, 1007 E. Fulton St., doesn't sell as many vinyl LPs as Vertigo or Corner, but shoppers occasionally come in and "buy a ton" of old 45s.

So can we expect a revival in other retro-technology, perhaps a wave of interest in '70s' eight-track tapes, which could be the goofiest music format ever invented?

"If eight-tracks come back," Leon quipped, "I'm slitting my wrists."

[MLive]