one month passes...
From the Washington Post, June 20, 1997:
"Record Time"
by Troy Holland
Tampa, Fla., 1971. The girl next door (Theresa, I think) leads me into her room. She's 6, and I'm a 7-year-old yard ape whose main interests are catching lizards, playing with matches and banging on trees with ball-peen hammers.
She lifts the red plastic lid on the tiny phonograph and puts on the small 45 rpm single. With no older siblings to initiate me, music up to this point of my life is my mother's bliss during Steve and Edie duets on "Carol Burnett," and my father's mysterious yearning during the Sons of the Pioneers' "Cool Water." The Beatles might've broken up the year before, but I've never heard of them.
So I'm immediately grabbed by the beat that comes blaring out of the little speaker. When Elvis Presley begins to sing, he sounds good to me, though I don't know enough to realize how great he is. Then Scotty Moore's stacatto guitar riff enters the chorus of "Jailhouse Rock," and the song lights up my nervous system like a Christmas tree. I'm transported completely.
I've never recovered. Over the years my requirements have changed, but such moments are what I seek every time I listen to music. Which is pretty frequent, because I'm what Freud might've called aurally fixated.
If your fixation -- like mine -- manifests itself in a lust for 7-, 10- and 12-inch vinyl records, then the D.C. area is a good place to regress. Though roughly a decade has passed since the compact disc dethroned the LP, Washington boasts a number of new and used vinyl stores, stocking everything from vintage jazz sides to homemade rock to the latest European dance music. And, interestingly, vinyl sales have been rising. Comparing 1993 and 1995, yearly record sales nearly doubled, growing by 1 million to 2.2 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Some credit the rise to huge bands like Pearl Jam who release albums on vinyl prior to CD versions. Even so, vinyl has maintained stealthy strongholds in the worlds of jazz, classical, indie-rock and dance music, and has lately received a boost from the Internet. Though not yet a revolt of audio Luddites, it's not bad for a format that seemed headed for obscurity.
To which you might say: "So what? CDs sound a lot better."
Looking back though, it wasn't so much sound, as it was ease that made the CD predominant. Compact discs didn't liberate music lovers from bad sound, they liberated music lovers from involvement. If the listener was a cook whose attentive flipping provided sustenance, CDs were TV dinners. You simply "popped them in" and soon they were done.
But if you were a lacquerhead with a decent stereo who took care of his records, if your removal of the outer and inner sleeves, then gentle placement of vinyl on the turntable was a kind of stereophonic foreplay, then your music was usually free of the flaws that CDs claimed to conquer. "Records didn't sound bad," says Fluffy Centner of Orpheus Records in Georgetown. "It was records that were treated badly that sounded bad, and that was the owner's fault, not the record's."
Though it's easy to find music lovers who question digital sound's superiority, CDs clearly have some advantages. They're harder to scratch or warp, they take up less room, their track-cueing capability is helpful in making tapes and they possess the rarely utilized ability to hold more than 80 minutes of music per disc. Still, do these strengths add up to a $ 16.98 list price? Especially in light of recent press reports estimating that CDs may last only 15 to 20 years? "I'm not sure it's the medium it's cracked up to be," says Centner. "Records have shown they'll stand the test of time."
Outta Sight...
Visual appeal was another test that records aced over CDs. There was something about the oversize presence of LPs -- the elaborate art and typography, the double and triple gatefold sleeves, the posters and booklets -- that had a cool synergy. Adds Centner, "Not just fancy covers either, simple ones like 'Yellow Submarine' just looked bigger big."
Like the Rolling Stones' 1968 LP "Sticky Fingers," with its suggestive cover photo of Mick Jagger's fly. But since that risque zipper has been ridiculously shrunk on CD, Mick probably feels a little...little.
He isn't alone. Consider Reid Miles's classic designs for the Blue Note jazz label. Or the loopy liner-note riddles of Bob Dylan's early records or the storybook of the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour."
But one vinyl refuge -- indie-rock -- has mixed the old aesthetic with a do-it-yourself energy, resulting in bands who customize their records in some way. "Being involved in all the steps of the process...where you have to sit down and make 2,000 'somethings,' just shows that people really do care about their records," says Kristin Thomson of the band Tsunami -- and the Arlington based indie-label Simple Machines.
The personal touch of an indie release is a natural extension of a scene that answers more to individual creativity than to the call of the mass market. And that can mean anything from recycling and altering old LP sleeves found at Goodwill, to engraving jokes and Zen parables where only stock numbers used to exist, near the out-grooves of a record.
Such efforts aren't easy. "Grenadine's first single was probably the most complicated package we've had," says Thomson. "It had a strip of cloth wallpaper about two inches wide that was closed by a huge gold medallion sticker. And that was sealed with an embosser that notary publics use. Then we put sticky stars on each one. It took forever to put it all together."
Currently Thomson is considering home-printing the sleeve of Tsunami's next single by using the antiquated but very distinct letterpress technique. "I really like seeing hand-decorated or homemade things. Most of the time they're really beautiful."
For the the old 45's hip descendant -- the 7-inch single -- unusual art is the norm. As with LPs, many bands go the colored vinyl route, with nifty clear or marbled variations. And often there's a clever gamesmanship present. "Split-singles" feature different bands on the opposite sides of the same record, sometimes covering each other's songs. Other singles mimic the sequencing of albums, only in a compressed way. On "Tommy in 7 Minutes," the musicians on the Vital Music label do indeed do the Who's rock opera "Tommy" in 7 minutes, even throwing in a Beatles cover on the B-side. Or Coat-Tail Records's "Sixty Second" compilation, where 10 widely varied bands are each given one minute.
Many collector "zines" come with singles as well -- often splits -- showcasing artists in that particular issue. Most are as limited as the circulation of the magazines they appear in.
And it's not uncommon for singles to have bonus tracks tacked on the end of a B-side. Pavement's recent 7-inchers -- "Pacific Trim" and "Stereo" -- each came with a bonus tune available on vinyl only.
Though some records end up more appealing as artifacts than music, 7-inch singles can be especially anthropological. Since production costs can be kept under one dollar per single, many bands who might never make a record get heard. For three or four bucks you can gain access to music scenes of distant places, as with "If the Blizzards Don't Get You the Mosquitos Will," which captures nine Finnish bands in action.
The Price Is Right
One plus for analog loyalists is that new music is cheaper. Imports can be $ 20, jazz audiophile vinyl can run $ 14 and chain-stores with token quantities are usually higher than elsewhere. But generally, new vinyl at independent shops averages $ 8 to $ 9 for single LP domestic releases. Many American indie labels -- Dischord, TeenBeat, Matador, Drag City, Skin-Graft, Touch and Go, Emperor Jones, Thrill Jockey, Quarterstick and others -- do mail order.
Hot Wax...
Though new wax is relatively cheap, the collector's desire for rarity does amazing things to the price of some vinyl. The mark-up involves first- and limited-edition pressings, in good shape of course. Packaging also plays a part, as with the Beatles' rare and coveted "Butcher Block" LPs: "I found [mine] for $ 120," says Orpheus's Centner. "It was originally priced at $ 150, but I got him down to $ 120."
Being as famous as the Beatles is helpful, but since this type of collecting is a subculture comprised of aficionados, often the "stars" whom collectors spend lots of cash on are not hugely famous, as George Gelestino, owner of the Silver Spring record store Vinyl Ink, explains. "My booth at a record convention in New York was next to [Sonic Youth guitarist] Thurston Moore. He had a box of 30 to 40 original Sun Ra sides...in beautiful shape, all hand-decorated, all dating from the 1940s, the cheapest being like $ 30 and going on up to $ 200...They were all gone within an hour."
Yet when a smaller band -- with a multiple, but limited back catalogue -- suddenly appears on the brink of larger fame, prices can skyrocket. Take, for example, Guided by Voices. In the early '90s the Dayton, Ohio, rock group's self-released records languished in the cutout bins of its hometown stores. But then the band was signed to a label and began to gather a sizable fan base consisting of just the type of collectors willing to pay for what they love. Suddenly, an EP the band literally couldn't give away was being sold for a cool $ 100, and certain 7-inch singles were going for $ 30 apiece.
But it was the GBV album "Propeller" that was the real savings bond. Limited to 500 original copies, hand-numbered and decorated by the band members prior to their success, it's long since been snatched up and isn't changing hands too often. All of this real-estate-like activity comes at a point when Guided by Voices is still relatively small but growing. Should they fulfill the expectations of wider fame, that cutout copy that cost $ 3 in 1993 could acquire a couple of extra zeros.
Is That a Record or a Doormat?
While scratchy records are cool as sampled backgrounds for some music, they're not what the used-vinyl buyer is looking for. Most stores that carry vinyl have used vinyl as well. Usually, apart from normal wear, the condition of the records is good. In many cases people have sold their whole collections to stores, and some excellent copies can be found. Just recently, I was blissed to discover a cache of hard to find John Fahey records in excellent condition at a great price. But there is some used vinyl that -- as you tilt it to the light -- seems to have been chiseled on by over-caffeinated Neanderthals. Which leads to this scenario: The vinyl fiend sees the old Ventures LP, sleeve in great condition. It's "Walk, Don't Run, Vol. 2," the one with the uber-cheesy photo of the band sprawled in the wake of the beehive babe in chartreuse tights...His pulse quickens...It's pressed in the thick, seemingly extra-tough vinyl common to the '60s. He tilts, and the surface refracts in a spider-web of abuse. Aaargh!
It's smart to visually inspect before buying. Most prices reflect condition as well, so watch out for those $ 2 ones.
Two Turntables and a Microphone...
Though the CD is today's most popular format, it's in the world of electronic dance music that -- thanks to the DJ -- things get truly ironic. English dance artists like Goldie, Photek and the Aphex Twin create music largely on computer, building rhythmic patterns of drum machines, sequencers and synthesizers. This high-tech music's main avenues of dispersal are dance clubs where DJs who mix the tracks have attained performer-like status. "They take the best part of the record, and just work it," explains Sam the Man Brown of Washington's Twelve Inches Dance Music. "Working" or "mixing" however, can't be done on CDs. So this particularly futuristic sounding music is released on -- that's right -- good old analog vinyl. "This is stuff that's recorded almost exclusively digital," muses Mark Sullivan, a frequent music history teacher for the Smithsonian's Resident Associates program. "And a lot of it is available as vinyl only...which is the strangest concept in the world."
Typically such artists press up small runs of 12-inch singles, hoping to generate enough of a buzz to be picked by one of the European labels that often compile the tracks on CD to sell domestically or abroad. But many of the singles are imported to D.C. stores like Twelve Inches in Dupont Circle, or Music Now in Georgetown, where they fuel the dance scene here. "But it's not just imports," explains David Javate, Music Now sales manager. "There's a growing dance market in the States...it's always been there, but it's getting even bigger."
That's partly due to stores like Music Now and Twelve Inches, that release vinyl by local and regional DJs on their own in-house labels.
Hardcore UFOs...
There's a pop maxim that says you can learn a lot just by looking at someone's record collection. But one mark of the die-hard collector is the schizophrenic air his collection can have. These are people -- myself included -- whose appetites for sound have them grooving to the dense feedback of the Dead C or the shrieking electron streams of Merzbow. While most people would flee the room, it's precisely this openness to all forms that makes the collector just as happy to hear Patsy Cline.
Mark Sullivan is like that. With him talk may shift from current styles -- "Atari Teenage Riot is one of the hardest things out there right now" -- to bizarre '60s kitsch. "Have you heard of Mrs. Miller?...She was this big Italian mother who put out an album of incredibly awful covers: 'Downtown,' 'Catch a Falling Star,' 'A Hard Day's Night,' [all] horrendous, operatic versions of pop tunes."
Though many enjoy such anti-entertainment thrills, collectors often take it to another level. "It all started with Nancy Sinatra," Sullivan says. "My friends started teasing me about 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin.' Now when they run into a new version, they send it to me. I've got 35 or 36 different ones...and only two or three are any good at all....I've got a ska version, a Trombones Unlimited version...Megadeth doing a metal version...Loretta Lynn, the Carter Family and Mrs. Miller."
Don't Drop It, Be-Bop It
Given the abstract complexity of the best of it, jazz is a music that requires serious listening. Anyone who'll follow John Coltrane through the 13 intense minutes of musical origami that link the opening and closing phrases of "Impressions" isn't looking to hear any Kenny G. But a big part of it, apart from the music itself, is the acoustical space that it was recorded, and exists, in. Many of the Blue Note albums of the hard bop era -- recorded by Rudy Van Gelder in a home studio in Hackensack, N.J. -- had a warmth of tone and sense of space that set Blue Note apart from other labels.
This happened because the old technology captured a performance by transferring its continuous sound waves -- or "analogs" -- onto the grooves of a record. But digital sound captured music by rapidly "sampling" it. Every second in a piece of music was sliced into thousands of pieces that a computer would later reassemble. And since space existed between these sampled musical fragments, the computer would fill in. This -- according to some jazz buffs -- exchanged the original warmth of the music for a cold, shrill sound.
Though many claimed to hear no difference, some of the first artists who recorded completely digitally -- like the high-tech pop singer Peter Gabriel -- returned to analog recording with those very complaints. "[There was] an improvement period for CDs," says Joe Lee, owner of Joe's Record Paradise in Aspen Hill. "[And] a pretty bad reaction in the industry...[they] had to go back and say, 'What are we doing wrong?'"
Fortunately for jazz fans, the answer to that question was the reissuing of many of the era's albums on vinyl. In some cases, 180-gram audiophile vinyl.
The Holy Grail
And did you ever wonder how stores get all that vintage vinyl in the first place? Sure, some people bring crates of the stuff in, but it's not always that easy, as Lee explains:
"A friend of mine calls me from Fort Worth and says, 'Get down here! There's 80,000 LPs that look great!' So I immediately fly down and the seller is the son of a collector who had never missed a sale or a close-out, from 1958 onward. It's unbelievable. There's everything... the Freedom Travelers...flawless Mingus Dynasty records...tons of good blues, semi-obscure soul groups...Most of the records are in racks, but the real treasures are in boxes that haven't been opened in 15 years...I open one and find 50 copies of the Isley Brothers 'It's Your Thing,' their best album ever, sealed."
Lee's reverence is shared by collectors everywhere who know music as something more than a pleasant diversion. And while commercial radio reduces expression to a formula, vinyl collecting can be an entry into the authentic art of sound. Once you've heard the similarities between Mississippi Delta blues and the music of the Tuken people of Kenya, or noted the likeness of a techno track to Balinese gamelan music, then you see music as more than entertainment. It's a fundamental human need worth exploring in all its varieties.
But hey, don't take me too seriously. Anyone who pontificates about a dated technology must be stuck like a record. You probably should switch to CDs now. Go ahead, sell off that vinyl! It's too fragile. It doesn't sound as good. It's the past, Jeeves...Now is the time! Especially if you have an original Velvets and Nico with the peel-able banana!...Or a mono copy of "Blonde on Blonde"!...Or a scratch-free Ventures LP!...Or...
THEY TAKE PLASTIC
These area stores stock serious vinyl.
THE DISTRICT
MUSIC NOW -- House, Eurotechno, jungle, trance and acid jazz. 3209 M St. NW, 202/338-5638.
NEW WAX UNLIMITED -- All genres. 407 Rhode Island Ave. NE, 202/635-3507.
ORPHEUS RECORDS -- All genres. 3249 M St. NW, 202/337-7970.
PHANTASMAGORIA -- All genres. 1619 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202/462-8886.
SAM "K" RECORDS -- R&B, jazz and gospel. 1839 Seventh St. NW, 202/234-6540.
TWELVE INCHES DANCE RECORDS -- 12-inch dance singles and remixes. 2010 P St. NW, 202/659-2010.
MARYLAND
FERNDALE OLDIES RECORDS -- All genres. 7176 Baltimore-Annapolis Blvd., Baltimore, 410/760-1205.
JOE'S RECORD PARADISE -- All genres, with a good selection of jazz and blues. 13822 Georgia Ave., Aspen Hill, 301/460-8394.
MEMORY LANE MUSIC -- Oldies from 1903 to the present. 2817 Walters Lane, Forestville, 301/568-5044.
MODERN MUSIC -- All forms of electronic dance music: ambient, acid jazz, techno, drum 'n' bass and more. 2905 O'Donnell St., Baltimore, 410/675-2172.
MUSIC LIBERATED -- Rock, calypso, reggae, gospel, 12-inches. 201 W. Saratoga St., Baltimore, 410/837-1000.
PHANTASMAGORIA -- All genres. 11308 Grandview Ave., Wheaton, 301/949-8886.
RECORD AND TAPE EXCHANGE -- All genres. 8147-D Baltimore Blvd., College Park, 301/345-9338. Also at 901 Bayridge Rd., Annapolis, 410/267-0462.
RECORD COLLECTIONS INC. -- Classical, jazz, rock. 523 N. Charles St., Baltimore, 410/528-1616.
REPTILIAN RECORDS AND COMICS -- Indie and alternative. 403 South Broadway, Baltimore, 410/327-6853.
ROADHOUSE OLDIES -- R&B, soul, doo-wop. 958 Thayer Ave., Silver Spring, 301/587-1858.
VINYL INK -- Alternative, indie, punk, experimental, techno LPs and 7-inch singles, and a used section featuring jazz and other genres. 955 Bonifant St., Silver Spring, 301/588-4695.
YESTERDAY AND TODAY RECORDS -- All genres. 1327-J Rockville Pike, Rockville, 301/279-7007.
VIRGINIA
RECORD CONVERGENCE -- Classic and vintage rock, progressive and alternative, jazz. 4005 Chestnut St., Fairfax, 703/385-1234.
RECORD MART -- All genres. 217 King St., Alexandria, 703/683-4583.
RECORD AND TAPE EXCHANGE -- All genres. 9448 Main St., Fairfax, 703/425-4256.
MAIL ORDER
METRO MUSIC -- Classic and indie rock from a Silver Spring company. 301/622-2473.
OUT OF PRINT RECORD LOCATOR -- Specializes in all genres of LPs -- except hard rock and classical -- from 1970 and before. Baltimore, 410/358-3033.
QUALITY VINYL & CD OUTLET -- A Chantilly-based non-retail, mail-order only business. All genres. 60-page catalogue. 703/327-4809.
― Pete Scholtes, Saturday, 12 March 2005 00:38 (nineteen years ago) link
three months pass...
one year passes...
one month passes...
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one year passes...