Vinyl junkie

[NSaudio]

Hello,

So I’ve been getting back to vinyl after a brief dalliance with digital media. I’m ashamed to admit that the convenience of computer stored music tempted me with its ease of use and soulless sounds. But slowly I began to realise something was wrong. I was listening to music but it was like subsisting soley on a diet of fast food. It looks like food and has some of the taste but without the nutritional goodness that your body craves. It’s like that with digital music for me. There is a quality that is missing from the experience.



Anyway I’ve been trying to replenish my vinyl supplies after a break away from it and some ill-thought out sales of some classic records. I found a good website that has a lot of old vinyl for sale but I need some inspiration for what to buy. I’m going to be re-buying load of stuff that I previously owned but I’m also looking to buy some new records to broaden my musical horizons. Obviously I only want to buy records that really shine on vinyl and that are well-recorded so I get the most from them. I need some inspiration though. What are your absolute must-have records on vinyl? Albums that you would rather not listen to at all than listen to digitally. Records that sing through a stylus?

Thanks.

[bob orbell]

Now that is one hell of a question to answer, but I have found that even some new records are badly recorded, and at around £25.00 a time, it is no joke. BOB

[bikerhifinut]

that's an impossible question to answer in many respects.
I don't know your tastes or all time favourites.
So it's got to be whatever you listen to now on CD/download/wax cylinder etc.
And don't forget any new stuff that comes out on vinyl.

A.

[bikerhifinut]

Originally Posted by bob orbell

Now that is one hell of a question to answer, but I have found that even some new records are badly recorded, and at around £25.00 a time, it is no joke. BOB

Well Bob, that doesn't surprise me.
Now as back in the heyday there will be an awful lot of content that is "recorded by the mile and cut off by the yard" with less than expected commitment to quality for what is perceived as an ephemeral commodity by the producers of a lot of music.
Worth noting perhaps that even classic analogue recordings of the past will more than likely have been cut using a digital file via a DAC into the cutting head amplifier. This may seem heretical but with the fragile condition of original analogue masters, it seems sensible to make a hi res digital copy and then do the business when remastering.
We can argue into the wee hours as to why we like LP's over a digital file, myself I feel that the human ear and brain doesn't really like a "pristine" sound and the addition of a small amount of low level random noise such as that inevitably created when dragging a diamond through a plastic groove sort of works to make a pleasant aural experience? The issue is when the pressings are noisy either due to contaminated vinyl or worn stampers or any number of other external factors prior to packaging. I personally boil over when finding a brand new LP is packed in an inner that looks dedicated to adding dirt and scratches rather than packing it in a nicely lined paper inner.
I was horrified to find how my copy of Bowies Darkstar was packaged. looks good on the shelf but what a way to treat vinyl. Strangely the boxed collectors bowie sets all came with high quality inner sleeves and the fancy scratchy card ones were packed separately for completeness sake I think.

[NSaudio]

Originally Posted by NSaudio

Hello,

So I’ve been getting back to vinyl after a brief dalliance with digital media. I’m ashamed to admit that the convenience of computer stored music tempted me with its ease of use and soulless sounds. But slowly I began to realise something was wrong. I was listening to music but it was like subsisting soley on a diet of fast food. It looks like food and has some of the taste but without the nutritional goodness that your body craves. It’s like that with digital music for me. There is a quality that is missing from the experience.



Anyway I’ve been trying to replenish my vinyl supplies after a break away from it and some ill-thought out sales of some classic records. I found a good website that has a lot of old vinyl records for sale but I need some inspiration for what to buy. I’m going to be re-buying load of stuff that I previously owned but I’m also looking to buy some new records to broaden my musical horizons. Obviously I only want to buy records that really shine on vinyl and that are well-recorded so I get the most from them. I need some inspiration though. What are your absolute must-have records on vinyl? Albums that you would rather not listen to at all than listen to digitally. Records that sing through a stylus?

Thanks.

Thanks for the responses. I'm going to work my way through a few classics.

[VantheMan]

Some not so obvious recs :

Alone Together - Dave Mason
Low Spark of High heeled Boys - Traffic
Brahms Violin Concerto - David Oistrakh
Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink
Fleetwood Mac - Pious Bird
Patricia Barber - Night Club
Bill Evans - In Paris (House of the Radio recordings) with eddie Gomez

They´ll do me for a desert island

[Black Stuart]

Take a look at discogs, if only to gen up on different pressings - very important. I have been buying replacements for vinyl I've had for decades and some I should have bought back then. Discogs will give you all the info you need like, US pressings, especially the 60s/70s are mostly inferior to UK/European ones and virtually all Japanese ones are unimpeachable - the prices asked and paid confirm this.

Not all modern vinyl is bad, it all depends on the source material and the re-mastering. I have virtually all Joni Mitchell's original work. Having said that I prefer the original 'Blue' to the 180gm remaster, even though the original is a bit bright. 'Hejira' proves the point though, the 2014 Rhino version is way better.

I can't believe what the original Floyd/King Crimson/Genesis et al is worth. I remember not liking Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn - thought they were all on speed, so did'nt buy. Virtually all the vinyl from 68 is hugely expensive and I was into other things so I've had to buy P/F remasters of Saucerful and Atom Heart Mother.In the mid 70s' paid £1.50 for an excellent first pressing of DSOTM.

If your into 70s' recordings IMO the high water mark of singer/songwriters then you can find original pressings quite cheaply - Mitchell/McClean/Ian. Reggae however is not. There was some really good Jazz/Funk. An LP that really 'cooks' is Grover Washington - Live At The Bijou 2 x LPs, silly cheap price - just like being there. All the CTI/Kudu stuff was well recorded.

Take a look at discogs to see which companies modern vinyl is not worth buying, as always actual buyers reviews are the ones to use.

I can't understand why people pay good money for downloads, you own the right to play them but that's all, there's nothing to sell on if you don't like it or your tastes change.

I bought a fair few 'audiophile' LPs in the 90s', I wish I had bought more the prices have gone through the roof. Whether they will drop is another matter. I remember seeing an offer for a boxed set by EMI, re-issue, hand checked of all Ravel's orchestral work, Andre Cluytens conducting, it's near mint, I've always looked after my vinyl, probably fetch ITRO £350-400 - crazy.

I doubt that there re many bargains at car boots now (I've been living abroad for 16 years) they were fantastic. Surprises do happen though, 2 years ago here in France at a marche de jardin - a Spring market for buying plants, there was a small flea market section where I spotted 4 x mint/unplayed boxed sets of classical LPs, one sells for €300 and the rest for around €90, I paid €8 for the lot and this was way out in the sticks.

If car boots are still any good - as always, you have to be there as the cars arrive and spot the ones with boxes full of LPs and you have to be tough and don't let the pro buyers push you out of the way - be lucky.

As much as I love my boxes and boxes of vinyl, I will still go digital if I can achieve at or very near to the quality of playback I have now. I have a feeling that a lot of discontent with digital playback is the kind of amp that is used as well as the all important ADC used to transfer.

[simon1]

[quote=Black Stuart;87592]Take a look at discogs, if only to gen up on different pressings - very important. I have been buying replacements for vinyl I've had for decades and some I should have bought back then. Discogs will give you all the info you need like, US pressings, especially the 60s/70s are mostly inferior to UK/European ones and virtually all Japanese ones are unimpeachable - the prices asked and paid confirm this.

Hi, I am resurrecting this slightly old thread.

Black Stuart, on reading your note, I re-visited Discogs which I have not looked at for a very long time and am amazed by the amount of information there. I have not studied it carefully, and see there are ratings (but I am not sure whether they particularly relate to the pressing as all the ones I saw were between 4 and 4 1/2 out of 5.)

Is it easy to see what are regarded by serious listeners as the pressings to have ?

I am more interested in this now as I have just set up a new system which sounds beautiful to me - though some records sound like you are really in the room with the musicians, and some recordings are really dull and you get no sense of reality from the instruments or vocals, even acoustic music.

Many thanks for anyone's opinions on how to tell before buying if a pressing (or even a cd) is truly musical.

Simon

[Richard]

Imho, much/most, music is ephemeral. If it’s a tune you like at the time it will sound good. Sometimes you’ll like it forever and sometimes you’ll wonder why you ever liked it.

In the 70’s we had Selectadisc shops, buy a record one Saturday and take it back the next or part-ex your old tunes for new ones. Likewise hifi boxes were silver one year and black the next.

Some recordings were good, some not, sometimes the music was good but the recordings not, and sometimes vice-versa. Nothing will do everything well and it may depend on how varied your music tastes are.

These days I find Radio Paradise great for a listen to music I wouldn’t otherwise choose, stream it on flac if quality matters, and I’ve bought quite a few CDs that way.

[emollusc]

Originally Posted by NSaudio

Anyway I’ve been trying to replenish my vinyl supplies after a break away from it and some ill-thought out sales of some classic records. I found a good website that has a lot of old vinyl for sale but I need some inspiration for what to buy. I’m going to be re-buying load of stuff that I previously owned but I’m also looking to buy some new records to broaden my musical horizons. Obviously I only want to buy records that really shine on vinyl and that are well-recorded so I get the most from them. I need some inspiration though. What are your absolute must-have records on vinyl? Albums that you would rather not listen to at all than listen to digitally. Records that sing through a stylus?

Thanks.

Quite frankly pretty much any album it better on vinyl in my opinion, although, there do appear to be a few that are poorly mastered. The trouble is they try to master them to accomodate the inexpensive turntables, like the ones that are stacked up on the side in HMV, as well as those bought by the hifi enthusiast. Something, I'm told, that cannot be done.

I'm also buying vinyl to replace many of my CDs. Often, a 20 year old album, has been released on vinyl for the first time in the last couple of years. I have given myself a rule though. Vinyl purchases should be evenly split between:

• Replacements - i.e. where I have the recording on CD or download but not on vinyl
• New to me - Older albums that I haven't bought previously
• Brand new - A recent release from an artist that isn't in my collection.

Examples of crackig albums from each of these catagories are:

• Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing
• Broadcast - The Noise Made by People
• Lonelady - Hinterland

Once shops are open again I can't recommend enough just going to your local record shop and browsing. Pick up some of your missing old stuff but also try something new.

Brian