You’ve probably heard that vinyl is now outselling CDs in the US. The reasons—besides the fact that there are much more convenient ways to carry music than on discs, so long as you don’t care about album covers & liner notes—are pretty audiophile-y, and there’s a lot of misunderstanding about the types and quality. If you’re looking for the perfect wave—pun intended—remember that “vinyl” doesn’t necessarily mean “analog” warmth and lack of digits, even tiny ones.
With tongue firmly in cheek, here’s a tip for all you vintage vinyl folkies out there. My very first album, the 1964 hit from Studio City, The Folk Singer Cometh (LPSC 503), is lurking in Goodwill stores and really old remainder bins all over America. It was/is TRUE analog vinyl, from microphone to tape to Scully Lathe stylus to pressing to the turntable in your Philco fruitwood stereo cabinet (with AM-FM radio and a martini shaker on a
doily–Mom didn’t want any rings on her furniture, and that console was furniture). GO FIND ONE! Never mind that the record pretty much sucked; get it while you can!
(Let me know if you actually do this. If you send me a non-Photoshopped photo of you holding it, I’ll send you a free modern CD with that cold, robot-like digital quality we all loved before some social media influencer told us vinyl was better.)
