Brett Gideon: Reasons to be cheerful (and to buy vinyl)

I’ve just finished cleaning some of my latest used vinyl acquisitions and I was thinking of how cool the whole process is – I discard the old inner and outer sleeves, run each disk carefully through my little record cleaning device, let them all dry and then place them into brand new plastic sleeves and zip locked outer bags before settling in to listen to side after side of good music.

Cleaning? Drying? I can just about see the eyes of the digital generation rolling like the wheels on a slot machine but I’m loving being back in the vinyl way, everything from the cleaning to the turntable setup and tweaking or the full sized album cover and liner notes makes me feel that much more involved in the whole science and art that is hi-fi.

A quick look at this stash shows the following albums ready to play:
V.S.O.P. – The Quintet (double album)
ZZ Top – Afterburner
Stephen Stills – Stephen Stills 2
Roy Orbison – The Original
The Best of Grin featuring Nils Lofgren
Bob Dylan – Empire Burlesque
Dire Straits – Love Over Gold
Stephen Stills – Still Stills The Best of Stephen Stills
Terence Trent D’Arby – Introducing the Hardline according to…
Steely Dan – Countdown to Ecstasy
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble – Couldn’t Stand the Weather
Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark

It’s not always plain sailing because second hand vinyl sometimes looks like seventh hand vinyl, with three of the previous owners being Atilla the Hun, Dennis the Menace and my old Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Then there are the used records, which look reasonable but sound like they’ve been played with a blunt shovel, not a stylus but every one of the records listed above is in at least good condition, in fact most are in very good or even better condition (because I’m picky, fussy and deeply selective all at the same time). They were picked up at Real Groovy Auckland and at the Auckland Record Fair. It’s an eccentric selection but I’m pretty sure most of them will get plenty of time on the platter of my Technics and that I’ll have a blast working through them but the best part of the deal is that the whole pile cost me less than fifty bucks.

That’s less than four dollars a pop. For what is still arguably the highest resolution recorded format available to consumers today. Sounds like a no-brainer to be able to enjoy the most tactile and involving way to listen to music short of a live show.

With great entry level turntables available at surprisingly affordable rates today, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. You’ll be amazed at how good it sounds, how easily you’ll expand your music collection and even broaden your tastes (it’s easy to take a punt on an album when it costs less than a cup of coffee) but you should probably give it a go before people like me buy up all the good vinyl.

P.S. I’m listening to that V.S.O.P. album through a good set of, no make that a great set of headphones and it sounds marvelous!