Has the vinyl revival jumped the shark?

Interesting take from the AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/articles/has-the-vinyl-revival-gone-too-far,93610/

I prefer vinyl myself, but I have to say the writer makes some good points.

 

I do too. I agree, some good points there.

 

Came up just last night here, for me. The Fabulous Johnny Cash 180g Mono reissue, $28.00. Go to eBay, an original 6 eye Mono, in Exc. condition (photos !), a fraction of the price !!!

 

I had a similar moment of clarity about this recently when I read that some of Glen Campbell's '60s LPs were being reissued on 180g vinyl. As if there was a shortage of mint copies for a buck at any of the Goodwill shops scattered across the country.

 

Very interesting article, and a great read. He does make some very good points, and I think that as time goes on more and more people will share his sentiment. It's one of the reasons that I think such good stuff makes it into the bins, and one of my favorite eBay sellers told me he was selling off most of his collection for similar reasons. I consider myself a burgeoning audiophile, but I'm honestly trying to keep my record collection relatively small. Limited to my most favorite stuff.

 

Excellent article. So, why are you really playing records? I've answered this before here....but I wanna see what others say.

 

Because I like music.

 

And you don't like it if you play CD's?

 

I play records because I want to hear my favorite music in the best way possible. Though sometimes, like in the case of Highway 61, it may be a CD.

 

Why worry?
I have recently been able to buy a LOT of really great reissues which in the used market are as much or more than the new issues.
Because a few old has-beens want to issue 'vanity' vinyl reissues does not make the whole bad.
Kenny Rogers can have his 1,000 numbered pressing, give a pile to the twenty eternal fans, sell a dozen, and fade back into obscurity. So what?

On the other hand, I can also still find all sorts if reissues of great stuff i do not own.
Like yesterday I spent a part of my tax refund:
So had to cull my Rock to make some room first..pulled about 50 albums to get rid of
One place in particular gives me good prices. I spent a LOT of money there over the years.. So I buy and sell to them.
I sold them first picks, and bought three new albums.. So For $5 cash i got:
Blur: Modern Life is Rubbish
Blur: Parklife
The Flaming Lips: the Soft Bulletin
Then...
Went to 1/2 price books using the 40% off coupons and bought:
Grizzly Bear 'Shields'
Dylan Mono Another Side of Bob Dylan (I cheated and used two.)
Then I went next door and sold the leftover Lps I had for $30, there I bought:
Ween Chocolate and Cheese
Ween The Mollusk
The Strokes: Room On Fire
Pixies Surfer Rosa
Pixies Come on Pilgrim
Flaming Lips Stardeath (redo of Pink Floyd Dark side of the Moon)
So this pile with the money for the records sold there and rebates cost me $63. (they give points for buying and selling LPs to them good for more music)
And then this morning I went crazy on Amazon and bought:
Portishead Dummy
Massive Attack Blue Lines
Liz Phair Exile in Guyville
Beastie Boys Pauls Boutique
Talk Talk Laughing Stock
New Order Power Corruption and Lies
Joy Division Closer, and Unknown pleasures
Primal Scream Screamadelica
Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Veg..
Elbow Seldom Seen Kid
And then the mailman brought me:
Jimi Hendrix Axis bold as Love MONO
Arcade Fire Neon Bible.
So i have been busy refilling my vacant spaces in the Rock area.
(spending my tax refund like my pants are on fire.)
Hah ha.. And all that was just yesterday...
So I am happy with the reissue scene.

 

I think it's more accurate to say that it's gone in what I think is a goofy direction, but the bottom line is that the record business is a business and if there is money to be made on The Gambler that's between them and their customers. I'm not the deity-appointed arbiter of what's good and not.

There is some sorely needed reissue vinyl, or albums if you prefer, out there, and some of it is ridiculous. And there are things I think ought to be reissued that won't be, because I'm the only nut that would buy them.

I'd like to see a few more live direct metal masters of some new music, and some new mono single mic recordings on vinyl. Not going to happen.

For that matter I'd like some tape: half inch half track 15 ips. Not going to happen either.

But that's just me.

 

It's not so much what vinyl does, but what digital doesn't. It's just not as involving of an experience IMHO of course!

 

He does make some good points - but around here, people are often after the very best sounding edition of an album: in enough cases that turns out to be a particular vinyl pressing.

Generally that's why I buy (or listen to) vinyl. I'll happily go with a CD if it's superior or roughly the same sound quality as a vinyl counterpart, but if the vinyl sounds better, then that's what I want.

 

Nice article, and all the points make sense to me.

My LP buying has fallen off a cliff. I used to spend a fair amount scarfing up those $20-$30+ LP reissues. That kind of purchasing can get out of hand, quick. Then I realized that even though I enjoyed the artist/band/LP, I may only play that $25 record twice a year. Mainly because I now have two small kids, but of course everyone's time is finite. When I buy something on CD, I can rip that quickly, listen to it in any of the 6 rooms in my house that have a Squeezebox, and even take it in my car or to work. Basically, I can enjoy the music more often, and in more places if I get it on digital.

Sure, nothing beats dedicating a full hour to enjoying both sides of your favorite LP, basking in all the warm analog goodness. But if your life is busy with work, kids, family and other hobbies, sometimes it's just as satisfying to do some air drumming in your car on the way to work.

 

Yeah...that's where I was at with CD's. Playing records is just more fun to me. It's more involving. I'm into the music more. I have thousands of CD's all ripped losslessly. My whole house is wired, and I could barely sit through an album without hitting the skip button. Skip, skip, skip. I missed the whole vinyl presentation. The artwork, the feel of it. And overall, it just sounds more musically authentic somehow.

 

"I play records because I want to hear my favorite music in the best way possible."

Then you need to go reel to reel which is superior sounding to vinyl.

 

So, maybe he should say, " . . . in the best way reasonable."

 

Well, the problem with anything related to music in this context is that it's a commercial enterprise, which means that if something like a "vinyl revival" is going to happen, it's got to be focused on titles that labels expect to sell a lot of copies of. That means that the titles most likely to be reissued on vinyl are likely to be the ones that actually don't need to be reissued on vinyl because there's already several million copies out there. Sure, it probably wouldn't take me a couple hours to find a decent copy of Rumours in one of my local record stores, but if another reissue was done tomorrow, it'd be this big deal and we'd have a 28-page thread about it. Vinyl reissues (and reissues of any kind really) aren't done to fill gaps in the canon of culture, they're done to make money for someone.

So, yeah, the reissue of The Gambler is completely useless to me, but how many copies could a label expect to sell of stuff I pine for, like Budgie? Probably not many, which is why we're not likely to see them.

Anyway, I hope the vinyl trend crashes and burns quick so I can get back to buying beautiful, great-sounding used LP's for under $10. This popularity spike, such as it is, is a big drain on my wallet.

 

Over the years I have sold off collections of 8-track, cassettes, and records. I became a bit exasperated with CDs, and decided that I would just by vinyl from here on out, hell or high water. I can still pick up great records for less than a buck, and I can put together a convincing playback system. I had a Rotel 2x64-bit system, which is now bested by my Oppo, but the battle over digital standards and formats has left me cold. I guess 2003 was the last time I bought a CD.

I like the ritual of sitting down together and really listening. I do not commute. If my life were arranged differently, I would reconsider, and I guess streaming is going to be part of playback at some point.

 

The topic of the vinyl revival itself has jumped the shark. Just as debates regarding vinyl v cd vs mp3 vs whatever have jumped the shark. Time to call it quits.

Buy what you like and listen to it and don't buy it if you don't like it or don't want to listen to it.

Just get over it already and let people enjoy what they want to enjoy.

 

When Mobile Fidelity, Sundazed, and Audio Fidelity start issuing reel to reel, remastered from the original tapes and beginning with Astral Weeks, I might take the leap.

 

Whaddya suppose a typical price is gonna be on those? $150 - 350 per title? If I win the lottery, and they start doing these, then I might take the leap.

 

that was a great read. thanks !

 

Just send me some mp3s - I'll record them at 15IPS on my Otari MTR15 and sell the tape to you for half that amount.

For an extra fee, I will tell you it's sourced from the original master.

 

Don't be an ass, Sid. I want needle drops on open reel tape. The vinyl source has to have been mastered from analog tape. I'm no fool.