What's On Your Turntable?

If you have a turntable, are there records that just take up residence there. A CD might get one play through but for me a record often finds home and gets repeat plays. I pulled Songs In The Key of Life out of the closet a couple weeks ago and I drop the needle on it over and over like it was some big 45 RPM. So what's on your turntable and has it been there awhile? Are your LP listening habits different than with CDs?

 

Yesterday I pulled out my George Harrison Gone Troppo promo LP on Quiex II vinyl. A somewhat mediocre pressing.

 

Mr Mojo Risin is under the stylus a fair bit at the moment - Strange Days and Waiting For The Sun on DCC. Compared the sound to MFSL ST and the Hoffmeister gets my nod. Next stop the DCC ST.

 

Can't get enough of my recently acquired mint original British pressing of Pink Floyd's Meddle right now. What a great album!

 

The "correct" pressings of C,S,N & Y "Deja Vu" and Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells A Story". Two of my favorite albums finally heard in all their glory thanks to people on this forum! I don't think my habits are all that different with CD's really, if I get in a groove the same one can get repeated plays.

 

I've been playing Sundazed's pressing of NRBQ's Atsa My Band over and over during the past few days. I got it at the blazing 'Q show I attended over the weekend.

Also, the DCC Doors Strange Days and my original US Elektra pressing of the Incredible String Band's The 5000 Spirits, or the Layers of the Onion (which sonically slays the Ryko CD I have, by a long shot) have been making frequent return trips to the turntable lately.

The only strange thing about my LP-listening habits is that it sometimes seems I'm almost afraid to play the LPs I paid a lot of money for. That includes the "audiophile"/heavy-vinyl reissues by DCC, Classic, Speakers Corner, Analogue Productions, etc. ... and stuff like the original British Beatles pressings. I notice I'm hesitant to play them because I'm afraid of scratching 'em, leaving fingerprints, dropping them, or just normal wear-and-tear. And I'm not sloppy or careless or anything ... far from it. I've only dropped two records, ever (luckily without damage), and I can only remember damaging one LP in the course of playing it (luckily it was just a cheap standard pressing of Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Sessions, easily replaced ... I dropped my carbon-fiber brush on it while trying to dust it, leaving a huge gash in the middle of "Sweet Jane"). I never feel that way when I want to hear any of the $1 thrift-store LPs in my collection; I just take them off the shelf and play them, with no hesitation.

I've been trying to loosen up about the pricey records lately, though. Why spend the cash and then just let the records sit on the shelf?

 

This past weekend I spent quite a bit of time listening to two great sounding LPs. First was Peter Gabriel's first solo album. Picked up a copy of Classic's 200-gram pressing of this on sale for $19 at Tower last week and it sounds wonderful. Also listened to the DCC version of the Doors' Strange Days. Hadn't played it in a while -- what can I say other than this is an amazing revelation on vinyl.

 

Mingus' Blues & Roots, Rare Earth's Get Ready (that fits the 'one big 45' comment to a tee, since Get Ready takes up all of Side 2 ), Walter Wanderley's Rain Forest.

Those three haven't seen their sleeves in a long time.

 

Last weekend, I played a Columbia mono pressing of, "Turn, Turn, Turn" -- sounded great. I also spun, "Warmer," by Randy VanWarmer on Bearsville Records.

 

I've been listening to m GK pressing of "Every Picture Tells a Story." I think I need the Hoffman version now...

Honestly, I don't listen to actual CDs much these days. At work and in the car, it's my iPod. I have 27 GB worth of tunes that I like to put on random. But when I'm at home, I almost always listen to LPs. Although last week I did crank up some Kate Bush discs.

 

I've been playing some Vern Gosdin music on my turntable.

 

My TT isn't part of my main setup, I just use it to do needle drops. That said, Innervisions has been 'the CD-R' for the past couple of days. I'm thinking 'Songs in the Key of Life' should be next. Both were $1 thrift shop buys.

Innervisions was a little bit of a challenge because of the way some tunes run into each other, used fade in/out in cooledit for the first time which was fun. Click-fix earned it's keep here too.

I had also picked up most of Joni Mitchell's catalog on vinyl that I'd like to get to after I finish up some blues & jazz for my brother.

 

Last Sunday, I was listening to "Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues Vol. III" Direct-To-Disc Recording (Sheffield Lab) and then to another Sheffield Lab Direct-To-Disc Recording by the same artist called "Distinguished Colleagues Vol. II- The Missing Linc."
These two Direct-To-Disc recordings remain as one of the best sounding vinyl records that I've ever heard.

 

Al Stewart: Year Of The Cat, on MoFi vinyl. Never had this album and just got it last week from another SH forum member.

 

Yeah, your right Taxman, an Lp tends to get pulled out of the stack and played several times, or for several days before it gets put away. this is not really the case with my cds. I'll play them over and over in the car, but rarely will I hit that replay button at home. the one that's been on my TT. lately...Billy Bragg and Wilco, "Mermaid Avenue", with a little help from George Harrison,"Brainwashed".

 

Supertramp "Even in the Quietest Moments" A&M original pressing. Still quiet after all these years.

Joe L.

 

Life is short. Why indeed?

 

George Shearing's "That Shearing Spell", a second pressing (I think) with the Capitol logo on the side of the label.

 

Absolutely. I love the ritual of playing LPs, so when I have time for careful listening, I usually listen to LPs. I recently did some tweaking to my 'table and cleaned up all my interconnects and power cables, so things are sounding real good lately.

Here's what's been on the MMF-5 recently:

JOHN HARTFORD's Aereo-Plain
STEELY DAN's Aja
a bunch of NANCY SINATRA mono Reprise pressings -- good fun

I've been hitting the used book stores every week and picking through the stacks of $1 LPs and bringing them home in piles to give them the love they deserve. Tons of 1970s/1980s FM radio stuff, like Little River Band, Walter Egan, Fleetwood Mac, Nick Gilder, Jethro Tull, and so on. It's a ton of fun playing that stuff.

 

What's on my table RIGHT NOW? Melissa Manchester's "Melissa" LP. Crackly, but the sound is nice. Gonna clean it up and put it on CD-R.

 

Scheherazade... Livin Stereo

 

I preserve those LP segues by arbitrarily picking where I want the tracks to start. If I clean up the surface noise, I use a noise profile at either the beginning of the side or at the end of the side. This plan of action works pretty well with Audition.

 

Sealed mono Julie London In Person At The Americana.

You just have to experience the thrill of cracking open a 40 year old album for the first time!

 

You know, it's been the same with me for months. I haven't bought a CD since about the seond half of 2003. I picked up a good handful of LPs though.

I've made MP3s of a couple CD favorites and brought them to work (Steve's Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy is spinn.. whatever it is MP3s do, right now). And much like you mention, at home I listen to more than 90% LPs.

I've been dying to ask you.. who's that on your av? Filename's bonzo_hoffman and he looks a bit like both .

 

I have been playing a lot of my 12" dance singles to make a cd-r comp for the wife.

Like:
I'll Tell You - Sergio Mendes
Do You Want To Go Party - KC & Sunshine Band
Overnight Sensation - Peter Brown
Lovin Is Really My Game - Brainstorm

and a bunch of others....