Posted on Sun, Mar. 27, 2005
Vinyl’s still got its groove
By Cary Darling
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Paul Langdale was goofing around in the attic, doing what 10-year-olds do, when they caught his eye: brightly designed album covers with mysterious black discs inside.
Born at the cusp of the digital age, the Texas boy didn’t know what to make of his dad’s old record collection. „I recognized the names of some of the artists,“ he recalls of flipping through the stacks of Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull and Billy Idol. „But I had to ask him what they were. ‚I can’t put this in my CD player. What is this thing?'“
Langdale, now 18, laughs at the memory. His curiosity has exploded into a full-blown passion for vinyl albums, those musical relics that the entertainment industry has tossed into the trash bin of technological history along with 8-tracks and Beta tapes.
The teenager, whose first vinyl purchase was Beck’s mid-’90s album „Odelay,“ now owns hundreds of records, works at a store that still stocks vinyl albums – and is part of a small cadre of music fans who refuse to bow down to the digital dictatorship.
Many are baby-boomer rock, jazz and classical-music aficionados who grew up with the tactile pleasures of needle on wax and foldout sleeves. But others, like Langdale, are too young for such memories.
And their ranks are growing. The National Association of Record Merchandisers reported in its 2002 annual survey that between 1999 and 2002, sales of new and used vinyl albums tripled, making it a $67 million business. That’s chump change compared with the format’s former domination or the Recording Industry Association of America’s reported $12 billion generated by compact discs. But it’s a testament to the resilience of a technology that had its corporate life-support severed two decades ago by the sharp, sleek edge of CDs.
It’s still possible to buy turntables and find major-label artists‘ recordings on vinyl, even though some are limited-edition. Chains such as Tower and Virgin continue to stock records, and for some indie stores, the format offers a dedicated, specialty market that downloading can’t erode.
„It’s huge. I go into stores all the time and it’s pretty amazing how vinyl does,“ says Don VanCleave, president of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, a national trade group of 60 indie-record stores. „There are people who want to hold something physical, and vinyl is still very sexy to a lot of people.“
‚There’s nothing like it‘
Computer programmer Charles Slocumb is such a fan of the vinyl aesthetic – he owns some 100,000 records – that he opened his own store, Crazy Wax Records, in Arlington, Texas, last year. „I like to see the album cover and the liner notes on the back,“ he sums up.
„People are warming back up to the idea of putting on a record. There’s nothing like it,“ says Chris Neal, music-store manager. „You see some come in and go straight to the vinyl section.“
At Record Town, a Fort Worth stalwart since 1957, Sumter Bruton has noticed many more young people perusing his vinyl bins. „A lot of kids are getting back into it,“ he says. „It’s amazing how many kids from 18 to their 20s there are.“
Compact discs immediately upended the record business after being introduced in 1982. Hailed for their sonic clarity and durability, they caused music fans to exile their favorite records to attics and garage sales and then re-purchase them on these shiny new discs. By the late ’80s/early ’90s, it looked as if vinyl was going the way of the black-and-white TV and the Studebaker.
But vinyl enthusiasts fought back. Some jazz and classical buyers carped about CD’s „cold“ digital sound. (A few even went so far as to dump digital amplifiers/receivers in favor of retro tube technology.) Hip-hop and dance-music fans, coming out of a sonic culture of scratching and mixing, found CDs harder to manipulate. Indie-rockers took their best anti-corporate stance and celebrated vinyl’s underdog status.
„There’s a feeling among a lot of people that there’s a soullessness in a lot of current (art) forms. CDs are blamed for sterilizing sound and taking the soul out of it,“ says Brett Milano, author of „Vinyl Junkies,“ a portrait of rabid record collectors.
„It’s about feeling the groove, putting the needle on the record and you can feel it,“ says L.A. club DJ and vinyl champion Eric Angelini.
Patrick Amory, general manager for Matador Records, home of the popular band Interpol and a label that issues a vinyl version of all its releases, says that many young fans have a higher respect for vinyl.
„Increasingly, for teenagers and kids, vinyl records seem more important and permanent than CDs, which they just burn and rip all the time anyway.“
The demand for vinyl, while not big enough to command the full-time attention of major labels such as WEA and Universal Music, is strong enough to help sustain smaller labels that often are licensed by the majors to handle their vinyl releases. That’s where a company like Sundazed Music comes in, releasing vinyl albums by the likes of Bob Dylan and Wilco.
„When we tell people we’ve sold 10,000 to 20,000 copies (of an album), that’s substantial by indie-label standards,“ says Sundazed president Bob Irwin.
Happy Vinyl Day!
There are even those who want vinyl to have its own holiday. Gary Freiberg, who runs Rock Art Picture Show, a San Luis Obispo, Calif., company that makes frames for displaying album covers, wants Aug. 12 – the day in 1877 when the phonograph was invented – officially declared Vinyl Record Day. San Luis Obispo County has celebrated it for the past two years.
„I’ve read that only 5 percent of all recordings have been transferred to compact disc. A lot of music and artists over time will be lost, especially with the corporatization of radio and the media,“ says Freiberg.
„Preservation is very important.“
This mixture of human touch and a sense of musical history that vinyl fans celebrate reverberates through their most vocal claim: that vinyl – played through a decent system – simply sounds warmer and better than compact discs. And with recent stories about „CD rot“ hitting the media, they claim that vinyl ultimately is as durable.
(CD proponents counter that, while there have been some manufacturing glitches that have led to CD degeneration, especially with first-generation CDs from the ’80s, most cases of rot are caused by mishandling and mistreatment by consumers who believe CDs are completely indestructible.)
„If you’re having people over for dinner, then load up the CD changer and let it rip. But if it’s just about listening, pull out the vinyl,“ says Sundazed’s Irwin.
Which gets to the crux of the matter for most casual listeners lacking fanboy devotion. Whatever vinyl’s merits, even its most ardent supporters don’t expect it’ll ever be more than a niche market. You can’t play vinyl in the car. You can’t load up a massive vinyl changer for a party. You can’t haul a turntable to the gym. And the vinyl market may have reached its peak. The RIAA reported that new vinyl sales were down slightly in the first half of 2004.
„It’s a labor of love for me and a few other people who work here,“ says Geoffrey Weiss, senior vice president of A&R (artists and repertoire) at Disney-owned Hollywood Records and a vinyl partisan. „I’m not under any illusion that it’s a viable business. It’s a little nostalgia and a nod to the cognoscenti more than a way to make money.“
In fact, Weiss warns not to get too comfortable with your CD collection, either. He’s seen the future, and it’s downloadable. „Physical sound carriers will disappear completely in the next few years,“ he says.
But Langdale, a child of the digital era, isn’t so sure.
„What happens when your hard drive goes? Your music collection is toast,“ he warns. „People will always want something physical, something they can hold.“
RECORD KEEPING
OK, you’ve got your old vinyl copy of „London Calling“ or „1999,“ it’s in pretty good shape, and you want to keep it that way. Here are some suggestions from preservation professionals:
If possible, wash your hands to remove oil and dirt that could get transferred to the disc.
Handle albums only by the edges, avoiding contact with the grooves.
Use a disk brush or a soft, clean, lint-free cloth, to get rid of dirt and dust. With the cloth, work in a circular fashion, following the grooves, starting at the center and working out to the edge.
There’s conflicting advice on whether, in the case of grime on a record that can’t be swept away, to use an alcohol-based solution, several of which are commercially available for this purpose. The Canadian government’s Preserving My Heritage Web site, for example, advises against using these solutions, while DJ Equipment News, aimed at professional DJs, endorses their use. It says to apply the solution to a clean cloth or disk brush, not to the vinyl. Then wipe around the LP, again following the grooves. Then use a dry cloth to wipe away excess.
Keep your stylus free from dirt and make sure the tonearm is tracking correctly, not pressing too hard into the grooves.
If you’re going to eat and drink while listening to music, don’t do it over your albums or turntable.
Always keep records in their paper and cardboard sleeves when not in use. In fact, you might want to upgrade from the record-company inner sleeve to a higher-quality inner sleeve for albums with special sentimental value.
Never stack albums. Store them vertically, avoiding leaning as much as possible without overcrowding. Records smashed too closely together will press a ring into the cover art.
Store albums in a cool, dry space, avoiding extremes in temperature. Too much moisture can lead to mold. Too much heat and, like in Star Trek, you’re heading for warp drive.
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Sources: www.dj-equipment-news.com; www.preservation.gc.ca
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