“I don’t think it was till the day my allowance was in full force, I actually caught onto vinyl. See, I could either spend all of it on maybe a couple of used CD’s, cassettes, or I could go hit up Larry’s Records in Ft. Lauderdale and stock up on used 50 cent records.
My parents always had vinyl lying around but I never really connected with them. Mostly because they weren’t frequently spun. I didn’t have access to a record player till my mid high school days and that’s when I decided to take my parents records and discover them on my own. I soon became acquainted and obsessed with the warm sounds of vinyl. I mean, I would build vinyl forts just to feel as close as I possibly could to them. I was more in tune with these artists than I had ever been before.
Part of the magic of listening and collecting records is sharing them with others. My friends and I would go on these vinyl hunts, inspiring us all to find the oldest, rarest, original pressings we possibly could. We’d visit record stores, garage sales, thrift shops, old homes, and anywhere we heard you could find records. While everyone was out trying to sneak into some bar or club, we were huddled around a record player listening to our finds.
There have been numerous amount of times where I’ve come across a recording and had to pass because it wasn’t on vinyl. It’s not the same. I need the history. I want the story or the mystery. Like Django Reinhardt for instance. Yea, I can probably order his records anywhere, but there’s something eerie and almighty about finding his washed up vinyl in some forgotten bin, shoved in a corner. It’s this feeling I get. Like I’ve struck gold and no one knows. It’s thrilling!
So, I keep going.
Vinyl doesn’t get old…it gets rich…and it’s coming back to haunt us all.”
Love,
Rachel
Here are only some of my favorite albums on vinyl: Woody Guthrie – Dust Bowl Ballads, Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelly with Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Billie Holiday – Lady Day, Sweet Emma and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band – (Red) & (Blue), Tiny Tim – G*d Bless Tiny Tim, Joni Mitchell – Song To a Seagull, Beach Boys – Friends, Van Morrison – Astral Weeks, Otis Redding – Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan, anything on Folkways.
Looking for: Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Charles Mingus – Money Jungle, and anything by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
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