Steve Forbert, The Best of the TVD First Date

Quite a number of years back, the TVD First Date feature was inaugurated to introduce new talent to the site and to follow an artist’s development while getting to know their own music via their record collections. ’twas a nifty idea earlier on, however over the course of a decade some more than well-established artists have lent their time to the feature to shed a light on what brought them to their first stages and into our own consciousness—and we’re resharing a number of our favorites this week. —Ed.

“Putting an LP on a turntable is, to me, a conscientious act of music appreciation—and a small, personal protest against the omnipresent, instantaneous, and disposable state of popular music around us.”

“And it’s typically a higher quality sonic experience than other mediums. I find that listening to a complete side of an album, maybe even both sides, or even playing a 45-rpm is best done alone. If I try to listen with a friend, we’ll likely start talking about the recording as it plays! This is fine and fun but, of course, not optimum listening.

I go way back with vinyl and have quite a collection (filed alphabetically by artist, side by side on several custom-made shelves). I’m now out of the habit of returning a record immediately to its proper place, so they tend to line up on the floor, back to front, staring at me, waiting to be filed again.

From my 2018 memoir, Big City Cat: My Life In Folk Rock:

Remember the 1966 hit “Snoopy versus the Red Baron” by The Royal Guardsmen? In 1967, The Royal Guardsmen were touring what are known as secondary markets. This brought them to the Junior College gymnasium in my hometown, Meridian, Mississippi. The Royal Guardsmen had long hair and wore brightly colored clothes. What a trip! I was thirteen.

After playing “Red Baron” and “Return of the Red Baron,” they paused and said, “We’d like to turn you guys on to a couple of new groups from England. Here’s a song called ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ by Cream.” They proceeded to play it. For some reason, I found it dizzying. Then the guy said something like, “Okay, are you ready for this? Here’s one by the Jimi Hendrix Experience called ‘Purple Haze.’” Just hearing their live version of it was an experience. The Royal Guardsmen (from Florida) were our self-appointed counterculture missionaries.

Within 24 hours my friend Clay Barnes and I were in the Singer Sewing Machine store, the only retail outlet in town that stocked rock LPs. We were thrilled to find they had both albums. We agreed that he would buy the Hendrix and I would buy the Cream and we’d share. Typical of 1960s Meridian, there was only one copy of each and I strongly suspect that we were the only two people in town looking for them.

Good ol’ plastic LPs and 45s were the only medium the recording industry had to offer for years and years. Of course, today turntables and physical albums are pretty much out of the norm. Ours is always a culture of convenience and speed. The only reason people don’t drive “virtual” cars around is that getting oneself from place to place just can’t be digitized.

Vinyl is still the wonderful sounding medium it always was and discerning listeners are paying higher prices to buy newly pressed LPs. They have to—some of these new pressings may sell in the thousands, but none will sell in the millions. Meanwhile, most people expect recorded music to be made available to them for free.

So, I commend those of you willing to spend your time and hard earned money to sit and listen to a vinyl record, I truly commend you. Enjoy!”
—Steve Forbert, 2019