The Weekend Spin #3 - A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat but I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

May 27, 2017 (Memorial Day Weekend)

So Summer is unofficially beginning this weekend. It's the first three day weekend after a long drought of them following the holidays of late December. In Northern Illinois it's shaping up to be a hot one, but after weeks of cold and rain I'm not complaining. It's also a good weekend to get a few record listening sessions in.

This Weeks Record Bin Find:

From eBay Train’s A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat. We are gearing up to see the tour of this record in concert in less than a month, so I figured now is as good a time as any to buy the album. Of course I'm hoping the concert also has a few other favorites as well. Train is one of those bands that runs a bit deeper then what radio play gives us, and for every bouncy top 40 we get on the radio each album has 2 other songs that prove the bands talent and span. I'm looking forward to this latest entry.

This Weekends Spin:

Joshua Tree U2 - Joshua Tree was U2’s fourth album, and was set to be a departure from the previous three, with an American theme. Essentially, U2 started to write the album as a criticism to U.S. foreign policy under Ronald Reagan, instead found themselves writing the album as a kind of love letter to the American spirit. In doing so the band draw inspiration from the Mojave Desert and it’s native Joshua Trees, hence the name of the album, and it’s sometimes airy sound. I personally found the album to be a delight to listen to, not only to hear the hits songs, With or Without You, and I Stlll Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For but for some of the deeper tracks as well. For me the albums B-side is actually somewhat better than its A-side, especially as the B-side kicks off with Red Hill Mining Town a song with a fantastic and inspirational rock beat, even is the songs subject is somewhat political in the UK. The remaining B-side follows this same trend of fantastic rock beats poised against heavier lyrics. Although the A-side would yield two of the bands more well known hits, the total album would yield five charted albums for the band with the moderately known Where the Streets Have No Names (A-Side), and In Gods Country, and One Tree Hill (B-Side) the latter of which would go on to inspire the TV show of the same name.

The overall album is quintessentially U2 with a sound that in 1987, was no doubt ahead of the current trends in music. U2 delivered an album that had the clear sounds of the Alternative music trend that would come to optimise rock music of the early to mid-90’s. A sound of clear and had articulate vocals, lyrics with deeper meanings, and true rock beats much like those we would hear from bands like Nirvana, and Garbage, 6 to ten years later. To say the least I think  may be adding a few more U2 albums to my collection, perhaps some of their pre-Joshua Tree works like 1983’s War.

So what are your thoughts? Is Joshua Tree a classic and a trend setter, or is it overrated? Also, what are your thoughts on U2 or Train? Be sure to respond back and let know. Until then, have a safe and happy Memorial Day!!         

The Weekend Spin: Introduction

I've been blogging for awhile now and I always feel bad when I don't post something to one of my blogs in a long time, especially when I give a lot of regular attention to another. For this particular blog, I know there are a lot of missed opportunities on my end as well. New records in my collection, interesting listening experiences, and cool collecting news are common occurrences in my life, yet my blog remains silent. 

On one of my other blogs The Grand Emperors: Retro Video Game Blog, I have a series called 8-bit Friday's that I put out on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and covers some of my new game purchases, and game plays that may occur over a weekend. So I decided to maybe try that formula here as well. With the goal being to talk about what records I may have purchased that week, and what listening experiences I've had over a weekend. Unlike my 8-bit Fridays articles where I buy and play multiple games, my goal here is to try to buy, and listen to one record at a time. Of course as I say that I need to indicate that the record being bought is not always going to be the same as the one being listened to. My logic behind this is that a lot of the records I'm looking to buy in the near future I have to order online, so as one is being bought another is being listened to. I'll also put it out there that I have a small stack of records that were given to me that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet, and they may be joining part of the buy or listen list as finds.  

Of course I have a few other issues in this as well, such as the fact that regular weekend listening isn't always possible since my main record player is in my living room, and sometimes the suggestion of listening to a record on a Friday or Saturday night can be hotly contested. My goal was to eventually build myself and amateur audiophiles area in my basement but that has yet to come to fruition. I also have had some fantasy about having friends and neighbors over for a platter parties  in which my living room record player was the center focus, but I know that will never come to be. With all that said once a record is on my troubles aren't necessarily over, since actually listening to the record can sometimes be an issue over household and kid noises. 

Juxtaposed to all that there are benefits too, such as the fact that records can be played during dinner, or even taken in on comfy couches with a few good glasses of wine. As matter of fact red wine and records was once a regular Saturday night occurrence and I wouldn't mind returning to it. That also makes me wonder if I should occasionally throw a wine or beer pairing in as well. 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this new series and I hope you are too. I also should probably mention that Diary of an Amateur Vinyl Record Collector and The Grand Emperors: Retro Video Game Blog will actually be coming under one banner on a shared website pretty soon so look for that as well. 

Where the Record Meets the Road

When I got my new record player for Christmas last year and saw that it could play 78's I knew that it would open up a whole new world for me. In many ways 78's are almost indicative of the big band era. At that time 45's were something that belonged in a jukebox and 33's although in existence by the 1940's were as common as DVDs were in 1995. So on the home scene 78's were pretty much the format of choice, and that dated back to the time when 78's replaced the first wax cylinders of recorded music.

Initially for me 78's weren't that easy to find. For the most part they where and somewhat still are pretty rare birds to find in thrift stores and resell shops. As for my local brick-and-mortar record store he has 78's but they are located in bins on the floor that are almost impossible to navigate due to the fact that there are so many 78's stuffed into them.

For me the pain resulting from the inability to find 78's was only worsened by the memory of having given away all my grandmothers 78's after she had died. Many of these 78's were from the big band era and had some pretty great songs on them. But as the saying goes "if hindsight or 20/20". 

So as usual I found myself heading to eBay to find records that I really wanted. But the question became what song and/or what artist did I want to have in my collection first?

Being both a vinyl record enthusiasts and a Route 66 enthusiasts, as you know from reading my blogs, the answer came to me pretty quickly. The song I had to have on 78' was Route 66 by The Nat King Cole Trio.

The song or this particular version of it is the one that inspired me the most to someday travel the route. This version by The Nat King Cole Trio, was made following the war and filled with the optimism the US had in the late 1940's. It was a song about traveling and discovering the United States as a whole. This version was made in an era when Route 66 was in its heyday and when the United States seemed to look towards the west specifically California and the Los Angeles area as the places to be and where hope could be found for the future. The Nat King Cole Trio delivers the song with such an incredibly upbeat feel good tempo that there's no way you can't possibly enjoy this particular version. There is also no way that you can deny the urge to travel Route 66 after you hear this version of the song.

You see this version was actually the first big time the song Route 66 was performed. The song itself was only a few months old by the time it was handed over to The Nat King Cole Trio. It's writer Bobby Troup although known for sometimes performing his own works decided that he would give this song to The Nat King Cole Trio, who had achieved a great deal of success with their unique sound towards the end of World War II and immediately following the war. If you want to know more history about Bobby Troup and how the song was originally written please see my article (http://route66forfamily.blogspot.com/2013/09/route-66-song-and-introducing-your-kids.html?m=1). To say the least Troup's choice to allow someone else to record it led to the song becoming a huge success. 

Although the Nat King Cole Trio would popularize the song and bring it to the top of the charts they would not be the last artist to do so. The Rolling Stones, and even more recently John Mayer would be just a few of the many artists to remake the song and keep it fresh with American and even international audiences.

As for the actual record itself that I received it took me some time to get used to the way a 78 sounds. The song does sound quite good but I do believe that the needle arm and needle itself on my record player may perhaps be too light for the 78. Both the 45's and 33's have sounded phenomenal on this little record player but the 78 for some reason sounds a bit off and/or even a bit distant. Having studied 78's and having seen them being played in many a black-and-white movie I do believe that there might be something to the fact that this needle is just a little too light for 78's. 

Overall though I am extremely happy to have Route 66 by The Nat King Cole Trio as the first 78 enter my collection. Now if I could only find a second one that I could put under glass and hang on my wall.

If you're reading this on my Route 66 blog be sure to check out my vinyl record blog at http://amateurvinylrecordcollector.blogspot.com/?m=1

And if you're reading this on my vinyl record blog be sure to check out my Route 66 blog at http://route66forfamily.blogspot.com/?m=1

Thank you again for reading!

What $110 Buys

Monday January 20, 2014

Happy Martin Luther King day or whatever. 

With this bonus day to the weekend I decided today is the day I'm going to the record store with the gift certificates I got for Christmas. Today though unlike the previous times there would be no wife and baby waiting in the car for me and I would also have the oldest with me but pacified due to a trip to the comic book store beforehand. Although doing this visit by myself would be optimal and far more efficient, it's worth it to have my oldest with so as to expose him to the days when we had to search for our music and records in bins and not simply look them up on iTunes. 

Today's visit worked out pretty well though and I was able to pick up 8 new records for my collection including, or as you may have guessed some pretty choice selections. 

As you can probably guess here are my two most expensive records. The Beatles Yellow Submarine, ($25) and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band ($50). The gatefolds could be in better shape but the records themselves are in very good shape and cleaned by the record store. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is the album that has impressed me the most and I can see why it was such and influential album, it's music is fun and peppy and had a sound that was ahead of its time. As for Yellow Submarine the music is also great and whimsical, but I didn't expect the movie orchestrations on the B-side. 

Jouneys Evolution ($4.50) and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon ($8). Evolution as is usually the case for Journey, has a great beat from beginning to end. Dark Side of the Moon on the other hand is Pink Floyd at their best, but the album is more chill than the rocking sound of Evolution, but is rightfully a classic. Pink Floyd helped push music to its limits with this album. The Journey album is still in great shape shrink wrap and all, Dark Side of the Moon on the other hand is in good shape on vinyl  but the gatefold is in pretty bad shape.

Yep, Fleetwood Macs Rumors ($3), and more Beatles with Introducing The Beatles ($15). Those first few Beatles albums really help you see why they caught on so fast in the US, with that clear, crisp, optimistic, and upbeat sound the US needed to help us get past the painful loss of President Kennedy only a few months before. Rumors on the other hand is a classic in its own right and really made Fleetwood Mac a legendary band. Filled from end to end with classics, this album would influence other artist for years after it's release. Both albums vinyl is in excellent shape and gatefolds are in pretty good shape too. 

Lastly are the local Buckinghams with Time & Changes ($3), and The Platters The Golden Hits of the Platters ($3.50). The latter is a nice collection of The Platters hits, but for the most part theysound rerecords rather then the original versions, but they have a nice gentle music that helps calm things down around the house. Time & Changes is a great album and has a lot of The Buckinghams classics on it, including Mercy, Mercy, Mercy which is a favorite around my house. Both vinyls and gatefolds are in great shape.

Overall, 8 great albums isn't too bad. Of course if your counting you realize I actually went over $110 but not by much. To say the least I'm pretty happy with my selections and I will get deeper into some in these albums later since the article is more about the purchase then the albums. 

The Record Wozzy's

My son and I headed down to the basement to play some video games while my wife went to visit next door. I wanted that real video gaming atmosphere, and popped open the my Targus 320 CD case, and flipping through the binder like 4x4 pages finally found something to listen to. 

So I realize I have 320 cd's, and probably 20+ albums in electronic form, and hundreds of miscellaneous single songs here and there electronic form. Then I suddenly realized that I had this huge buzzing in my head about my need to collect vinyl records. 

You see I just have kind of been aimlessly picking up records here and there just to hear that vinyl sound. But I'm not giving myself any direction, which is leading me to the record wozzy's this kind of dizzy feeling about collecting. 

So I have been trying to sort it out mentally. Do I continue to just collect? Do I pick and artist? A genera? An era? I mean don't get me wrong I enjoy the hunt but knee deep in a pile of records at a resale shop or amongst bins at the record store there is this feeling of being overwhelmed, and often times totally forgetting what I'm looking for. 

Anyone else feel this way when they started?

To Old Tech, or Not To Old Tech

The thing about studying and collecting vinyl records that I've noticed about myself is that it has made me a bit philosophical. I mean I'm sitting here wishing I had just grabbed my grandmothers records rather then letting them be given away, or that I had stopped my dad from giving away his records. I am saddened in a way that I just dismissed them all as old technology, replaced at that time by CD's. 

As we fly swiftly into the era of electronically disseminated music, CD's are now becoming the endangered species. That's something that I have now had to stop and think about. I mean sure about 90% of the CDs I own I can listen to on my iPhone whenever I want, there all there thousand of songs, non-stop days worth in the palm of my hand. But the CDs many with their jewel cases gone now, and are stacked in a huge CD case in my home office. I personally have no intention of throwing them away, but at the same time it seems ashamed to let them just sit there. 

Believe it or not, even though they are CDs they still have memories attached to some of them. The music of my era on the recording media of my era. Memories of CD's given to me as gifts, eagerly buying new CD that came out, CDs bought with me on vacation, played on dates, or evenings out with friends, just the memories that some times come attached to the physically tangible portion of the music, on what ever media it may have been at the time. So in a way CD's becoming endangered is a bit sad for me at least.

So late in the evening a couple of nights ago, I got a little bored with the movie I was watching and decided to head on to E-bay to look at a few things. Whatever it was I started looking at changed and I soon found myself checking out 100+ disk CD changers, and even a duel tape deck. As I was adding these items to my watch list and wishing I could buy them right then and there I had to stop myself. "What the heck was I doing?", I asked myself. I wanted to start out collecting vinyl records now all of a sudden I was going to give a home to all outmoded music media? 

The big question is, to really appreciate music should one be willing to try to adopt all medias of it! Should I not necessarily collect CD's, or even cassette tapes but at least give them a way of being appreciated, rather then wasting away in a box or case? It's a long hard question to ask? But I will let you guys know where I take this later.

Baby-Boomer Podcast Gives Great Tips on Vinyl to Younger Collectors.

The last thirty years have been an interesting time in recorded music. We have jumped from vinyl, to tape, to CD, to MP3/iPod. For music lovers there has been a bit of a frustration in this constant changing of media forms in such a short period of time. Yet at the same time though this constant change in a short time has been a great benefit to the vinyl revival we are now seeing. 

You see with the cyclical nature of vinyl re-emerging, and recorded music technology jumping from media form to media form so quickly there is a tremendous opportunity. And what is that opportunity? It's the opportunity to return to an old technology while having a huge portion of the population aware of the technology and its benefits and downfalls, and familiar with both older technology's and the newest technologies simultaneously.  One of the largest groups in the United States that fit this profile is the Baby-Boomers. 

In my quest to discover more about collecting vinyl records I stumbled across a Baby-Boomer Generation focused podcast called Galaxy Moonbeam Night Site. The podcast focuses on good memories in past pop culture that many Baby-Boomer, and even Gen-Xer’s have, and is a light and fun show to listen to overall. But I was particularly happy with the show when they produced an episode in July of 2013 on “The Return Popularity of Vinyl Records”. Here we see how the quick jump in recording technologies combined with a generation that watched it all happen have come together, the Podcast (a technology of the iPod era), talking about the resurgence of vinyl from a generation that used it. Here we see the cycle of things unfold in a way.

But the episode is fantastic, and a great and informative listen for anyone looking to make the jump back to vinyl. The hosts Mike and Smitty give a fantastic crash course into vinyl record basics with insight on buying record players, and records, and how to care for both. The two talk about the subject not only as members of a generation that’s been there, but with a real love for the subject matter. Even as a Gen-Xer who remembers vinyl as part of a not to distant past there where things I even learned from the podcast. 

I definitely suggest listening if you are making the jump back to vinyl too, especially if you don’t have much experience with vinyl. This podcast would be great for a teenager, or 20-something you know of looking to get into vinyl as well since the show provides a lot of really key information that a novice collector could really use. 

Check out the link below to download the podcast via iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/baby-boomer-radio-tv-movies/id671853175?mt=2

This link brings you to their site: 

http://galaxymoonbeamnightsite.blogspot.com/

Record Resurrection

Welcome to my blog on amateur vinyl record collecting! I started this blog because I just got into this hobby (sort of) and I didn't see any other blogs out there like it to help inspire me, and direct me.
Basically I started this blog for people like me. Those of us who are new to the experience, who are looking to collect, but also open to the opportunity to feel and comprehend music in a way we have forgotten to.

I want vinyl record collectors new or old to be able to connect with this blog and share their perspectives and joy. I want to hear about your grandparents Glenn Miller collection, the Eagles or Lead Zeppelin albums your bought new and forgot about, or that Nick Waterhouse album you just bought off Amazon.

So please follow along my journey with me, and feel free to let me know how it's going on your end.