VINYL RECORD COLLECTING: Intro and My Record Collecting Music Habits Over the Years

This is my first in a series of articles related to Vinyl Record Collecting that I wanted to share my thoughts on with others who also love digging in crates and listening and collecting vinyl records.

Like many of you probably reading this, I am an avid record collector. Ever since my childhood, I have been collecting and listening to music with a passion. I am a Gen X music lover. So, I started listening to music on my parents turntable with their records, graduated to cassette tapes in my youth on my Sony Walkman, then in high school I abandoned cassettes and made the switch to Compact Discs (CDs) when that became all the rage. In the late 1980’s, while collecting and listening to CDs was my primary “go to” medium, I still collected vinyl records – usually albums that I couldn’t find on CD or if I just wanted to buy some “cheap” music since CDs were so expensive. In addition, some bootlegs were still vinyl only.

During my senior year of high school and for a few years on my college breaks, I worked in Springfield at White Oaks Mall in various record stores. I loved this job so much working around music. I watched LPs and cassettes dwindle as CDs took off during this short time period. One of the fringe benefits of working at the record store was that I took home free promo vinyl records and CDs after they had expired with their promotional marketing timeframes.

As I moved into the 1990’s and towards the 21^st Century, I still bought CDs and the occasional vinyl record, but I embraced the Napster era moving and listened to MP3s on my Apple iPod in the early 2000’s. For many years, my record collection sat in storage and I didn’t listen to them. I did sell some of my vinyl records when money was tight. Somewhere around 2006, I bought a Sony USB turntable with a USB plug where I could “rip” my vinyl records to make digital copies of my music to turn into MP3 files for my iPod and listen to in iTunes. I dusted off my records and began listening to them.

In 2008, the Annual Record Store Day launched here in America after it had successfully started a year earlier in the UK. I mentioned that I had broken out my old vinyl record collection in their crates and had begun listening to them on my new turntable. With the resurgence in vinyl moving into the 2010 decade, I began purchasing new albums on vinyl as well as the same copy on CD. I was feeling nostalgic for collecting and listening to vinyl records again.

(I digress for a moment… I never used to call it “vinyl” in my younger days. I just collected and listened to “records”. However, I have adapted over the past few decades to using the term “vinyl” together with “records” to call them “vinyl records”. I know the younger folks today just use the term “vinyl”, though I cringe when they use the incorrect plural form “vinyls” which I do not recognize as a proper term, I guess I am an old Gen X fogey.)

Somewhere around 2012 to 2016, life threw me some curveballs and I went through a difficult divorce and a job loss when the college that I worked at had closed. I had to sell some of my records to help pay the bills. Mainly some expensive bootleg records. Most of the music I was listening to at the time was digital as I had to put my record collection and my CDs back into storage during the separation and divorce. “Streaming” music had become popular with Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Prime, iTunes, SiriusXM, and YouTube Music. I was getting my music fix that way, but was missing listening to records most of all. I began playing around with listening to FLAC audio files instead of lesser quality sounding MP3s.

Life settled down for me with purchasing a new home and I was able to set up my stereo system and get my records and CDs again. I began collecting some records again and went to some more Record Store Day events with my pal Ron Rice. The Beatles had re-released and remastered their British discography in 2009 on CD and on vinyl records in 2014. Picking up those Beatles records on vinyl was invigorating for this record collector and I realized that I preferred to listen to the music on a turntable.

In 2016, in my post-divorce years and still single, I bought a new home to live in by myself. I sat up my stereo equipment and the Sony USB turntable. I got out my CDs and records to listen to once again.  I still had my original vintage Cerwin Vega 200 SE speakers from high school. When I played my music, everything sound horrible and then upon investigation, I realized that that after several decades, the foam cones in the speakers had corroded and fallen apart. Watching some YouTube videos, I learned how to “re-cone” my vintage speakers and restore them. It was cheaper than buying new speakers, plus I loved those vintage speakers (they still serve me well).

It was then, almost exactly nine years ago, I decided it was ridiculous to buy “new” albums in both vinyl and CD formats. Sure, some of The Beatles re-released had CD-only tracks, but for the most part, unless it was The Beatles or Sting/The Police, I decided I was going to stick solely to buying and collecting vinyl records and ditch buying new CDs. I had gone full circle.

Over the 2010 decade, I slowly began to “replace” my CDs with vinyl record copies, as I preferred to listen to my music on analog vinyl records. I began reselling some of my old CDs. Some I would keep no matter what, but I realized I was rarely listening to CDs at all.

Do I still buy CDs? Yes, on rare occasion if the album is either not available on vinyl or if the CD has extra tracks not available on vinyl. Again, especially if it is Beatles or Sting related.

In 2023, I upgraded my stereo equipment with a new Dual CD 429 turntable using and Ortofon 2m Blue moving magnet cartridge. I was running it through a Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 Phono Preamplifier using tubes into my brand-new Yamaha R-N602 Digital Stereo Receiver with Bluetooth. I still had my original restore vintage Cerwin Vega 200 SE speakers, but I added on to them with a pair of Cerwin-Vega SL-5M bookshelf speakers and a Cerwin Vega LW-10 Subwoofer for some extra bass to help fill the sound of the acoustics in the big room. I still have my Pioneer PD-M403 6CD multiplayer compact disc player that I got in college. It still does the trick.

Now, in the 2020s and moving in the future…. I will just purchase and listen to vinyl records at home and keep up this collection. I intend to let go of as many CDs as I replace though I will keep some sentimental CDs that mean something personally to me. I still will keep all my Beatles and Sting/The Police related CDs as those artists have always been my favorites.

Soon, I will write on more topics regarding record collecting. I will share what I am listening to as well as offer my thoughts on the hobby and vinyl community.

Until next time, keep digging in those record bins!

VINYL RECORD COLLECTING: Just Arrived! Deluxe Edition of My Gateway Drug to Meeting The Beatles

Late to the game, I just picked up my copy today of THE BEATLES 1962-1966 & THE BEATLES 1967-1970 (2023 Limited Edition) 6 LP box set. I originally wasn't going to get this since I own the individual albums in several variations, but this was on sale for about $100 and I couldn't pass it by this time. It has remixes of all of the tracks and I wanted to give it a listen. Especially the stereo mixes of the early material since Peter Jackson's software can pull apart the individual elements out of a mono recording. 

This compilation box set even includes The Beatles' "new" song "Now and Then", which was finished and released last year by the band's living members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, just won a best rock performance Grammy last Sunday. So THAT'S a bonus. (However, I do have a copy of the 7 inch single, but it is nice to have it on a full album with the rest of their body of work. I digress.)

What is interesting, the The Beatles 1962-1966 ("Red Album") and The Beatles 1967-1970 ("Blue Album" albums were my original "Gateway Drug to The Beatles" when I was a little kid. Around 1978 or so, The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton starred in the really terrible SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND movie that took the characters from The Beatles songs and placed them in a storyline. I won't get into the movie... but it was a shit movie. It isn't a knock against the musicians or some of my favorite actors like Steve Martin. Just a shit movie.

However, my father bought the soundtrack and I played it to death. Along with STARS ON 45 that had a Beatles medley with Beatle sound-a-like singers.  He got so sick of me playing those albums as it was just cover songs of The Beatles that he decided to introduce me to "the real thing".

He got me the two compilation albums and from about 1979 to 1985, that was all of The Beatles that I would listen to at home on the turntable until I was introduced to the original SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND and ABBEY ROAD albums by my Uncle Mike. I immediately bought those two albums on cassette tape with my allowance money. Then in 1987, EMI/Capitol Records released the original UK Beatles albums onto CD when I was a sophomore in high school. My father offered me the gift of either getting a class ring or this brand new thing called a CD Player. Guess what I chose?

Then with money earned with my new job working at Godfather's Pizza when I was sixteen, I spent it on buying all of The Beatles album on CD that year. I rarely returned to listening to the "Red and Blue" Greatest Hits albums as it was a moot point. 

But now, all these years later, I look forward to giving this "expanded" album box set a good listen.

Goo goo gajoob!

VINYL RECORD COLLECTING: Rest in Peace Denny Laine

SAD NEWS. Just read the news that Wings band member Denny Laine passed away this morning from Lung Disease. His wife posted on his Facebook page. Poetic that his greatest album with Paul McCartney was released 50 years ago today in America. BAND ON THE RUN. My favorite Paul McCartney and Wings album. Which ironically, I just pre-ordered the 50th Anniversary 2 LP special edition from paulmccartney.com website today because it is a 45 rpm Half-Speed Master plus the never before released "undubbed" version of the album of just the three of them without all the overdubbed orchestra and extras. Thank you, Denny, for the wonderful music you made with the Moody Blues, with McCartney, and solo. He's a rock legend in my book.

Top Ten Brands that I am Loyal To Using in Daily Life

I thought this might be fun...

I think about things that I purchase, use, consume, etc. in everyday life. Name brands and products that I am loyal to and will only... or at least try to only use... over other brands. Here are the top ten brands that I am loyal to on an everyday basis in my life...

(Please note that these are not paid endorsements, but me giving my opinions of what I love best.)

1. COCA-COLA

For my entire life, my soda of choice has first and foremost always been Coca-Cola. I've consumed all the various varieties from Cherry Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine-Free Coke, Lime Coke, Diet Coke, etc. Does that mean that I don't drink other flavored sodas? No. I drink Diet Dr. Pepper from time-to-time or perhaps a root beer, Sprite, or generic flavored soda like grape, orange, or black cherry. But the classic good ole' Coca-Cola is and will always be my favorite soda. I got that habit from my Granny.

2. RAY-BANS

 

 
The only shades or eye-glasses that I will wear are these classics. Thanks to my love of The Blues Brothers all those years ago when I was a kid, my first pair of "knock off" Wayfarers were given to me by my Uncle Mike. Finally as an adult, I could afford real RAY-BANS and I let them be my signature glasses. I have a pair of shades and a pair of regular prescription eye glasses that are Wayfarer style. I prefer tortoise shell and black colored rims.

 

3. KOBALT TOOLS (from LOWES)

This is more recent in my life, but I prefer to stay loyal and only purchase Kobalt Tools from Lowes. If I need a certain tool, I grab a Kobalt tool first and foremost if at all possible. Kobalt doesn't make every tool or instrument that I need, but love that blue! I love the quality of the tools, the uniform look, the price range, and the lifetime guarantee. Now that I am 50, I love my old man trips to Lowes wondering what new Kobalt tool I'm going to pick up each time I go into the store. My younger self would have never imagined that in my old age that I would love going to the hardware store.

4. ADOBE SOFTWARE (with PHOTOSHOP, ILLUSTRATOR, INDESIGN, ACROBAT, etc.)

My livelihood as a graphic designer owes so much to Adobe with the software they provide through their Creative Suite. I daily use Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Audacity, Acrobat, etc. in my work and also in my other hobbies and pursuits in the digital creativity and art that I do. They really have a monopoly on things because no other software brands can compare now, but for the past 30+ years, I have been a loyal consumer. Decades ago, I fought hard in some of my previous jobs not to have to use the competitor's complicated Quark XPress (yuck!) software back in the old days. I am an artist and graphic designer that uses Adobe Creative Suite software in his repertoire and couldn't imagine life now without it.

5. APPLE COMPUTERS (with iPHONE and iPAD)

 

Decades ago when I was younger, I was an Apple Computer "Mac Addict". But sometime in the late 1990's, I switched over to the "dark side" and began using PC Computers with Windows by necessity with work and cost. Many of the applications were only available on PCs and Mac software cost three times as much. Basic economics had me leave Apple. Then, Steve Jobs and Apple introduced the iPod and then debuted the iPhone and iPad. While I still don't use a Mac computer, I do use these other pieces of hardware and the iPhone is the only smart phone that I will use.

6. E. GERBER  (with"MYLITES 2" and "HALF-BACK")

 

As a comic book collector, I want to make sure that I am archiving and preserving my comic book collection in an appropriate way. E.Gerber offers various sized Mylar comic book outer sleeve bags and acid-free backing boards. I choose to use the Mylites 2 and Half-Back backing boards together. For the past year, I have been changing out my old comic book bags (which you are supposed to do every seven years) with these Mylites2. They say that you'll never have to change out the bags ever again in my lifetime with these. I now won't use any other brand of comic book bags to protect my comics. They are a bit expensive, so I cut out the middle man and go directly to the manufacturer and buy in bulk. On a side-note, I use Ready-Steady-Collect.com "Stick It" round clear resealable adhesive tabs on the back so that I can open up a book to read and then put it back into the sleeve for storage.

 

7. STAEDTLER

As an artist, I prefer to draw with Staedtler's variety of pencils and use their fine white Mars plastic art erasers. Yes, I have hundreds of other pencils manufactured by other companies and I have a variety of charcoals, ink pens, markers, brushes, and art supplies that I use. I do depend on and love my vintage Boston KS pencil sharpener, but Staedtler is still my "go to" first choice.

8. IRISH SPRING

Well, this gets almost as personal as it is gonna get! For my entire life longer that I can remember going back to when I was a wee lad, I have always used Original Scent Irish Spring soap. Thanks to my father being a user of this soap also and thus growing up in our home with it, I have retained that use. I still do love that fresh Irish Spring scent and it has been the only brand of bathing soap and wash that I will use. Sure, I'll use whatever hand soap I have to at a sink to wash my hands, but when I get in that shower and bath tub to scrub up, I'm an Irish Spring man.

9. SLEEVE CITY (with ULTIMATE OUTER 5.0 RECORD SLEEVES)

 

You might not have heard of this company, but as a record collector and music lover, I am very picky about the type of outer sleeves that I use to protect my record collection. I will only use Sleeve City made Ultimate Outer 5.0 super-thick virgin polypropylene outer sleeves to protect my covers for my 12" records and the smaller size ones made for 45 singles. The outer sleeves look crystal clear and make the artwork pop and sleeves resist scratches, punctures, tears, splits, water, and abrasions. I also will pick up other cleaning supplies for my records, inner sleeves, CD jewel cases, etc. from the Sleeve City website. This company is based out of my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. 

10. PILLSBURY

 

For over 30 years, my father worked for Pillsbury. They provided him a career and means to make a living and raise us when my brother and I were children. Of course, we grew up with the Poppin' Fresh Dough Boy and "Pillsbury's Best" in our home where I especially loved their Buttermilk Flaky biscuits. Whenever I shop at the grocery store and need to pick up biscuits, flour, or other pastry breaded needs, we choose Pillsbury first in our household as both a way of saying thank you for providing for our family all these years as well as we just love their products.

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So, there are ten brands that I am loyal to using. What are yours?

VINYL RECORD COLLECTING: Record Review of Junior Wells - Cut That Out: 1953-1963 Sides

This will be a first in a series of record reviews that I'll offer here on my blog site that I'll do from time-to-time. As many of my family and friends know, I have a deep love for music -- especially classic rock and blues. 

I also have had a long appreciation and love for collecting my music on vinyl going back to my teenage years and when I used to work in a record store back in high school. I collected both vinyl and CDs. Many times, I'd buy certain albums on both formats. I tend to enjoy listening to vinyl at home on my turntable and listening to CDs in the car. With that said, in recent years with the resurgence of vinyl, I tend to just buy vinyl LP records now only. The exception might be buying both formats for certain artists like The Beatles and their solo work, David Bowie, and Sting.

There is something very spiritual feeling for me to listen to music on vinyl. Perhaps the warmth of the needle falling in that groove. The zen-like way I remove carefully an album from the cover and place it on the turntable, listen to the whole album, and then turn it over to the second side. All the while, reading the liner notes and admiring the art and photography of an album cover. Appreciating the packaging, admiring the record label, etc.

Over the past few years, I've picked up quite a bit of reissues from the Spanish record label called WaxTime. I've mainly picked up about B.B. King reissue albums from WaxTime and this is my first Junior Wells album. These are pressed on 180 gram vinyl and have excellent covers in English. I've read some reviews of some albums reissued on the WaxTime Record Label and some reviewers hate the sound quality, believing the albums were cut from audio CDs and not the master tapes or whatever. Well after the whole Universal Music Group fire fiasco where they admitted this past year that hundreds of thousands of songs were destroyed in blaze in 2004, I think we'll be fortunate to get any reissues and they will probably come from alternative means. What I ultimately want to say, is that I love the reissues on WaxTime Record Label and think they're doing an excellent job at reissuing hard-to-find blues albums.

I first heard of Junior Wells back in the late 1970's when I was a little kid listening over and over to my father's Blues Brothers album entitled A Briefcase Full of Blues when John Belushi, a.k.a. Joliet Jake Blues on stage, introduced the song "Messin' With the Kid" as a Junior Wells blues tune. Years later in college in 1991 when I went through my own personal blues music discovery phase, I first heard Junior Wells in his collaborations with Buddy Guy on the album Alone and Acoustic. I was blown away by that album and dug further to discover an earlier 1972 album Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues that had they aforementioned "Messin' With the Kid" and the song "Man of Many Words" which was what the Black Crowes at the time took their hit song "Hard to Handle" from. Then there were a few other live albums the two did together until I discovered that Buddy Guy was a session man with Chess Records in the Sixties and was a sideman in Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band.

This album, Junior Wells - Cut That Out: 1953-1963 Sides, I picked up last week off an eBay "Buy it Now" purchase that cost around $13 sealed. Many of the WaxTime records can also be found for sale on eBay as a tip -- especially with these being imports. This album includes his first hit with "Messin' With the Kid" and other singles that Junior Wells recorded between the years 1953 - 1963. In one of the bold hype pieces on the back of the album, it has a quote from Rolling Stone lead singer Mick Jagger that exclaims, "Junior Wells was a great harp player. He was one of my influences."

This album collects singles from some of the independent labels that include Chief and Profile and the albums states these tracks are remastered. Junior Wells did indeed have a laid back approach to playing his harmonica and singing. While listening, what struck me was the youth-like sound of his voice with these recording compared to some later recordings he did with Buddy Guy in their collaborative albums that sounded much richer and deeper. I truly enjoyed this album, especially with tracks like "Cut That Out" and a song that I have heard Eric Clapton cover called "It Hurts Me Too".

On the same day that I acquired this Junior Wells album, I also picked up a Little Walter album also. I'll see about perhaps reviewing that album also in the future. Little Walter was another Bluesman harp player that Junior Wells was inspired by, and like Little Walter, Junior Wells adapted the style of playing a modern amplified harmonica like him. Junior Wells even replaced Little Walter in Muddy Waters's band and played on one of Muddy's sessions for Chess Records in 1952.

So, for me, I did listen to the two albums back-to-back, and it made an interesting listen.

Junior Wells - Cut That Out: 1953-1963 Sides

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Easy listening to put on in the background and chill to. Very nice blues album

VINYL RECORD COLLECTING: The Beatles - Abbey Road 50th Anniversary Set

I have to admit, I'm pretty excited that Beatles fans are about to get a 50th Anniversary Edition box set of Abbey Road in September. Released in September 1969, Abbey Road was the final album that John, Paul, George, and Ringo recorded together as a band, though Let It Be was later released.

For years and years, I've had my "favorite" Beatles album. I'd go through a Sgt. Pepper phase, or a Rubber Soul/Revolver phase... but I tend to listen to Abbey Road more than any other of their releases.

The new boxset is available for preorder on www.thebeatles.com and www.amazon.com amongst other sites. The album’s 17 tracks are newly mixed by producer Giles Martin (son of original producer George Martin) and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo, high res stereo, 5.1 surround, and Dolby Atmos, accompanied by 23 session recordings and demos, most of which are previously unreleased.

Giles did an excellent job remastering The Beatles catalog in 2009 and over the past two years, has given us 50th Anniversary boxsets of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album -- both are FAB and also include bonus unreleased tracks, studio outtakes and demos.

I'm sure the Abbey Road 50th Anniversary Edition with guarantee a splendid time for all.