Letters to the Editor

A Great Way to Start The New Year!

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 1, 2016

This letter to the editor arrived in the analogplanet.com "inbox" this morning. A great way to start the new year!—ed.
(Photo: Houston, one of our Cardigan Welsh Corgis in "party mode").

Hi Michael:

I just wanted to thank you for your fervent passion to keep vinyl alive in these digital times. I have been a big fan of Analog Planet since my early years of collecting. I am 17 years old now but I have been collecting vinyl since I was 12. My first time stepping into a record store was a monumental experience that will always be a watershed moment in my life. It also became my college essay (trying to convert the admissions offices).

I was immediately entranced and have amassed a nice-sized collection due to this unrelenting disease of record collecting. I started as a rock kid and still very much am, but jazz has grabbed ahold of me to a great degree. My Blue Note and Impulse collections are my prized section in my collection. (Those first pressing Van Gelders are pure magic.) Nothing is more satisfying to me than the acquisition of a NJ label Prestige or in one case of mine, a Lexington label Blakey Café Bohemia Vol.1 for 10 bucks. Record collecting has given me new experiences, feelings, perspectives, and influenced my aspiring music critic/journalist dream job.

I have also become locked under the constant need to upgrade my system (I have become a wannabe audiophile.) This Christmas I managed to score a restored tube amplifier pulled out of an old Magnavox console, which sounds fantastic, paired with my Rega RP1. The sickness has begun and has no plans on stopping.

I have came to the conclusion that vinyl is the only worthy format of music. The only word I can use to describe the vinyl experience is simply, “alive.” No compression, no ear-pinching highs, muddy lows, just pure balanced music. I feel terrible for all the other kids my age that will never experience music in its full glory. They are all pinned down by the industry’s new scheme, “streaming.” I don’t feel that bad though because, what will they have 50 years from now? Nothing. Young people need a physical relationship with the experience of listening to music. (and Crosley groove chewers need to be outlawed.) My 13 year old brother got a Pro Ject Debut III for Christmas and he is absolutely loving it. I hooked him up with some of my double copies of certain albums and he now has experienced music in its truest form.

Anyway, just wanted to express my gratitude toward your fantastic reviews and website. I always check out your music and sound ratings before looking at a new reissue. Thank you, and keep on championing vinyl as the supreme music format because I am a fellow believer and you are 100% correct.

Matthew Aquiline

P.S. – I live in snowy Buffalo, NY (although not this year), but this year I was on vacation at Tampa, FL and stumbled into Banana Records, which is supposedly the largest record store ever. Over 2 million records in their warehouse! You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff they have in there. Multiple pressings of almost every album and artist imaginable. They had an aisle filled with, I kid you not, all Blue Notes! Some of them original sealed! I scored a Grant Green –Talkin’ About (w/ the classic organ trio Larry Young and Elvin) with original NY USA labels, ear, RVG in deadwax. If you’ve never been there, check it out.

COMMENTS
maquiline's picture
Submitted by maquiline on Fri, 2016-01-01 13:10

Honored to be the first posting of 2016. Thanks again Michael

Jimbo912's picture
Submitted by Jimbo912 on Fri, 2016-01-01 14:09

Great story Matthew. I'm also a big vinyl collector from nearby Williamsville

singhcr's picture
Submitted by singhcr on Fri, 2016-01-01 14:16

I am glad to see young people (man I feel old at 32! :P) getting into vinyl records and I agree with your sentiments 100%. It is really the only way to experience music in a pure form, but 192/24 PCM and DSD are quite enjoyable in their own right if done well. I got into vinyl at 25 and I haven't looked back. Almost 100% of my listening is from vinyl because once you know how good music can sound, why would I waste my time listening to anything else?

If you really want to go nuts, try getting into reel to reel tape! 7.5 IPS quarter track can sound nice (although not as nice as an LP on average) but the few half track tapes out there can sound just heavenly.

Keep spinning those records, my friend!

Jeffczar's picture
Submitted by Jeffczar on Fri, 2016-01-01 20:25

Sounds very much like my own story when I was his age in the mid 80s. Pulled my first tube amp from my grandparents closet, a Heathkit AA111, learned to work on it and it was my amp for many years afterwards. Saved my paper route money when I was 14 for almost a year to buy a nearly new Thorens TD166 as a demo from a local dealer and a pair of JBL L110 speakers off the nifty nickel. Spent every weekend in used record stores. Well done young man ! And a second vote for Bananas records, a lot to see there ! When I was there a few years ago I bought a Scott 299 amp they had there for $100 and stuffed it in my carry on bag.

ronrubin's picture
Submitted by ronrubin on Sat, 2016-01-02 02:31

What Matthew has tapped into is the exhilaration of walking into a record store. I can remember going into Sam Goody for the first time (when I was about 8), and trying to take in the enormous amount of music that was there. Without retail stores selling sound recordings to consumers, the joy of music discovery is limited to younger generations. Building a record collection has been a passion of mine. It is refreshing to see a young person appreciating the ownership of music. To many, music has become a disposable commodity. I applaud Matthew is his quest, and for his good taste in music.

tames's picture
Submitted by tames on Sat, 2016-01-02 09:03

More good news - wish they were better turntables though. Keep up the good work Mikey!

http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-news/amazon-sold-more-turnt...

Rudy's picture
Submitted by Rudy on Tue, 2016-01-05 23:41

I have a daughter that just turned 17, so I can relate. She has some untapped musical talent (she's in choir, but we're looking into both guitar and piano lessons since she easily picks out tunes by ear and wants to play). I am slowly putting together some of my "seconds" (alternate copies of LPs I've upgraded) for her, and will eventually get her a turntable and simple integrated amp or receiver for her bedroom at her mom's house.

I figure since she has that natural talent for performing (she inherited my perfect pitch and like me, she can't understand why others can't name notes they hear), she will eventually get to enjoy scouring the used record stores to find some new sounds. She can't stand most of the music on pop radio these days (the trash her mother plays in the car), so she'll find her niche eventually. I can see us doing some crazy road trip half a dozen years from now, buying up an SUV-load of vinyl in our travels.

To me it is fantastic that younger generations are still able to tap into this great musical journey that many of us have enjoyed for decades. I started out my musical life standing on a chair next to the upright Admiral hi-fi in our basement, age three, stacking those old mono A&M and RCA records onto the changer. (Wore the damn thing out, I did!) Even if she can't always get vinyl, even the CDs still allow for musical enjoyment. Maybe in a decade or so, she'll have a good vinyl playback system. But until then, I'll cobble together a sturdy older system and set her in motion.

coleenmctrevs's picture
Submitted by coleenmctrevs on Wed, 2017-02-22 01:52

I'd like also to join the author of the letter in expressing gratitude for all the efforts aimed at keeping vinyl alive in our digital world. Unfortunately, my language is not so masterful and I can't write my paper but still - Thank you!

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