Another Thing We Lost When We Lost Vinyl

[b0b]

Listening to LPs lately, I've come to realize that one side of a record is just about all I want to hear of an artist in one sitting. Full CD albums are too long. I like the format of 20 minutes by one artist, then go to the next LP.

A side of an LP is often a cohesive musical journey. An entire CD wears me out. I think we've lost more than than just analog fidelity when we let the industry move away from vinyl records.

[Skip Edwards]

I agree...Side Two of Abbey Road comes to mind.

And then there's that side of an LP that is still most likely pristine after all these years...and that would be side 1 of the Concert For Bangladesh...

[Brint Hannay]

b0b, I agree wholeheartedly!!!

There are a lot of LP albums where I only like one side. And even if I like both sides, as you said the 20 more or less minutes of a side are generally just the right amount of time to collectively make a satisfying musical statement. And artists and producers saw it that way too, and made the effort to sequence a side accordingly.

I have never considered even for a moment getting rid of my LP's or not having a turntable!

In cases where I have acquired a CD copy of an album I have, or used to have, on vinyl, but the CD has "bonus" tracks, I often burn my own copy with only the material from the original album, with a generous gap of silence between the two "sides", to let "Side 1" stand as an entity.

[b0b]

They should have made CDs as "flippies", half on one side, half on the other, with a big label on each side.

[Kevin Hatton]

A very astute observation Bob. I agree. Producers definitely took album sides into consideration in vinyl. I like your idea of flippies. It would solve the problem.

[Chris Sattler]

I tend to agree. On any 10 track LP record there are only about 5 I would like to listen to. However they are usually on different sides of the record.

There are exceptions but rare. FWIW George Strait "Pure Country". J D Crowe "You can share my blanket". I think every song is just great.

[Jack Stoner]

Many old LP's only had one "hit" song on the entire album.

Then you have the A and B side on 45's where the A side was the song promoted and the B side was a filler. However, then there are those cases where the B side becomes the hit or some where both the A and B side are hits.

[Bob Hoffnar]

I'm not so sure about that problem. From what I understand the amount of music on a CD is based on the length of Beethoven's 9th.

[Rick Barnhart]

Don't most cd players have the capacity to program a playlist, like iTunes/iPod devices?

[Larry Carlson]

I think we've lost more than than just analog fidelity when we let the industry move away from vinyl records.

I also stopped listening to a lot of music because of the long formatting and usually only one or two good songs on an album.
However, a few years back I finally realized what else was causing my lack of interest.
Due to the reduction in the listening quality of CD's, mp3's etc. everything was sounding flat or empty.
The music had no "life" to it. It's like someone sat on the compression button and fell asleep.

[Joachim Kettner]

But there's a vinyl revival, I have heard. When a new CD and an LP is released simultanesously, it's usually a vinyl double because one LP can't handle that many tracks. I agree with bOb that one record side is often enough to sit through. It wasn't like this in my twenties

[Earnest Bovine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS-34BdLi8E

3+ hours of Delius and I still want more

[Scott Duckworth]

But there's a vinyl revival, I have heard.(

I was Guitar Center the other day, and they had three high end turntables in the showcases...

[Mark van Allen]

And, it's tough to roll up a fattie on a CD tray...

[Steve Pawlak]

Mark
Your comments are totally out of line
It's 2015 and can not make those comments about over weight people

[Donny Hinson]

Sheesh, just get a changer, and then push the "SKIP" or "Disc" button.

[Brint Hannay]

Beethoven's Ninth (or Schubert's)? Yes, modern technology is a boon. I have no love for getting up and turning over the record midway.

When I was a kid (mid-1950s) I had Beethoven's Fifth and Schubert's Unfinished on 78s. It was conducive to focus to retain the impression of what you just heard while the changer went through the clattering process of dropping the next of 3 or 4 sides, then doing the same after turning the whole stack over...Ah, the good old days! (not!)

[b0b]

Don't most cd players have the capacity to program a playlist, like iTunes/iPod devices?

Mine sure doesn't. Besides, who wants to do that for every CD in their collection?

[Per Berner]

20 minutes on each side of an LP? Not on most of mine. I have a Moe Bandy album from the mid-seventies with a total playing time of just over 22 minutes – some songs only 1:40 long! But as long as the songs are good, with Weldon Myrick on every track, who cares?

[Mark Eaton]

Bobby, when was the last time you stopped in Santa Rosa at The Last Record Store? i assume it wasn't too long ago since I know you have played the occasional gig at the restaurant next door.

Not just old used stuff on the cheap, they have new release vinyl coming out the wazoo.

Kind of a sad note, since b0b and I both live in Sonoma County. The owner of the last remaining high end audio store in Santa Rosa itself has either officially closed by now or is about to as the owner is retiring.

i was in there a number of years ago and the guy had me sit down on a couch facing an incredible stereo system and he had just gotten in a live album of Miles Davis recorded in the '60s, don't recall the name, but it had been newly released at the time on 180 gram vinyl.

Once he dimmed the lights and started playing the thing, I felt like I was transported to the smoky New York jazz club where it had been taped.

[b0b]

Doug Jayne, owner of The Last Record Store, is one of my best friends. As a matter of fact, I am currently recording a new steel guitar album at his studio, Jackalope Records. We also play together now and then in a band called Clusterfolk.

I bought the latest Jack White LP at Doug's store, and he also traces down old LPs for me when I need them.

[Mark van Allen]

"Clusterfolk" Awesome.

[Mark Eaton]

Doug Jayne, owner of The Last Record Store, is one of my best friends. As a matter of fact, I am currently recording a new steel guitar album at his studio, Jackalope Records. We also play together now and then in a band called Clusterfolk.

I bought the latest Jack White LP at Doug's store, and he also traces down old LPs for me when I need them.

Yeah, I know you play with Doug and you are good friends. It seems most of the musicians around here know each other in some capacity, but that's likely true of most regions.

I guess I'm just sort of surprised by the thread title.

The place where vinyl is literally "lost" is in the mass merchant/department stores. Obviously vinyl hasn't been around in those retailers for decades now, replaced by CDs. But they are also the haven of "the incredible shrinking music department."
The square footage devoted to CDs seems to shrink a little more every few months be it in Wal-Mart, Target or Best Buy.

The remaining brick and mortar record stores seem to have more vinyl, where the music is divided up on two sides, than at any time since the mid 80s when CDs started taking over.

As far as the idea of having your fill after hearing one side of an LP and the CD format being too long, though I understand the sentiment it hits me that it is directly correlated to quality. If you think of all the albums, and by that I mean either LPs or CDs released through history there aren't all that many relatively speaking where you can do the whole thing start-to-finish. It's just that with vinyl there is more effort involved in skipping songs. On CDs or an MP3 player it's very convenient so it allows for a shorter attention span and being less patient.

I got a good laugh when I first saw the illustration below a couple years ago. I think beyond b0b's assessment of what we lost in not having the vinyl format as the default method of listening to music, the illustration says it all for me. Many of us spent a lot of hours in the scenario below, might have even been listening to Dark Side of the Moon - which the Oz folk have on the turntable right now (I tried to enlarge the illustration but couldn't figure out how to do it).

More than the format itself, I would think the culture that so many of us were a part of before we had to become responsible adults of actually sitting down and listening to music, either on our own or with friends has pretty much fallen by the wayside.

[chris ivey]

for sure!
as for cd's...i sure prefer them in the car to cassette tapes!
and making your own custom cd's from selected album cuts is great.
i'm getting older and don't care about more modern systems....and i'm certainly not going to spend money on them.
amazingly enough, my family used to sing in the car without even having the radio on!!

[Graham]

Could always have bought your vinyl like this, in some cases.







These never did become real popular and in this case, most would have bought the full 12 song lp.