Preserved in vinyl

Yesterday was Record Store Day, a day designed to celebrate those independent merchants who still peddle recorded music the way it was meant to be peddled – in physical form, preferably pressed into 12-inch disks of vinyl.

I spent some time in my local record shop yesterday with my 22 year old son, browsing through bins of timeworn albums, looking for that one elusive piece that would complete my otherwise never-ending collection of vintage wax.  Among the gems I spotted was an original pressing of the James Taylor album on Apple (a steal at $8, which I readily grabbed), more than two dozen copies of Ian Hunter's “Your Never Alone with a Schizophrenic”, most at $4 (never owned it and still don’t) and a near-mint copy of the underrated “Red Rose Speedway” by Wings (truly completing the only hole in the collection for a mere $20).

Along the way, I had a chance to spend some quality time with my son and, perhaps, give him a glimpse into the way it used to be for me – a Saturday spent browsing through the record bins, trying to maximize the money in my pocket and admiring what is now, in many ways, a lost art form – the 12” record jacket.

But I was so happy to see so many young people in the store, not only looking at the vinyl records, but also browsing their shinier CD cousins and even perusing, dare I say it, the 45s! I was also pleasantly surprised to see how much “new stuff” there is out now on vinyl – although at prices that made me balk (in much the way that the original CD prices made me delay my ultimate purchase). Out of curiousity, I did a little checking and discovered that vinyl sales were up 19% last year, with turntable sales expected to rise 40%. Is this 1975??

I was so nice to see so many “old friends” in those bins – records I’d longed for and then forgotten about, artists who seemed to come and go, and the artwork that was the visual landscape of my youth. Did I spend a little more than I wanted to? Yes, as a matter of fact. But it was so nice to come home with that bag full of those black platters, wondering just what sound was going to emerge once I dropped the stylus of my ancient turntable on my precious stack of vintage vinyl.

And, later, as I listened to one of my vintage purchases, I finally paid attention to the lyrics of one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs. I think I finally get it now. So, to close, I share those lyrics here:

Bookends Theme

By Paul Simon

Time it was,

And what a time it was,

It was. . .

A time of innocence

A time of confidences

Long ago. . .it must be.

I have a photograph.

Preserve your memories.

They’re all that’s left you.