A couple of months ago, I posted about my ten all-time favorite books. Today, I thought I'd shift the focus to music and share some of my favorite records. This is slightly different than my book list - I'm only including albums from my vinyl collection, and unlike my book list which has stayed fairly consistent over time, these favorites are rotating. Regardless, right now there are twelve particular records that have been on my regular listening schedule pretty incessantly lately.
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1. Blood On the Tracks, Bob Dylan // 2. Revolver, The Beatles
3. True Stories, Talking Heads // 4. American Beauty, The Grateful Dead 5. Harvest, Neil Young // 6. Pearl, Janis Joplin |
When my husband and I first started dating, we discovered that we were both avid vinyl collectors. Many of the records we each owned were passed down from our parents. Others had been thrifted or gifted. And a handful were new and had been purchased. We knew that we had a lot of records between the two of us, but it wasn't until we first moved in together that we realized just how many. We ended up having to take a day to go through them and decide which ones to fit on our entertainment/book shelves so the rest could be stored or given away. (And for those that were no longer listenable, we later did this.) That day is actually one of my favorite memories from the time when we first shacked up. It was fun to see how many overlaps we had, and also to unearth and listen to old records we'd each forgotten about. It was a bonding experience for us, and it was awesome.
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7. Europe '72, The Grateful Dead // 8. The Band, The Band
9. Now Here's Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash // 10. Autoamerican, Blondie 11. Rubber Soul, The Beatles // 12. Bare Trees, Fleetwood Mac |
You always hear people say "vinyl just sounds better than digital" - to the point that it's become almost cliche. But for me, there really is something extra special about listening to music via a good old fashion record. The sound that vinyl produces actually is more authentic and does more closely resemble the original, real-life sound (that's analog for you!). And although vinyl gets scratches and heat damage and just generally breaks down over time, the warmer, more weathered sound that comes from vintage record albums is very appealing for some (myself included). Really, there's nothing like it.
Any other old vinyl record lovers in the house?
P.S. I can't thank you guys enough for the comments, emails, tweets, etc. in response to yesterday's post. For those who have emailed, I promise I'll do my best to respond to each of you by the end of the day today. We really are all in this together. xo
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just started following your blog and I love it. I think the whole experience of vinyl is better. It makes listening to music an experience not just backroud noise. You have to select the record, flip it, change it, etc.. It is way more fun that just plugging in an iPhone :)
ReplyDeleteharvest is my fave. my husband always laughs at me because when he asks me to put on an album...i always choose it. it is my favorite work neil young has ever created.
ReplyDeleteI love old vinyls! I don't have a player, but i've always loved the vintage covers and art on them!!
ReplyDeletepretty sure we are soulmates sis. i loveeee my vinyls
ReplyDeleteI love that you said "shacked up" Haha. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, agree with everything, of course. I actually hate the tinny sound that comes with the combination of cheap speakers and digital music. It is possible to get really good sound from mp3s too, with the right set up, but it's definitely not the same as records.
Haha oddly enough I actually posted my top 6 vinyl on my blog yesterday - I totally prefer the vinyl over digital music any day of the week.
ReplyDeleteI love vinyl records! Wish I had kept some of my dad's - who knows where they are now! Love the Beatles! I also checked out your favourite books :) I enjoyed the simple path as well!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had more luck finding old vinyls at garage sales and estate sales! I would love to find that Blondie one somewhere! I have The Graduate movie one and a Mamas and the Papas one that I will never give up! =)
ReplyDeleteErgo - Blog
These are all such good choices!!! I love Bob Dylan and Talking Heads!! I only have 3 records lol. But I definitely want to build a collection, I agree that the sound is like nothing else. :-D
ReplyDeleteI love Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin. I wish I could have gotten hold of my parents vinyl albums before they gave them away. This post makes me want to go get a record player.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are huge vinyl fans. When we first started dating, he had a few that he had collected and I had hand me downs from my father's collection. Right before we moved in together one of his co-workers was getting rid of an old record player so he snatched it up, and we've been collecting together ever since.
ReplyDeleteI had my hands on Harvest this past weekend when we traveled to Nashville and hit up a local store there. Now you're making me regret that I didn't purchase it. We try to buy as much as we can used. It's cheaper and fun to find older versions (IMO). I am also loving that newer releases are often adding in the MP3. Nothing compares to vinyl but having that MP3 for your car or cell phone is pretty nice.
I need to do a post about our collection, thank you for the inspiration!
Great collection! Fleetwood Mac ranks in my all time faves.
ReplyDeleteGreat picks! I have about 20 records but no turntable. D'oh! I want to find a good quality older one, I've heard the new ones look pretty but don't produce very good sound.
ReplyDeleteLove, love, LOVE that Neil Young album. I wish I had the vinyl!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! Blood on the Tracks in one of my faves!
ReplyDeleteI aquired my love for vinyl from my parents.
Dave Brubeck and Pete Fountain
My parents were 50's beatniks so lots of spoken word.
<3!
i like this post so much, keep them coming melissa! there is something nostalgic about vinyls. my junior high self discovered the beatles by going through their albums and checking them out at the library. i was very sad when the stopped having records available for check out. i wonder what happened to them all?
ReplyDeleteYES. I have "The Band" too. I don't have a massive collection, but there are about 30 or so vinyls up in my "library" (a.k.a. the junk room). My dad had a great collection that got ruined when our basement flooded when I was a kid, so my sister and I have been re-buying things for him. Lately I've been going through a Simon & Garfunkel phase, especially when painting.
ReplyDeleteOne word. <3 Love <3
ReplyDelete