I’ve been quasi-converted to vinyl. Well, rather, I grew up listening to records but have come back to them because they sound so crispy and crackly and good — like coconut shrimp with a high fidelity dipping sauce.
Here’s the thing. There are people who are committed to vinyl who spend vast amounts of time and small fortunes on collecting specific records for their collection. That’s all fine and dandy, I think it’s great to get behind your passions in life, but I want to tell you about my approach to vinyl because it can be a cheap musical education, if you want it to be.
My records come from the thrift shop, for the most part. I swing by the Goodwill and comb through the record shelf and I choose a little bit of everything. I reckon, for a dollar a piece, there’s no way to lose! I buy records if they have fabulous or weird cover art. I have a penchant for classical recordings — specifically Chopin, Bach, Dvorak and Debussy for the piano. I will also select symphonic works by the same composers and am very open to masterpieces by Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms. If I find Mariachi, I add it to the pile. If I find bluegrass, I squeal a little. Waylon, Willie and Dolly are always pure gold (their voices lend themselves beautifully to vinyl). There is never rock and roll at the thrift shop, probably because it’s the best thing ever so no one gets rid of it. One of the greatest treats of all is big band music. I like a smattering of musical scores and am currently obsessed with opera recordings (especially in the early morning).
You see, when I tell you I am genuinely eclectic, I truly mean it. And don’t get me wrong, if there’s something I really want on vinyl, I’ll sometimes allow myself a $20 record. I recently bought a Niki Lane album on vinyl and it’s tremendous!
I’ve always said that if you refuse to listen to a bit of everything, you rob yourself of the full wingspan of the musical experience. True diversity is excellent for the soul and makes for a well rounded individual — being open to every kind of music is another way of brushing up against the width of humanity. That said, there are some things I hear that I genuinely do not like, but I’m never afraid to give the unknown a try.
I should add to all of this that while I was in the depths of piano study, when my very pulse sounded like ascending and descending arpeggios, I was spending my weekends at the punk rock shows in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and crunching through my calculus homework to Lauryn Hill. I like what I like. Unabashedly.
The best thing about buying thrift shop records is that if you find something truly fouls the ear, if you find it earnestly repulsive, you can throw it in a box with the tank tops from last summer and dump it right back at the thrift shop where you found it — someone else will eventually give that record a chance on the cheap.
There you have it. Spin away, sweet souls!
Me too, Jillian!! I received the same little portable record player two years ago for Christmas and, even though the motor on mine gets overheated after one side of a record, I love having it and listening to records from my parents’ and my partner’s parents’ old stacks of LPs! I have tons of classical, Québecois, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s dance music, with a bit of jazz, latin and, my all-time favourites, The Jackson Five, thrown in the mix! XX
Ooh!!! Classical Québecois???!!! Would love to get my hands on some of that! Love your blend, sister.
Oh, Jillian, I just saw your tweet about your newest early morning habit: Opera on vinyl and it made me wonder if you’ve ever watched ‘Endeavour’ (a PBS Masterpiece Mystery series). I get it on Canadian Netflix. Check it out!
I’ll check for it sometime this week! Thanks for the recommend!
Thanks for introducing me to Nikki Lane: Love the song title and song: It’s Always the Right Time to Do the Wrong Thing.” And vinyl is the best!!! As Prince said at The Grammy’s: “Like books and black lives, albums matter.”
She’s such a bad little good girl. Such a voice.
And what a great quote by Prince.
Looks like you’ve got a sweet little suitcase turn table there, too! I’m looking forward to pulling out my vinyl collection (also mostly thrift store finds) this spring when I pick up my dad’s old record player (mine gave up the ghost a few years ago so I put everything in the attic storage). Some of my favorites on vinyl are Chopin’s Etudes, Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, and a rare Harry Belafonte album of calypso tunes.
If I ever saw Stevie on vinyl, I’d snap it up faster than you can say SHORTBREAD COOKIES. Love him.
I like the classical compositions for piano (especially Chopin’s etudes, which were some of my favorites) because I studied a lot of those pieces and can sing my way through the phrasing as the music plays. Some of those pieces are unforgotten to my hands, as well, and I’ll actually stop what I am doing and play along on whatever surface is handy.
I find piano excellent to work to, especially Bach…his pieces are mentally clarifying for me.
That Belafonte sounds sublime!
The idea that there is so much good music out there and that I might be missing some or even most of it keeps me up at night.
I hear you, brother. I hear you.
Vinyls are the best. Sadly, I lost my father this past September and have been spending the past 4 months helping my brother go through my mom and dad’s belongings and sort through what we all want as mementos and what to donate. My parents had several turntables throughout their home but only one still worked. I asked to have it along with their album collection and I cherish those albums so deeply. It is such a diverse collection, musicals from the 40’s and 50’s, the greats like Dean Martin, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Spanish music, Dolly, Willi, The Carter Family, Conway Twitty and the list goes on and on with many just instrumental albums. I was not so crazy about them when I was younger, but now it is just to nostalgic and lovely to listen to them and think of my mom and dad. I will NEVER get rid of them and hope to just add to my new “old” collection 🙂
I dread knowing what it feels like to lose a father.
Love the nostalgia that records hold for you! I hope you add to your amazing collection.
X
I usually get mine from the thrift shops too. In fact, I’ve found some pretty cool Willie Nelson tunes that way that I’d never heard before. And oh! This year my love gifted Joni’s Mitchell’s Blue Album to me for the holidays. My goodness!! It sounds sooo good on vinyl! If you ever happen find it out there in the wild, grab it right up, girl. <3 Happy listening!
I'm off to check out Niki Lane.
xo
All the best Willie is at the thrift shop. FACT.
And you have Joni’s BLUE on vinyl!!!????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????
I yelped when I read that.
YELPED.
i miss my vinyl. there’s something so magical in setting that diamond needle on the record, hearing the crackling first spins before the music begins.
I totally agree…those first crackles are to live for. 🙂
OOOoweee! Lovely musical tales! We often listen to LPs. All kinds of stuff. Still have my Apapa’s player which works perfectly. And still own my very first album ever- Teddy Bear’s Picnic! Teeeheeee.
p.s. We have Stevie too!
When I was a kid my mum bought all her albums from charity shops (in fact she still does, and plays them on an amazing vintage record-player that I daren’t even touch for fear of breaking it!) Back in the 90s I bought tons of vinyl myself, and then spent hours and hours making mixtapes to swap with friends. One of my friends pretty much only bought LPs from charity shops and his mixtapes were the BEST. I still have them and still listen to them, 20 years later, and they still don’t sound like anyone else’s stuff. I discovered so much interesting music that way, music that was never written about in the music press or played on the radio…
Nowadays I follow a lot of eclectic music blogs and discover a lot of music that way. Do you read Aquarium Drunkard? I think you’d particularly dig the music they post.
I fully believe that those thrift shop mix tapes were the BEST!!!
I miss the mixtape. Rob and I used to make each other mix tapes. Our Tacoma has a tape deck and we played our mix tapes for years until the deck quick working…
I’ll check out Aquarium Drunkard if I can make time for it this weekend.
Thanks for being here!
X
I’m liking your vinyl mix. I have a nice mix of old country, big bands, some very lovely Ray Charles. Have you listened to Murder by Death? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph8AlodMnjk The lead singer’s voice is wonderful – reminds me a bit of Cash 🙂
Awwww….big band music is where it’s at. It’s so GOOD.
I’ll check out Murder by Death in the studio later today with that Pandora contraption…
i think the best part of vinyl was sitting with the album cover, reading the lyrics and singing along ( well not to Bach necessarily, but I could hang out with Carole King and scream my heart out to ‘Tapestry’….all the words were always included!) I loved that!…ok, so y’all know how dated I am right now! he he!..sorta crazy that it is having a renaissance…!
HA HA HA!!!
I did that with records, tapes and CDs Now I have to google lyrics…boo hoo hoo.
Actually, any time I buy a CD these days, the album art is a great pleasure for me. It’s so sad we miss out on that part of a record when we listen to internet radio or buy albums on iTunes.
My musical tastes are just as eclectic, and vinyl makes them all sound so much better!!
Amen, sister!!!
The last album I remember owning was Fleetwood Mac (Rumours). We used to crank that thing way up and shake the windows. Those first crackles would scare us. We would also put on The Gap Band (You Dropped the Bomb On Me) and have an occasional dance party. We didn’t have a disco ball, so my sisters and I would string up a bunch of flash lights and swing them from the balcony. Good times!
GUFFAW!!!
What a lovable account of enjoying vinyl with your sisters! I actually loved my parent’s CHRISTMAS albums! John Denver…and this other woman who sang “Little toy trains, little toy tracks, little toy drums, coming from a sack…carried by a mannnn dressed in white and red, little child don’t you think it’s time you were in bed?”
Super cheesy but that woman had SUCH a magical voice on vinyl.
There was also “One Fine Morning” by Lighthouse which still gets me jamming but I only ever hear it on the oldie stations when I am at home in Canada. 🙂
I channel Stevie Nicks a little bit every single day. She and I keep wolfish hair hip.
Greetings from our snowy place!
https://play.spotify.com/search/maxida%20m%C3%A4r%C3%A4k
her version of “mountain” made me think of you, please listen!
I wish I could listen! Can you let me know the artist’s name and the song title so I can look it up outside of spotify? I cannot sign in and do not have a Facebook account. X
Maxida Märak – The Mountain 🙂
Oh, it’s heavenly to read your words here and then see all your photos at Flickr. I believe God allows us begin again at anytime, and whenever I read and see your work, I want to begin again. To begin again and move to Oregon or Idaho or Washington. But are my New England roots too deep? Many things to pray and meditate on – and meanwhile I just am transported by the beautiful life you share. Thank you!
God is a God of infinite chances. 🙂 I’m a real screw up and I’m thankful for that every single day.
Life is short. 🙂 Good luck with your path making! I’m so glad to have you here. X
“Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together.”-Anaïs Nin
xx
P.S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfVgSKOCG_I
Nikki Lane rules.
You are beautiful. I love the variety of your tastes, the history, the amalgamation of everything. Music to me, is a way to change my state of mind, or enhance it. If I need to be energized, calmed down, sad, or happy, it’s there. A whole range of it, and thank goodness for that.