It Sounds Better on Vinyl ... So What if it does?

My collection of vinyl records which I started accumulating over fifty years ago once had its own special corner in my living room. About 25 years ago I stopped acquiring vinyl and CDs became my preferred format for recorded music; by then vinyl production had all but ceased.

Now there is an astonishing revival in the demand for vinyl records. Many of the records I own are now being reissued on vinyl.

The recent increase in sales of vinyl records has been enormous. 

According to ARIA, around 278,000 vinyl albums were sold in Australia in 2014.  In 2013, the figure was around 138,000.  In 2014, CD sales dropped to around 12.6 million from around 14.2 million in 2013.

Explanations for this phenomenon include a disenchantment with the experience of making music or the harsh sound produced with digital music compared to the ‘warmer” sound produced as the turntable stylus tracks the grooves on a vinyl record.

I have never been convinced about these claims. I am not a musician, and I have never been seduced to fork out the cash for the high-end audio equipment required to fully appreciate the superior musical pleasure that vinyl records purportedly offer compared to digital formats, including CDs. But I know that when I play the CD version of the Clash’s 1980 masterpiece, London Calling, I can lay back on the sofa, or if no one is looking, “pogo” around the lounge room, without having to care about changing sides and without having to change records - London Calling having been released a double vinyl album ... It’s rock and roll for God’s sake! ... Apparently I am denying myself a real and tangible connection to the music, as well as a near holy experience that comes from the placement of a flattened disc of polyvinyl chloride on its altar, the turntable.

Then there is the much loved pastime of “record collecting.”  It is true that someone's playlists on Spotify or iTunes don’t really cut it as a “record collection.” To admire and caress that cardboard sleeve and its contents is something that vinyl enthusiasts continually exalt. Perhaps it’s this enthrallment with vinyl and its packaging that gives more substance to their love for music, perhaps even more meaning to their lives.

But when it comes down to it, vinyl records are essentially “stuff” … “stuff” that requires space, and at current prices for vinyl reissues, “stuff” that requires you to part with a fair slice of your income. My vinyl collection no longer holds the early attraction it once did. It’s now stored in crates under my house gathering age, and perhaps value - although I doubt it. In the acceptance of my finite existence on this planet, I now realise that they are simply more chattels that will soon require me to devise a practical disposal strategy.

Paul H

Vinyl Treasures ... Maybe?