What are you listening to now?

Aqua Letifer

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mark

A bittersweet album for me.

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This is my Dad's original album from 1958. I found a box of his old albums in my basement a few weeks ago and thankfully, this was in that box. I believe this was the very first piece of music I ever heard while still in the womb. From this exact piece of vinyl too! Dad used to blast this on his Philco stereo system with 15" woofers, electrostatic tweeters, and tube amps. Mom would always ask him why he had to play it so loud. "I need to test the system!" was usually his reply. She told me that the windows in the house would rattle. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree I guess.
I cleaned it very thoroughly this morning before playing it. Unfortunately, 65 years of non-optimal storage and lack of proper record care have taken their toll on it. It has several audible scratches that are not repairable. I will be on the hunt for a better condition copy of this exact pressing. This one will never be discarded as it holds too much sentimental value for me.

Those cannons! Wow! Fortunately most of the album still sounds very good including the cannon sections.

I'm even playing it on a tube amp as he did so many years ago.

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Catseye3

I should have posted my Kodaline post in this thread, sorry.

Link to video

The drummer makes me crazed.

If you like them, and how could you not, here's their songography or whatever you call it.
https://www.songfacts.com/songs/kodaline

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Love the glow of vacuum tubes in the evening...

Doctor Phibes

@mark said in What are you listening to now?:

Love the glow of vacuum tubes in the evening...

That Wayne Shorter album is really a classic. I used to play the title track from time to time back in the day.

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@Doctor-Phibes I picked up both of those today. The Wayne Shorter is a Blue Note release and has incredible sound quality. Totally surface noise free and it's like they are in the room with me. Love it. The Coltrane pressing is the same. I also picked up a 1965 pressing of some Telemann played by Jean Pierre Rampal. Was blown away by the sound quality and quietness of that piece of vinyl as well.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

It's remarkable that one can buy a recording and one of the best things (besides the performance) is how "quiet" the vinyl is, and how there's no surface noise. It's almost as though you expect it to be flawed and are surprised when it's not.

~~Yeah...I'll get off your lawn.~~

Doctor Phibes

I'm never going back to vinyl. I did used to really enjoy buying it, but it's too much of a PITA.

Then again, I did used to really enjoy buying it, and the album covers are great, so who knows....

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@George-K What is so hard to understand? It's the hunt and the pursuit of sound in a medium that's, well, fun! Streaming is not fun. There is no going to a mom and pop record store and hunting for something that might not even be available to stream. To find, clean, and place a piece of vinyl on the turntable that is older than you are and listening to it for the first time or even having it played for the first time in 50-60 or more years.

Reading the gatefold or liner notes and caring for something that can be older, much older than you.

It is the pursuit of trying to get such a noise prone medium to be noise free and marveling at it when it happens.

And sometimes, when it is unavoidable, the noise brings back memories of days gone by.

Yes! You get off my lawn, with your newfangled, soulless, digital bits and bytes.

mark

Aqua Letifer

@mark said in What are you listening to now?:

It's the hunt and the pursuit of sound in a medium that's, well, fun! Streaming is not fun. There is no going to a mom and pop record store and hunting for something that might not even be available to stream. To find, clean, and place a piece of vinyl on the turntable that is older than you are and listening to it for the first time or even having it played for the first time in 50-60 or more years.

Reading the gatefold or liner notes and caring for something that can be older, much older than you.

It is the pursuit of trying to get such a noise prone medium to be noise free and marveling at it when it happens.

And sometimes, when it is unavoidable, the noise brings back memories of days gone by.

I think what you're describing is beyond fun. I think you just described why experiencing vinyl is more meaningful.

mark

1960 $4 Pristine condition.

Sounds so good. The basement of Toad Hall Records in Rockford, IL is an amazing labyrinth of treasures just waiting to be discovered. I could spend days down there.