A friend of ours had recently asked us if we would store her ex's old albums for her because she had no room for them and doesn't have a record player. Being the audiophiles that we are, we were happy to oblige. We were excited to listen to all of them, and started going through them right away. Aaah--the smell of moldy old vinyl brings back fond memories! Some were really scratched or warped, but some were in just terrific shape. Albums that came out in 1972 still sound amazing, that is the beauty of albums. And the artwork--some we want to keep just for the art work. Like "Surrealistic Pillow" by Jefferson Airplane. The album was thrashed, but the cover was still in tact. No plastic cases to crack and throw away and end up in a land fill! You can make cool things from old record jackets.
We put aside definite keepers-- Led Zeppelin II, The Who "It's Hard", Queen--"A Night At The Opera"--which is a little warped, but still sounds ok. Van Halen II--which is still one of the best rock and roll party albums of all time. There was a cool Janis Joplin double album anthology in great shape. Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, Grateful Dead, The Doors, Dio, Cream--"Disreali Gears" Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Donovan. It was all a vinyl junkie's dream come true! There were definately some albums worth some money in there--Zeppelin "In through the Out Door" with the uncolored photo inside. A still sealed copy of "Dark Side of the Moon"! Some we had to play just for the nostalgic hits--Missing Persons, Spandau Ballet, BTO, Journey, etc. There was no Steely Dan but there was Foreigner. The guy really liked Whitesnake, though, so there are like 6 Whitesnake albums. There were some other crappy albums, too like Frank Marino and The Michael Schenker Group. Was he the guy from The Scorpions? Jules and the Polar Bears? Who the hell is that? Some of the groups we put in a pile to give a chance. We'll play a couple songs and give them the boot if they suck.
In fact, I have been thinking about burning all of my CDs onto my computer, and then some onto an iPOD and just keeping my albums. They really are much more fun to play, and they do sound better. Because it is one continuous groove, it is more like how your ear hears sound--in one continuous wave. So it sounds more like actual live music than a CD does. same goes for stereo equipment from the 70's. The tubes sound better and last longer, but I am not sure of the technical reasons why. Some LPs are worth money because they were made in limited pressings, so they are more collectible. You can't cheaply reproduce it like digital music so it is more rare, and therefore will be worth more money. But Lp's do have their drawbacks. They are delicate, if you don't take care of it or store it properly, it will warp, scratch, or crack. On the other hand, they are also pretty resiliant, or they wouldn't play thirty years later like they do. They are also really heavy, which makes them a pain in the butt to move, so I guess it's better to be in a permanent house if you want to be a vinyl collector.
