Photos provided by area retail locations; vintage vinyl by Geoffrey Whiteway; article researched by Erica Finocchio
Vinyl records first hit the music world in 1948, and almost faded away with the advent of digital downloads and CDs – but 68 years later, vinyl is the hottest thing in the recording industry once again. Today's record stores are keeping up with the trend by offering the music of today and yesterday in every format – including those stillbeloved 12” vinyl albums. Vinyl Bay 777 in Plainview (located at 101 Dupont Street #14; (516) 595-7210), owned by Frank Napoli, offers thousands of records for sale and is participating this year in Rhino
Vinyl Is King – Again: Your Guide To Area Record Stores Records' Rocktober, with new, exclusive limited edition vinyl albums for sale by rock's biggest artists available each Tuesday in October, with free drink coozies offered with purchases to boot. The store is a rock lover's mecca, with new albums in stock by Deep Purple, Twisted Sister, and Alice Cooper. Their best sellers currently are by The Good Rats and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. New releases in stock are California by Blink-182, The Getaway by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kiss Rocks Vegas, and The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan. The new Metallica album, Hardwired … To Self-Destruct, will be available in November.
2 • Good Times Magazine - October 4 - 17, 2016
Vinyl Bay 777
“Vinyl is back and we are your music outlet,” said Napoli. “We have every genre there is, from easy listening to jazz, a huge blues selection, and a large collection of original releases of rock. We have a large collection of rap and disco as well. We grade and clean our vinyl, and we make sure you are getting the proper records.” Looking for new and upcoming vinyl releases? Mr. Cheapo, located in Mineola (134 Jericho Turnpike) and Commack (in The Mayfair Shopping Center at 2020 Jericho Turnpike), offers new releases every week. Blink-182’s California, Gov't Mule's TelStar Sessions, and Any Way You Love, We Know How You Feel by The Chris Robinson Brotherhood all recently hit the shelves. Their best-selling records are from The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Record Stop Pink Floyd, Radiohead and
The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Mr. Cheapo also buys and sell records, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, video games, and new and used record players. This chain has been in business since 1980, originally owned by Stu Goldberg; the current owner and manager is his son, Josh Goldberg. “In the '90s, we didn’t sell new vinyl,” Josh Goldberg recalled. “We just started selling it the past five or six years because of Record Store Day – an event that takes place on Black Friday where limited edition exclusive record titles are distributed to independent record stores. It's when we started selling new records. We stock all genres from hip hop to jazz, reggae, rock, and blues.” For more info: (516) 742-7670. Record Stop in Shirley (45 Ramsey Road, (631) 585-3294), originally located in Lake Ronkonkoma, has been in the record business in Long Island for more than 40 years. New releases at the store are Death Of The Cool and Kontiki by Cotton Mather, both from Austin, Texas' Apple Star Kingdom label; Tasty by The Good Rats, and Toogoodoo by Stop Light Observations. Among the many other artists in stock are titles as diverse as Deepak Chopra & Adam Plack and Robert Harrison & Nicole Atkins releases. Best-selling