Vinyl Revisited

Drop the Needle

By Jay Cooper, Contributor & Musician

Photo by Linda Jenkins

There is nothing quite like the feeling of unwrapping a new album, reading the cover and dropping the needle in anticipation of listening to a new record. Growing up in the 1970’s was a different time. We had very few TV channels and played outside. There were no computers or internet to distract a young mind. But there was one thing that gave that generation huge pleasure and inspired conversation amongst your peers - Vinyl records.

The fact that the music industry intentionally killed records to sell CDs in the mid to late 1980’s, the sales numbers and expanding retail outlets show that vinyl is anything but dead.

The question is easy - Do you remember your first record or do you remember your first download? For me and countless others, our first record is the easy answer. Still having hundreds of albums myself, I wanted some insight from industry professionals and avid collectors on this subject.

Bob Roper

I spoke to Bob Roper, who is a music industry icon and has worked at WEA (Warner/Elektra/Atlantic) Records, Capitol Records, EMI Music, A&M Records and is now the Vice President and Chair of the Arts Management Program at The Harris Institute. He has worked with bands such as RUSH, Gowan, Van Halen, Supertramp, Blue Rodeo, The Nylons, Glass Tiger, Rik Emmett, Molly Johnson, Styx, Honeymoon Suite, Ian Thomas, Spirit of the West, AC/DC, Doobie Brothers, Burton Cummings, Trooper, and many more. He is also a lover and avid collector of vinyl.

Having seen first hand the dark days of the end of vinyl, Bob explains, “Companies are hell bent on killing CDs, which isn’t unlike when I sat in the board room at WEA and cried the day Warner and everyone else decided not to press vinyl. We’re going to make them buy a CD. We’re going to make them pay two and a half times what it costs us to make a record and they’re going to have to re-buy their entire collection. So what I do is buy those records that were not released in the 80’s and 90’s on vinyl that are being released now. At one point I had over 17,000 records and one day I moved some stuff and realized that the floorboards were about two inches lower than they should have been. I had put them on a wall that didn’t have enough support. I'm surprised the entire floor of the house didn't collapse. Since then, I have decreased my collection to about 2,700 pieces of vinyl, which is the cream pick of the stuff I listen to."

When CDs were released, the allure of reading the inserts and covers was diminished. Bob says, “The thing you missed with cassettes and CDs is you need glasses or a magnifying glass. With CDs, a lot of artists and companies didn’t put extensive booklets in them. Digitally, good luck finding any credits anywhere. I like to know who wrote the songs, played the instruments, produced and engineered the record. That’s the magic of opening up a traditional piece of vinyl, as I spend just as much time looking and reading as I do listening. It’s an organic connection to the artist. An interesting fact is when I was working at Capitol Records and I got a test pressing of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon to take home and listen to, as I had to promote it. The first pressing had no band cuts on the record. There were no individual songs, just straight through. They held it back because they realized radio plays singles and have to put the tone arm down (he laughs).”

Bob says, “My first records my Dad bought me singles on 78’s, like Fats Domino, and then I switched to 7” singles. But my first album my Mother brought home from Eaton’s was a Connie Francis record - when you bought a certain product you got a free record. My birthday was the next week and they bought me a Bobby Rydell album, as it was the Pop movement (at that time). I know I’ve been yelled at and told I’m full of crap, but I think vinyl (analog) sounds better than CDs (digital).”

Bob’s five favourite records are Jimmy Reed Live at Carnegie Hall, Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, Waiting for Columbus by Little Feat, Emilylou Harris and Willie Nelson Red Headed Stranger.

Al Joynes

Al Joynes, CEO of Joyndt Productions, was a DJ at Q107 radio station in Toronto, Durham Radio Inc. The Rock in Oshawa and CJ92 in Calgary. With over 30 years in radio broadcasting and a very popular Podcast, Al gives his insight to the past and present of vinyl.

He says, “The first record I heard was a 45 of The Beatles, I Saw Her Standing There. I loved vinyl from the first time I saw it and listened to it. The whole magic got lost with CDs and the little booklet (that came with it). I loved opening it up and reading the notes and lyrics and credits. I’m looking right now at the Roger Waters album, The Life We Really Want, and reading the liner notes. Even to this day it’s magical stuff. I used to have about 2,000 albums and took them out to Calgary for work. When I got back in 1986, my first son was born and we were light on cash flow, so I sold some of my records. I now have around 700. I’m always looking for more and just ordered Queen II off of Amazon on vinyl. I still go to the flea markets a couple times a year looking for records. My brother got me The Party by Max Webster - it’s a piece of history. I worked with Kim Mitchell (singer for Max Webster) at Q107. The first single I ever bought was Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride and played it endlessly. My father bought me the whole album so we could listen to something else (he laughs). I played the first CD on air at CJ92, which I believe was Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms. (When I returned to Toronto) at Q107 they still played vinyl and I was like YES!!!”

“Another interesting part of records is buying one with no knowledge of who the artist is just for the cover or artwork. That's how I got into Frank Zappa (he laughs). My parents were like, who the hell is this guy, but I have a ton of Frank's work and bought it because he looked cool," says Al.

He continues, “A humorous on-air vinyl faux pas was in Calgary at CJ92. It was the middle of the night and I had some friends come over after the bar to have a look at the station. We had this Album Replay, like they do on Q107, and you just let the album roll. I don’t remember which album it was but I put it on and started the tour of the station and only 30 seconds in, it started to skip. The tour lasted 20 minutes, we come back and the phones are ringing like a sales office and I’m like WTF? It had skipped for 19 minutes and 30 seconds (he laughs).”

Al’s five favorite records are Frank Zappa Absolutely Free, Neil Young American Stars ‘n Bars, Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street, King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King and Alice Cooper Killer.

Craig Collett

Craig Collett is a musician, the owner and president of Coll Audio Backline and is an avid collector of vinyl. Craig says, “I’m a huge fan of vinyl and have been my whole life and the reason is, it sounds better. If you put a digital recording through the same stereo as your album, the difference is astounding. My collection of vinyl is slightly north of 10,000 pieces and I’m still adding. I find myself buying used records I missed out on the first time around. A friend owns a record store and the demographics of their customers span from young to old. I have never been without LPs or a turntable. In the late 1980’s, companies killed the LP for CDs. You can fit a ton more CDs into a warehouse than records. In the dark days of the early 1990’s, I would go to yard sales and find 500 albums in milk crates and offer $50 for all of it. The guy would say I don’t think so and the wife would be like SOLD (he laughs). I also buy records based on the cover and never heard of, like this German Prog band Nektar, for instance”.

Craig also has the tools to keep his collection of vinyl flat and clean. “I have a Vinyl Flat, which is 2 heavy pieces of aluminum with a protective cover inside and I've flattened out warped records with no difficulty at all", he says. Another product is the Vinyl Reverginizer, which is a liquid that coats the record. When it dries, you peel it off, removing the dirt between the grooves of the LP. And another option is the Disco Antistat or Spin Clean, which also cleans the dirt out.

Craig’s five favourite records are Beach Boys Pet Sounds, The Beatles Sgt Pepper, Rush Farewell to Kings, Todd Rundgren Something/Anything? and Elvis Aloha for Hawaii.

James McKenty

James McKenty is a Music Producer/Audio Engineer/Musician (The Spades)/Music Event Planner here in Peterborough. He says, “My father was an avid record collector. I spent countless hours listening to a very diverse body of music from those albums. I learned how to play from listening to vinyl. My Dad had a stereo where I would press pause and record on the tape deck, plug a guitar into it, throw a record on and play along. My love of vinyl is the act of doing it, of physically getting up turning the record over and putting the needle down. It’s that tactile stuff compared to a file or online. The format is where there’s an A side and

B side and you follow how the story goes on those sides. With The Spades, Tom Street and I had a little label and would have a single every month. People would subscribe and they would get a vinyl record in the mail. Being the guy that does so many studio sessions, a lot of my favourite musicians now are the guys that you don’t hear about - that show up on these albums. So sitting with a vinyl record, I’m constantly reading the credits, who played on this, Oh Wow, he played on that one too. You start to connect the dots of the musical communities and learn the names of the musicians. I don’t think you learn their names by going on a YouTube clip or Spotify, as this is digging deep stuff.”

James continues, “The thing that made the vinyl resurgence for me, was I had two of these binders (that hold) 200 CDs, and they were stolen from my car. I said I could re-buy (them all) or dust off the stereo and come back to records. Ever since, it has been nothing but buying vinyl. I do buy new and reissued releases, but it’s those garage sale finds

when you buy the whole milk crate for $5. I still drive around with my wife and say yard sale and she’s like no way (he laughs).”

James says, “I’ve made recordings that now end up on vinyl and with the resurgence, bands I’m working with are pressing vinyl. All that hard work, now pressed and packaged with beautiful artwork. It’s in my DNA. I’m recording an album, even if that’s not where it’s going to end up (he laughs). Does the music sound better for me with vinyl compared to digital? I’m not too sure if it does. But it makes the meal look more appealing on the plate (he laughs). When you get done recording and mixing and then it goes to mastering, that mastering engineer is usually trying to make it as loud as everything else out there. But they also do a vinyl master where they are not as concerned with it. So the audio sounds better because they treat it with more delicate hands, so to speak, and keep the dynamics of the music.”

“Buying an album just because of the cover - I have done that tons of times. A new one, believe it or not, is Bongo’s Flutes and Guitars. I thought, I like all those instruments, I wonder what they sound like together and the cover was a midcentury modern art piece. So that’s one of my new favourite records. It’s all studio musicians and not a band,” he says.

James’ five favourite records are Myles Davis Kind of Blue, Neil Young Tonight’s the Night, Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers, The Beatles Revolver and Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland.

So pull out your records, drop the needle, listen to the music, read the liner notes, and enjoy. Whether Vinyl is the new/old alternative for a listener of any age group, or just a nostalgic highway that we all love once again and love to travel on. It’s keeping our love of music alive and well.