Monday, December 1, 2008

You Say You Want a Revolution (at 33 1/3)

(Via The New York Times) When Melissa Walker, 31, was growing up, vinyl records were nostalgic artifacts. But when three crates of LPs were left in an apartment she had rented, a $10 thrift store record player turned those records into a kitschy novelty. And when her boyfriend bought her a Rega P1 turntable and a Bill Evans jazz album for her 30th birthday, playing the records became a daily ritual.

“Dave brought it home, and we dimmed the lights and sat on the couch with a glass of wine, and I felt like we were in a jazz club,” Ms. Walker said. “I could hear the musicians breathing. It felt like I could hear them smoking.”

Now she holds listening parties in her Brooklyn apartment, introducing friends to the rich sound of vinyl. “There is something I like about the process of listening that way,” she said. “Having to listen to it in the order the musicians intended, and turning it over. There is something social about it.”

Sales of new LPs show that Ms. Walker isn’t the only one rediscovering vinyl. While CD sales dropped last year, sales of records were up 36 percent, although they are still a minuscule part of the music market.

(Read the rest here.)

TVD's 70's | 1973

Do you guys have any holiday traditions? I hadn't realized that I truly had any until last week when I was struggling to recreate some items for Thanksgiving dinner that both my mom and dad had perfected over the years--mine with limited success, actually.

I've got the turkey down but it's the stuffing of all things that gave me the most headaches. But year in and year out at THIS point, the traditional task seems to have fallen to me with thankfully, some of my dad's directions he transcribed to recipe cards to guide me along. Sadly though, I never got one for that stuffing which he pulled together each year with celery-salted flair.

A tradition that seems to have a head start in the making is the yearly over-infusion of red wine and the subsequent sing-along to the 70's vinyl. Toss in the tambourine and the assorted other hand percussion items and you've got the makings of one good time. Either that or a noise complaint. (It's 50/50, really.)

Another thing I noticed as the four day weekend went along was indeed the nostalgia for those 70's tunes seems to reappear each year about this time. I'm not sure what it is to be specific, perhaps just the feeling of those comfort devices that re-imagine childhood and a child's soundtrack.

Far be it for me however to relegate my flared favorites to TVD HQ alone, so this week (and next week, perhaps), as we did some time last year, we'll delve into the '70's bag of tunes (randomly by year and not in sequence - just cuz) and begin a new TVD tradition at the very same time. It should also be noted that the TVD posts with the largest frequency of revisits are actually last years 70's themed two weeks, so maybe the traditional reoccurrence of all things bell-bottomed will become a tradition you guys anticipate as much as I do. We'll see...


Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run (Mp3)
Elton John - Daniel (Mp3)
Seals & Crofts - Diamond Girl (Mp3)
Todd Rundgren - Hello It's Me (Mp3)
Alice Cooper - No More Mister Nice Guy (Mp3)