Not for one moment do we think we need to school the readership of TVD in regard to these three seminal Van Morrison releases, 1968's 'Astral Weeks' and Van's two bits of brilliance from 1970, 'Moondance' and 'His Band and the Street Choir.'What we do need to impart however, is that this triumvirate of 180gram remastered vinyl from the original analog master tapes is the mind-blowing prize for the second week of our Record Store Day 2009 'Eleven Weeks of Vinyl Giveaways' contest! That's right--this week's one winner gets all three LPs shipped directly to his or her mailbox.
By now you know the drill; grab our attention in the comments WITH your email address (important!) so we can contact you about your triumphant win. (Or, you can comment and forward your email address in an email to us. We're not picky.)
Just make it funny. Or make it smart. About record stores. Or Record Store Day. Or vinyl. About us or you. Or something else all together. Just make it before next Monday (2/9) when we'll choose our winner. (AND launch giveaway #3...)
10 comments:
Yes, I love digital music. Yes, I think the iPod in all its configurations is the most elegant piece of technology in my lifetime. Yes, I love the ease with which I can use the internet to track down and acquire music and information about even the most obscure band that ever released a one-off 45. And yeah I love my “digital jukebox.” But… it’s just not the same as spending an entire afternoon thumbing through musty record bins or flipping through a randomly arranged racks of CD’s. It’s not the same as browsing while listening to whatever the guy working the cash register thinks is great music everybody should be listening to. It’s not the same as walking into a store and having the owner pull a CD out from under the counter that he’s been saving just for you because based on other things he remembers you bought, he thinks you might enjoy listening to this one too. It’s not the same as the knowing smile and nod from the cute punk rock girl as she bags your purchases and hands them to you reaffirming “that is the best album I have heard all month.” It’s not the same as having a lyric sheet to read and cover art to study — no matter how small. It’s not the same, and it has more to do with context, continuity, and making important connections than just waxing nostalgic about how things used to be. Pull any record or CD off my shelf and I can probably tell you when I got it, where I got it, why I got it, who I got it with, and what it was like hearing it for the first time. I can probably also tell you something relevant about the artist, the songs and maybe even the guy who produced the recording. My vast collection of mp3’s on the other hand, seem almost ephemeral because there’s nothing really tangible about them. They’re just files without any liner notes, lyric sheets, gatefold sleeves, or cover art. They don’t tell me the musicians names, who plays what instrument, authored the song or even composed the music. Give me records. Records I can touch. Records I can smell. Lyric sheets I can read. And of course, rich, warm, wonderful vinyl I can listen to.
John at happymedium27@verizon.net
a musty, well-worn copy of his band and the street choir adorns my wall and has been there since i moved in two years ago. i've always found the cover hyptnotic and soothing, the way one image of van fades into another.
i once made a mix for a friend that featured a track that consisted of my roommate's unique laugh. we had to trick him into telling some crazy stories while out to lunch. we fed my roommate some margaritas and got him laughing at himself while i held a tape recorder under the table, then i went back and spliced it all together. i titled it "shady letting his laughter fill the room" and placed it next to virgo clowns on the mix. the girl i made it for eventually wound up dating shady and now they live together. i like to think it all started with that tape.
oh, and by the way, my email address has been slimsloslider@gmail.com for a decade now
If anonymous(john) doesn't win I'm gonna cry. Seriously, I'll just break down into tears right here.
I agreed with everything he said and it was written wonderfully. Well except the iPod praise, but that's a just me not likeing Apple for no real reason.
Just found your site while reading about this year's coming Record Store Day, and will be coming back to here often.
A bit about my long love affair with vinyl...
When I was a toddler, I would put LP's on those long green sticks that came with Tinkertoys, and pretend to play the record with a shorter Tinkertoy stick stuck into one of the round Tickertoy hub thingys. I was apparently obsessed with The Moody Blues, because that was all I would tell my grandparents about at the time and, not knowing that was a band, they thought I was autistic (or something like that).
In my early teenage years, every other kid in school was listening to bad hair metal on cassette tape, while I was obsessed with The Beatles on LP. I believe Revolver was the only thing that got me through those years.
Now, in my adult years, going to my favorite record store (Shake It, in Cincinnati, by the way) is something akin to going to church crossed with a junkie going to get their next fix. With the recent resurgence in vinyl, you never know what great reissues you might find (Astral Weeks on 120 gram vinyl, for example), not to mention the treasures that may appear in the used racks.
Though I have a couple of thousand CD's, I have never felt the strong emotional connection to them that I do to my records. Sure there were millions of copies of Revolver sold, but only my copy has the crackles exactly where I have become accustomed to them being.
Come this year's Record Store Day, I know exactly where I will be: among the first in the door at Shake It, grabbing each of the day's special releases.
placelogohere@earthlink.net
You're sweet Ariana. Thank you.
John (formerly Anonymous)
I grew up listening to 45s and LPs. If memory serves (and sometimes it doesn't) the Byrds' debut album was the first record I bought. I still love the ritual of dropping the needle on the disc, hearing that warm static sound that anticipates the first song. I still think it's magical that I can find my favorite songs on an LP almost every time.
CDs sounded lousy at first but they have gotten better. Today I can almost get nostalgic for CDs since so much music is downloaded from the ether, with no tangible physical presence.
The collector mentality and the love of music are not the same thing, but they overlap in many cases, including mine. As a collector, it's just nice to have a beautiful physical object that represents the music you love. CDs are better than nothing (sometimes barely), but nothing can compare to vinyl.
An LP cover or even a 45 sleeve whets my anticipation for the music inside. Good liner notes help me appreciate what I hear. I've used LP covers to clean weed and sometimes just admired them as art or artifacts.
Nowadays most of the vinyl I buy is old stuff ... I found a copy of Ray Charles' "Modern Sounds in C/W" for a buck not long ago. You can get a lot of stuff practically for free at yard sales. But I recently bought the new Brian Wilson record, "Lucky Old Sun," on nice heavy vinyl. It has been a revelation to remember how wonderful it is to discover new music in that format, with the reqwuisite ritual and sounds. The harmonies and melodies on this record are beautiful, and on vinyl they sound rounded, warm ... which somehow heightens my appreciation for the chops it took to pull them off.
With vinyl I am much less likely to skip songs or jump around, so I hear the music in the intended sequence. Maybe most important of all, the heft of the vinyl in my hands, and the album cover itself, somehow make the record seem more real.
Music is ethereal. The objects on which it is recorded help us get our heads around it.
Long live vinyl.
bourbondynasty@gmail.com
When became divorced, all I wanted was my daughter. I did get Ariana. I also got my vinyl too. Double prizes!
Yes John, Ariana is very sweet and that is why wanted to be with her so much.
My 15-year old son, who has autism, recently began sifting through my vinyl collection. I've always given him plenty of access to the cd and dvds in the house, but now the LPs of my youth are interesting to him. I get to relive my early days through his eyes and ears. It has given us a common bond, as i explain to him the significance of each record. At one point, i had about 1000 records, but time and water damage has thinned the available titles to around 500-600. His interest in old Neil Young, Doobie Brothers, ZZ Top & even Van himself is amazing to me.
rpk60 @ comcast.net
Over the years with moving and various life changes I find myself without a turntable. Being kept busy with work and raising a family it wasn't the first priority.
Just thinking about it now though brings back such great memories... Twelve years old, listening to my record player with friends and singing along to some dreamy boybands. Teenager moving on from pop to punk bands. Listening while poring over the cover art, liner notes. Spending hours at the record store checking out the used vinyl bin...
CD's now fill all my shelves, boxes, and floor space. I'd love to get the vinyl out of storage.
IUsed2@gmail.com
Post a Comment