While living in my parents home as a child, 50's and 60's rock and roll was the music of choice. My father had kept some record albums he collected while in the army. My sister and I were never allowed to touch them. This rule was in stone.
Elvis Presley, the Beatles, The Mamas and Papas, Gene Chandler, The Drifters, The Shirelles, The Beach Boys, Del Shannon, and countless others sang to us on a regular basis. We were dyed in the wool rock and rollers. I knew the words to songs many of my friends never heard of.
When the day came for me to leave home, I found myself depending on either the radio or cassette tapes I had collected along the way. I never expected it but I actually missed the distinctive sound of a vinyl record. Granted, there is a slight hiss in the background, but, the music was clear and sharp.
In my travels, from time to time I would be in thrift stores which sold used vinyl albums. I started looking through them. Finding records without scratches is a chore. Each store has a core of albums that every thrift shop carries. (or is stuck with, as the case may be) Christmas albums, Mitch Miller, Lawrence Welk, Ray Coniff, and several others were in great supply.
As I was looking through the records, I began noticing older country albums I had heard of but never seriously listened to. Hey, I was rock and roll, not country. Some of the records were in pretty good shape so I bought a few. I took them home and started playing them on my pieced together stereo. Before I knew what was happening, I became a country & western fan.
The new country is different from the older artists. George Jones sounded like nobody else. Today, it's hard to tell one from the other. Their styles are similar, not distinctive. Don Williams, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash were like nobody else. And then I discovered Tanya Tucker and Tammy Wynette. Those two ladies confirmed me a country fan. Loretta Lynn didn't hurt matters, either.
Then an amazing thing happened. I brought home a few orchestra albums and found that I liked them as well. They're not Tammy, but good to listen to when the mood is right. I even started listening to Andy Williams doing Moon River. Talk about a mood builder.
One of my favorite albums is of a wooden sloop going up the East Coast. Turn out the lights, adjust the volume, and I'm out on the ocean. I pass two buoys, with bells clanking, along my way. Definitely a mood enhancer. I've had several people out on the boat with me. Everybody enjoyed themselves.
I finally bit the bullet and purchased a new stereo. I bought a tuner/amplifier, a two cassette tape player, a turn table, and a CD burner. Something I learned was the amp had to be specific for a turn table because the necessary ports had to be compatible with the table. It wouldn't work, for instance, to plug the turn table into a tape player port.
Right away I started burning CD's. I now have over 1000 albums so I wasn't lacking music to choose from. Because of the oil from fingers on the albums, I needed to clean them. What I came up with was using a soft sponge and a very gentle liquid soap. I used soap designed for elder care so I knew it was gentle.
Rinse the album in luke warm water. Do not soak it in water. The label, which often is separate from the vinyl, could peel if soaked. I lay a soft towel on the counter and set the record on it. After putting soap on the sponge, I give the record a bath, as one would a baby. I have never hurt an album doing this and I've done hundreds. I wash each side with the sponge, always going with the grain of the record. Next I rinse the album off and pat it dry with a soft cotton cloth. Nothing must be done which will scratch the vinyl.
I carry the record back into my office, letting it air dry as I go. As soon as I put it on the turn table, I crank it up and start recording. When I'm recording, I have nothing else going on. I don't take chances by leaving it alone. First I record on a rewriteable CD. If I make a mistake, I can erase that track, or the entire record if I decide I don't like it after all. Then I transfer the music to a permanent CD.
All of my records are standing up on shelves. Laying them down is what causes the album jackets to telegraph the shape of the record inside it. My only problem has been coming up with more and more space to put the albums, and then the CD's. I try to keep the various styles together which makes it easier to find something I'm looking for. My rock and roll and country are even alphabetically placed.
If you would enjoy something to read while listening to music, check out Loren Douglas' lastest detective book entitled "Verifiable Evidence." It can be found at: http://www.booklocker.com/books/2812.html
Also, be sure to visit my blog at:
http://wwwddinpaidra.blogspot.com
Thank you for spending a few minutes with me. I'm sitting here right this minute with my head phones on listening to a rock and roll compilation CD I made. I'm lovin' it!