There isn’t anything quite like a record, and yesterday I rekindled my interest in them. I went to a local record wholesale joint, and got myself a needle and spent hours browsing their wares.
There is something special about the analogue.It’s as if while that record is spinning you are taken to the place and time the record was recorded. Just yesterday I was listening to an Elvis presley album I own, in which he was playing a show in Vegas. I could feel the energy of the crowd, and the subtle echoes of time preserved on a 12 inch disc.
It could also be the fact that knowing you have a rare album makes you feel special in some way or form. Posessing an album which people may have never even heard of, and watching the record spin slowly round and round while the needle traces every imperfection.
There is hardly anything like it.
The tactile feel of the albums, and the tender care of Album cover design and inserts into the album are worth noting too. For example my copy of the Beatles white album still contains the poster and individual pictures of the band members as was included in its release. There is tender care in the included leaflets, and is awesome in its power to compel.
So I say a record spins slowly, and it gives you a window into a world unlike your own, albeit briefly, giving you glimpses of things you never would have considered before.
