CD vs Vinyl (again)

If you don't read the Super Deluxe Edition blog then you should. As well as all the latest releases, editor Paul Sinclair always has an interesting comment on the state of the industry.

This week he has posted on the format wars, and I'm pleased to say agrees with my opinion that the vinyl revival is over hyped and that CD is in fact king.

Read it HERE and subscribe to his newsletter which is a good source of though provoking views.

A Physical Presence

For a blog that is meant to be about my iPod I do seem to spend a lot of time talking about physical media. As everything physical ends up on the iPod at one time or another I make no apology for this.

I follow Cloudland Blue Quartet on Twitter, and listen to his podcast, which you should also do. He ran a poll recently and out of 98 votes 58% went to CD 41% to vinyl. The interesting part though was the comments. The main vinyl supporters' arguments were based around sampling rates and kilohertz. That or have a valve preamp etc etc. The CD advocates talked about convenience.

Back in the mists of time, 1983, I worked with my Dad selling 78 records, valve radios and wind up gramophones. Every so often some high quality vintage hi fi kit would come along which would get snapped up by collectors. They would spend a lot of time telling me that it was far batter than anything you could buy new. Then the 78 collectors would come along and tell me that an HMV model 194 was the gramophone to have. In fairness a decent condition disc played on one of these things did sound ok. They weighed about the same as a small car however.

What this all says to me is that the hobbyist will always find a way of adding complication to the simple matter of sitting down and listening to the music. Their choice of music seems to be usually dictated by the "quality" of the recording rather than their connection to the music or words. I love The Nightfly (one of the audiophile gold standard albums) but it doesn't have the incendiary quality of the first Clash album with its cardboard box drums and
patchy (at best) mixing. Oh and my vinyl copy of Donald Fagen's album had pops and clicks and muffled sound. My CD has lasted since about 1990 and still plays perfectly.

I know 'each to their own', and 'live and let live' may be unfashionable views these days but let's embrace them. You play your vinyl, and I will carry on with CDs. Just please don't try and convince me that something that reproduces music by dragging a piece of diamond across a bit of plastic has some mystical "better sound".

The other thing that makes CDs the way to go is that they are cheap. There are some great second hand shops spread around the country, some of which I've mentioned here before, but also charity shops. I love charity shops, the thrill of the chase as you can never tell what you are going to find, and the chance that you will happen upon a collection having been deposited there by someone's ex spouse or whatever. I could tell you about some finds, jazz, prog rock, obscurities of all sorts. The only disappointment is when a shop, usually a books and media outlet has been rooting around on Ebay and massively overpriced something otherwise desirable. Yes I'm talking about you, Oxfam record shop Byres Road Glasgow.

So until the world notices I will carry on picking up CD bargains, and experimenting with new music, including after a bit more study of Mr Quartet's twitter, the undiscovered country... Classical Music.

Musical Lucky Dips

Remember at school fetes they had a bran tub, a lucky dip, see what present comes out, well Missing Records in Glasgow was having a clearout last week. Bags of 10 unboxed CDs (or DVDs) for £1. A quick rummage and £4 later I have 50 cds (bonus bag for spending so much) to try.

When I opened the bags (about 3 seconds after I got home) they divided in to 4 categories. "Great that'll do", "not really for me", "need to listen to this" and "never heard of it". Only one disc was something I already had, Miles Davis 'On the Corner', but you can't complain about a duplication like that.

Great That'll Do...
I'm surprised at the quality of music, but I suppose if there's no sleeve it's unsaleable whatever it is.
I got, Neil Young 'Decade' (both discs). I don't know why I didn't have this already but I don't. Ditto, Queen's 'Day At The Races'  or Lou Reed's 'Transformer'. Other straight on the iPod discs are 2 Otis Redding compilations, Coleman Hawkins and Astrud Gilberto albums. The Doobie Brothers 'One Step Closer' was the follow up to Minute by Minute and had Michael McDonald steering them into the gap between Steely Dan and Supertramp, but it's really quite good and joined Fairport Convention 'Live' and Neil Young's 'Americana' on the pod pile.

Not Really For Me...
Into this pile went Iron Maiden, The Proclaimers, a disc with a picture of bagpipers and Bruce Springsteen's 'Nebraska'. All worthy I'm sure just not likely to get a play, so not worth the megabytes they would occupy on the pod. Sadly Chas & Dave also ended up here but may sneak out for one play of their hits.

Need To Listen To This...
The Doors 'Soft Parade', Frank Sinatra, I still suffer from a prejudice against him handed down from mum who wasn't keen on him. So certainly getting a play as she has proved wrong on other counts. Bad Company and Flaming Lips also went into this pot and as I have never listened to the latter but always suspected I might like them worth a go.

Never Heard Of It...
This is why you have to love a lucky dip. The chance of finding something new and great you ahve never come across before.
Fyfe Dangerfield - 'Fly Yellow Moon'. If he could make up his mind if he wanted to be Passenger or Coldplay Fyfe might turn out ok. As it's a 2010 album his moment may have passed. Best song "She Needs Me" which is ELO over the backbeat of ZZ top's Sharp Dressed Man. Worst one a karaoke cover of Always a Woman that was in a John Lewis ad apparently. Also he sounds like a character in spy film.
Fang Island - 'Major'. Very odd, sounds like Green Day playing the theme from Friends
Mike Heron - Where The Mystics Swim - yes the Incredible String Band man, and there is bits of ISB about this, but also hints of Americana, Tom Petty and Van Morrison. Mexican Girl and A Song For Robert Johnson are favourites after a couple of listens. Great album and I'm looking forwrd to getting to know it better.
Other star albums from this pile. The Horsies 'Trouble Down South' Country with chiming African guitars and Fred James '100 years of the Blues'. It will take a while to work though the pile, but following my last post about wanting to hear new rather than the same tired old stuff, this was a great way of proving my point.

Postcript:
Just played The Doors, what a load of old tosh.