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Taking Old Friends For A Spin

Nothing seems to elicit memories quite like music.  A song or album of songs can touch off a whole string of memories of people, places and events. For me certain songs are intertwined with significant milestones of the 60s and 70s, I can even picture where I was and what I was doing on occasion.  Although I’ve been able to amass a fair CD collection over the years there are many “LPs” I’ve never replaced with CDs let alone Mp3s.  Prized LPs have all been safely stashed away, in spite of the hassle of moving them over the years.  To me they enjoy the same status as old family photos, I would never consider getting rid of most of them.  And of course CD cover art can’t compare with cover art of the large format LP album. Try to figure out who is who on the cover of Sergeant Peppers sometime on the CD version.  And certainly it would have been impossible to uncover clues in the Paul is dead hoax of the late 60’s.

About a year ago I pulled out my old Phillips 212 turntable purchased for me by my dad back in 1973.  At the time it was a classy piece ($250) of equipment that I was thrilled to add to my simple stereo setup.  Back then, a “stereo system” was perhaps the most prized and expensive possession one owned.  Other components of my system have changed over the years but the 212 has always tagged along and kept pace, I’ve hauled it all over the country.  The last time I used it was probably ten or more years ago.  I recently discovered that the 30+ year old drive belt had finally disintegrated but was able to find a replacement belt online. Last week I put it all together and hooked it into my system with the intent of ripping some of my favorite LPs to mp3 for my IPOD.

Fortunately I was always very fastidious about my records taking care not to scratch or leaving them with finger prints and dirt on them.  There is nothing worse that trying to listen to a song with hisses and pops or even big skips.  Oh, that horrible feeling when you hear “errruppp!!!” as the needle scrapes across the record surface when started by a careless hand. 

Flipping through my collection is like a stroll down memory lane. I have the Doors “Strange Days” album, the first album I ever heard in stereo. I was at my grandparent’s house and I brought it along to play on my grandfather’s stereo which was much better then my parent’s mono HiFi.  I’ll never forget sitting with the headphones on hearing stereo separation for the first time, it was an extraordinary discovery.  I have my original collection (minus the Vee Jay release worth hundreds that my mother probably sold for a quarter in a garage sale) of Beatles albums and many other old favorites in their original releases.

The first album I set spinning was side one of ”All Things Must Pass ” George Harrison’s first solo album.  Fabulous, what a collection of wonderful material.  Next I pulled out Emerson Lake and Palmer’s ”Tarkus”; what a wall of sound, talk about stereo separation!  Next out came Four Way Street”Four Way Street a terrific live recording of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young from the summer of 1970. 
And next the 1964 debut album of Jesse Colin Young “Soul of A City Boy”.

Of course, after playing a few one realizes the labor involved in the process: carefully removing the record from the sleeve, cleaning the disk, gently applying the tone arm and needle to the spinning surface, turning it over after 20+ minutes.  I’m reminded of enthusiasm we all had with the coming of CDs.  Yet, the ease and portability of the CD and now the Mp3 can’t diminish the joy and memories associated with two old friends the LP and my Phillips 212.