Swanky People Have Record Players

[HTHBellcaptain]

I just got a record player to replace my old one that hasn't worked in years. I have tons of old records from when I was growing up. I've been burning them on CD. I want to have back ups, because a lot of the titles they don't sell on CD. I'm currently burning some Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. I love the sound of records.

So does anyone else still use vinyl?

[Not Afraid]

Well, we have lots of vinyl (about 2000) and we have a record player, in the house and hooked up even. We even have the device to record from our turntable to the computer. But, we haven't done anything about it yet.

Of course, much of our record collection is of the currently un-swanky Punk Rock variety. But, we've got some swanky gems in with the bunch.

[MouseWife]

Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass Band??? I give you :snap: :snap: 's up for having that one, dude!

That was in my parents collection and I used to play it.

We also have a turntable and my chickie :cool: has picked on on the love for vinyl. I still pick up albums at the swapmeet.

I love the sound but I really love the smell of new vinyl. I ordered Audioslave on vinyl and when I opened it I was put in a state of euphoria!

I had my kids smell it. :rolleyes: Well, how else will they ever know, eh?

[€uroMeinke]

We have the Casino Royal sountrack on Vinyl. It will be among the first we digitize (along with those punk singles)

[Tref]

I keep a portable record player underneath my side table. From time to time I will dust her off and play a few of my old-timey jazz records. Oh, yeh, and my favorite Disney album -- Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. That is one funny album. I am sure it has been discussed within the group before, right?

I am not a record collector by any stetchable forms of imagination, though, once at the Salvation Army I made a great discovery. I found a recorded album of harp music by Harpo Marx! (Harpo, was, of course, one fourth of the brilliant anarchist group, The Marx Bros.) The cover & record were both in perfect like-new condition and still in the shrink wrap after nearly 45 years! I couldn't believe my luck. Und it only costedmeaquarter. Later, I had the cover framed and I have it hanging above my desk.

The good life.

[Not Afraid]

We have the Casino Royal sountrack on Vinyl. It will be among the first we digitize (along with those punk singles)

I'm excited about Don Ho and the "Hawaii Calls" albums.:snap:

[€uroMeinke]

Hmmm - maybe we'll do some work in the garage this weekend, an archeological dig for some vinyl from the age of swank?

[HTHBellcaptain]

I have about 70 of the old Disney albums. They're great. One of my favorite Disney records has a beatnick lady reciting fairy tales with standup bass and bongo accompanyment. It is very coffee house. It's great.

We have a record store in Orlando that sells new and used records. I've found some fun stuff there, including Blackbeards Ghost and Chilling Thrilling sounds of the Haunted House.

[DisneyDaniel]

So does anyone else still use vinyl?

I still love vinyl records! My CD collection has far surpassed the number of LPs and 45s I own, but I still play some of the old records occassionally--there's nothing like taking a record out of the jacket, only holding the edges and blowing away the dust before gently settling it into the record player.

Even though I'm not that old, I resisted buying CDs when they first came out and kept buying vinyl--until they were no longer available for most new releases.

So, everytime I drive past any of the few, remaining "record" stores in Southern California, I have to stop and "flip through" the store isles. I can't be the only one here who still loves that feeling of your fingers flipping through records at a used, record store and getting excited if you discover a good find!

On the subject of vinyl nostalgia, did anyone else use the album jackets as wall art? Tiny CD or cassette covers can't even compete with the large, 12-inch vinyl jackets for sheer size--for those who appreciate album-cover art.

Records are still cool with me, but I also love digital music and my iPod!

[Kevy Baby]

I worked as a mobile DJ for 20+ years. After lugging around some heavy-assed crates, I do not miss vinyl.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

I love the sound of spinning vinyl. But, sadly, I have to go to my parent's house to listen to records.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Swanky people make non-sensical statements like "Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass? They rock!" :rolleyes:

[HTHBellcaptain]

Yes, Mattertransference Fan, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass do rock. But more importantly, they are swanky.

[Kevy Baby]

Trivia question for vinyl afficianados:

On average, how many grooves are there on a one side of a typical LP record?

[€uroMeinke]

Trivia question for vinyl afficianados:

On average, how many grooves are there on a one side of a typical LP record?

Typically one - but I do have a 3-sided Monty Python record that features 2 grooves on one side.

[Not Afraid]

DING DING DING! Geek alert!:fej:

[Prudence]

Oooh! I have a record player. It used to be my dad's. It weighs about a million pounds and is officially called a "portable stereo." The turntable folds up into the case and the speakers hook on to the sides of the case.

[jdramj]

I have a record player..in fact I paid a lot of money for a really nice Onkyo one. I even have some great old Disney records like the story book record of Mary Poppins and such.

[Flubber]

Dadgumit. Yet another tool of swank, my record player, packed away in a box somewhere. :(

[flippyshark]

Wheee! I had that three-sided Monty Python album way back when. (The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief) I have the same album on CD now, but it used to be a real freaky thing to set the needle down twice on the same side and get two different things. It used to baffle my friends.

Speaking of multi-grooved records, MAD Magazine once included a flexible vinyl record in one of their Super Special issues. It featured a really dumb little song ("It's a Super Spectacular Day") The first minute or so was the same every time you played it, but the last part of the record could branch off onto one of twelve different endings. (All of them very brief.) Unfortunately, this meant you had to listen to this inane little tune many many times to hear all of the different options. (There was no way to select which one you would get, it was just a random chance of whichever groove your needle decided to take.) By the tenth play-through, I gave up and never put that damn thing on again.

[HTHBellcaptain]

Do you still have that Mad record?

[FEJ]

Wheee! I had that three-sided Monty Python album way back when. (The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief) I have the same album on CD now, but it used to be a real freaky thing to set the needle down twice on the same side and get two different things. It used to baffle my friends.

Speaking of multi-grooved records, MAD Magazine once included a flexible vinyl record in one of their Super Special issues. It featured a really dumb little song ("It's a Super Spectacular Day") The first minute or so was the same every time you played it, but the last part of the record could branch off onto one of twelve different endings. (All of them very brief.) Unfortunately, this meant you had to listen to this inane little tune many many times to hear all of the different options. (There was no way to select which one you would get, it was just a random chance of whichever groove your needle decided to take.) By the tenth play-through, I gave up and never put that damn thing on again.
I remembar that...
I may still have that down in the garage

[mamabot]

When I met Nathan, he had a very nice Sony stereo system with a 5 disk CD player in his dorm room. During a visit to Colorado, I noticed that his nice stereo system had a piece missing from it that had never been taken out of its packaging. :eek:

Once we moved into our first house we hooked up the brand new record player its slightly used stereo mates. I dragged my vinyl out of storage and had fun spinning records for the first time in a few years. When we moved out of that house, the record palyer went back into storage. :(

[Not Afraid]

Wheee! I had that three-sided Monty Python album way back when.

Yup. Separated at birth, you and he.

[Matterhorn Fan]

I remembar that...
I may still have that down in the garageSuper! Spectacular!

What was on the B side?

[flippyshark]

The MAD record (which I no longer have) did not have a B side. It was one of those flimsy paper-thin flexi-discs, which used to show up in magazines fairly often. (They often advised that the user place a penny or other weight on the record when setting it on the turntable, to prevent slippage.)

Anyway, even though I have not heard that stupid record since sometime in the late Seventies, I still remember the tune, and the words. The song went like this:

"It's a great big beautiful wonderful incredible
Super Spectacular Day
And your heart is humming with good times coming
And you've got that lovely feeling things are going your way
All those bells are ringing and a little bird singing as he sits on your windowsill
Saying 'yesiree, I can plainly see, it will surely be, most definitely
A Super Spectacular Day....UNTIL..."

Then, the various alternate endings give reasons why it turns out not to be such a super spectacular day after all. I don't remember any of these, as I only heard them once (not even all of them). But I do remember one of them began with the phrase "You develop a twitch and a horrible itch." You get the idea.

[Morrigoon]

Oh man, I have a little case of the small Disney records still stocked away. I also own a stereo with a record player. Of course, it's the stereo that's sitting in a rubbermaid bin at my mom's house...

Stupid earthquake killed the LCD, so I can't see to tune the radio anymore. But I keep hoping someday to have a place big enough to set this all up and have my records. They just don't make classics like the "It's a Small World" story anymore.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I, sadly, haven't owned a record player in many years. However, every time I move, I still lug 4 large crates or records with me. There is just no way that I would get rid of them. I should really make an investment so that I can transfer them to disc. I have lots of old stuff that will probably never be released on CD.

[mousepod]

When we moved to California from NY, the bulkiest (as far as weight and volume) thing we lugged was my record collection - a few thousand lps and over 2k singles. The next time we move, I intend to have pared down my collection to something I can afford to move. My sister is a jazz singer and she's married to a professional musician, so I'll probably give them the bulk of my collection, it's so much better than bringing them to Amoeba and being treated like a junkie.

I'll probably wind up ebaying a bunch of my swankier dupes (I have all of the Esquivel RCAs and more Mancini than you could shake a stick at - but why would you shake a stick at Mancini anyway?).

At this point, my turntable is plugged directly into my G5. I still can't believe no one has collected the Bobby Darin Decca tracks on CD...

[innerSpaceman]

I have a record player hooked up to my system, but I rarely use it. Long, long ago I sold off most of my LPs so that I could, um, ya know, eat.

When I got my record player a couple years back after like an 8-year period without one, I rushed to my remaining record collection of about a hundred LPs to play anything I didn't have on CD. Turns out I have only about a dozen records that I did not re-purchase on compact disc! D'oh!

:iSm: (I do have that weird Monty Python 3-sided record though, and I keep the other LPs around pretty much just for the sake of the album art, I guess.)

[HTHBellcaptain]

Well, I went on a vinyl shopping spree with ManhattenFan and Flippyshark this afternoon. Here's my swanky hall for the afternoon:

Phil Harris (Definately a cool cat)
The Hi-Lo's (Swanky harmonies)
Cab Calloway (A prince of swank if ever there was one)
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (3 albuums)
Henry Mancini - Music of Hawaii (Smooth and swanky)


















O.K., now I'll take off my swanky fidora, and put on my Disney geek hat.
I also got:
A Musical Souvenir of America on Parade (A picture disc of the Disney 1976 parade)
Spring - Music by Camarata (Under the Disneyland Label)
Johnny Appleseed (With Dennis Day)
The Happiest Millionaire (A fun Musical)

[€uroMeinke]

The Happiest Millionaire (A fun Musical)

OO, I had this album, though I've never seen the movie. Love the song Fortunosity, and can still sing along with it when I hear it on the Main Street loop.

[Not Afraid]

And when he has a fever.........



(I can always tell when he has a fever as he starts singing strange songs.)

[HTHBellcaptain]

I went record shopping again today. I got some Hi-Lo's, Martin Denny, Bent Fabric, and my favorite title "Colonel Sander's Tijuana Picnic."

[Not Afraid]

Bent Fabric! Popcorn! Do de do do do de do.Do de do do do de do.Do de do do do do de do do do do do do de do de do de do.

[mousepod]

When I think Bent Fabric, it's always "The Alley Cat," which leads directly to Chris Elliott... and then I smile.

[Matterhorn Fan]

HTH, I can't believe you didn't play Colonel Sanders' Tijuana Picnic for me last night. I'm very disappointed in you.

[jdramj]

OO, I had this album, though I've never seen the movie.


You can get a DVD copy of The Happiest Millionaire at your local Costco...just a pan and scan, but at least it is available!

[mousepod]

You can get a DVD copy of The Happiest Millionaire at your local Costco...just a pan and scan, but at least it is available!

It's actually matted widescreen (1.66:1), but it's not anamorphic and the print quality is pretty weak. But it is the longer 'roadshow' version.

Meanwhile, back to vinyl, there's a local vinyl store that has a clean copy of the Saludos Amigos lp, but he want $75 for it... I must admit I'm tempted, but ouch.

[Not Afraid]

When I think Bent Fabric, it's always "The Alley Cat," which leads directly to Chris Elliott... and then I smile.

You're right, it WAS Ally Cat! Do de do do do do do do de do, do do de do do do (ba da dum). I had both the 45 of Ally Cat and Popcorn (still do, actually). Of course, I don't get the Chris Elliott reference.:rolleyes:

I do have some albums in the house. Hmmmm, what's here?


Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Original Cast Soundtrack.
It's a Samll World - picture cover, unopened! (That's not good)
It's a Small World - 18 favorite folk songs withthe Mary Blair cover
Songs from Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom (with advertisements for "Music for a Rainy Night" and "I Love Paris" and others on the back).
Doctor Dolittle Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (don't even THINK I'm talking Eddie Murphy here)
Firehouse Five Plus Two at Disneyland (sitting in a teacup with the old Fantasyland in the background)
Mary Poppins Original Cast Soundtrack with Julie and Dick
Other Worlds, Other Sounds - Esquivel and his orchestra.
Funny, the garage is filled with punk rock.

[FEJ]

my garage has a little bit of everything
there are not enough days in the rest of my life to spend digitizing the ones I have..

although I really want to digitize The Damned-Anything its hard to find on CD for under $120

[HTHBellcaptain]

I love the "Firehouse Five at Disneyland" album. I have it on CD. It's a lot of fun.

[Not Afraid]

Pfffffttttt! CD. Pffffffft. Album rules!

[HTHBellcaptain]

Yes, I hope my swanky rating doesn't drop because I own it on CD instead of LP.

[Matterhorn Fan]

I was just goin to give HTH some CD+ mojo just in case someone had given him some CD- mojo, but apparently I don't spread the mojo around enough.

[tracilicious]

I looooooooove vinyl. I took my parents record player and vinyl collection when I moved out. I've got dibs on my Grandpa's collection when he dies. I mostly have sixties and seventies rock albums, but I've got some old old country that I love (I hate country now, but I can never turn down Roy Rogers) and some new stuff that I've bought. Vinyl sounds warmer. My needle is broken now, so I need a new one. I'd rather hear a record than a CD any day.

[HTHBellcaptain]

I agree with you. There is just a different quality to vinyl that has me hooked.

Most of mine are Disney, Jazz, Lounge, and Classical. When my Mom and Dad moved up here to Central Florida (They used to live in Tarpon Springs) they threw away several hundred records. What an idiot I was not to rescue those records, but at the time I didn't have a functioning turntable. Oh Well.

[Not Afraid]

I got my parent's record collection. Sadly, my Dad, who used to be a jazz musician, had listened to my Mom when she told him Jazz was evil. So, while there are some great discs in there (Dave Brubeck Live at Oberlin on Red Vinyl) there was a lot of Blackwood Brothers Christian Gospel Quartet. Bit, I did get Hawaii Calls, Don Ho and my FAVORITE Christmas labum - Mitch Miller and Friends.