Don't take my vinyl away
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Or so says Urge Overkill.
Pearl Jam tells me to spin the black circle.
Slint tells me that their "...recordings [are] meant to be listened to on vinyl."
And Drive Like Jehu, not a band to mince words, kindly scrawls "CDs really ----ing blow."
Not to mention to the zillions of bands that only release tunes on 7" singles, or bands that dump extra tracks on vinyl releases of their albums, or even bands that release two record versions of their albums (whilst those stuck in the CD age only get one).
But this isn't about vinyl. I'm writing about recording medias period.
Everyone seems to have their favorite way to release stuff. The hipsters dig vinyl. The majority dig compact disc. The elderly and mix tape fanatics dig cassettes. The brain-damaged dig 8-track. Frank Black digs whatever ancient thing he can get his hands on. And some just dig live performance, forgoing that silly recording idea altogether.
Vinyl does (honestly) have a warm, warm, cozy sound to it. Hearing the needle slide into the grooves is a wonderful sensation. Compact discs have a nice "mastered" sound and are easy to use and carry. Cassette tapes have the unbeatable side dynamic, forging an art form on the spot. 8-tra--okay, that's a lost cause.
Bicker about these, please. It's only right.
But get this. Digital audio is taking over. In a sense, it's TAKEN over and not entirely settled in. Pshhh...forget CDs, dude. I gots me an iPod! I can carry FIFTEEN THOUSAND SONGS in the palm of my hand. Music has become so advanced that you don't have to lug a stack of vinyl over to your friend's house just to check out some new tunes; you can IM someone an MP3 or swap iPod playlists.
I think iPods are neat, and Apple has a nice gadget on their hands.
But there's a problem. Digital music is destroying an art form.
People don't care about album art. People don't care about song titles. People just want the catchy beats without any sort of intrusion whatsoever.
But that's like tossing water on a Monet painting just so you can carry the colors around in your hand. Forget that. Digital music has its place, but overuse of it is frankly destroying art. One of my favorite things to do is open a new CD (or cassette or record or 8-t--joking) and check out the song titles and album art and liner notes and thank yous and lay-out of tunes. I'm in a minority, especially when you can zip over to Napster and snag whateverthatsongiscalled for free so you can put this song that rocks the party that rocks the body into your MP3 player.
Art? Who cares about that?
I'm greeted by a chorus of crickets.
Hope it's available on vinyl.
posted, with grace and poise, by Jason @ 6/30/2005 10:30:00 PM,
