First Thursday's Just For Fun: Vinyl is Fine By Me

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m a bit obsessed with vinyl lately. My mother gave me her collection a while ago, and then I finally got a record player shortly after moving to Delaware for this job. Since then, I’ve been slowly working my way through the items I got from her, the handful of discs I owned prior to that largess, along with the couple of albums I’ve picked up at flea markets recently. Fantastic stuff, really. Well, for the most part. We won't discuss the couple of items that were so cringe-worthy that I haven't yet been able to bring myself to listen to them *cough* "Hava Naglia" *cough*. 

Anyway, I thought I’d share some of my favorites from my collection with you.

There is so much to love about this album. Between the R. Crumb cover art and the fantastic music, it kind of blows my mind to realize I own it. With amazing songs like "Summertime" and "Piece of My Heart," what's not to love?

Even though we don't have identical music tastes, I suspect I inherited the "eclectic" gene from my mother, because this wasn't one I owned; it's from the albums my mother gave me. Listening to Color by Numbers was a bit of a journey in time, flashing back to junior high dances and such. With songs like "Karma Chameleon" and "Miss Me Blind," it wasn't a problem for me.

This is one of the discs I owned prior to getting my mother's substantial collection. The soundtrack for the movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull... I know it's kind of corny, but don't you dare make fun of me for owning this. It was a gift I received as a teenager, and it meant a lot to me at that time and still does. I am not ashamed to admit I love both the book on which it was based and Neil Diamond's music. I saw ND in concert last summer and loved every single moment of it. 

This is another one of the highlights of my collection, and I've listened to it more times than anything else I own with the exception of one of my Beatles' albums. Time Out is a case where the difference in sound quality between vinyl and a CD is obvious, even to me. Trust me when I say if you don't own this on vinyl, you should be jealous of me getting to listen to "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Take Five" in a manner that is the next best thing to traveling in time and hearing it performed live.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not someone who is a vinyl purist. There are some that sound better this way to my ears, but for the most part I’m happy listening to music in whatever medium is at hand. However, with all these albums sitting here, why not?