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Old-Time Rock'n Roll

Vinyl is making a comeback among those who still like to touch their music.

One of the most frequent complaints about music going strictly digital is tangibility. There’s no booklet, no art, no plastic wrapping to wrestle, nothing to hold. Thus, the trend goes as follows: Buy the CD, rip it onto the computer/iPod and store it on a forgotten shelf.

Then there’s vinyl, the medium that’s faded in then out then in all over again. As new formats dominate commercial sales, vinyl has re-emerged as the universal music fan’s collector’s item of choice.

These are music fans like local artist Daniel Zender, who owns around 500 records but started his collection only five years ago. Among other qualities vinyl records offer, he’s a fan of the artwork.

“A lot of ‘indie’ bands make it an incentive to buy their music on vinyl, because covers might be handmade, silk-screened or produced in a way that CDs can’t stand up next to,” he says.

In recent years, the trend has grown exponentially. CD Warehouse, the city’s current best bet for new vinyl, bought into the game about a year and a half ago, according to manager Michael Vincent.

Vincent said he was attending a music convention in San Diego where he received overwhelming recommendations to stock some shelves with vinyl. He said he was a little skeptical at first but had to give it a try, so he put about 50 records for sale. The response was immediate.

“I was finding some people would buy vinyl just to have it and then go out and buy the record player, because they’d never owned one before,” Vincent said. “It’s the fact that you can buy something that’s actually collectible.”

To up the modern-relevancy factor, newer releases will often include either a copy of the CD or a download code, so the buyers can have a digital copy as well. That way there’s something to collect, but buyers can still play it in their cars or iPods.

With the blatant success of vinyl at CD Warehouse, Vincent has the store stocked with close to 300 records currently and wants to have 500 by Christmas. He said most vinyl sales are independent label releases or classic rock. It’s not that major label releases aren’t available on vinyl. It’s just the type of fan.

“And we know Best Buy and Wal-Mart will never carry it,” he said. “We’ve got a leg up.”

For the avid collectors like Zender, Springfield’s selection is still pretty scarce. Most of the local shopping he’ll do for vinyl happens at thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales. Though it may get you on price sometimes, we recommend the STD Flea Markets for some classic gems and hard-to-find singles.

Collectability aside, it’s hard to argue that a record doesn’t have a certain warm quality to the sound that can’t be matched by the modern formats. Zender and Vincent agree the first 25 listens of a record blow any CD or mp3 out of the water. “You can’t listen to (Bob Dylan’s) Highway 61 Revisited on CD like it sounded when it first came out 40 years ago,” Zender said.

For those simply starting a collection and giving that fresh needle a first try, record players are common enough now to find at Best Buy or Circuit City. CD Warehouse will give you plenty of reasons to give the turntable its first spins. And once the collection expands, the Internet is always a great resource to buy anything, especially rare vinyl. Another tip: Do research on the regional options, as well, like Love Garden in Lawrence, Kansas, for example. There’s nothing like the impulse purchases of walking through a fully stocked record store.