They were big, round, and beautiful
I miss LPs. I recently finished unpacking my library of books, CDs and LPs and in an effort to economize space, I threw out a lot of LPs that are in bad condition or that I don't listen to any more. I shed a tear for them, but ultimately it had to be done.
I was watching Hannah and Her Sisters recently. I think one of the sexiest scenes in movies is when Michael Caine is trying to seduce Babara Hershey in her lover's loft space. She puts on an LP of Bach's f minor harpsichord concerto and he uses that music to help draw himself closer to her. Ultimately they are interrupted to the soundtrack of the needle scratching the record is one of Woody Allen's best moments.
There are a lot of things that I miss about LPs. I miss the joy of taking off the shrink wrap when opening the new LP. I miss the big elaborate booklets with readable type that accompanied opera recordings in the box. I miss the feel of the vinyl balanced between my two hands, trying not to touch the grooves of a new album and then that little balancing thing you have to do as you put it on the spindle.
CDs are certainly more space efficient. They were touted as lasting forever and having better sound. Both ideas have been contradicted recently. CDs are more portable and easier to take with you. But since the advent of the Ipod, there are now even more efficient ways. And those little jewel boxes are harder to open and maintain.
Yes, I know you can still buy LPs new, but its pretty hard to do, since they are hard to find. LPs just had more romance and that was part of my joy, every time that I bought a new one. And yes, I miss that.
I was watching Hannah and Her Sisters recently. I think one of the sexiest scenes in movies is when Michael Caine is trying to seduce Babara Hershey in her lover's loft space. She puts on an LP of Bach's f minor harpsichord concerto and he uses that music to help draw himself closer to her. Ultimately they are interrupted to the soundtrack of the needle scratching the record is one of Woody Allen's best moments.
There are a lot of things that I miss about LPs. I miss the joy of taking off the shrink wrap when opening the new LP. I miss the big elaborate booklets with readable type that accompanied opera recordings in the box. I miss the feel of the vinyl balanced between my two hands, trying not to touch the grooves of a new album and then that little balancing thing you have to do as you put it on the spindle.
CDs are certainly more space efficient. They were touted as lasting forever and having better sound. Both ideas have been contradicted recently. CDs are more portable and easier to take with you. But since the advent of the Ipod, there are now even more efficient ways. And those little jewel boxes are harder to open and maintain.
Yes, I know you can still buy LPs new, but its pretty hard to do, since they are hard to find. LPs just had more romance and that was part of my joy, every time that I bought a new one. And yes, I miss that.
posted by Rich Russell at
10:34 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, Rich! I liked this post. LPs, oh yes, those were the days.
Just wanted to let you know I saw picture frames for LP covers (!) the other day, so they're available if you wanted to set up a tribute wall in your office or home. (I think they had them at Ikea...)
Post a Comment
<< Home