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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Get on the vinyl train and learn about this captivating hobby Vinyl Record Collecting For Dummies teaches you how to start a collection, grow your collection, and make that collection sound excellent. You'll learn how to shop for new, used, and rare records, and how to select the turntable that's right for you. Learn how to determine a record's value, build your collection on a budget, and properly store and maintain your records. This handy Dummies guide also gives you the background knowledge you'll need to hold your own in conversations with vinyl enthusiasts--all about music genres, the pros and cons of vinyl types, how records are made, and even the history of record collecting itself. Now you can start collecting rare records, new releases, and everything in between. * Learn the basics of buying records at record shops, secondhand stores, and online * Determine the value of your collection and learn how to recognize great deals * Select the turntable and sound system that are right for your needs * Explore the history of recorded music and learn why people are going wild for vinyl This is the perfect Dummies guide for anyone who's ready to get swept up in the excitement of collecting vinyl records, including beginners and seasoned collectors.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Vinyl Record Collecting For Dummies®
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: For the Love of Vinyl
Chapter 1: A Brief History of Record Collecting
They Were Cylinders, and They Were Made of Wax
The First Records That Look Like Records
78s — Whatever You Do, Don’t Drop Them
The Frantic World of 45s
In for the Long Haul — Why We Love LPs
Collecting Records Today
Chapter 2: Getting the Gear for Top-Notch Listening
What Comes First — The Turntable (Chicken) or the Amplifier (Egg)?
Getting a Bigger Bang for Your Buck — Buying Vintage
Shiny and New: Buying Modern
Picking a (New or Old) Amplifier
Speaking of Speakers
How Many Ears Do I Require?
Part 2: Picking a Record Apart
Chapter 3: All about the Album
The Anatomy of a Record
The Devil Is in the Details
Getting the Big Picture
One Final Revolution in Wax
What Is This Stuff?
Paying Attention to the Packaging
Chapter 4: Identifying Unusual Pressings
Exploring Manufacturing and Marketing Products
Beyond the Law
Chapter 5: Pressing Matters
Original Pressings or Modern Reissues?
Chapter 6: Records Aren’t Everything
Venturing Past Vinyl
Getting in the Way-Back Machine to Check Out Reel-to-Reel Tapes
The Ugly Stepchild of Recorded Music: 8-Track Cartridges
Evaluating the Pros and Cons of Cassettes
Part 3: From Casual Listener to Collector
Chapter 7: From Casual Listening to Collector
Finding Your Own Starting Point
Creating a Discography
Compiling a Wants List
Keeping a Record of Your Records
Chapter 8: Let’s Go Crate Digging
Leafing Through LPs in Real Life
Online Hunting
Spotting a Bargain
Chapter 9: Making a Smart Purchase
Grading Before You Buy — Determining the Condition of a Record and Its Sleeve
Inserts Are Essential
Deciding between “Defaced” and “Desirable”
Answering a Pressing Question — Factory Error
Working with Price Guides
Chapter 10: Caring for Your Collection
Knowing the Best Places to Store Your Vinyl
Filing It Away — How to Organize Your Collection
Handling Your Records with Care
Handling Record Repairs
Chapter 11: Making Room for More Records
Posing the Question: Are Records a Good Investment?
Determining What Your Collection Is Worth
Figuring Out Where to Sell Your Collection
Part 4: Collecting What You Like
Chapter 12: Seriously, Whatever You Like
Collecting New Artists
Do I Need Everything? Completist or Not Completist
I Bought It for the Collection
Collecting by Genre
A Day Trip to Garageland
Getting the Blues
Mirror Balls: Do You Dare to Dabble in Disco?
N is for Northern Soul
Sticking with the Classics
Raw Power: Punk Rock
Finding Folk
Hunting Hip Hop
Chapter 13: Collecting by Artist
On Starter’s Orders
A Handful of Hot Collections
Chapter 14: Collecting by Label
Playing Chess with the Blues
Back to the Old Homestead
Stiff Records
Invictus Records
Spinning Vertigo Records
Obscure Records
Part 5: The Part of Tens
Chapter 15: Something to Search For: Ten Legendary Bootlegs
The Rolling Stones: Reggae’n’Roll
Roxy Music: When We Were Young
David Bowie: In Person
The Steve Miller Band: The Midnight Toker
The Patti Smith Group: Teenage Perversity and Ships in the Night
Linda Ronstadt: Take Two Before Bedtime
Fleetwood Mac: The Rockhoppers Live 1976
Pink Floyd: British Winter Tour 74
Bruce Springsteen: Winterland 1978 (Live in the Promised Land)
Frank Zappa: Beat the Boots (1991)
Chapter 16: Ten of the World’s Most Sought-After Albums … and Their Sleeves
The Beatles: The Beatles (1968)
Prince: The Black Album (1987)
Depeche Mode: Music for the Masses (1987)
Stonewall: Stonewall (1976)
David Bowie: Diamond Dogs (1974)
The Velvet Underground: Scepter Studios Acetate
Bob Dylan: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Taylor Swift: reputation
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin II
Tinkerbells Fairydust: Tinkerbells Fairydust (1969)
Index
About the Author
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
FIGURE 1-1: Now there is no turning back.
FIGURE 1-2: A cylinder full of sound.
FIGURE 1-3: Rock’n’roll looks so wrong on a 78.
FIGURE 1-4: Sing along with the president’s daughter.
FIGURE 1-5: The sharp end of record playing.
FIGURE 1-6: Dressed to kill and built to last, a late ’60s stack’n’whack marche...
FIGURE 1-7: Record collectors crowding an east London street market in 1955.
FIGURE 1-8: The same size but four times the length. Long players defy simple p...
FIGURE 1-9: Brown is beautiful.
FIGURE 1-10: Going, going, Gong.
FIGURE 1-11: Even the swiftest Swifties needed to move fast to pick this up.
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2-1: Living in the past: A century and a half’s worth of old gear.
FIGURE 2-2: Dating from the early 1980s, this Onkyo turntable has proven a very...
FIGURE 2-3: This Marantz SR 1000 has provided decades of service! The Autocorre...
FIGURE 2-4: The Infi hybrid offers great valve-like sound, but does require a p...
FIGURE 2-5: Not so common today, certain vintage speakers feature manual tone c...
FIGURE 2-6: Bob Dylan’s quadraphonic
Desire
. “Played on SQ quadraphonic systems...
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3-1: Label details were so much simpler in the old days.
FIGURE 3-2: Center holes and how to plug them.
FIGURE 3-3: Radio Stars’ “From a Rabbit” single, in both its 7-inch and limited...
FIGURE 3-4: A classical view of the Beatles, from the height of Beatlemania, 19...
FIGURE 3-5: The 2011 reissue of
Black Market Clash
retained the original’s 10-i...
FIGURE 3-6: The 12-inch single is born.
FIGURE 3-7: A heart-shaped picture disc from Cliff Richard.
FIGURE 3-8: Yes, it’s Dynaflex, but under no circumstances whatsoever should yo...
FIGURE 3-9: Dating from around 1957, an especially detailed dealer’s sleeve fro...
FIGURE 3-10: The sleeve is tatty, but the effect remains dramatic.
FIGURE 3-11: A very firmly applied “suitable for adults only” sticker originall...
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4-1: A one-sided Gary Puckett acetate, hosting side two of his 1983
Grea
...
FIGURE 4-2: The hand-typed “please play this side” note suggests this test pres...
FIGURE 4-3: From 1954, a 78 rpm “disc jockey sample.”
FIGURE 4-4: A bootleg collection of then-unreleased late 1970s Rolling Stones o...
FIGURE 4-5: Caliban bootleg artwork followed this same template across every re...
FIGURE 4-6: Nils Lofgren’s limited edition “official bootleg” was so in demand ...
FIGURE 4-7: Led Zeppelin’s
Led Zeppelin IV
pirated for a cheap 8-track of a typ...
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5-1: Not only was the digital origin flagged on Deutsche Grammophon’s fr...
FIGURE 5-2: The second American Yardbirds album, released before they’d even re...
FIGURE 5-3: From 1990, the once-state-run Melodisc’s multi-volume Anthology of ...
FIGURE 5-4: Relive the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest!
FIGURE 5-5: “Softness,” performed by the singularly named Dorothy, co-written b...
FIGURE 5-6: The obi is the black and silver strip covering the left side of the...
FIGURE 5-7: An early Jamaican pressing of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1977
Exod
...
FIGURE 5-8: Supertramp: Supertramp’s 1974 LP
Crime of the Century
was MFSL’s fi...
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6-1: Zep: Led Zeppelin’s 1973 8-track
Houses of the Holy
.
FIGURE 6-2: Neil: Inside the box, Neil Young’s
After the Goldrush
reel.
FIGURE 6-3: The Rolling Stones’ 1973 classic
Goats Head Soup.
FIGURE 6-4: The 2018 soundtrack to the movie
Bohemian Rhapsody,
as released on ...
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: Elvis on 78.
FIGURE 7-2: An Allmans spreadsheet.
FIGURE 7-3: Tracking my own collection in early 1979. All prices are in British...
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8-1: Open for business! Records for sale at the Dusty Fingers flea marke...
FIGURE 8-2: Rainbow Records in Newark, Delaware, has been operating since 1979....
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: The sleeve is even worse for wear now, but it wasn’t exactly pristi...
FIGURE 9-2: Yes, it’s childish, but nothing brightens a day spent fruitlessly c...
FIGURE 9-3: Who scribbled all over my Sparks LP? Oh, it was Ron and Russell Mae...
FIGURE 9-4: Jean Ritchie signed a copy of her latest LP during a promotional vi...
FIGURE 9-5: You had to open up the gatefold to find Ian Hunter’s autograph on t...
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10-1: Worse than ringworm.
FIGURE 10-2: The boxes originally held packs of 6x10 padded envelopes. (40 lb. ...
FIGURE 10-3: Solid and strong, pine wood cubes are a very popular option for st...
FIGURE 10-4: Inside a vintage 10-inch record album.
FIGURE 10-5: Don’t forget to do the washing up!
FIGURE 10-6: You can pile on all the weight you like, and all the heat as well....
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11-1: The Vee-Jay label had US rights to just an album’s worth of Beatle...
FIGURE 11-2: A bushel of Black Sabbath.
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: Exactly like the real thing, cat covers get everywhere.
FIGURE 12-2: Taylor Swift’s 2023 RSD offering sold out on the East Coast before...
FIGURE 12-3: Released in 1978, the disco-inflected “Miss You” created uproar an...
FIGURE 12-4:
Nuggets
— the beginner’s guide to garage rock.
FIGURE 12-5: The Folkways label released this two-LP set of Leadbelly’s
Last Se
...
FIGURE 12-6: The earliest long-playing vinyl classical albums were issued on 10...
FIGURE 12-7: Very worse for wear, the 1977 Ramones in the UK t-shirt — and all ...
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13-1: The Rolling Stones’ first UK single, “Come On.” A far cry from 202...
FIGURE 13-2: We all have one in the house, and some of us have several. But mid...
FIGURE 13-3: The legendary Country Blues compilation. Blues comps started here.
FIGURE 13-4: It’s scarcely one of Kogan’s great rarities, but even this budget ...
FIGURE 13-5: The 1976 box set was the very first comprehensive reissue of the B...
FIGURE 13-6: The ACMA edition of
Red
featured unique artwork and enclosures, bo...
FIGURE 13-7: Monty Python’s Drury Lane flexi disc.
FIGURE 13-8: The legendary Stork 1 single. The only information on the label, i...
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: The Shangri-Las, the queens of teenaged angst and rebellion.
FIGURE 14-2: The 78 pressing of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” — subsequen...
FIGURE 14-3 A true Homestead classic, Uzi’s
Sleep Asylum
mini album.
FIGURE 14-4: The label says BUY 32, but you’d be lucky to find that many copies...
FIGURE 14-5: 100 Proof’s eight Hot Wax 45s are always worth buying. This was th...
FIGURE 14-6: If you’ve never watched a Vertigo record revolving on the turntabl...
FIGURE 14-7: The maiden voyage of Brian Eno’s Obscure label.
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: Untitled on its front cover,
Reggae’n’Roll
is neverthe...
FIGURE 15-2: Cheap-looking artwork disguises a priceless live performance.
FIGURE 15-3: The corrugated cardboard outer packaging for Zappa’s
Beat the Boot
...
Chapter 16
FIGURE 16-1: Unlike the music, this sleeve was decidedly not for the masses.
FIGURE 16-2: The RSD replica of the original Scepter Studios outtakes.
FIGURE 16-3: The letters to look for.
FIGURE 16-4: Tinkerbell and her extremely rare fairydust.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Begin Reading
Index
About the Author
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Vinyl Record Collecting For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2024 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2023951666
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Introduction
Brian Eno, it is said, once remarked, “Writing about music is like dancing to architecture.” If this is true, there’s probably an equally wry analogy for writing about music collecting. Whatever form it takes, whether vinyl, compact discs, online streams, or supermarket background, music surrounds us, to the point where some people have given up buying music altogether. All they have to do is leave the house and they’ll hear it.
For others, however, collecting records — by which, in this instance, I mean whatever format budget, space, and taste permit — is a passion that surpasses those adhering to almost any other hobby. After all, other collectors spend their money, catalog their purchases, and then? They disappear into albums or boxes or bags or vaults; get filed on shelves or fade into the furniture, because what else is there to do with then? Yes, books and comics can be reread, DVDs can be rewatched. But how many times, really, can the thrill be relived?
Records, on the other hand, forever repay their original purchase price. Records can be played and replayed ad infinitum. Whether or not you describe yourself as a collector, how many times have you brought home a new purchase and listened to it all but nonstop for weeks? And how many times have you done that with a book?
In fact, there is something almost oxymoronic about “collecting” records. You like a song, or an artist, or a concerto and you buy it. You like another … you buy that, too. Without even thinking about it, you already have a “collection,” in the same way that you have a “collection” of clothes, a “collection” of shoes, a “collection” of kitchen implements. Music is such an integral part of life that it is hard to imagine getting through a day without it.
There is, however, a difference between having a collection of music, and collecting music. One is passive; the other is not. And that is what this book is about — the moment when someone consciously, and deliberately, begins filing their records in something other than an orderly pile in the corner; when they look at what they have and start seeking to fill the gaps; when they deliberately drop by a record store or hop onto eBay to see if there’s anything interesting.
If you’ve ever done any of those things, or have considered the possibility that you might, then this is the book for you. Oh, and welcome to the club.
About This Book
Of course, if record collecting is that easy — and that instinctual — why bother reading a book about it? Why not just carry on as you already are? Especially as one of the key suggestions contained in these pages is the importance of collecting whatever you want?
Well …
Like any hobby, there is a dizzying array of do’s and don’ts to bear in mind. For example, do shop around for new records; don’t simply pick up the first copy you find because you’re afraid you’ll never find one again — especially if it’s a disc that sold in millions upon release. Do shelve them carefully with an eye towards maintaining them in the best condition you can; don’t wipe a stray hair off the disc with a moistened finger. Do make a list of the records you’re looking for; don’t then play them on a cheap and clunky record player, with a stylus you’ve not changed in ten years.
Of course, there are only so many hours in a day, so many dollars to spend, and so many other distractions to deal with. That’s why this book tries not to prevaricate or spend pages obsessing on the technical minutia of “stuff.” “Get in, get out, and get on with it” was the mantra as I wrote this book, and leave the specialist details to the specialist collectors. The online world is littered with sites that offer, say, the Bruce Springsteen or Rolling Stones collector an almost mind-bending array of the tiny things that differentiate this pressing of an album from that, and they’re great. Especially when you find a mistake or an omission and get a thank you on the page for supplying it.
But you’ll need to know the basics — a lot of basics — before you even start studying those pages in depth. You'll also need to familiarize yourself with a lot of new terms before many of the entries on those pages even make sense. Vinyl Record Collecting For Dummies is dedicated to those basics. Yes, I do make suggestions about the kinds of directions your collecting can go, and I do profile artists whose music already has a sizeable following (or not, in some cases). But the heart of the book remains a quick and easy reference guide to (hopefully) every question a reader might have, and a lot that they never even knew to ask.
The point is made elsewhere in this book, but it is worth foreshadowing here. In the grip, as we are, of the so-called “vinyl revival,” more new records are being released (and old records rereleased) than at any time in 40 years. Record Store Day alone has filled any number of aching voids, while there is a positive plethora of online dealers and marketplaces, individual artists’ websites, fellow collectors’ blogs, and specialist magazines and books to investigate. This means there has never been a better time to become a collector, because there has never been more choice of what, and how, to collect. Vinyl Record Collecting For Dummies will set you on your path.
Foolish Assumptions
You want to start collecting records. This book does not take much for granted in relation to its readers, but that one is an exception. And, following on from that, it is likely that one of the following also applies to you:
You have a few records already and intend on picking up more. But, between the antique store down the road, where everything seems to cost $20, and the record store where they’re labeled with arcane codes (VG+/G++) and secret messages (Neths press, comp 1973 re), you don’t know where to begin.
You’ve got a lot of records and they’re a mess. How can they be sorted so you know what you’ve got, maybe what they’re worth, and, most importantly, what else you “need”?
You’ve inherited an old collection and have yet to decide whether to keep them or sell. But you don’t want some dealer simply to “make you an offer” when you don’t know what they’re worth — or even if they’re worth selling. What should you look for, and how should you present them?
You’re a seasoned collector and you know a lot. But one can never know too much. So you read every book you can find on the subject, because even if there’s just a few useful suggestions, you’ve gotten your money’s worth.
How This Book Is Organized
Vinyl Record Collecting For Dummies is divided into five sections, with each section detailing a different aspect of the hobby, from hunting out the optimum equipment to diving deep into your chosen pursuit. Each reader will no doubt prefer a particular area. Some may be fascinated by the idea of seeking out obscure label variations on Beatles records. Others might decide to devote their days to 8-track tapes and hunting down a working quadrophonic player through which to listen to them. And some might just enjoy reading about some of the weird and wonderful things that other collectors collect. Either way, just have fun with it.
Part 1: For the Love of Vinyl
This section offers up a history of record collecting as a hobby, not only in a general sense, but also by way of personal experiences — and the ease with which the unsuspecting music lover can tumble into the hobby. It also discusses buying the equipment you will need to make the most of your acquisitions … and some of the odd little add-ons that maybe you don’t need but, for some unfathomable reason, you discover you want.
Part 2: Picking a Record Apart
This section is, for want of a better description, where I take some of those aforementioned secret messages and arcane codes and explain what they actually mean. It follows, too, the life cycle of a record from studio to store, and because there are a lot of people who will tell you that “records aren’t everything,” it also looks at some alternatives to vinyl itself.
Part 3: From Casual Listener to Collector
The title says it all. This section details some of the myriad places where the rookie collector can get their start, from the humblest yard sale to the most extravagant record fair. It details the common traps that await the unwary, and the correct way to store your records to keep them in optimum shape. And it also talks about buying and selling … but only to make room for more records!
Part 4: Collecting What You Like
This part is where the gloves come off, and we get down to the nitty-gritty. What to collect, who to collect, with a few suggested themes (with which you are heartily encouraged to disagree), but all of which offer particular points that are common, whatever you choose to focus on.
Part 5: The Part of Tens
One thing that record collectors love are top tens, and this book is no exception. In fact, there were so many contenders for this section that it could easily have been as long as the rest of the book put together. But paper does not grow on trees (ummmmm), so I restricted myself to just two. You’ll see what they are when you get there. Unless you cheat and take a peek now.
Icons Used in This Book
What’s a For Dummies book without icons pointing you in the direction of truly helpful information that’s sure to help you along your way? In this section, I briefly describe each icon used in this book.
This icon points out helpful suggestions and useful nuggets of information.
This icon marks a generally interesting and useful fact — something you might want to remember for later use.
When you see this icon, you know that there’s techie stuff nearby. If you’re not feeling techie, feel free to skip it.
The Warning icon highlights lurking danger. With this icon, I’m telling you to pay attention and proceed with caution.
Beyond the Book
In addition to the pages you’re reading right now, this book comes with a free access-anywhere cheat sheet that offers a number of record collecting–related pearls of wisdom. To get this cheat sheet, visit www.dummies.com and type vinyl record collecting for dummies cheat sheet in the Search box.
Where to Go from Here
You can either read this book from start to finish, or you can bounce between chapters as the occasion demands. If there’s an unfamiliar term that you want to have defined, look it up in the index. If there’s a peculiar-looking version of an album you know and love, check out Chapter 5. I can’t promise to answer every query you may have, especially if it’s related to a specific record, but somewhere in these pages, you ought to find something that will point you in the right direction.
Part 1
For the Love of Vinyl
IN THIS PART …
Take a stroll through record(ed) history.
Examine the gear you need to actually listen to your collection.
Chapter 1
A Brief History of Record Collecting
IN THIS CHAPTER
Listening to the sound of cylinders
Graduating to gramophone plates
Breaking records
Living for the love of vinyl
Who are the grammar police?
Seeking out limited editions, one day only
Some people are born collectors. Others have collecting thrust upon them. And some just wander into it without even thinking.
I can pinpoint my induction into the most honorable society of record collectors, crate diggers, and vinyl hounds to the very day — October 7, 1972. That was when I headed to my local record store to pick up the latest David Bowie single — a four-song collection of material he had recorded back in 1966, released in the UK the previous day.
It was titled For the Collector — Early David Bowie (see Figure 1-1), and the deal was done. Until that moment, I had never even thought of the dozen or so singles that I already owned as a “collection.” They were just a dozen or so singles. But there it was in black (or, more accurately, blue) and white. I was now a collector.
FIGURE 1-1: Now there is no turning back.
This wasn’t such a bad thing. People had been collecting records for as long as there were records to collect. And before that, they collected wax cylinders, the first commercially available sound recordings ever released, back in 1889. Some people still do!
They Were Cylinders, and They Were Made of Wax
Wax cylinders are exactly what they say they are — wax cylinders about 4 inches tall, with the recorded sound etched into the wax. (See Figure 1-2.) Placed into the player, they could house up to three minutes of music or speech … not in especially high fidelity, even when they were new, but certainly sufficient to amaze audiences of the day when they first encountered this latest technological marvel.
The earliest wax cylinders were produced for nickelodeons (the very first jukeboxes!) and they were a common sight at fairgrounds and other public places even into the new (20th) century. Many, in fact, were owned by traveling showmen, who would load the player and the cylinders into their automobile (itself a novelty in some parts of the country), and charge people a nickel apiece to experience the magic.
You can still find wax cylinders today, and they’re not necessarily expensive either. Prices often start at under $10 apiece — which, thanks to the wonders of inflation, is actually cheaper than their retail price when they were released. Fifty cents in 1890 would be around $16 today.
There are a lot of cylinders to choose from. Thomas Edison, one of the inventors of the format (and certainly its best-known manufacturer), issued catalogs that sorted his company’s releases by theme — children’s stories, patriotic music, sacred songs, instrumentals, popular songs, spoken word.
FIGURE 1-2: A cylinder full of sound.
Other companies specialized in recordings of political speeches and presidential addresses, or “Teach Yourself”–style language tutorials. (There was even a healthy market for risqué material, evidenced in 2007 by a CD released by Archeophone Recordings under the title Actionable Offenses: Indecent Phonograph Recordings from the 1890s.)
Still others marketed blank cylinders, because the players of the day not only played prerecorded cylinders, but also allowed the user to record their own. You could even record over older recordings, by carefully shaving the surface of the cylinder!
There is a heartbreaking scene in director Maggie Greenwald’s 2000 movie Songcatcher. Set in the 1910s, it is the story of a musicologist who visits the Appalachians specifically to hear, and record, the old folk songs that were still being sung in those parts at the time. She is accompanied by a mass of wax cylinders and a recording machine, only to lose her entire collection when the house where she is staying is burned down. We literally see her cylinders melting.
Neither did it take a catastrophe such as this to destroy a cylinder. Wax can melt at less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (vinyl can withstand around 140 degrees before it will begin to warp). This means even a hot day could irreparably damage a collection, while the slightest bump or knock could likewise render a recording unplayable.
The First Records That Look Like Records
Cylinders were still rising in popularity when German-American inventor Emile Berliner perfected what he called the “gramophone plate” in the early 1890s — flat discs that were superior to wax cylinders in every respect and a lot more resilient too. His earliest discs were pressed on celluloid and rubber, before he switched to shellac — the same material being used in the telephones of the time — in 1894.
By the following year, Berliner had released around 100 “plates” that revolved on a hand-cranked “phonograph” (what we would call a record player) at speeds as high as 150 revolutions per minute (rpm). Further improvements would ultimately see this reduced to 78 rpm. In the meantime, however, Berliner also found the time, in 1898, to follow up his first record label, Berliner, with what remains one of the most successful and respected record companies in the world, Deutsche Grammophon.
The beauty of Berliner’s invention was its simplicity. Indeed, with only a handful of technical improvements, the shape and sound of the next 50 years of recorded music — that is, predominantly 10-inch discs, revolving at 78 rpm — was established while Berliner was still tinkering.
Everyone bowed down at the altar of Emile Berliner — everyone except Thomas Edison. In 1912, the man who had already given us the lightbulb, the fluoroscope (an early form of X-ray), the stock ticker, and the movie camera decided to improve upon Berliner’s creation, in the form of what he modestly referred to as “Edison Diamond Discs.” The next section looks at Edison's contribution in greater detail.
Edison’s flawed diamonds
On the surface, Diamond Discs look little different from their rivals. Yes, they were a lot thicker — a quarter of an inch thick — but they were round, they were black, and they were made of … oh! A viscous (and vicious — in its pure form, it can cause chemical burns) petroleum-based condensate called phenol, brushed or sprayed onto a celluloid base bonded to a wood-flour core.
Diamond Discs revolved at 80 rpm and, while the majority of releases were the standard 10-inch size, with occasional 7-inch and 12-inch releases, Edison was never bound by convention. Diamond Discs also appeared with diameters of 14, 16, and even 21 inches!
Plus you needed a special Edison phonograph, with its own patent needle, to play them on. All of which was worthwhile … why?
Because, as Edison (or one of his ad men) declared in a 1924 marketing pitch, his recordings alone guaranteed “true representations of vocal and instrumental music as produced by living artists. They are not mere shadows. They are the very substance of the living music, alive with all the emotions of the living artist.”
Think of them as the first audiophile discs (see Chapter 5) — if audiophile discs required their own fancy-pants player.
Collecting Edison discs
There was only ever going to be one victor in the ensuing tug of war. Edison alone made Edison discs and the machines that were necessary to play them on. The sheer weight of the competition — that is, every other record company in the world — left Edison discs in the dust.
As has been proven on so many subsequent occasions — 8-track tapes versus cassettes, stereo versus quadraphonic sound (see Chapter 2) or mp3 versus just about any other recorded sound on earth, the general public simply wants to hear their favorite songs and they’ll take the cheapest and most convenient means of doing so every time.
There were listeners who cared only for Edison discs, just as there are listeners today who solely purchase releases on modern audiophile labels. But collectors alone cannot sustain a major manufacturing business and, by 1929, Edison had ceased production — at around much the same time, ironically, as the first players capable of handling both his discs and regular 78s came onto the market.
Edison discs are relatively common today, although few dealers beyond true specialists ever bother separating them from “regular” 78s. It is a testament, however, to their durability that once, having myself purchased a quite magnificent Edison player from a local secondhand store, I visited a local record store and gestured towards the boxes of 78s that lay on the floor, and asked if there were likely to be any Edison discs in there.
The dealer’s response remains hilarious. “Buy the whole lot and drop it out of a window. The Edisons will be the ones that don’t shatter.”
Some Edison names to look out for
Altogether, Edison released some 25,000 different records and, as with his wax cylinder output, there's lots of variety to choose from. To make your search a tad easier, turn to any number of very attractive printed catalogs devoted to Edison discs and let your fingers do the walking.
Of particular interest to many collectors are the early jazz and blues recordings, delivered by names such as Eubie Blake and the Frisco Jass [sic] Band, Wilbur Sweatman’s Brownies, Noble Sissle, and — most prized of all — Arthur F. Collins and Byron G. Harlan’s “That Funny Jas Band From Dixieland,” dating from January of 1917 and renowned as the very first recorded reference to jazz music yet discovered.
Fans of early country are well catered to, most notably by the once best-selling singer Vernon Dalhart; elsewhere, the catalog glitters with vaudeville performers, Hawaiian guitarists, polka, pianists, comedians, and some very highly regarded classical performances. Composer Sergei Rachmaninov was a close friend of Edison’s and such a keen supporter of the Edison disc that he personally recorded a number of pieces for the label.
If you want to “try before you buy,” the Naxos label has reissued many of Rachmaninov’s Edison recordings on CD, while further extracts from the Edison catalog have been digitally archived by the National Park Services’ Recorded Sound Archives website and (again on CD) by Document Records, among others.
Looking at costs
As with every other aspect of the record collecting hobby, final costs depend upon what you are looking for. As already remarked, Edison discs in general are so sufficiently overlooked that most dealers neither know nor care enough to price them individually, so they can often be picked up virtually wholesale. It is when you are pursuing specific discs or artists that you are most likely to run into more knowledgeable sellers, and if you’re bidding at auction (on- or offline), knowledgeable rival collectors, too.
78s — Whatever You Do, Don’t Drop Them
In terms of unbroken longevity, the 78 is the most successful musical delivery system ever developed, remaining in service from the mid-1890s until (in some countries) as late as the mid-1960s. Indeed, there are Beatles collectors who go to sleep every night to dream of finding a stash of that band’s early singles, as released on 78 in India.
By comparison, the LP enjoyed less than 40 years of supremacy, the CD and cassette closer to 30. And, to put the 78’s lifespan into even more vivid perspective, when the first flat disc appeared, “America the Beautiful” was a brand new song, composer Carl Orff was a newborn baby, and Dan W Quinn was Berliner’s first, eponymous record label’s biggest star. When the 45 finally supplanted the 78, John Lennon was there to wave it goodbye.
That said, the 78 did experience some turbulent times, and as early as the 1930s, efforts were being made to replace it. That was when both RCA and Columbia Records announced that they had perfected a long-playing disc that could hold some three times more music per side than a 78. And so they had. It just took them another near-20 years to find a way to stop their new invention from physically disintegrating after a handful of plays.
The Depression seriously depressed 78 sales; and while they bounced back (in 1938, over 13 million 78s were sold to jukebox stockists alone), World War II (1941–1945) brought problems of its own. Not only was there a major shellac shortage, but the industry also needed to contend with the government’s Office of War Information’s demand that musicians cease recording any music that did not directly contribute to the war effort. That particular request was largely ignored, but 1942 also saw the American Federation of Musicians declare an all-out recording strike in a row over royalty payments.
Then, just when things were getting back to normal, back came Columbia with their now-perfected long-playing disc; RCA followed through with the (comparatively) unbreakable 45, and the 78’s days were numbered.
But what a reign it enjoyed.
How breakable are they?
Don’t ask. But, since you have, imagine a scale of one through ten, with an antique filigree crystal dish at the low end, and a windowpane at the upper limit. The average 78 would fall a lot closer to the crystal than the window, and in so doing, it would more than likely shatter.
Even carrying them home from the store places them at a higher degree of risk than you can imagine; knocking one off the table is likely fatal. Mailing one without at least a couple of inches of reinforcement is effectively a death sentence, and if you leave one on, say, a chair, and someone should sit down on it, it won’t matter how quickly they stand up again. You’ll be picking splinters of shellac from the cushion (and the sitter’s bottom) for days.
That’s how breakable they are.
How collectible are they?
In general, sad to say, not very. Let’s not talk value, as in dollars and cents. It is the significance of certain releases that is important. The active market for 78s is tiny by comparison with LPs and 45s, and the number of recordings released across those 60-some years is immense. Some of the songs we still sing today. But many are forgotten, and likewise the artists who recorded them.
Thus, it’s fair to say that the majority of the most sought-after 78s are those that cross over into other areas that are themselves collectible. For example, all the big stars of the 1950s rock’n’roll explosion saw their first records released on 78, and the average (say) Gene Vincent fan probably wouldn’t think twice about adding a 78 of “Be-Bop-A-Lula” (see Figure 1-3) to their collection, if they found one. If nothing else, it makes a fabulous anachronism.
FIGURE 1-3: Rock’n’roll looks so wrong on a 78.
A collector of presidential memorabilia might be thrilled to discover one of the handful of 78s recorded by Margaret Woodrow Wilson, daughter and, following the death of her mother, first lady of the 28th president, Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921). Indeed, that collector might even find themselves in a bidding war with certain folk music aficionados — among Margaret’s earliest recordings was a version of “Leezie Lindsay” (see Figure 1-4), a traditional Scottish song that some readers might also recognize as one of the Child Ballads.
Collectors of theater might pursue 78 recordings of beloved standards, or forgotten space-fillers, those songs with which every musical filled the spaces between the surefire hits. Yes, a lot of this material now is available either on LP or CD. But how much more authentic does it feel to own it in its original form?
FIGURE 1-4: Sing along with the president’s daughter.
I got those old can’t find that record blues again, Mama
Probably the hottest of all 78s, however, are those recorded by the original blues and jazz performers in the 1920s and 1930s, much of which might have been lost forever were it not for the efforts of sundry dedicated collectors in the 1950s and 1960s.
In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to say that dozens of the blues numbers that today are reissued across so many compilation albums exist only because someone, somehow, came across a solitary 78 of the song and was able to place it into circulation. And that same 78, in some cases, is the only one known to exist! Or, at least, the only one in anything approaching playable condition.
Stone-cold classics by Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, and Willie Brown, if they don’t fall into this so-exclusive company, are at least close to it. A 78 of “Don’t You Leave Me Here,” by bluesmen Long Cleve Reed and Little Harvey Hull, on the Black Patti label, sold for over S10,000 in 2015, and it genuinely was the only known copy in existence. Tommy Johnson’s “Alcohol and Jake Blues” — at the time of writing the most expensive 78 ever sold ($37,000) — is one of just two verified surviving copies.
Is it any wonder, then, that no newly unearthed collection of 78s, no matter how poorly it may be presented, is unlikely to remain unpicked over for long? Again, the aforementioned estate sales are an irresistible magnet for the hope-against-hopeful, as are yard sales, and even the box of old discs that someone dropped off at the local record store after finding it in the attic. Yes, the chances of striking gold are minimal. But they exist, nevertheless.
ADVENTURES IN RECORD COLLECTING
Some of the most thrilling stories about the lengths to which collectors will go are told of the doughty young blues enthusiasts of the 1950s who, by way of taking a vacation, would drive into the American South and devote their entire trip to knocking on people’s doors to ask if they had any old records for sale. Because many times, they would and — depending upon the resident’s age and the ethnic make-up of the area — many times those records would be early blues and jazz.
Well-known musicians such as Al Wilson (Canned Heat) and John Fahey devoted weeks at a time to such trips, and while they probably went to bed empty handed more often than not, still the thrill of the hunt itself was compulsive.
Remember, this was in the days before the internet invaded every home, before yard sales popped up on every street and antique malls on every other block. A time when old junk was viewed, literally, as old junk, and the only reason it was even kept around the house was because nobody had bothered to throw it out. And 78s, to many people, were just “old junk,” particularly if they’d recently invested in one of those newfangled LP record players and didn’t care for the old stuff anymore.
The offer of hard cash for unwanted trash was too good to turn away, and it was a fair trade because the young purchasers weren’t in this for material gain, either. They just wanted to hear these records, maybe learn them, maybe perform them. Everybody won.
Playing your 78s
So you took the plunge, did you? A trip to the thrift store, the junk store, wherever, and home you came with your first 78s … and then you realize your record player only has two speeds.
Now, perhaps you've already checked out Chapter 2, where I talk about setting up your listening equipment. Or you already have a record player … even if it is, as you have just discovered, the wrong one. Or maybe you even intend to collect only 78s, in which case I might as well cover this here.
Recommended modern turntables for the 78s enthusiast
There are no dedicated 78 rpm players on the market today. However, there are several that will at least allow you to switch to 78 rpm so you can listen to your discs, at price points that range from under $50 on up (remembering that, with turntables as much as anything else, you get what you pay for).
In the mid-price range, both Denon and Audio-Technica offer very serviceable turntables that play three speeds, with the latter facilitating USB recording as well. Another good option is Pro-Ject’s Debut III, which, though a little pricier, comes with its own built-in pre-amp. (See Chapter 2 for why this can be important.) It is a little more fidgety, in that the user needs to manually change the drive belt when changing speeds (two different ones are supplied, as are full instructions), but overall it is a very satisfactory machine.
Vintage turntables
In an ideal word, working vintage 78 record players would be as plentiful as playable vintage 78s. Sadly, time, wear, and avid DIYers who strip the guts out of the original cabinet and replace them with bookshelves, wine racks, and the like have come close to placing such things on the endangered list.
Finding parts and effecting repairs can also be tricky. Working machines are out there, however, and any reasonable dealer will be happy to allow you to test drive their stock, so always remember to bring a disc or two along with you (unless, of course, the dealer already has some on site), and be prepared, too, for a very different sound experience.
Whether or not that’s a good thing, naturally, is for the listener to decide. Some people find the sound produced by the older, hand-cranked players to be infinitely preferable to the electric, motorized ones that began appearing around the 1930s — plus there is more that can go wrong with the latter, including their penchant for emitting a horrific buzz and a range of unpleasant aromas.
Hand-cranked players, on the other band, place no more obstacle between your ears and the music than the actual process of the needle reading the groove and transmitting it through the speaker — a wholly acoustic procedure. Of course, this also means that you cannot adjust the sound — there were no mono or treble controls to twiddle with, and none of the bells and whistles that we might normally associate with a turntable. But it’s worth it.
Getting the (78) needle
Last but not least, playing 78s also demands a very specific stylus, and while that is true even of the modern players discussed above, those suitable for vintage players are an altogether different kind of beast.
Because 78s have wider and slightly different-shaped grooves compared to 33s and 45s, the average stylus might well work, but will also sustain (and cause) damage in the process. Thankfully, a range of specialty 78 needles are still in production, with LP Gear’s own name brand offering a very affordable entry-level example.
Older motorized turntables, however, have their own demands, but they can generally be fulfilled. Hand-cranked players, however, take you back to the dawn of time when a needle literally was a needle — a thick, sharp one, to be precise, sometimes known as a spear point. And the good news there is that they aren’t simply plentiful, but they can be purchased in bulk from a variety of online sources. (See Figure 1-5.) You’ll want to buy them in bulk, too. They wear down so quickly that many users replace their needle after each play.
FIGURE 1-5: The sharp end of record playing.
The Frantic World of 45s
The 45 — also known as the single, also known as the 7-inch — is the most powerful and influential development in the history of modern music. It supercharged the Top 40, and it was responsible for birthing almost every significant star of the 1950s and 1960s, and much of the 1970s as well. It established record collecting as a teenaged phenomenon, and it was responsible for pop music becoming both the biggest and the most volatile art form of the late 20th century — particularly if we expand the term’s frontiers to the point where “art” includes rock, pop, country, reggae, and soul music. (Jazz, the blues, and classical music had less interest in the format; spoken word and soundtracks were, for obvious reasons, similarly uninterested.)
But in the places where it mattered, the 45 was king. It fueled the original rock’n’roll explosion and led the British Invasion; it propelled the Motown hit machine to glory; it nurtured the so-called teenybop stars of the early 1970s (the Osmonds, the Jackson 5, David Cassidy, the Bay City Rollers); it gave punk rock its violent immediacy; and even when its importance was supplanted by music videos following the birth of MTV in the early 1980s, it wasn’t album tracks whose videos went into constant rotation. It was singles.
The birth of the legend
The 45 was launched on December 7, 1948, by RCA, in direct competition for the long-playing LPs being developed by Columbia. The two companies had worked side by side in the 1930s on the latter project (see 78s, above); now, however, when Columbia suggested the two companies join forces to market the new innovation, RCA opted to go it alone.
In truth, the company wasn’t really sure what to do with the new 7-inch disc. In no way superior to 78s in terms of playing time, its biggest advantage was its smaller size and improved durability — vinyl is a lot harder to break than shellac. And this was important because it would effectively allow listeners to “shuffle’” the songs that an LP would place in an inviolable running order.
And how, exactly, would they do that? By being marketed alongside a special new breed of turntable, featuring an extended central spindle, which could accommodate up to six singles at a time, held in place by a metal arm.
As soon as one single finished playing, and the tone arm returned to its rest, the next record in the pile would be released from the stack, and the tone arm would return to action. Over and over again until the stack was played through, then you’d flip the records over and begin again.
The official name for these new turntables was “autochangers” (see Figure 1-6), but I much prefer “stack’n’whack.” (See the nearby sidebar.) Pete Townshend, lead guitarist extraordinaire of the Who, remembers them quite fondly:
You had to have the regulation tin speaker record player, tin, not twin, housed artistically in a vinyl covered box under a lid with a two-watt amplifier worthy only of use as a baby alarm, and a record deck on which the current top 20 singles could be stacked … for continuous dancing of the latest dance — which differed only from last week’s in the tiniest possible hip-waggling details. A long sentence, but a single sentence. One sentence and you have the truth about singles. We made them tinny to sound tinny. If you made them hi-fi to sound tinny you were wasting your time, after all."
STACK’N’WHACK — THE GREATEST RECORD PLAYER EVER
Given how much attention is now paid to taking care of your records and preserving them from harm (see Chapters 10 and 11), it seems incredible that such a device was as popular as it was and for as long it was. But long after Columbia and RCA decided that there was room in the market for both LPs and singles, the stack’n’whack whacked on, through the ’50s and ’60s and well into the ’70s, too. Around the same time, it might be mused, as the first record-collecting magazines came along, and started wittering on about grading and valuing your collection.
Not everybody adores the stack’n’whack. There are always those careful, cautious souls who instinctively realize that slamming a pile of 45s down upon one another, with no form of cushioning whatsoever, is not conducive to their long term well-being. Indeed, I only have to post a photograph of my own stack’n’whack on social media and I am deluged by concerned friends asking, “But what is it doing to your records?”
“Exactly what they were made to have done to them,” I reply.
It’s also true that, occasionally, one of the records might start to slip (that is, slow down and sound awful) as it plays. At which point, you’d scoop them all off the turntable, scraping them against one another as you did so, and so a few new scratches would be added as unstoppable platter met immovable disc. It probably didn’t do the stylus any good either.
