I Miss Vinyl Albums …
By The Fairy Rock Mother Kiki Plesha • www. facebook. com / TheFairyRockMotherKikiPlesha
I miss everything about vinyl albums.
The buying and unwrapping of an album was synonymous with a religious experience of sorts. You would tear open the cellophane casing, then hold it reverently by the sides and slowly tilted it ever-so-slightly, reveling in the disc’ s satiny sheen. Such rapture! Excuse me, I think I need a cigarette …
HOW I would play albums was an evolution of sorts. In the early years, I would debut my acquisitions on a rickety little record player that came in a box with a handle and clasps on it that opened like a suitcase. On its cover, it featured wholesome looking kids in bobby socks and saddle shoes, jitterbugging away with notes sprouting out of their heads like a musical LSD trip. Later, I inherited my grandparents’ old stereo cabinet … remember those? They were a substantial piece of furniture. Some of the fancier models even included a television and AM / FM radio. Come to think of it, all they needed were a small fridge, a toaster oven, and water cooler, and you would never have to move. Oh, and cup holders … got to have cup holders.
Back to the album itself … now that you’ ve paid homage to the disc deity--and after the clouds parted and a holy light encased it( complete with angels singing)--you gingerly placed it on the turntable. Those who are also of a“ certain age” who are reading this musical march down memory lane, know that the arm with the“ stereophonic” needle in it sometimes required a penny to be placed on the top of it, in order to weigh it down to make better“ contact”--to avoid the maddening incidences of skipping records. Yeah, it was a real high-tech set up. Another necessary element was the plastic insert / adapter for 45’ s. And as 45’ s were not treated with the pomp and circumstance of albums( their wrappings were