The Return of Music on Vinyl (With a Commercial Offer, and Give-Away Quiz Question)

A friend who works at a big box retailer tells us the latest product line in music is vinyl records.

Everything old is new again, as hip bands strive for a fashionable edge and marketplace distinction. On the bandwagon are White Stripes, Jack Johnson, Elvis Costello,Vampire Weekend, Fiery Furnances, Siouxsie Sioux, Over the Rhine, Bright Eyes, Yo La Tengo, and others.

There is a sentiment that the sound of vinyl is better. "Deeper" is generally the adjective.

There's also the happenstance, with digital music, of one's entire collection crashing and vanishing, as happened to our source in this matter, who is a real computer guy and not a careless, accident-prone hack.

As music retailers at Small World Music, we are happy that artists and manufacturers are offering choices of media. The old style of merchandising was to declare one medium obsolete and unstylish in order to promote a new one.

We are big believers in the joy of wax here at Small World Music, where we have over 1,000 LPs priced at $1, and not bad ones, either. A sample:

Bruce Stringbean
Paul Robeson
Beatles
The Honeydrippers
Allman Bothers
Jerry Lee Lewis
Frank Rosolino
Heart
Lefty Frizell
Tito Rodriguez
Lynn Anderson
Paul McCartney
Procol Harum
Bob Dylan
Deep Purple
The Kinks
Rickie Lee Jones
Joe Walsh
Deep Purple
Rod Stewart
Rolling Stones

We also have plenty of premium and hard-to find things:

Led Zeppelin (first release, first pressing)
The Times They Are A-Changing, Bob Dylan, original pressing
Mitch Ryder
Charlie Parker
John Coltrane
Taj Mahal
T-Bone Walker
Muddy Waters
Tito Puente
Bob Marley
Mahlahtini and the Mahotella Queens
Sweet Honey in the Rock
Samite
Boys of the Lough
Kevin Burke
Joni Mitchell
Johnny Cash (on Sun Records)
East Flatbush Project
Sugar Hill Gang
Earl Scruggs
David Grisman
... and many more.

A special offer for Ithaca Blog readers: take 25% off all vinyl purchases this week (that's through Saturday, 5 April).

Plus a special contest offer for you vinyl know-it-alls (or talented researchers):

What is the ONLY Beatles album containing ONLY Lennon-McCartney compositions? (Hint: only the official British version was released this way - not the U.S. version.)

Answer that question correctly, and get $5.00 off any purchase in the store (CD or LP). Answer incorrectly, and get $2.50. No kidding. We just admire effort. Only one incorrect answer prize per person, however. Know what we mean?

Hope to see you soon.

Steve Burke
for Small World Music and Ithaca Blog














Steve Burke
for Ithaca Blog and Small World Music