Sick Turntable

The past week my turntable has been at the doctors office. It’s motor has been giving off a ‘hum’, which unfortunately sends an audible tone through the stylus. For those stereophiles out there, it’s a Project Expression – Classic SE II, the one with the sexy mahogany base (not going to lie, a big part in the decision making process). I’ll be the first to admit that this week has been very interesting at home. I keep my CD’s in boxes under a couch. My LP’s are sorted by genre, then alphabetically by artist. After a day or two of lazily not placing my LP’s back on the shelf, you can imagine that I would have to take 30 minutes to maintain this order. So yes, it’s been a week off from organization and cleaning- I really don’t take care of my CD’s.

This being said, I have been forced to listen to some titles that have either not been released on record, or albums that are way too pricey to own on vinyl. Example A: Smashing Pumpkins-Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. This album catches anywhere from 150-300 USD! on ebay. At that price, the CD will do. By 1994 vinyl production reached an all time low. Since fewer people wanted LP’s, they were released in limited quantity to ensure they would sell out (Economics 101!). I was 11 in 1994, so as you can guess most of my early albums were CD’s (My sound snobbery didn’t arise until the early 2000’s). Sound snobbery aside, this album still plays as fresh as it did when I first got it. I had forgotten how many of these tracks had such originality to them, especially with all of the electronics that many recent artists are utilizing.

Example 2- Tool-Aenima . This albums has always been one of my favourite discs of the 90’s. Early Tool had this rawness that few could compete with, and Aenima had plenty of those long elaborate tunes that they are now known for-but with a punch. Maybe that punch was personifying their struggle to maintain a living and staying true to their style. Regardless of what it was, I have always felt that they lost this after Lateralus. This album catches around 80 on Ebay, just enough to make me bid elsewhere.

Let’s not forget the music. It’s clear that vinyl sounds better to me and will always be my medium of choice, though this week has reintroduced me to many killer albums from the 90’s that just don’t hit my system.

In Rotation this week:

Blind Melon- Soup

Smashing Pumpkins- Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Tool-Aenima

Tripping Daisy- I am an Elastic Firecracker

Cryptopsy- And then You’ll Beg

Nirvana- Bleach

Sepultura- Roots

Anthrax- Volume 8: The Threat is Real