So, vinyl...

[alongwaltz]

I'm finally getting a record player, but I intend to only purchase vinyl of things that I can't purchase in CD form. I just use my discman so much when I'm out walking and on trains and busses that it makes sense to make that my priority format, and I really don't see the point in purchasing the same album in multiple forms.

So, aside from the tons of singles and slices of great indiepop available from the many great labels mentioned on here and around these parts, what are some good albums?

Full albums. Not available on CD. Only on vinyl.

Go.

[round bits of plastic]

"Mit Weisse Westen Dreck am Stecken" by The Rough Bunnies is the first that springs to mind

[tekno_alice]

the arthur and martha album will only be available on vinyl and download so therefore eligible for the remit...sorry for the self promotion!

I tend to like buying old lps on vinyl cause that's how people would have heard them when they came out, I'm not so into cd reissues.

[kidfrostbite]

How about the George Washington Brown album on Static Caravan? Really good power/psych/folk pop.

[RITH]

When browsing the internet for second-hand vinyl, every now and then I notice something along the lines of:

"After all these years I finally decided to sell my treasured collection, because I really need the money. All of the records are in mint condition, most of them unplayed."

And I think: ?
Why the hell would you keep most of your treasured records unplayed? Does such fanatism to keep them in perfect shape even make sense? I really enjoy actually playing my records, carefully of course, but as often as I want to hear the music.

Sadly I won't get rich once I decide to sell them on eBay.

[aorta]

Most good albums are on cd and those that aren't would either be too expensive to buy or too hard to find.

Most of the good indiepop not on cd are singles.

Three vinyl albums that are cheaper (and easier to find) than their cd counterparts:

Win - …Uh! Tears Baby (A Trash Icon)
Win - Freaky Trigger
Friends Again - Trapped and Unwrapped

[morning chorus]

there are a lot of good albums released vinyl only with a cdr inserted...

try jason molina - let me go, let me go, let me go...

[gloom button]

Oh! I have that but I didn't know that it was a vinyl-only release. It really is very very beautiful. I really like how even though it's (mostly) just him and a guitar that the "space" (sorry) of the record sounds so open and empty, almost like there's a band there but he's just turned them right down.

[grumpytimes]

There's also a lot of records that are obviously intended to be listened to on record and make much for sense that way. The most obvious example of course being the Belle and Sebastian albums. And I think Slint went so far as to state on the CD that you bought the wrong format or something.

But other ones that occur to me right now are things like The Lucksmiths 'Little Distraction' mini - LP and the first Le Tigre album where one side mirrrors the other. Or something like Felt's 'Pictorial Jackson Revue' where one side it completely different to another. And then the classic one is 'The Beach Boys Today!'.

[wrapyrtroubles]

i always always try and get vinyl where possible. i do get tempted by the odd £5 cd of an old and brilliant album that now costs £20 on vinyl either second hand or on reissue. and i bought that young marble giants reissue on cd because it was £5 cheaper than the vinyl and had about three times as many tracks. but apart from that i like having a physical record collection. i like to sit with my records and re-arrange them and stuff. records are undoubtedly more aesthetically pleasing in their design than cds. does anyone else here care for that sort of thing or is your music mostly on the computer these days? i often think about this in relation to last.fm because whatever i listen to from my actual record collection ain't gonna get scrobbled... whereas if your "record collection" is on your computer then your lastfm charts must be more accurate. blah.

i think it is a nicer way to hear an album. the fact that you have to get up and turn over half way through keeps you engaged with the music, so you don't listen to tracks 3 through 9 in a haze and not even remember hearing them.

[crystalball]

i think it is a nicer way to hear an album. the fact that you have to get up and turn over half way through keeps you engaged with the music, so you don't listen to tracks 3 through 9 in a haze and not even remember hearing them.

Yeah, that's what I like about vinyl as well. It's not the crinkly sound but the fact that it takes a bit of effort. I'm very lazy so it's my only exercise for the day, to get up and put a record on. Seven-inches make me even happier in that way because I really get that sense of the moment, of that one or two songs and that's it, flip sides, another brief moment and then silence. It's wonderful.

[grumpytimes]

and i bought that young marble giants reissue on cd because it was £5 cheaper than the vinyl and had about three times as many tracks

It's another one of those albums I think needs to be heard on vinyl. Though I say that and I only have CD copies (two in fact!), but an old flatmate had it on record and it was while I was living with her that I really fell for it. I think it's quite easy to get lost on the CD.

I agree with pretty much all the sentiments mentioned above, esp. comments regarding last.fm. Just the other day a friend asked if I had a certain album and without thinking my response was "not really, only on CD", strange. It's funny because I first starting buying things on record around 1998 just before the 'Vinyl Revival' and the reason was that is because everything was so cheap. I was 13/14 and just getting into The Smiths, Joy Division and all those 'gateway bands' and I could get them all on record for less than NZ$10, so like £4 or something. Now it's of course gone the other way, old re-issues are so cheap on CD, but can cost a fortune on record.

I get annoyed when I think I things I put off buying back then and now cost a fortune, especially all the Flying Nun bands.

[Uncle Ants]

the arthur and martha album will only be available on vinyl and download so therefore eligible for the remit...sorry for the self promotion!

When's it out? The single was great.

I get stuff on vinyl if its out on vinyl and CD if it isn't (or of the Vinyl's outrageously expensive). Its not so hard to copy vinyl to your PC and onto CD or iPod if you want to. I like that more stuff is coming out on vinyl with a free download though. If it becomes common, we won't need to buy CDs ... I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

[aorta]

Albums I only have on vinyl:

Altered Images - Happy Birthday
Noise - Tenno
A Boy Named Thor - s/t
First Communion Afterparty - Ever Last Sting Live
Emperor X - The Joytakers' Rakes/Stars on the Ceiling, Pleasantly Kneeling

[wrapyrtroubles]

It's another one of those albums I think needs to be heard on vinyl. Though I say that and I only have CD copies (two in fact!), but an old flatmate had it on record and it was while I was living with her that I really fell for it. I think it's quite easy to get lost on the CD.

Agreed! I wish I could afford both ;)

Just the other day a friend asked if I had a certain album and without thinking my response was "not really, only on CD", strange. It's funny because I first starting buying things on record around 1998 just before the 'Vinyl Revival' and the reason was that is because everything was so cheap. I was 13/14 and just getting into The Smiths, Joy Division and all those 'gateway bands' and I could get them all on record for less than NZ$10, so like £4 or something. Now it's of course gone the other way, old re-issues are so cheap on CD, but can cost a fortune on record.

This is so like my experience I did a double take when I was reading until I got to the NZ dollars part! Although I was 14 in '97 so I started just a year ahead of you. One of the reasons I began buying vinyl was that it was cheaper although obviously not the most persuasive reason as I've continued for the most part despite the reversal in the cd vs. record price situation... I also don't tend to register albums I own on CD and if I see a cheap vinyl copy of something I have on cd I'll buy it and sell the cd or give it to a friend.

Someone needs to update that Pooh Sticks song... "I've got everything by the Ronettes! ...(on cd, on cd)"
:)

[RITH]

While typing this I'm listening to the 'We are Urusei Yatsura' LP and am as always impressed by its beautiful holographic glitter vinyl. It's a very nerdy thing, but I love it when the vinyl is different from the standard black. Picture discs, like for example the beautiful 53rd &3rd 'Fun while it lasted' compilation are brilliant as well

I was on the verge of creating a 'Vinyl porn' thread with pictures and all, but I'm sure it'd die a bitterly lonely death.

[darvé]

Pictures don't really do it justice, but it's a beautiful record (it's also my favourite album of the 90s)

[frogblast]

This made me laugh: Crate Digging, Don't Do It!

there are 14 pictures, so i won't post them all here, but a sample:

[postalblue]

I've been meaning to get myself a new turntable for ages. I have largish 7" collection that I can't listen to currently unless I download the songs from the internet. I also have some rare LPs that I doubt can be found in any format anymore, like Adrian Borland's Alexandria, which is a brilliant album.

[will]

i need to get my hi-fi fixed, as it only barely lets me listen to CDs and not at all to vinyl or cassettes. that's one of the four reasons why i mostly listen to music on the computer (the others being ILLEGAL DOWNLOADS, last.fm and that i spend most of my spare time on the internets). if i had a laptop and a working hi-fi i'd sit in my room and listen to LPs a lot more.