Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

 
remember record stores? cutout bins?
remember flipping through them one by one
and what it was like
to find the One -
the One long out of print  
the One that had eluded you
until now -
and how you could barely believe
that you'd actually found it?
remember how the cellophane wrapper
crackled with static electricity
as you tore it off?
remember sliding the disk from the sleeve...
holding it by its edges
between the palms of your hands...
setting it onto the turntable...
gently lowering the tone arm
til the groove captured the needle...
and the Groove captured your imagination?
oh, that thrill of discovery -
the sounds, colors, textures of terra incognita
explored from an easy chair
while reading the liner notes...
 

louis and ella
jesus christ superstar
sun ra's arkestra

- (that would be a yes)

it was a HUGE part of my life
collecting, listening, discussing
and oh the art work on the covers
all the info, the musicians, the sidemen
a time of exploration and something to always
look forward to

Indeed, the earlier days when vinyl offered an informative, enjoyable musical education,
furthering the love of music and all that it gives the discerning ear and mind.

CD's, as which I have, are fragile, thin pieces of plastic that is unable to offer the vinyls strength,
but as expensive in comparison to the early vinyl days we looked forward to the next cut of our favorite artists.

Thxm SAW for those memories!

Thanks, all, for commenting & sharing your memories.

I was discovering worlds of music I never knew existed, especially on the Nonesuch label - besides their classical catalogue, there were the avant-garde sides - Edgard Varese, Donald Erb, Iannis Xenakis - all challenging the very notion of what music even was. Xenakis, especially, was an epiphany - found sounds assembled into free-form concertos & symphonies. ("Melody? We don't need no stinkin' melody!")

I remember.