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In Vinyl Heaven; Audiophiles Swear By Them. Now Mainstream Music Lovers Are Rediscovering LPs
				John Petrick The Record Bergen County, N.J Feb 15, 2004

MP3s? CDs? Audio DVDs? Puh-LEASE! Give people like Meredith Ochs good old-fashioned vinyl LPs. She's one of a special breed of music lover that believes certain technology can never be outmoded. "I have 9,000 albums and about 1,000 45s. I have never once considered replacing any of my albums with CDs." "When you hold a 12- inch album sleeve in your hand, that's a piece of art," says Ochs, of Hoboken, a singer-guitarist in the band Damn Lovelys and freelance music writer. For others, like Mike Fremer of Wyckoff, it's not just the aesthetic of a vinyl record. It's the sound itself. Fremer adamantly believes that generations of music lovers were taken for a ride when the music industry forced new technology down their throats. The LP, say he and others like him, sounds a thousand times better than most CDs. And certainly better than anything you could download from the Internet. In a small room strewn with audio equipment and cables, he pulls out an LP from his 10,000-record library. But it's not some vintage Elvis record from the Sixties (not that he doesn't have those, too). It's the White Stripes, one of the new millennium's edgy, cool, neo- garage rock bands. But why would they - a band born in the age of digital music - have their record label re-issue their songs on something as non-cutting-edge as vinyl? "It's because the bands insist on it," says Fremer, senior contributing editor for Stereophile Magazine and freelance music writer. "A lot of these kids dreamed of growing up and making an album - not a download," he says. Have you gotten rid of your turntable, thinking it looks like some sort of fossil in the age of MP3s? Hidden your albums in the closet, thinking they're a sign of your age? Well, take heart. Even some younger music fans who weren't raised on vinyl are acquiring it, either because they agree the sound quality is better or they just like the novelty of it. And while this is by no means a booming trend, say observers, there are major record labels - and smaller outfits across the country - who are glad to fill this growing niche by re-issuing old favorites and newer CD releases on vinyl with beautifully produced record sleeves and bonus tracks. Though the recording industry does not track the sales of vinyl LPs, according to John Atkinson, editor in chief of Stereophile magazine in Manhattan, LP sales in 2003 actually outnumbered the sale of DVD audio, one of the new high-resolution formats being promoted by the music industry. "It's definitely a niche," Atkinson said of vinyl sales. "It's driven to some extent by nostalgia, but also by a general dissatisfaction with CDs. ... It's been 21 years since CDs were launched and promises were born. But in general, the sound just isn't that good. So there's sort of that feeling of, 'why didn't we recognize what we had, when we had it?'-" Chad Kassem did. He never took his records for granted. And to hear the fanatical way he talks, it's as if saving the LP is like saving the world. "I've been swimming against the tide the whole time. When everybody was going CD, I was trying to save the LP. It was like Noah in the boat. 'Get on, there's a flood coming!'-" says Kassem, owner of Acoustic Sounds in Salina, Kan., which sells new and re- issued music on vinyl via its Web site at acousticsounds.com. His business started in the early Eighties, when he bought up LPs ravenously as CDs took their place in record stores. "I came to Kansas 20 years ago to get sober and I started collecting records. I was working as a cook cooking hamburgers. And then one thing led to another. Soon, we started reissuing records. Then we started recording our own records and building our own mastering facility. ... We do everything from the microphone to the mastering to the artwork. ... Vinyl is coming back, and people are appreciating it." Kassem, like Fremer, says consumers were duped by corporate America. "Somehow, God came down and put it into everybody's heads one day that the CD was better. We just assumed it was. Even me, kind of, for a moment, there. Like, 'wow, this has got to be better.' You can't believe how many people sold off their record collections, bought CDs, and are buying their record collections back again," he says. Bob Irwin, owner of another independent reissue label, Sundazed in New York's Catskills region, began his business 15 years ago. "We're one of the most prolific reissue labels anywhere. We aggressively mine the history of rock-and-roll, country, jazz, and also issue material by select newer artists that fit into the overall picture of the kind of music we specialize in," he explains. Irwin, like most audiophiles, isn't saying that all CDs are bad or that all LPs are good. "There are great-sounding CDs, and there are lousy-sounding CDs. Just like there are good LPs and bad ones. But the best vinyl is impossible to beat," he says. "I don't consider it a small niche anymore. At Sundazed, we did half a million in sales in vinyl last year. That's not small potatoes," he says. "It has become so much more mainstream that even the lay person knows something's going on. Our demographic is not just an audiophile," he says, invoking the term for people intensely focused on the quality of sound. "We are aggressively selling our vinyl to the 20- to 35-year-olds," he adds. "Certainly our marketing thrust is to the younger listener. We, No. 1, love that particular kind of music that seems to be desirable to that age group. And also, we aggressively want to keep the format alive. That also goes hand-in- hand with keeping our list price in an area that is affordable and manageable to young folks." Most 12-inch records are in the $15 range. Some major record labels are also dipping into the vinyl market. Sony, for example, has released an elaborately packaged AC/DC vinyl box set. Other vinyl releases include recordings from Pearl Jam, Incubus, and Beyonce - all artists far removed from the Seventies, when the LP was king. "People want it," says Josh Rosenthal, vice president of alternative sales and marketing for Sony Music Distribution in New York. "The titles we focus on putting on vinyl are primarily alternative rock and R&B, and any artist who has a great following on the independent account side." In other words, artists whose records are sold in specialty stores and independent record stores. "In general, you're not going to find it in Sam Goody," he says. While some major music outlets like the Virgin Megastore in Times Square and Tower Records on Broadway in Manhattan have vinyl sections, it's harder to come by in the suburbs. "It's easier to find heroin in Bergen County than vinyl," says Fremer. "Not that I would know." Rosenthal agrees it can be elusive, depending on where you live. That's because there isn't a mass market for it. "It's a tiny part of our overall business. But it's important, from an overall marketing standpoint. It's certainly not something we have to do, but a lot of the times, the artist just wants it. Many times, the artist asks for it because they themselves have a love of vinyl. ... Some people feel it has superior sound quality. ... And I think a fan wants everything. If you're a really die- hard fan of an artist, you want everything put out by that artist. And so the industry finds ways to satisfy the customer with a lot of different formats." As opposed to reissued works, Damn Lovelys band member Ochs is more the collector of vintage vinyl. She prowls flea markets in Pennsylvania and loads up her car with dozens of records by artists she sometimes has never even heard of. Unlike audiophiles like Kassem and Fremer, she is not so much interested in perfect sound as she is in the romance of the album as a form. "I don't mind pops and scratches. I think that adds to the listening experience. But that's me. It's a personal thing," says Ochs, who also contributes music reports to National Public Radio and has been a DJ for free-form radio station WFMU in Jersey City. Fremer bristles at such a remark. "I hate the pops and clicks," he says, walking into a side utility room from his record wonderland. Inside, there is a machine that actually vacuums the LPs to keep them as pristine as possible. Sure, the sleeve, the act of putting it on the turntable, watching the disc spin round and round is all part of the experience. But his main passion is sound. He plays a CD version of Elvis Costello's "Every Day I Write the Book." To the untrained ear, it sounds OK. Though he notes that the drums sound like they came from a drum machine, and that the vocals sound somehow synthesized. "No depth," he keeps repeating, his voice competing with the blaring music. Then he puts on the LP version of the same song, practically genuflecting at his massive stereo speakers as they bang out the tune. Quickly, the naked ear can hear what he means. The base has depth. The instruments ring clear. It sounds more like you're in the studio with the artist. And indeed, there isn't a pop or scratch to be heard. He beams as the song finishes. "You see? No CD could ever sound like that." E-mail: petrick@northjersey.com Copyright 2004 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
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