6 Reasons Why I Love My Record Player

My 18th birthday present from my brother was a record player. I didn't actually get to use it until late November, my birthday being mid-October, due to some delivery issues and a broken needle. When the day finally came, I was overjoyed as I'd wanted one for quite a while, for a few reasons. My dad has heaps of old vinyl which were lying untapped in his office cupboard. Also, I was constantly hearing that the sound quality of vinyl is superior and wanted to really check it out for myself. I'd long been of the opinion that buying something physical when it comes to buying music is so much more important and wonderful than downloading, so getting a record player was a logical conclusion of that. Also, lots of singles and special releases by bands only come out on vinyl so I wanted in on where the action is.

So after a few months perusing old records and acquiring new ones, I sitting back and listening to my dad's old copy of Neil Young's Harvest - the case of which is just one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen - I started thinking about what had grown on me about the wonderful machine in the months I'd owned and used it. Here are the six reasons I came up with as to why I now love my record player:

1. I Stop Flicking Through iTunes
Now I'm someone who does purposefully listen to whole albums in one sitting and who's very against the consumerist attitude towards music in today's mainstream, where people's listening habits are conditioned to listen to lone hit tracks, not whole albums or bodies of work. But even I end up flicking aimlessly through iTunes or the internet sometimes, bouncing from track to track without really taking anything in, finding something new I want to listen to before I even finishing what I'm currently listening to, especially when I'm searching for loads of new music. Having a record player kind of frees me of that. I put something on and that's it, it's spinning and playing on the other side of the room and I leave it going, spinning onwards. It's a really liberating feeling when I've been used to trotting through iTunes for most of my musical life. And as a result...

2. I Get More Done!
A less artistic and conceptual note but it's true, I'm more productive when listening to a record on a record player. It's on the other side of the room, playing away. Not at my finger tips, beckoning me to fiddle and shuffle every three and a half minutes. This kind of belies the argument that people don't want to listen to vinyl any more because it's too inconvenient to put on and turn over half way through. What do you reckon is more time consuming - scrolling through iTunes for the duration of each song in order to find what you next want to listen to, or getting up once for about 20 second every 20 minutes to flip a record over?

3. The Sound Quality IS Better!
It really is, and I'm so glad this argument proved true once I started listening to vinyl. Everything is noticeably clearer and sharper, especially if I have the tracks on iTunes or CD as well and compare them. The constituent parts, individual instruments etc. become a lot clearer and more obvious (even if my record player's built in speaker does lack a lot of bass) yet the tracks seems stronger and more vivid as a whole for it. It's wonderful. I bought a 7" reissue of The Smiths' "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" from the sublime Banquet Records in Kingston, slapped it on when I got home and the the sound that came out just blew me off my feet! It's a song I've listened to umpteen times, and also a song which I've always loved for the sound and production; but on vinyl it was just made even more brilliant. So much richer and more vibrant, more alive and brimming with SOMETHING which I just can't put my finger on. And the romantic crackle of old vinyl is something that just melts my heart so often. It's interesting to think that loving that crackling sound is something which people for whom vinyl was/is the primary/sole means of listening to music don't really experience because it's totally normal to them. But for me it's something nostalgic and romantic which logically I guess shouldn't colour how I treat the music. But it does, and I'm glad.

4. I Think About The Structure of The Records More
I'm a huge lover of slapping on an album and listening to it the whole way through as one piece of work, but it's sometimes a lot more difficult to do that when I've got iTunes in front of me or the CD case, and I'm glancing at how long each track is, what the name of each one is, when the singles you like are coming up etc. And it's easy to just pause it, toddle off to do something and then come back and pick up where you left off. But when I listen to an album on vinyl, there's none of that. It all flows seamlessly, and it feels so much more adventurous. It's another thing that makes it quite liberating to own and use. You get more lost in the whole thing, you don't always know exactly what track it is or what it's called, which makes you even more keen to listen. I experienced this when I got a vinyl copy of The National's 2002 album Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers and I just loved fading into a whole new set of songs that I had no idea about, unaware of what was what and where was where. This album also highlighted the significance that the final track on the first side of an LP can have. The first side ends with the song "Murder Me Raechel", one of the most thunderous and heavy moments on a record that veers from the most tentative, fragile moments imaginable to heartwrenching screams and guitar thumps. When it finishes and there's silence halfway through the album before you turn it over, I was just left blown away by that song and how it marked a sort of peak in the album; and it contrasts wonderfully with the much gentler track which follows.

5. I Get to Go Into Record Shops!
Proper independent record stores are so much better than entertainment franchises like HMV. I'm not going to hate on HMV because there's plenty good to be said for it, but when it comes to buying independent music, independent stores are (surprisingly) the best place to go; specifically for vinyl in this case, seeing as pretty much nowhere else sells vinyl any more. It cwas quite daunting when I first started frequenting record stores as you get the feeling that these beardy music fan boys behind the desk are looking down on you and judging you for every record you linger on, but once I got over that I discovered that most record store staff are actually reall, really nice guys who are genuinely glad to see you in their store; not because you're spending money, but because you're buying new music! I've had some great chats with record store workers and most of them really know their stuff - who's who, what's where. And then you find out about gigs, in store performances and other cool stuff like that. I've already mentioned the wonderful Banquet Records in Kingston, and they have the wonderful habit of putting rather cheery and personal notes into anything you order from them. You don't get that from the fat girl in HMV.

6. It's A Conversation Starter.
As you can imagine, very few people my age (18) have record players nowadays, and I'm certainly the only one of the vast majority of friendship groups who uses one. So raising the topic and talking about the benefits of it, and subsequently talking generally about music, is something I really enjoy. I especially enjoy the fact that it's given me a lot to talk about with my parents, my dad especially, as well as my brother. As soon as I got my record player I raided my dad's huge stacks of vinyl and picked out stuff in their that I liked the look of, already knew about or that he recommended. It was so interesting listening to him talk about when and where he bought stuff, why he bought it, what he remembers about it, things like that. I hope I'm like that with my kids one day!

I understand that buying a record player sadly won't be for everyone. But if you're really into music and love it lots then I thoroughly recommend it. It's been great just over the last few months and I hope I have many years of record spinning to come!