“I love listening to vinyl and knowing this was the format that it was supposed to be heard; fully encompassing.”
“Vinyl was more than an auditory experience, it was tactile and visual. The image on the album jacket presented artwork giving the first hint of the poetry, the cacophony, the harmony, and the rhythmic musical secrets that lay within. While a book should never be judged by its cover, a vinyl record could often be judged by the form, color, and visual statement of the album jacket.
Then, when you’ve brought your new album home and stripped off the cellophane coating covering the album jacket and after sliding the thin vinyl disc from within the walls of its sides, when the record is exposed to the light of day for the first time, the anticipation rises as you place the record on the turntable and watch it spin.
Growing up, the weekend was for playing vinyl loud. All the songs that we usually listened to on CD in the car were supercharged and richer playing them at full volume… that is the way to experience classic rock and become obsessed with it.
I think my most memorable experience with vinyl was when a good friend of mine in college, who was a drummer and DJ, found my favorite childhood book dictated on vinyl and he surprised me by DJing that book. And I remember thinking, “Anything can be cool when it’s on vinyl,” and somehow that made it magical even in adulthood.
In elementary school, we did an experiment where the teacher brought in old vinyl records he didn’t care about anymore. We all took a pencil and stuck it through the hole of the record. Then we took a second pencil and taped a needle to the bottom of it and a cone we rolled out of paper to the top.
One kid would spin the record with the first pencil and another would hold the needle attachment to the top. And without any electricity, you could hear the music. That blew my mind. You certainly couldn’t have done that with a CD.
My parents had multiple copies of the same vinyl records when I was growing up. They both owned the same ones before they met, and neither would toss their personal copies even when they moved in together.
Spotify will never have the same effect as vinyl. Listening to music out of the base of your phone or even with headphones will never have the same effect.”
—Eddy Lee Ryder
“Expected to Fly,” the new EP from Eddy Lee Ryder is in stores now.
Eddy Lee Ryder Official | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
PHOTO: JEFF HARRIS
