19th Oct 2004
Turning Tables
My fix of vinyl, put off for so many years, is getting addressed!
I just got a Stanton STR8-80 Direct Drive Digital Turntable. It’s been at least 15 years since I’ve heard my records! Glad they’re still in great shape.
Hearing old albums is like being reunited with old friends. The first batch of albums I played was stuff like Kate Bush, Mike Oldfield (think sonic landscapes are newish? Hergest Ridge goes back 30 years!), UB40, and some early Pete Townshend solo work.
It was a lot of fun showing my daughter how records and turntables go together. “Don’t bump the shelf, or you’ll knock the needle out of the groove” (scrunched face) - “You have to flip the record over to hear the other side” (rolling eyes) - “hear those little pops? that’s specks of dirt!” (barely supressed laughter). We’re so spoiled in our east & west coast pads - we’re always streaming off of an iPod or iTunes, or doing something more manual by using the CD/DVD changer. Using a manual turntable is like meandering back to a much simpler time.
And I love that.
