Friday Vinyl

I didn’t hear the knock at the door, I didn’t hear the door bell, and I didn’t hear the dog bark at the mail carrier. In fact I sat wondering why my record had not yet arrived, so I checked the tracking numbers. I noticed that that my package was reading delivered, so I opened my front door and saw sitting there, the square box containing Led Zeppelin I.

Since renewing my vinyl record hobby I had been trying to find used copies of Led Zeppelin albums to no avail. Used copies of Led Zeppelin records didn’t last long in used record stores. There is a good reason for this, Atlantic stopped producing vinyl because record players were on the way out and the mainstream was switching from cassette to CD. Vinyl records were not only outdated tech but had been on their last legs for a long time.

There were still bands putting out records in the 90’s but they were mainly new bands and the vinyl releases were small and only served the purpose of getting a cassette out. Then the world switched from analog to digital so many labels asked, “What’s the point of producing vinyl?” A starting band could record a track in their garage on a 4 track and make a decent cassette. Today that process is even simpler. But there were bands that still recorded in Vinyl, and over time a small subset of people decided they missed what I like to call the religious aspect of music. The touch of the media, the physical process of playing, and the ritual of old tech.

Many bands, including rock bands, new age, rap, and even techno, started releasing and re-releasing their original recordings in vinyl, Led Zeppelin did not. And though, they did re-release their songs on vinyl in different sets the original albums were never released. Over the last few years they had made plans to re-release, finally. Originally it would be over a year but then they realized if they took their time they could add more tracks, so they switched to the idea of three a year. So I now have the first of three.

I had big plans for my record arrival with a special post used to relaunch my blog, I had been under hiatus since planting my garden, and had also moved it to a self-hosted address. I ordered the record three months before the release date at my local record shop so I thought this would work out perfectly. Of course, since the closing of the locally owned store I had to go to a chain store. I am fine supporting chains because at some level they are still local and they bring money back to the community though I will always wish I could have stopped in and talked about the release to the owner of Morning Bell Records in Jackson Mississippi. I remember going the day of the release and to my dismay, the record had not been shipped, they had plenty of the CD’s but not the records.

It wasn’t the fault of the store clerk, it was supposed to be shipped it just wasn’t because the chain doesn’t really care about the buying and selling of vinyl records. Of course, I may be too harsh, maybe they do care but figured the re-release would go over like a lead balloon and they wouldn’t have a problem with the item being out of stock. The clerk sadly told me he didn’t know if they would get it anytime soon.

So I figured I would just order it from Amazon then I would still have time to write my blog, but Amazon was now back ordered. I tried other online retailers and they too were back ordered, and though I better understood the problem the local store had in getting the record, I was still a strange mix of sad and angry.

Come to think of it, it was the same feeling I got when I found that the locally owned Jackson Mississippi store Morning Bell was closing. The store struggled to stay open for two years and I like to think that the owner, who had become a common conversant with me, would have made sure I had the record on time (whether that is true or not). The reason this is sad because some of us love the ritual of the thing as much as the thing itself. For me music is personal and all aspects of it should be. I don’t want to be 1 of 2000 people in a concert hall just to hear my favorite band.  I would rather slow dance to the local blues guy with my wife in a small juke joint. If it isn’t personal I don’t have enough interest to sustain the show. And if you think that is crazy you should see me make coffee.

I envision a future where everything will be bought online and I get nervous. I am a fan of online shopping, but there are some things that will always be better local: fruit, vegetables, restaurants, and music. These are things that make a community a community and not just a collection of living quarters. It was sad that I couldn’t get Led Zeppelin I at the record store on the release date because it means that part of what makes a community a community is dying. I would have loved standing in a long line out the doorway to get my record that day it was released. I would have camped out. I wonder if there is a way to strike a balance, to have it both ways, Amazon.com and Morning Bell. How do we save community from ourselves?

Led Zeppelin I the deluxe edition comes with 3 records. The original studio recording and newly released live material. I will respond to this release in two posts. The first will deal with the original release material and the second the live material. Happy reading, and please leave feedback or tell me about your experience in music.