Vinyl Records - Forever Analog

May 7, 2021May 12, 2021

Friday 45 – The Intruders – Pray For Me – Classic Philadelphia Soul

Last weekend one of our local Nashville record stores had a warehouse sale where everything was priced 50 cents each. Upon arrival, I walked back to the rear of the record store and entered through a door that led to a huge room filled with stacks of comics, books, records, CDs and, my favorite, boxes of 45s. Everything was 50 cents each!

I spent three hours flipping through boxes of 45s where I hoped to find some gems for my collection. I left the store that day with a box full of 269 45s including music of all genres, from reggae to R&B to country.

One of the 45s I took a “gamble” on (pun intended, sorry) was a 45 by the Intruders called Pray For Me released in 1970 on Gamble Records. It first caught my eye because it was a white label DJ promo copy with the same song on both sides, one version in mono, the other side in stereo.

But the song title, Pray For Me, also intrigued me. I love collecting gospel soul records from the 1960s – 70s and I was curious if this might fit within that genre. I had found a few other gospel soul 45s at the sale that day so I added this one to the stacks and hoped for the best.

April 15, 2021May 12, 2021

4 Reasons To Love Blue Note’s Tone Poet Vinyl Series

I still remember the first two jazz CDs I bought, A Love Supreme by John Coltrane and Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. These two titles are often the first jazz albums that people buy. I was still a teenager in high school at the time, trying to blindly discover jazz music on my own and those were the two albums I picked from the Columbia House CD catalog!

That was over twenty years ago and as I began collecting records in college, I kept an eye out for jazz records to buy.

Fast forward to today and I’ve built a a nice stereo system in my house and enjoy buying jazz reissues whenever possible.

My favorite series of jazz reissues this past year has come from Blue Note’s Tone Poet Series. Below are a few reasons why I’ve enjoyed this series and keep buying new Tone Poet LPs as soon as they are announced.

April 13, 2021January 26, 2022

11 Unique Covers of I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher

From David Bowie to Britney Spears, I was surprised to find out just how many artists have covered the classic Sonny & Cher song, I Got You Babe.

It all started with a trip to the record store. It had been a few weeks since I stopped by the record store closest to me to do some shopping. Unfortunately, after a quick stroll through the LP section, I couldn’t find anything interesting to buy.

I noticed they had a sale sign on their 45s so I started going through the rows of little records, hoping to find something that piqued my interest. It wasn’t long before I found just the right 45 that led me down this rabbit hole of finding as many cover versions of I Got You Babe as possible.

March 11, 2021March 31, 2021

Do Mobile Fidelity MoFi Records Really Sound Better?

My MoFi copy of Weezer’s self titled album.

I own two Mobile Fidelity “MoFi” records, the above Weezer “blue album”, released in 2012 and a 1980 copy of Abbey Road by the Beatles. I inherited the Abbey Road LP from a family collection and bought the Weezer album at a local store here in Nashville a few years ago.

MoFi records are expensive when released and I always hesitate to buy them. When it comes to music buying, I’ve historically been more of a quantity over quality guy. I’m fine passing up one expensive original pressing record if it means I can buy a stack of other records instead. I’ve sold first pressings out of collections I’ve bought and kept my regular pressing to play without any regrets.

But the older I get, and the more curated my record collection becomes, I’m starting to think I might prefer a higher quality record pressing like what MoFi offers.