I really want that Gene Clark Sessions double album.

Yeah, the Gene Clark Sings CD is another one that's on my wants list.

I’m currently working on my late parents’ house, repairing what I can and getting rid of stuff accumulated over generations.

In the midst of a lot of old broken faucets, dusty old gewgaws and tons and tons of books are my dad’s old vinyl records (piles and piles of them) and a few of my own, from back when I was young!



I think I’ll have to buy a turntable...

Couple of recent vinyl pickups from the well respected and somewhat famous (though, not actually that great when you get there) Truck Record Shop in Oxford.




The It's A Beautiful Day album is classic late '60s, San Francisco Bay Area psychedelia and, although I already own it on CD, I wanted a vinyl copy -- not least because that cover artwork is gorgeous and deserves to be seen in its proper size. This is a European late '70s pressing.

The Sandy Denny double LP is a new compilation/pressing and, as you can see, it was half price (bargain!). It's a collection of acoustic demos, outtakes, and BBC sessions from all periods of Denny's brief career. It includes material recorded during her time with bands such as Fairport Convention, the Strawbs, Fotheringay, and, of course, her solo career. I like Sandy Denny's voice a lot, but I always think that her solo stuff was way too overproduced, so the idea of hearing her songs in a stripped back, acoustic setting really appeals. I haven't cracked the wrapper on this yet, but I'm really looking forward to giving it a spin.

The It's A Beautiful Day cover attributed to 'Globe' is really George Hunter of the original SF Charlatans, he also did some great covers with retro type art for early Quicksilver albums (Happy Trails and Shady Grove).

Interesting to see that Sandy Denny release, it must be meant as a companion to the excellent book of the same title. I'll have to see if there is anything on there I don't have. I do have a lot of demos and BBC stuff of hers and love it. Sandy is one of those rare artists like Gene Clark and Richard Thompson who have grown on me over time.

Let's talk about albums that you feel were "made" to heard on vinyl...and by that I mean, albums that you feel can only be truly experienced properly by hearing them played back on a record player.

For me, all five of The Police's albums sound infinitely better on vinyl than they do on CD. I have the Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings CD set from 1993, and I've also heard a later remastering of the Synchronicity album, but none of these sound "right" to my ears. When I put the original vinyl pressings of the band's albums on, the music -- the bass and drums especially -- just seems to come alive in a way that it just doesn't on CD.

I also think that Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and R.E.M.'s Murmur sound infinitely better on vinyl than any CD reissue of either record that I've ever heard.

On a related matter, I've always felt that The Beatles' Abbey Road album is best heard on vinyl -- not least because you need a nice long gap of silence between "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", at the end of side 1, and "Here Comes the Sun" at the beginning of side 2. Having to get up and flip the disc over provides enough of a gap between those two songs. On the CD issues of that album, it always feels "wrong" to me that the delicate intro of "Here Comes the Sun" comes just a couple of seconds after the abrupt, noisy ending of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

Going further back, I tend to prefer listening to old country or blues records that were originally issued on 78 shellac discs on vinyl. For example, I have the Robert Johnson The Complete Recordings 2-CD set from 1990 and a 1998 remaster of the King of the Delta Blues Singers album, but neither of them sound a patch on the 1961 vinyl copy of King of the Delta Blues Singers that I also own.

Likewise, I have some early 78rpm recordings by the likes of Uncle Dave Macon, Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe on various CDs, but those same recordings sound much better to my ears on a 1974 vinyl compilation I own called Stars of the Grand Ole Opry 1926-1974.

Anybody else got any favourite albums that they feel just have to be heard on vinyl?

And let's not forget that the running order of pretty much of any LP released between the late 40s and the mid-80s would've been decided upon, taking that break between sides into account.

I agree, however, that some albums actually work better without a "changing sides" gap. Dark Side of the Moon is a great example. The Grateful Dead's Live/Dead and the Allman Brothers Band's Eat a Peach are two other vinyl era albums that are better on CD for that reason. On both albums, there are long, 25 minute plus tracks that were spread over two sides of the original LP release ("Dark Star" and "Mountain Jam" respectively). On the CD reissues, these long tracks were stitched back together without any interruption in the middle of them.