Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Continuing Story Of The Comeback Of Vinyl Records

There have always been audiophiles that worship vinyl. It’s not every store where you can still get those records. They are around if you know where to look.

According to this story, more people are catching the vinyl bug and some mainstream retailers have started stocking vinyl once again. This is extremely interesting in an era of mp3s and ipods and where it’s just as easy to buy CDs online as go to the mall. But there’s something about vinyl records that’s more tactile. People want to hold them and touch them when buying. Moreover, they’re fragile, so shipping them can be problematic. So in a lot of ways it does make sense for vinyl records to return to brick-and-mortar locations. Now, if only companies would start carrying record players too.

It was a fortuitous typo for the Fred Meyer retail chain.

This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition of R.E.M.’s latest release ‘Accelerate’ inadvertently entered the ‘LP’ code instead. Soon boxes of the big, vinyl discs showed up at several stores.

Some sent them back. But a handful put them on the shelves, and 20 LPs sold the first day.

The Portland-based company, owned by The Kroger Co., realized the error might not be so bad after all. Fred Meyer is now testing vinyl sales at 60 of its stores in Oregon, California, Washington and Alaska.

Other mainstream retailers are giving vinyl a spin too. Best Buy is testing sales at some stores. And online music giant Amazon.com, which has sold vinyl for most of the 13 years it has been in business online, created a special vinyl-only section last fall.

The best-seller so far at Fred Meyer is The Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ album. But musicians from the White Stripes and the Foo Fighters to Metallica and Pink Floyd are selling well, the company says.

‘It’s not just a nostalgia thing,’ said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for Fred Meyer. ‘The response from customers has just been that they like it, they feel like it has a better

Source: Written By David Bodamer
http://blog.retailtrafficmag.com/

This Date In Music History- June 10

Birthdays:

Kim and Kelley Deal (The Breeders) were born in Dayton, Ohio in 1961. Kelley is eleven minutes older than her sister.

Blues legend Howlin' Wolf was born in West Point, Mississippi in 1910.

Shirley Owens Alston of the Shirelles ("Soldier Boy") turns 67.

Judy Garland (as Frances Gumm) was born in Grand Rapids, Minn in 1922.

History:

Ray Charles, known as "The Genius of Soul" and one of the major pioneers of the form, died in 2004 of complications resulting from liver disease. He was 73. Among Charles' biggest hits were "What'd I Say?" "I Got a Woman" and "Georgia On My Mind." During his 45 year career, Ray appeared on the US Pop charts 77 times, with 33 of those songs making the Top 40. He became the first artist to have an album on Billboard's Hot 200 for six decades in a row.

Janis Joplin debuted in concert with Big Brother & the Holding Company at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco in 1966.

In 1972, Elvis Presley recorded two live albums at Madison Square Garden in New York City (the evening concert is released a week later, the afternoon show is released in 1997).

Elvis Presley recorded "A Fool Such As I" and "A Big Hunk O' Love" while on leave from the U.S. Army in 1958.

The Rolling Stones recorded part of their "12x5" album in 1964 (including "It's All Over Now") at the legendary Chess Records studios in Chicago. Their heroes Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and Willie Dixon visit them over the next two days in the studio.

1967- In Woodstock, N.Y., Bob Dylan and the Band begin to record what will become known as The Basement Tapes.

In 1971, a crowd gets so excited during a performance by Jethro Tull in Denver, that police fired tear gas on them. Must have been the flute.

Capitol Records released the Beatles' single "A Hard Days Night" in 1964 and the album of the same name.

In 1966, the Beatles were first heard using reversed tape in the song "Rain." It was a 'B' side to the song "Paperback Writer."

At Seattle's Kingdome in 1976, Paul McCartney & Wings played for a crowd of 67,100, setting an indoor attendance record.

Days after a federal judge declared 2 Live Crew's As Nasty as They Wanna Be obscene, two members of the Crew were arrested in 1990 for performing songs from the album at a club gig.

Steve Sanders (Oak Ridge Boys) was found dead at the age of 45 in 1998. He had apparently died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound.

The Beatles' "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" started a 23 week run at #1 on the UK album chart in 1967.

Sammy Davis Jr. enjoyed the biggest hit of his career in 1973 when "Candy Man", taken from the musical Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, went to number one in the US.

Micki Harris of The Shirelles, died of a heart attack in 1982 after a performance in Atlanta, Georgia. She was 42.

1993- Irish singer Sinead O'Connor took out a full-page ad in the Irish Times asking the public to "stop hurting me please." She blamed her troubles on abuse she suffered as a child. O'Connor was still being criticized for ripping up a picture of the Pope during an appearance on Saturday Night Live the previous October. Shut up bald chick!

Country Joe and the Fish debut on the album chart in 1967 with 'Electric Music for the Mind and Body'.

In 1974, the Who play the first of four sellout nights at Madison Square Garden in New York. Tickets for the shows sold out in 60 hours.