Today’s Music Ain’t Got The Same Soul
Two ounces of vinyl's Terry Primrose is passionate about preserving rock music's vinyl legacy
by Jeff Holubitsky
Whether the soundtrack of your early life was, like mine, dominated by the oddly respectable coolness of The Beatles, the cynicism of street punks like The Stones, and the drinkin’ music of The Band or The Dead, old vinyl records will always occupy a special place in the heart. Analog records may be outdated, but music just sounds better when you hear it in the medium it was originally designed to be heard.
Terry Primrose, owner of a small company called Two Ounces of Vinyl, is in tune with the lasting appeal of the disc and turntable. They have provided the soundtrack of his own 51 years. When he listens, he sits in a basement room with one chair and, yes, tube stereo. Music is not background noise in his mind. When he travels, he always goes to cities with an abundance of record stores. He doesn’t gamble, but record vendors in Las Vegas know him by name.
Living at 33 Revolutions Per Minute | Vinyl aficionado Terry Primrose shows the correct way to handle a disc
His personal collection holds more than 100,000 albums and he has about 15,000 more on sale for $10 and up at a large stall at the Flea Market on 123 St and 111 Ave, where the married autobody shop man earns the money to finance his serious, serious passion.
Some of his records are from obscure regional artists. Many come from downsizing empty-nesters and estate sales from the days a decade ago, when people just wanted to get rid of junk. Sometimes they’re still wrapped in their original cellophane. Most are rock, but he also sells jazz, blues, country, and even a few of those ripoff Living Strings collections.
SEE caught up with Primrose at the flea market on a recent Friday afternoon as he prepared for another busy weekend.
SEE Magazine: When did you start collecting records?
Terry Primrose: I’ve always bought records, but I got serious about it in 1979. I thought I would collect all of the Hendrix records. I didn’t realize what I was getting into, but one thing leads to another.
SEE: But Jimi Hendrix only put out three studio albums, right?
TP: By the time I quit and went onto something else, I had 100, anyway. There are European versions, all kinds of compilations and bootlegs, particularly when it comes to Hendrix. Electric Ladyland has a different cover in Europe. In England it was released as two separate albums, Part 1 and Part 2, with two different covers. But I tracked them down.
SEE: What are you into now?
TP: Mainly progressive rock. It is a big genre and I have seven or eight thousand of that. There are so many obscure bands. You find that a lot of these prog bands have 15 or 20 albums, but only in Germany or only in France. The European scene for that stuff is much bigger than in North America.
SEE: What about The Beatles? You have a lot of compilations and solo projects here, but none of their actual albums.
TP: There are a lot of copies out there, but most of them are destroyed. What makes an album valuable is condition. People bring them in here but once it’s trashed it is worth zero. It’s hard to find a mint White Album from the ’60s. A mint Beatles album might be $100-$150 for a ’60s pressing. It has to be pristine. But everybody played them to death.
SEE: What is the most rare album here?
TP: I have a Sgt. Pepper’s picture disc and that’s $75, but a lot of the rarer stuff doesn’t make it onto the shelves. I know a lot of guys who collect The Beatles or ’60s rock and I just phone them when one comes in. I search for records for people.
SEE: Do you listen to all these albums?
TP: When I’m grading them, yes.
SEE: Have you always been into vinyl?
TP: Always, but there are a few of us diehards. I don’t know if it is a trend, but a lot of kids are buying records that weren’t born when vinyl was deceased, about 1989 or 1990. Back then, if you wanted to find something you had to be serious, because the record companies tried to kill it. They wanted people to buy CDs or whatever they were pushing.… Now the major labels are realizing there is a pretty big demand.
SEE: What difference is it making in your business?
TP: I hear all of the time about people bringing their turntables out of the basement. Lots of people my age are going back to it. This is my youth and to tell the truth, most people collect what they grew up with and what they knew as teenagers.
SEE: So if someone wants, say, a Fleetwood Mac record before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, you can tell how old they are?
TP: Frankly, most other people don’t even know that exists.
SEE: What about younger people?
TP: I sell a lot of albums to younger kids 16 to about 22. They are looking mostly for ’70s rock, Ten Years After, Pink Floyd, or whatever.
SEE: Why do you think that era appeals to them?
TP: I think the problem now is that bands put out albums every two days and there is no quality control. It is easy to get stuff out there. I like new stuff too, so I don’t want to sound like I’m 75, but I listen to whatever is out there. The only thing I don’t listen to is the Top 40.
Source: http://www.seemagazine.com/
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