Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium

John Corbett

Published by Duke University Press 2017

Vinyl Freak

Love Letters to a Dying Medium

John Corbett

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822373155

Overview
Contents

About this book

Music writer, curator, and collector John Corbett burrows deep inside the record collector's mind, documenting and reflecting on his decades-long love affair with vinyl. Discussing more than 200 rare and out-of-print LPs, Corbett combines memoir and criticism to explain what makes vinyl special and what drives collectors everywhere.

Author / Editor information

John Corbett is a music critic, record producer, and curator. He is the author of Microgroove: Forays into Other Music and Extended Play: Sounding Off from John Cage to Dr. Funkenstein, both also published by Duke University Press, and A Listener’s Guide to Free Improvisation. His writing has appeared in DownBeat, Bomb, Nka, and numerous other publications. He is the co-owner of Corbett vs. Dempsey, an art gallery in Chicago.

Reviews

"Vinyl Freak could have easily been a stale trip down memory lane by a record collector. Yet Corbett takes an almost philosophical look at how music passes through listening mediums and what that means for listeners. As a result, the text will appeal to both vinyl freaks and non-freaks as it speaks to the transience of pop culture and its intersection with everyday lives."

-- Amanda McCorquodale Foreword Reviews

"... since the discussion is at least as much about the music being collected as the vinyl package, there is also a lot of intriguing music in the book. Much (but not all) of it jazz, and all of it worth seeking out: it comes with Corbett's highest recommendation."

-- Mark Sullivan All About Jazz

"[A] fascinating look at a subculture og hard-core collectors and a gold mine of information about various kinds of music and recording esoterica.... The illustrations of the record covers under review are fascinating and the author's musical savvy is daunting. This lively book could appeal to a wide range of readers."

-- David Keymer Library Journal

"... one of the most readable books about the arcane magic of hunting down and listening to rare and unusual albums, or even rediscovering them from your own collection."

-- Jon Newey Jazzwise

"As a person who is not quite an over-the-top Sun Ra aficionado but is certainly more than a casual fan, I am forever grateful for Corbett’s obsession. As a person who is always interested in discovering new and obscure music, I am also forever grateful for Corbett and his publisher compiling this collection of reviews. Although I read several of them in their original incarnation in Downbeat, this little book is now my reference guide for music I need to check out. Thanks again, John Corbett."

-- Ron Jacobs Counterpunch

"[Corbett's] new book digs deep into the culture of the vinyl lover and digs even deeper into his personal record collection. In the process, he exposes a beautiful and dusty world largely forgotten but kept alive by that dead medium known as the vinyl record."

-- Christopher Laird PopMatters

"Corbett really is an 'equal opportunity ear filler' and is willing to acquire the music he really enjoys in any format. With Vinyl Freak John Corbett invites us to join him in the pleasure of discovering new sounds to indulge our ears. So what are you waiting for? You’ve been invited. Highly Recommended!"

-- Chris De Chiara Avant Music News

"Corbett still has an obscene record collection, but he's realized that his greatest mission is to share and educate—to arrange things so that others can experience the joy that he does. As much as anything I've read by him, Vinyl Freak does precisely that."

-- Peter Margasak Chicago Reader

"John Corbett is one of my favourite music writers. This book gathers up his elegaic and highly informative columns for Vinyl Freak magazine along with a series of mediations or essays on his love of music, an engaging mix of autobiography, reflection and storytelling. There are lots of colour pictures of record sleeves too."

-- Rupert Loydell International Times

"Corbett's deep knowledge in his chosen fields yields many valuable insights about records you may never have even heard of, let alone heard. Sure, he appreciates the classics, but he favours outliers. Admirably, he wants to broaden the canon (it would behoove readers to keep a notebook handy to tabulate all the records for which they should search).... And that is the motor of Vinyl Freak: an insatiable desire for the next revelatory recording, offering a thrilling portal to discover a hidden facet of your identity through a work of art. And if it impresses your mates or seduces a potential lover, so much the better."

-- Dave Segal The Wire

"John Corbett revels in the knowledge he's gained from a life spent rooting round shops and chats with like-minded souls. It's the final section that will resonate with most, detailing his experience unearthing an entire house-worth of Sun Ra memorabilia, it is so vividly written that you can almost sense his pulse racing as he ecstatically rifles through priceless artefacts."

-- Record Collector

"Corbett writes with both enthusiasm and a keen ear, the upshot of which is that high-dollar rarities and cheapies that shred get near-equal attention."

-- Clifford Allen New York City Jazz Record

"John Corbett shows how vinyl collecting serves archival and perhaps even societal purposes. By actively reanimating obscure and hard to find vinyl, he demonstrates that 'vinyl freaks' make worlds available that otherwise might be lost. Vinyl Freak opens up a world of vinyl, revealing recordings, musicians, as well as cultural history, that remain written in the grooves of decades-old records."

-- Janet Borgerson & Jonathan Schroeder Popular Music and Society

“Vinyl Freak is a good read, a well-written collection that helps with the fun and overwhelming project of trying to come to grips with the huge amount of music preserved in the LP era. I cannot imagine even casual collectors making it through Vinyl Freak without adding several items to their wants lists.”

-- Carlos Peña ARSC Journal

"The spirit of this book, it’s generosity and enthusiasm all work to support John’s preferred status as a 'Freak' not a 'Snob.' I love records. I love books. A beautiful book about crazy rare and out-of-print records?! Heaven."

-- Jeff Tweedy Amazon Book Review

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Track One / Formation of a Freak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Track Two / “News of My Death, Greatly Exaggerated,” Quoth the Record Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
Column One / 2000–2003 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Track Three / Freak, Not Snob Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Column Two / 2004–2006 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Track Four / Brand New Secondhand: Record Collector Subcultures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Column Three / 2006–2012 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Track Five / Specialty of the House Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Track Six / Anything Can Happen Day: Sun Ra, Alton Abraham, and the Taming of the Freak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Column Four / 2016 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Track Seven / Run-Off Groove Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 264
Illustrations
- Other: 208 color photographs

eBook

Published: May 18, 2017
ISBN: 9780822373155