Whats on your turntable tonight?

Sufjan Stevens - invites you to: Come on feel the ILLINOISE

Bill Evans / Jim Hall - Undercurrent 

@boxer12  +1 Magnetic Fields

Expect the unexpected whenever Stephin Merritt is on the turntable.

Kind of sad that "Wayward Bus" was the last album Susan Anway would do lead vocals.

@flennon  Do you use an ultrasonic cleaner on your records?

Lately, I've been bringing lots of 30~40 year old records out of hiding.  A ride through the ultrasonic cleaner makes them nearly as quiet as contemporary records. 

Remarkable how good 40+ year old vinyl can sound when cleaned up.

I was blown away listening to Patti Smith's "Easter" (released in 1978) after a through cleaning.  I'd forgotten how good the recording and mixing were. 

As I mentioned earlier, I don't actually use the Sugar Cube to eliminate pops and clicks while listening to vinyl.  I use it mostly to speed up creation of digital files, editing track breaks and output.

I'm listening to a Ray Charles compilation - A 25th Anniversary In Show Business Salute To Ray Charles

It's pretty scuffed and scratched up, visually VG or less.  I listened to side A without "magic" engaged on the Puffin and there was a lot of surface noise.  I turned "magic" on for side B and there's almost no noise, and the music seems more dynamic.  There's also a new "grade" function on the Puffin.  It gave this record a "D-".  I'm not sure how that compares to the Goldmine scale, but doesn't sound very good.  I was thinking about selling the Puffin, but I may have to re-think that.

Johnny Paycheck-Armed And Crazy Side 2 SQ 4.3
Bryan Adams-Reckless Side 2 SQ 4.2
Mel Torme-Torme A New Album Side 2 SQ 4.3
Traffic-Welcome To The Canteen Side 2 SQ 4.2
CCR-Gold Side 1 SQ 4
Dionne Warwick-Valley Of The Dolls Side B SQ 4.3
Louis Van Dyke-Mariposa Side A SQ 4.2
Billy Squier-Enough Is Enough Side 2 SQ 4.2

All were played last night.