The Long-Player Goodbye: The Album from Vinyl to IPod and Back Again

by Travis Elborough

Ever since the arrival of the long—playing record in 1948, the album has acted as the soundtrack to our lives. Record collections—even on a CD or iPod-are personal treasures, revealing our loves, errors in judgment, and lapses in taste.

In The Vinyl Countdown, Travis Elborough explores the way in which particular albums are deeply embedded in cultural history or so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible. While music itself has experienced several different movements over the past sixty years, the album has remained a constant. But the way we listen to music has changed in the last ten years. In the age of the iPod, when we can download an infinite number of single tracks instantaneously, does the concept of the album mean anything?

Elborough moves chronologically through relevant periods, letting the story of the LP, certain genres, youth cults, and topics like sleeve designs, shops, drugs, and education unfurl as he goes along. The Vinyl Countdown is a brilliant piece of popular history, an idiosyncratic tribute to a much-loved part of our shared consciousness, and a celebration of the joy of records.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History

464 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2008

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw this book at The Last Bookstore, I thought it would be about the history of vinyl and how it got turned into the world of CD's and MP3s - and the cover does convey it as being a technical book about the nature of the recorded business and medium. But alas, that is not the case at all. Basically a book by Travis Elborough on the history of Western pop music through his eyes. And he's an amusing writer, and I pretty much agree with him on the subject matter and their albums. But it is mostly about music, and it covers all the iconic music movements of the past 50 years or so.

It does cover the subject matter of album length and concepts, for instance in the world of Frank Sinatra who may or may not be the first artist to use the album as a concept project. But Elborough mostly spends his time - and the book is 395 pages long, not including its excellent biblography section - on music history as he sees it. So it is very much of a subjective view on pop, and it touches lightly on the merits of vinyl and the CD world. In fact it barely touches on new technology whatsoever. Still, an enjoyable read, but not necessary the essential book on pop, and very little information on the technical world of the CD and MP3.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting information in this but I can't help but find it a bit unorganised in layout and can be a bit irritating to read.

[David Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific read. Very good on the technical history of the LP that only came into being in 1948, it’s size fixed by being able to cram Beethoven’s Eroica on to 2 sides of microgrooved vinyl allowing 17 minutes on each. Columbia had unwittingly hit on the ideal format for the home consumption of music whereas their keen rivals RCA stuck to the 45 RPM disc that allowed rock and roll singles to stack up on millions of Dansettes.
Some other things I learned:
LP’s have 22.5 minutes per side with 224-300 grooves per inch.
78’s have 90 grooves per inch and contain emery powder and limestone which causes the hiss and makes them brittle as well as having a finite life of less than 100 plays.
WWII triggered a shortage of shellac from Asia leading to the development of polyvinyls.
The German Company BASF invented recording tape which was highly secret and intrigued the allies who couldn’t work out how Radio Frankfurt could play whole symphonies without a break or musicians playing live all night.
The record sleeve had to be invented in 1939 by Eric Steinweiss of Columbia Records.
The first LP released was Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Opus 64 by Bruno Walter and the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of NYC. This may be it... https://open.spotify.com/track/1yQrbK... Which is obviously not vinyl!
Told with wry amusement with a good deal of footnotes and witty allusions - even Gripper Stebson gets an honourable mention as a nod to fans of Grange Hill.

[Richard Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the U.K. version as an e-book and was amazed by the amount of research that had gone into it. I had to keep googling for pictures of the record covers mentioned, and so I borrowed a print version from my local library that turned out to be the U.S. imprint titled (pun intended) The Vinyl Countdown — in my opinion a better title than the U.K. original . In addition, it was illustrated, saving me the trouble of googling cover pictures.
As a record collector, I particularly appreciated the detailed history of the development of the long playing record. The book took me chronologically through the various musical genres that the LP has served up to its almost extinction in the mid nineties and its (dare I say) resurrection from about 2010.
However, the book, published in 2009 now seems dated. The vinyl LP now outsells CDs and has a new life with special editions, reissues of classic rock albums, elaborate (i.e. expensive) box sets, Dinked editions, art editions etc..
It was anyway worth the read and I really liked the rather tongue-in-cheek style. Give it a read.

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly an amicable amble through the History of Rock. Travis Elborough is an engaging personality though with a good sense of humour so it was an easy read just don't expect any brand new insights into the well travelled annals of rock history. The introduction where he details the development of the LP was quite interesting and maybe the best part of the book.

[Laura Vona · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lively and informative romp through the history of modern recorded music. By no means a definative history (the author lets us know this right fromt he start), this book reads more like one man's history of his experiences with his own collection.
The author's style reminds me alot of my favorite authors from the many issues of Creem, Circus and Rip magazines that I read voraciously while in my teen years while adding to my own collection of music.
He's not a historian, he's a fan at heart and that passion for the media shines through in this great fun to read and highly entertaining book.

[Palmyrah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure whether to give this three stars or four. Sloppy editing is the main reason it gets three. I rally enjoyed the book – loved the subject-matter, liked the treatment, found the author’s sense of humour quite refreshing in places. If I have a complaint, it’s that the writing is generic rock-biography style, as seen in Behind the Shades and the like. Perhaps Travis Elborough and Clinton Heylin are the same person? Both names sound equally pseudonymous, and in a similar way.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up loving & collecting records so this book was right up my street. With the benefit of hindsight skipping the jazz chapter would've been a good idea although it's importance to the LP's development is significant and mutual. And then there was Yes...