by Andi Bricklin
Okay kids gather around, it’s time for a little That Mag lesson in music history. Once upon a time, long before the high definition sound of digital recordings and mp3 downloads, our ancestors used to listen to recordings via big black discs of wax that required a turntable that needed to move at precisely the right speed to ensure the playback of the recordings sound quality.
Some referred to them as “records” others called them “wax”, but the technical term for these artifacts is “vinyl”. There is something magical about those vinyl records: the warmth of the sound, the feel of the cover, the care you take when laying the needle on the groove. There is a lot of love for this format, which is why many artists have chosen to release their new albums on vinyl. We live in a world today where we can choose how we listen to our music, but in the 70s vinyl reigned king!
The Vinyl Dialogues is a brilliant collection of the stories behind some of the most memorable albums of the ’70s told by the artists themselves. Author Mike Morsch set out to get these stories and spoke to legendary artists that included Daryl Hall on Abandoned Luncheonette, Ian McLaglan talks about A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse, and Cheech and Chong talk about how a wild ride with Jack Nicholson inspired the song “Basketball Jones” off the Los Cochinos album. These are just a few of the book’s highlights, but goes on to include stories from David Cassidy, KC and the Sunshine Band, Chicago, and Peaches and Herb, until it ends with an epilogue of the decade from Philadelphia’s own Jerry Blavat.
The Vinyl Dialogues does more than just entertain; it serves as a way to preserve a historic time in music. In a decade where video was scarce and drugs were plenty, stories and memories suffer from the tragedy of “whisper down the lane”, so preserving these memories is essential in understanding how these legendary recordings came to fruition and Mike Morsch does so beautifully.
Filled with wonderfully fun and intriguing stories that are accompanied by great photos, my only complaint is that it’s not available in hardback version for display on my coffee table. Regardless, this books needs to be in the hands of every music fan, and sitting in every recording studio in the nation.
