Spin the Black Circle: Anatomy of Neil Young Vinyl Series - Chapter 2

Spin the Black Circle.

Earlier in the week we blogged on the Anatomy of a LP Box Set - Neil Young Official Release Series 1-4 which had YouTube video of the packaging process.

Here's another chapter in the process: vinyl pressing.

Ever wonder how vinyl records are pressed? In this video you will see the extruder make a puck of vinyl, sandwich it between two labels, and then press the vinyl puck between two plates that contain the grooves that make a vinyl record. Once the press cycle is finished you will see a knife cut off the excess vinyl. The record is then picked and placed into a sleeve where a heavy, metal plate is put on top to ensure the records remain flat while it cools. Records pressed at Furnace MFG / Pallas in Germany are among the finest in the world. This is a process that has been refined and perfected since the plant opened for business in 1947.

(Thanks www.furnacemfg.com/vinyl and Purple Words on a Grey Background! And it's all because sound matters.)

Also, earlier in the week, in our review of Neil Young's Dreamin' Man we took issue with some of the criticism of the CD in a Pitchfork review by Joshua Klein. (It seems as if you can never find a Pitchfork review that doesn't have some sort of snide, clever, oh so hip putdown of any artist on the map say before 2008).

Anyways -- lo and behold -- a very positive review from Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Neil Young: Neil Young / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / After the Gold Rush / Harvest by Mark Richardson. The review has a knowledgeable background of the historical importance of the albums and why they have achieved such longevity in not just Neil Young's canon but in that seminal period of rock at the turn of the sixties.

Richardson writes:

All four of these albums, in fact, are excellent-- records that everyone should have in their collection eventually, in whatever format. I say "eventually" because Neil Young is an artist you shouldn't force yourself to get into; his most devoted fans are so convinced of his genius, and so bent on tracking down every last bootleg, that it's easy to hear a few songs and decide that Young isn't such a big deal. Sometimes it can just take a little while to come around to his music, and you need to be in the right frame of mind.

It's an interesting essay that we encourage everyone to read -- even if one doesn't have a turntable, never plans to have one and could care less about vintage warm analog sound. Like some say, because sound matters.

Also, see Anatomy of a LP Box Set - Neil Young Official Release Series 1-4.