Search for Vinyl

The vinyl record has been dead outside of collector's markets and die hards for a good 10 years now. This had mixed effects for Prog of the age. While CDs keep their sound much better, leaving all of that musical intricacy, it came at the cost of all of that wonderfull album art. Today, there are lots of albums form progressive rock's golden age that are available only in the vinyl format. With the Internet in tow, their not so hard to find even? Still, it raises the question, what got left behind?

Basically, non-English prog. The record industry doesn't produce as many albums in several parts of the world that were integral to prog, such as Italy, Scandinavia, and Spain. All but the most famous albums from those areas didn't even touch a CD until 2000 at least, and many remain out of print or only on vinyl. Also, Prog electronic albums tend to be only on the black disc.

I advocate the preservation of vinyl record for the coming generations. While very little of my prog collection is in that format (or even on CD for that matter), all of those extra gimmicks, books, liner notes, and artwork are worth the extra cash. The only question is how much can a record be worth? The rarest prog albums are in high 3 digit sums, which is enough to bankrupt anyone. Personally, I would not spend more than $50 on any one record.