This week I completed my decade-long record-digitization project, having ripped around 675 vinyl LPs, 150 78s and 1,100-plus 45s.
First record ripped, on Dec. 8, 2007: a 78 rpm disk of Milky White Way / Bread of Heaven by the Angelic Gospel Singers, followed by I Can’t Stand Myself When You Touch Me and several other vintage James Brown albums. Last record ripped, on May 19, 2018: A 7-inch record with uplifting public service announcements for young people from the Wayout project, circa 1980s. Immediately before that: three square-dance records complete with calls. I didn’t exactly save the best for last.
The process has given me a chance to revisit records I hadn’t touched in years, and some — especially 45s — I had never heard. There were many great discoveries among the old soul and R&B records I used to acquire by the stack at thrift stores and flea markets. Lots of obscure (and, it turns out, often valuable) Chicago soul recordings.
What a fascinating musical journey it must have been!