Now There's A Coincidence

and yes it is a coincidence (honest).
With the world (or perhaps just the BBC) going Vinyl Crazy at the moment ('Golden Age Of The Album' ... 'Danny Bakers Great Album Showdown', re-recording Please Please Me ... yada yada yada - all of which, I am watchng and enjoying, and will doubtless be watching again), I've got my turntable back and working as it should be (ie it is no longer hidden away upstairs in my office/den/cave/dunghole, and played as rarely as Halleys Comet).
We're currently having some building work done chez Digit, and as a result the stereo has been moved from the lounge to the dining room.
The opportunity was taken to trim down the current system, removing the MiniDisc and Cassette Player which haven't been used for many years (time for an e-bay sellers account, I think).
Having arranged the system in it's new home, thus:

it became obvious that there was a disparity in heights when standing next to each other - something about 3 inches to 6 inches high was needed.

Not to worry, I've got just the thing:

My Pioneer PL-300 Turntable.  It's about 30-odd years old (although I've only owned it for about 8 years) and boasts an exceptionally smooth and quiet motor, properly balanced tone arm and a platter that spins like its floating on air bearings.
Set it up last weekend, and even got a spirit level out to check it was properly level.

And the first record played on it?  AC/DC - 'High Voltage'
And so after about 3 years of "not really listening to vinyl properly", the first thing that comes flying out of the speakers is this:

AC/DC - It's a Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N' Roll)

What a fantastic noise, which leads to one obvious question.  Why did I only ever buy 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap' and 'Back In Black' on CD?

And so with all the nostalgic reflection of vinyl and it's analogue supremacy, does it sound any different?
Well, there is a slight difference in sound to these ears, but not a massive difference that makes you want to burn all CDs in some sort of pagan ritual.  They can happily co-exist in my world.

Good job I still had the turntable, because buying a new one is (a) potentially expensive, and (b) fraught with difficulty, as this bloke discovered:

My weekend will now be spent trawling the vinyl collection and re-discovering those half forgotten (and never upgraded to CD) albums.
There's a veritable treasure trove to go through, including such high points as:

• Warlock - 'Triumph and Agony'
• Helloween - 'The Keeper Of The Seven Keys Parts 1 and 2'
• New York Dolls - 'Too Much Too Soon'
• Hanoi Rocks - 'Oriental Beat'
• Dire Straits - 'Love Over Gold'
  (don't laugh, its a good album.  Plus it has "Private Investigations" and "Telegraph Road" on it)

And this album is my most recent re-discovery.

Joanna Dean - 'Misbehavin'

Released in 1988, Joanna Dean has one of those bluesy, raspy, powerful voices (think comparisons to Janis Joplin and Bonnie Riatt), and backed up by a half decent, bluesy, hard rocking band.

This track ("Ready For Saturday Night") is the first track on the album (which also includes a more than decent take of "Gimme Shelter"))

The Vinyl Odyssey continues ... and it is HONESTLY just a coincidence that it is happening whilst the BBC is going Black Vinyl Bonkers.