Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Mark Jones of London takes a seat on the floor to go through a box of 45 rpm records at the record sale at the Radisson, Green Tree.

By Nate Guidry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It doesn't take long to realize Tom Fallon has been doing this for years.

It's dizzying watching the speed with which his fingers and eyes move from one old 45 record to the next.

After scanning through a couple of hundred or so, he selects one, spins it through a few rotations on a portable turntable before placing it back in its sleeve.

"The fun is in the hunt," said Fallon, without looking away from the records. "Today, I'm searching strictly for oddball and obscure stuff on 45s."

The Cleveland native and more than 200 other collectors and dealers from as far as England and Dallas, Texas, gathered at the Radisson Hotel in Green Tree last month for the Pittsburgh Record Convention XX. The convention is small compared to others across the country, but collectors and dealers say it is special because it caters exclusively to vinyl lovers.

Here, there were no CDs, no videos -- just near-mint condition LPs, EPs, 45s and even a few old 78s.

And all were reasonably priced, including original copies of big Joe Turner's "Boss of the Blues" and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers' "Indestructible."

A few years ago, local collector Dave Goodrich walked in empty-handed, but by the end of the day had purchased 400 78s for only $50.

"This is great," said Suzie Ippolito, who was attending the convention from Philadelphia. "I have an old jukebox, so I'm looking for some Connie Francis, Lavern Baker and Don Gibson on 45s."

The convention has grown over the years, said promoter Tony Medwid.

Three years ago, organizers decided to focus exclusively on vinyls.

"People can find CDs anywhere," said Medwid. "People who come here are more dedicated to vinyl."

And that's the only reason record dealer David Foreman drove from Dallas to attend the convention.

"With the price of gas as expensive as it is, I'll be lucky to break even," said Foreman. "I used to be able to drive to Pittsburgh for about $150, but those days are gone. I continue to come because I want to support the convention and I really like coming here because it's hard-core vinyl. I don't want to go to a record show and have to compete with CDs and all that other stuff."

Vinyl uptick

A modest number of audiophiles skimming the bins for old vinyls may not be reason enough for everyone to run out and purchase a turntable, but there's a significant number of people inside and outside the industry who feel sales of vinyl recordings have increased.

Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Ed Zinz from Round Again Records in Meadville uses a small record player to listen to records he may want to buy from another dealer. Click photo for larger image.

According to Neilsen Soundscan, about 1.2 million vinyl records were sold in 2004 -- not overwhelming considering total CD sales approached 767 million last year. But that number is skewed because most vinyl records are sold by small independent stores and labels, and their sales are not reflected in Soundscan data.

And those uncounted sales, while still a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, are significant, vinyl aficionados say. Together with the Soundscan numbers, they represent an uptick for serious collectors and audiophile purists.

"The industry has been trying to kill vinyls for years, but vinyls are still alive," said Gregg Kostelich, president of Pittsburgh-based Get Hip Records. "Vinyl sales are 75 percent of my business, but it's been at that percentage for some time. So I don't know if I would call that a real resurgence."

Others say the modest spike in sales can be attributed to three things: younger audiences discovering the music, an increase in the number of recording companies releasing new performances and reissues on vinyl, and the deterioration in sound quality of CDs.

It's something of an irony that the terrible reproduction process of vinyl recordings in the late 1970s helped jump-start CD technology.

"There are a lot of examples of that resurgence playing out, but it's certainly not a mass market thing," said Tim Neely from his home in Iola, Wis. Neely is book editor and research director for Goldmine magazine, which focuses on music collecting.

"You can't walk into Walmart or Best Buy and buy an album, but most cities have at least one store that specializes in vinyl records."

For years, it appeared as though the only records available were the 12-inch hip-hop singles. They were being bought primarily by the mobile disc jockeys.

"Now you have college-age kids discovering music on vinyl," Neely added. "You have more people in their 20s buying vinyl than at any time since the 1980s.

"For many people, it's a hip thing. Others are starting to discover how lousy new CDs sound these days. If you compare a CD to one produced 10 years ago, you will notice the sound quality has become louder and louder, and there's no good reason why. Engineers are goosing the sound so much that they forget people have volume controls on their stereos."

Neely also spoke of the lack of warmth generated from a shiny 5-inch digital disc.

"There's something sterile about CDs," he said. "People don't sing wrong notes anymore."

Neely points to "Beer For My Horses," a duet between Willie Nelson and Toby Keith, as an example.

"Nelson's voice sounds like it came from outer space."

Collectors' gold

Vinyl's survival during the 1990s can be attributed to rap artists and musicians like Bruce Springsteen, Ben Folds and others who insisted their music be released on vinyl, whether or not it was purchased in big numbers.

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Al Black of Erie scrutinizes collectibles for sale by Round Again Records of Meadville during the Pittsburgh Record Convention last month in Green Tree. Click photo for larger image.

It was around this time that a number of jazz record companies started mining their vaults, reissuing some of their classic titles. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab and Record Technology Inc. started pressing out reissues of classic Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper and, in pop music, the Beach Boys.

"We've managed to survive the onslaught of CDs," said RTI owner Don MacInnis in a phone call from Camarillo, Calif. "It's a strange market and a speciality market."

MacInnis said his company currently presses about 1.8 million 12-inch records annually.

"Our market is geared toward the audiophile market," MacInnis said. "We are doing a lot of the classic albums from the 1950s -- people like [Thelonious] Monk as well as some classical albums."

Sundazed in Coxsachie, N.Y., also is doing interesting things. Exclusively a reissue label, Sundazed is releasing music from the Byrds, Otis Redding and some of Bob Dylan's classic 1960s titles like "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" and "Bringin' It All Back Home." There also are plans to release singles of Johnny Cash from the Sun Label.

All of the music is pressed on 180-gram vinyl from the original analog mono masters. And the prices compare favorably to the originals.

"Vinyls have been great for us," said Tim Livingston, Sundazed director of sales and publicity. "It's about 35 to 40 percent of our business. We are a reissue label, and we reissue the records in the original mono mixes. Each record is an exact replica of the original. It's also a way to offer someone an album that would otherwise be difficult to find and expensive."

At last month's convention, Blane Britt flipped through the bins searching for some R&B and funk albums. He enjoys mixing beats and creating hip-hop tracks.

"I wasn't going to come because I always spend more money than I want to," said Britt. "This time I came with a budget."