The resurgence of vinyl

There's been some articles in the past couple of years about the resurgence of interest in vinyl and how sales of lps and demands at pressing plants are actually increasing as the sales of cds fall.

Recently, while digging around at SoundStage Direct for a reissue of an lp for a friend, I was a bit overwhelmed by how many current and classic lps are in print or are being released, often in heavy 120, 180, 150 or even 200 gram vinyl editions.

The range of materials is curious, from punk albums of the seventies to New Wave albums of the 80s, to the usual audiophile reissues of classic jazz or rock lps, including reissues of esoteric and hard to find collectables such as "The Devil's Anvil: Hard Rock Music of the Middle East" from the late 60s or one-shot garage and bubble gum bands.

Most interesting are reissues of some classical lps as multi-disc sets running at 45 rpm by conductors like Fritz Reiner.

The market for vinyl must be pretty healthy if someone can sell "Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall", a common lp you can find in great shape, as a box set of 200 gram 45 rpm 12" lps for over $100.