Record setting

A loving monument to the lost world of vinyl

by Mike Miliard

With the Internet music revolution fueling the Zeitgeist, it's easy to forget the initial significance of the digital revolution that effectively killed off vinyl records 15 years ago. But Stereo Jack's remembers. This is a place that revels in the look, the feel, the smell of record albums.

Of course, it's far from the only vinyl vendor in Greater Boston (and it doesn't sell vinyl exclusively). But its proprietors and customers embrace the medium with an exuberance that sets the store apart. As any vinyl freak will tell you, records have a unique, warm sound. Plus, it's a simple fact that tons of music is just not available on CD. And with old-fashioned records came old-fashioned cover art -- a once-vibrant discipline that fell into decline when, almost overnight, artists found themselves limited to the five square inches of a CD case.

In fact, it's the cover art that you notice first when you enter Stereo Jack's -- the walls are plastered from floor to ceiling with old record albums, the pop colors of their '60s-era typefaces dulled by the years. "It's an art gallery," says store manager Mark Starr. "They're not even for sale. They're just covers that make me laugh. And we've been here for 19 years, so that's a lot of covers." Indeed. These are not your dad's Beatles and Stones records. Music To Play Checkers By, anyone? The Moyshe Oysher Hanukkah Party? Are you the kind of person who needs Serenades for Sex Kittens or Music for a Chinese Dinner at Home? Or how 'bout What You Can Learn from the Kinsey Report, featuring a shocked-looking woman, circa 1955? ("I put 'em all up except the X-rated ones," Starr says. "We've got some from the '50s that are risqué even by today's standards.") Starr's personal favorite? "Oh! Music for Big Dame Hunters! I mean, where are you gonna find that on CD?" The album-cover wallpaper is hilarious, embodying everything that was bad and good about mid-century American aesthetics.

But not everything is a joke at Stereo Jack's. There is much here for the serious music lover (especially one with a thin wallet). Jack's specializes in jazz, blues, and oldies, with some country and folk thrown in. The jazz selection is most impressive. A 1962 original Art Tatum red vinyl? Eight bucks (with nary a scratch). An original version of Miles Davis's landmark Sketches of Spain? Ten bucks. A three-album Modern Jazz Quartet box set? That's a tenner, too. Jack's also has a dollar jazz section with some surprising finds: Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Duke Ellington. Says Starr, "We have a very deep selection of the genres we specialize in. And we price 'em to move."

But in this age of digitized, sterilized, anaesthetized music, why musty, dusty, staticky vinyl? "Because we love it."

Stereo Jack's, 1686 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 497-9447.

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