Is there a vinyl album out there that would spur you to buy a record player? I thought I’d never do it, until that one album came along.
When I moved from California back to New England, I was bound and determined to take nothing that wasn’t absolutely necessary. Anything I didn’t need — set out by the apartment dumpsters, hoping they would find new homes. I hadn’t had a record player for a long time, but I’d still been lugging around my old vinyl albums from place to place for sentimental reasons. Complete Floyd collection. Local Monterey bands. Those old Ian Dury EPs. A bunch of prog rock. I hoped whoever took them would get some enjoyment from them, maybe discover a new band or two.
When I came back the next day, every single item was gone — except the vinyl records. I didn’t take them back, though. I should have, and still hope someone belatedly rescued them before they were tossed away.
That was fourteen years ago. Vinyl disappeared, then came back. We have two vinyl stores in town — a Newbury Records, and a local independent. Weird, all those records, you can just get on CD, or just stream on Youtube. Why do they even exist…?
#EverQuest vinyls are back! Get your hands on a piece of legendary history that will fill your ears with the classic music that you’ve come to love. Only while supplies last so don’t miss out! https://t.co/VubmQmjJsd pic.twitter.com/7XmJC0w3S2
— EverQuest (@everquest) November 18, 2021
I’d (somehow) missed the 20th anniversary vinyl sound track albums when they were released in various limited editions last year — four editions that ranged from the cheap to the expensive. Apparently, they were quickly snapped up and resold for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
When I saw that the soundtrack had been reissued in boring black but affordable vinyl, I bought it. And then I went on Amazon and got a cute little record player that reminded me of the one I had when I was a kid. And then I ordered a Blue Oyster Cult vinyl I wanted. And then I went to Newbury Comics and that local indie record store and bought more stuff. But the album I really wanted to listen to kept me waiting and waiting.
This little suitcase turntable doesn’t really do any music justice; tinny speakers, hardly any volume, no bass. Critics say that this vinyl is just recorded from the same MP3s that get installed into the EQ folder when you play the game.
I dunno about all that, but I know when the main theme came on, it sent me back to those first nervous footsteps on that dangerous, dark, unforgiving world where I’d make friends and share lives.
Side 2 has the Rivervale theme. Happy little bouncy tune 🙂 I’d listen to that for hours while crafting or just sitting around while I chatted with my guildies as they went about their days. Someone had to keep the villagers safe from Nilipuss!
The album is amazing. I’ve listened to all those other albums, too, and remembered how, back in college, a person was defined by their record collection. That doesn’t happen anymore. A whole way of expressing ourselves is gone.
Well, for me, it’s back. A Firesign Theater album, a Tom Lehrer album, two BOC albums, a Hooverphonics EP, and EverQuest: The Original Soundtrack.
Tracks:
| Side 1 | Side 2 |
| EverQuest Main Theme | Character Screen Theme |
| Akanon | Najena Theme |
| Peaceful River | Gypsies Theme |
| Bards Concert | Halas Theme |
| Organ Recital | Battle Theme 1 |
| Coliseum Showdown | Battle Theme 2 |
| Bard Healer | Battle Theme 3 |
| Bard Theme | Forest of Qeynos |
| Erudin Theme | Rivervale Theme |
| Qeynos Theme | Tunnels of Doom |
| EverQuest Reprise | |
| Winters Deep | |
| Run For Your Life |
All these songs are available on all streaming services, so you don’t need a record player to listen to these. You know, if you want to remain a cipher plugged into the cyberverse or whatever.
The back of the album has the most current map of Norrath and points beyond. I don’t remember if we could see Alaris from Luclin when we looked up at Norrath, but probably it was there. Hard to believe that Velious, Taelosia and Alaris could be mysteries when Norrathians had settled Luclin centuries past in at least three different colonization waves, but there you go: NOW, for sure, they’ve discovered everything, right?
Well, I had to go look, and it looks like Luclin always remains directly pointed at a spot between Antonica and Faydwer, so maybe everything else was a mystery, after all…
We also have a couple of vinyl stores in town now although one has been there for the entire thirty-plus years I’ve lived here. It looked pretty tun-down for a while but it’s booming now, sadly. You were right the first time. Vinyl should have stayed dead. I have no nostalgia whatsoever for it and I was very glad to see it go. Or at least I thought it had gone but like the supposedly-defeated killer in a psychodrama, no-one thought to check it was really dead. Never turn your back.
I still have my thousand plus albums and almost as many singles in a room downstairs but only because we have plenty of space and it would be way more trouble to get rid of them than to just let them sit there. There are three turntables (at least) in this house but none of them has turned for a quarter of a century. This, however, is old people thinking.
I was at my step-son’s house the other day. He and his partner are in their early thirties. They have turntables set up in their front room because they both DJ and mix. That’s middle-aged people thinking.
I work with people in their early twenties. They think vinyl is cool. They have record collections. The vinyl people own is one of many factors they use to make judgments about each other. That seems to be youngish people thinking.
What real young people think I have no clue. Do they already see vinyl as something weird old people in college do? Or is it just part of the culture they accept and don’t even think about at all? No idea. I’m curious, though. I’d really love to believe humanity can escape the need to Have Stuff and be comfortable with having the concepts contained in that stuff instead but all the evidence suggests that will never happen. People like things they can touch.
As for the EQ soundtrack, the nostalgia factor notwithstanding it has its moments but it’s no Vanguard or City of Steam, both of which I have listened to quite often just for the pleasure of hearing the music. That Rivervale tune, though. I could’t bear it even when I was playing. It was the only place where I had to mute the sound if I stayed more than a few minutes. The album sleeve is very nice, though. I love that map.
I did look into another MMO with better music, FFXIV, but those soundtracks are $$$. Obviously, nostalgia for college days and those first steps into Norrath are driving all of this for me, but I’m of an age in which I can afford to indulge myself, at least a little bit 🙂
I love the nostalgia that comes with this, and I decided it would be a fantastic gift for my husband for Christmas, so I picked out a similar record player (not too great on sound, but a good stepping block) and this EQ vinyl along with a handful of others. In a time where stress, plays such HUGE roles in our lives (and the life of my husband in specific) I gratefully gravitate towards anything that can bring him some joy, and listening to music like this, especially EQ, is certainly one of them. I can’t wait to see him open it Christmas morning and hopefully sink back into those days when we first met and relax a bit.
See!!! See!!! I’m not crazy! Someone else out there feels the same way 🙂 Enjoy Norrath 🙂
I’m afraid I’m on Team Bhagpuss this time. I do not miss playing records. Well maybe I miss large album covers and liner notes, but the hassle of playing a record? No thanks. I remember when we first got CDs the sound was so clear (to us) that putting on headphones and listening was like a really mellow trip. We take that for granted now of course.
Of course, I am old. My first ‘3 Dog Night’ 45 came in a bag of potato chips. (Not sure why that has stuck with me, it isn’t like I’m a 3 Dog Night super fan or anything.) It was one of those flexible records that you’d sometimes get in a magazine, and you’d have to stack pennies on your cartridge for the needle to track, and then you’d wind up having to replace your needle.
Of course things could be worse. 8-Tracks could come back…
Does this mean you won’t come over to my house after school and listen to records and play Monopoly?
If it’s just the two of us we’d be better off with Stratego.
I always lose at Stratego 🙁
I was tempted to buy that for just the album jacket. I have a few framed albums in my office, and I could see putting that one up on the wall as well. But I wouldn’t have much desire to actually play it, even though we do have a player. I am one of those people who were very much on board with CDs when they landed in the late 80s. CDs don’t last forever, but I still have a bunch that are over 30 years old which are just fine. Old LPs I still have tend to be a bit warped, a bit scratched, and full of the hiss and pop that market that era.
Also, not a big fan of the EQ sound track in general, but I generally tend to turn the music down in MMORPGs and play my own instead.