mmmm, vintage 180 gram vinyl. Wonder what sort of amplifier the White House has? They should release some photos of the listening room…
Vinyl is the best
When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he gained access to five chefs, a private bowling alley — and a killer collection of classic LPs. Stored in the basement of the executive mansion is the official White House Record Library: several hundred LPs that include landmark albums in rock (Led Zeppelin IV, the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed), punk (the Ramones’ Rocket to Russia, the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols), cult classics (Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica, the Flying Burrito Brothers’ The Gilded Palace of Sin) and disco. Not to mention records by Santana, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Isaac Hayes, Elton John, the Cars and Barry Manilow.
During the waning days of the Nixon administration, the RIAA, the record companies’ trade group, decided the library should include sound recordings as well as books. In 1973, the organization donated close to 2,000 LPs.
…
Paul Nelson, then Rolling Stone’s reviews editor — compiled a list to reflect “diversity in what was going on in popular music.” They picked the Kinks’ Arthur1 for its “theme of empire,” and Blumenthal snuck in favorites like David Bowie’s Hunky Dory.
…
But Obama may be pleased to learn that at least a few of his favorite albums — Bob Dylan’s
Bruce Springsteen’s
— are there if he wants them on pristine slabs of vinyl.
“Trout Mask Replica” (Captain Beefheart)
There isn’t a full list of the albums anywhere, but Captain Beefheart? Really? I wonder if it was ever opened? or played more than once. Is there a CD player too? Did the Bush family leave behind any favorite George Jones albums?
Gram Parsons and Band
- full title: Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) [↩]