My vinyl copy of 'Shrimp Shack' by The Rusty Anchors skips like crazy but I can't stop playing it

Picked this record up at a thrift store in Tulsa for 50 cents back in March. The B-side has this drum machine that sounds like a broken sprinkler and the singer just yells about 'crispy waves' for 3 minutes straight. Every time it skips it lands on a weird synth noise that actually kind of works. Has anyone else found a record that's technically unlistenable but you play it every day anyway?

2 comments

2 Comments

emeryn831d ago

Maybe try cleaning the record with a wet cloth and some dish soap, sometimes gunk in the grooves makes skips worse and that synth sound might actually be intentional if you listen close enough. A dime taped to the tonearm near the headshell can help weigh it down enough to stay in the groove without damaging anything, cheap trick that works for thrift store finds. If the skip hits the same synth noise every time it could be a pressed flaw that accidentally lines up with the beat, which is honestly way cooler than any clean pressing.

garcia.charles1d ago

Did you read that article in Tape Op magazine about how some punk bands purposely put click tracks off-beat so the vinyl skips would sound intentional? Sounds like The Rusty Anchors might've been going for that... my buddy found a copy of "Microwave Dinner" by The Spoiled Kids at a garage sale and it has this skip on the chorus that makes the bass sound like a dying cat but he won't stop playing it. Something about those imperfections makes the whole experience feel more real.