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Absolute Vinyl Spins On in High Fidelity in Longmont

High fidelity, as in the literal term, but also high fidelity figuratively, in terms of top quality and an absolute meticulousness when it comes to selling ship-shape spic-and-span albums. Crisper than new dollar bills, some of these albums are.

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

High fidelity, as in the literal term, but also high fidelity figuratively, in terms of top quality and an absolute meticulousness when it comes to selling ship-shape spic-and-span albums. Crisper than new dollar bills, some of these albums are.

Owner of Absolute Vinyl Records & Stereo, Doug Gaddy, makes sure of these standards with three decades of a collector’s intuition. When business is good it allows Gaddy to find more collections and polish them up a bit, and then maintain that gratifying music meld cycle. From the ashes of the phoenix rose a love for collecting records, and that’s how it all started. As much as he possibly could, Gaddy bought and sold albums.

“It was a way to finance my own passion for collecting,” said Gaddy. “The first time I went to a record show, I split a table with a friend, and I bought some records. I came home with extra coin in my pocket. I turned people on to some good records. This is a win-win. This is fun. It just gradually grew from there.”

When Gaddy first opened, in 2009 in north Boulder, he wanted to build a community around the shop. This idea was similar to the way record stores used to be cultural hubs, where there was an exchange of ideas and information. After eight and a half years in a plaza off Broadway, which is now condos just up the road from The Hill, Absolute Vinyl has now been spinning its tabletop at 319 Main Street in Longmont since December of last year.

“I went from being in a shopping center to being in a food court,” said Gaddy. “I was a fish out of water and the parking lot saw it. That's the microcosm of Boulder, it's restaurants and alcohol. And there's no place to park. I just felt like it had its useful lifespan after eight and a half years. I didn't feel like I was part of the retail community anymore. They're still good people, but their orientation is totally different than mine.”

Most of Absolute’s albums are in tip-top condition, but Gaddy also takes pride in having a fifty-cent bin for albums that may not be on a collector’s list but still valuable to its future owner with their own musical taste. Gaddy stressed the fact that contrary to popular belief of the stereotypical collector, that there is an ambiguity, a relativeness when it comes to value. Yes, a record can be highly sought after with a high price tag, but there can be a value intangible, that which pulls on the heartstrings. This type of value can have any price tag in his store, from fifty cents to hundreds of dollars.

“People dip into that a lot. My fifty cent records are pretty popular. I just thought what the hell, I'll just try it. I mean, I've had a budget section for years,” said Gaddy. “I get a lot of high school students; I have a following at Skyline and Longmont High. They come in and they'll buy stuff out here, things that are a little bit, you know, cared for.”

The physical store isn’t much bigger than a garage band’s rehearsal lounge, on a street corner with the same level of sound bombardment, but just like how an album size doesn’t matter when it comes to storage mediums, the shop is full of music for all tastes and ears. If Gaddy had his way, in a perfect music world, it would be much bigger, a sledgehammer of culture, a community driving and influencing music lovers within its fingertips.

“The first iterations of stores were all community based, independent, iconic, classic, rebels, outcasts, misfits, whatever. That's where you'd pick up the underground comics and the zines and find out if there’s pop-up underground shows,” said Gaddy.

“The people that worked in record stores, the ones that were the coolest, the people that knew a lot about music, they were a little bit impenetrable, until you let them know you had ears. And then they would be like, ‘Here, I'll let you into the sanctum, you never heard of this band. Here try this band from Germany called Can.’ It was all word of mouth, or word of zine, or some independent trouser press.”

If you want to stay up to date on Absolute Vinyl Records & Stereo’s inventory, Gaddy is absolutely active on Instagram and Facebook. Gaddy is also turning 60, so go and wish him a happy birthday.