Recently I dug my way through several layers of garage sale boxes and other such treasures in our “junk room” to get to my record collection, consisting of well over 300 Long-Playing Records that I started collecting in junior high. The 12-inch, 33⅓ RPM, black vinyl discs have been packed away for years.

I remember vividly when I first heard, years ago, about a new-fangled contraption called the “compact disc” that was supposed to replace the vinyl record as the standard medium for storing and playing music. My immediate, instinctive reaction was, “Yeah, right!” There was so much stuff already out there on vinyl, the music industry couldn’t possibly just abandon the LP. And even if the predictions were true and vinyl was on its way out, I figured it would at least take several years for the transition from vinyl to CD to be complete. Boy, was I wrong! Almost overnight, “record stores” became “music stores”, carrying mostly CD’s and cassette tapes. Vinyl records had been pushed to the side in the proverbial blink of an eye.

Before long, the only places you could still purchase vinyl records were thrift stores, garage sales, and Half-Price Books. Through the years, I have patronized these shopping venues on numerous occasions and perused their collection of records. I’ve added a number of worthwhile finds to my own collection in this way, often paying only a buck or two per album.

I still have a record player hooked up to my stereo, and it is in good working condition. As I pull out my old records one or two at a time, I don’t have to be satisfied with merely looking at the LP covers and remembering the songs that prompted me to buy each album. I can actually listen to those old favorites with all their scratches, clicks, and pops, and be transported in my mind to a much simpler time.

As I dust off the records and crank up the turntable, I’ll share with you some of the musical gems that I rediscover, and some of the memories and emotions that they stir up. It is an exercise in nostalgia to which I look forward.

At some point in junior high or high school, I discovered the mesmerizing sound of classical guitar. The undisputed master of the classical guitar was a Spanish-born virtuoso named Andrés Segovia. I purchased two of his records, “The Intimate Guitar” and “The Intimate Guitar 2″, and listened to them quite often throughout my teen years and into early adulthood.

Both records are still in remarkably good condition, with very little of the “hiss, pop, and click” that records tend to pick up with age and use. My heart smiled when I heard the first few notes, and I was amazed at how much of the music I actually remembered. I found myself anticipating the next song as each song ended. I have begun digitizing these two albums so that I can listen to them through my computer or even transfer them to CD. None of the songs on these two records will make my “Favorite Songs of All Time” list, but it was an absolute joy to rediscover the magic of Andrés Segovia.

On a final note, I was disappointed to discover that neither of these two albums are available on CD, though many of Segovia’s works are.