Bruce Orlando
By Bruce Orlando, July 10, 2025
I remember hearing 45 rpms of The Osmonds and Jackson 5 on that stereo, which were probably owned by my older sister Kathy.
The Pioneer PL-10 was an entry level, manual, belt drive turntable. A Pioneer magazine ad from 1974 promoted it as "The best high-fidelity turntable $99.95 can buy. The PL-10."
Phonographia
My earliest memory of a phonograph was part of our "complete home entertainment center" in our living room circa 1970 -- an all in one console with a Stereo Phonograph, AM/FM Radio, and TV.
I also listened to 8-track recordings, but I didn't like its sound as much compared to phonograph records. Additionally, a song could be briefly interrupted with a pause and a click because of the unique design of the 8-track format and its continuous loop tape. So in those days, records were my favorite for recorded music.
In 1975 a friend of mine had a used Pioneer turntable which he said he wanted to sell. I really liked that turntable and paid him $100 for it, which was his asking price. I took it home and when Dad came home he saw the turntable, asked where I gotten it, and how much it had cost. I told him I had paid $100. Dad thought that was too much and we then went to my friend's house, with the turntable in hand, and Dad discussed the transaction with my friend's father. After a bit of haggling there was an agreement that my friend would give me back $50 and I could keep the record player.
I was happy to come home with some money in my pocket, but honestly at the time I was afraid that the deal was going to blow up and I really wanted that turntable. I would have paid the $100 if it had come to that, but am glad it worked out as it did.
My best memory of recorded sound and the phonograph is when Kathy brought home the LP album "Allman Brothers Live at Fillmore East." When it was first commercially released in July 1971, it was issued as a double LP with just seven songs on four vinyl sides.
As I listened to that album I knew that this was my kind of music.
I really believe that hearing that Allman Brothers' record was a life-changing moment for my appreciation of music.
My memory of that Allman Brothers' record album, however, has raised other minor, but amusing, differences among my siblings. Kathy does not remember having the Allman Brothers' record, but how else would I have listened to it on her "keep your hands off my stereo" when she wasn't home?
My other sister, Sharon, also distinctly remembers the Allman Brothers album, but for Sharon it was the Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young "4 Way Street" double album which made her the similar recipient of Kathy's "Hands off" my record warning.
Sharon doesn't recall a TV being part of any home entertainment console and instead remembers a stand-alone TV in the living room and a combo Phono/Radio console in the kitchen where she would lay on the floor for hours and play "4 Way Street" repeatedly on its turntable.
I could be wrong about a TV/Stereo/Radio console in the living room as it was a long time ago and I was the youngest. Memories themselves can also change over time. But over fifty-years later I do know that the Allman Brother's album was a spark and a light and that its music continues to be my kind of music.
"The record I heard and knew: "This is my kind of Music!"
