IN THE PIPELINE:

“Smell that vinyl,” he says like a true connoisseur. “There’s nothing like the smell of just-opened vinyl.” And he’s right. I slide a newly pressed copy of Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare” album from its plastic sleeve and inhale. Suddenly, it’s 1975 all over again and I’m in my bedroom in New York, studying lyric sheets, liner notes and all of the other goodies we used to find in our favorite albums. This is the vinyl that Joe Reagoso is talking about — classic rock album vinyl — which is what Joe is helping bring back.

Since bringing his record label Friday Music to Huntington Beach several years ago (“Surf City is perfect because it’s beautiful and it’s near everything,” he says), Joe has begun not just riding, but creating the wave back to vinyl. Friday Music releases many classic collections on CD too, featuring rare bonus tracks and lovingly recreated album art, but it’s the vinyl releases that get Joe the most excited. “I want to be the guy who found the records you’ve been looking for, the ones you lost, misplaced or lent out and never got back,” he says. So that’s what’s he doing: securing rights on some of the biggest titles in recording history and rereleasing them on gloriously thick, high-grade, 180-gram vinyl.

“People started laughing at me when I started doing vinyl a few years ago,” he says. “But now, everyone’s buying turntables again to fill that void many of us feel. We miss our albums. We miss the feel, the sound and the warmth of vinyl.”

Joe takes huge pride and care in re-producing these albums, remastering most of them from the original record label tapes directly to the thick, high-quality (and wonderfully aromatic) 180-gram vinyl. For most of these Friday Music releases, he also uses the original artwork elements, enhancing them with new liner notes, artist interviews and more — right down to reproducing the original record labels and incorporating his own inside message: “Surf City Home Of Friday Music.”

Surrounded in his home office (shared with his wife and two friendly greyhounds) by stacks of vinyl, CDs and gold and platinum records, Joe looks like a kid in a vinyl candy store. The native Philadelphian toiled for years in record stores, played in bands and eventually worked at several labels in promotions before deciding to start his own label. Today, he’s able to bring back the glory days of classic rock not just for nostalgic baby boomers, but younger listeners as well. “There are so many teenagers today who just love the sounds of vinyl, and they also appreciate the music, so it’s a great fit,” Joe says.

So far, Friday Music has rereleased vinyl classic from Jeff Beck, Alice Cooper, Carly Simon, Boz Scaggs, America, Hall & Oates, Kansas, Cheap Trick, Warren Zevon, Yes, the Doobie Brothers and more. “I presented Beck and the Doobies with their albums and they were blown away,” Joe laughs. “And they seem to trust that I’ll be faithful to the original, and maybe even add some bonuses.” Coming up soon, Friday Music will rerelease Don McLean’s classic “American Pie,” a string of Billy Joel bestsellers, the first Boston album and more — from right here in Huntington Beach.

“We all have these memories of record albums,” Joe says wistfully. “We remember where we were and what we were doing when certain music came out; albums were like events. Then you’d get home, open it so carefully, and then just lose yourself in the experience. That’s what Friday Music is about. The experience of getting lost in classic music.”

You can order any of these albums, and check out the wide collection of Friday Music CD releases at www.fridaymusic.com.

Reminder to high school writers: The first annual In The Pipeline/Independent writing competition is underway. It works like this: Each week with this column, I try and find a story here in the Huntington Beach area about a person, place, event, etc. that (hopefully) reveals something the reader did not know before. That’s what I want you to do, in 600 words or less. Write a nonfiction story that reveals something special about the city. Use photography, interviews and develop your story as your own column, because the winner will have his or her piece run in this column space and be profiled by me. You’ll also get to appear on the KOCE-TV show “Real Orange” to talk about your piece. More details to follow, but if you’re a Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley high school student, you’re eligible. The deadline for entries is Friday, April 16. Please write me with any questions you might have. Good luck!

The Taste of Huntington Beach, celebrating 10 years of service to our community, is happening Sunday, April 25 from noon 4 p.m. It supports the Huntington Beach Children’s Library and many local restaurants. One all-inclusive ticket covers everything. There will be great music along with food, beer and wine, and I’ll be signing books there as well. I hope to see you there! For more information, call (714) 375-5023.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 17 books, including the new “Huntington Beach Then & Now.” You can write him at chris@chrisepting.com .