| Author | Message | ||
     Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 225 Registered: 03-2006 |
Most of youse guys and girls on this board sound as obsessive about music as me, so I was wondering if your record collections reflected that level of obsession. This is in no way meant as a forum for people to boast about the size of their collections, by the way: I hope mine is not the biggest, otherwise I may have to join some kind of 12 step group for music addicts... So, I have somewhere on the order of 1200 discs, 20 or so vinyl albums (had to get rid of most of 'em - too space-consumptive) and no MP3s.... So, how about you all? | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 241 Registered: 08-2004 |
Lots, too much, then again, never enough. Fortunately most of it's on my external drive now. If I ever listen to it all over again it will take a walloping great chunk out of my life. But I'm happy. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 255 Registered: 04-2005 |
I used to think that size mattered (ha ha). But I've had to move an ungodly amount of times in the last 25 years, and eventually lugging hundreds and then thousands of LPs, cassettes, and CDs to new homes and then trying to find room for them lost its charm. So I ended up foolishly selling off anywhere from a third to half of my vinyl collection, and the past few years have been trading in CDs I don't listen to so I can buy new ones. I'm sure if I'd lived in one place all these years, I would still have a respectable collection. Now it's nothing to brag about. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 272 Registered: 10-2004 |
I'm not sure record collection size matters, but a large record collection is usually indicative of someone with eclectic and varied tastes, as well as a person who really cares (or obsesses) about music. But in the grand scheme of things, I suppose there are many more pressing things to worry about! I probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1300 - 1400 LPs. I've got maybe a few hundred CDs, not counting cd-rs I burned from friends CDs or MP3 downloads (which, sadly, is kind of necessary for a lot of the hard-to-find 60s Brazilian music I listen to). | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 314 Registered: 05-2005 |
Great question!! I had a large vinyl collection of sorts. About a 120 vinyl albums,(it was large to me, everything from XTC to jaque Brel) from when I was between 12 and 17. But I would say that thanks to John Peel, the late great, he probably helped me as much as ayone in expanding my tastes, (so did my friend Bryn, my best mate's older brother at the time - he got me into Scott Walker when I was 12, ok, it was Jackie, but still Scott!) - and on tape! See, my tape collection was massive. So many one off gems, Peel sessions, (I even used to tape groups from the Whistle Test, The Tube etc on a primitive Philips style Karaoke type tape machine) of years of taping Peel show late at night. Peel was the first place I heard, The Smoiths, Go Betweens and The Frank Chickens!!!! So for me the size of my tape collection mattered and awful lot. It made me what I am today in many ways. Its as important to me as vinyl, but not in a quality of sound way. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 280 Registered: 03-2005 |
Hardin, are you lying to us about the size of your collection? Only 1200? Since last month? I have about 1300 CDs which have been slowly pulled together since about 1986 when I switched to that medium, including many vinyl replacement purchases. I have maybe about 250 remaining vinyl but many of them are redundant now. The space thing is a BIG issue. I dread the moment that I run out of shelf space for the CDs. As it is some of them are down on low shelves blocked by the guitar cases. I'm trying to keep things I no longer listen to on the chance that they will have relevance to me later. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 229 Registered: 03-2006 |
No Rand, not that I've actually counted... I trade and sell a lot, too, so I'm forever winnowing down... God help you if you get into replacing vinyl - expensive proposition. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 230 Registered: 03-2006 |
No Rand, not that I've actually counted... I trade and sell a lot, too, so I'm forever winnowing down... God help you if you get into replacing vinyl - expensive proposition. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 276 Registered: 10-2004 |
Yeah, space really is a huge issue. I've only got one more square left in my Ikea Expedit before it's all filled up. (you know, these things: http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10101&sto reId=12&productId=11499&langId=-1&parentCats=10104*10173 ) Once that's full, which may happen by the end of this year, I have no idea where I'll start storing LPs next. And books are everywhere, especially with my girlfriend being an English Lit grad student. And moving scares me! I've lived in the same place for the past 7.5 years, and my LP collection has grown significantly in that time. Moving all those records is going to suck! And yet moving to a new place may very well happen sometime in the not too distant future. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 282 Registered: 03-2005 |
Selling . . . . I should try that! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 234 Registered: 03-2006 |
How much do them things hold, Jeff? That looks like a good vinyl solution (ha ha)...May as well get some practical info out of this board. I love IKEA - I live in close proximity to one now. Some people in my circle rail on about the cheapness or flimsiness of some of their stuff, but you know, I've paid some big bucks for furniture from say, Crate & Barrel and it doesn't seem any better made...and often, you still have to put it together... | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 277 Registered: 10-2004 |
Hardin, Ikea is great when you're snobby enough to want decent looking furniture but have a tight budget, like me. Of course some of their stuff is total crap and falls apart instantly. A friend of mine had what I jokingly called "balsa wood" kitchen chairs that lasted a week or so. But that Expedit shelf is great for vinyl. As I said above, I've got somewhere between 1300 and 1400 LPs, and I've only got one "square" left to fill. That last square currently houses my box of 7"s. So it's a great way to keep a decently large collection of records in one, organized spot. The Expedit is great for over-sized art books too, if you're into that. (Though my art books have pretty much been displaced by the growing LP collection, so I have to stack those on the floor since they're too big for any of my other book cases.) | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 257 Registered: 05-2005 |
I stopped counting a few years ago when it was over 3000 CDs; but I reckon what I have now is about 4000 CDs, 400 records and 2000 tapes. I never listen to the tapes anymore and gave away hundreds of them a few years ago (the ones I also had on CD). I sometimes play the vinyl. I worked on radio for years and later reviewed records for a newspaper (as a side thing, I wasn't a music journalist) so a certain amount of this stuff came as promo copies. But I still have spent so much money on music over the years that I dare not even try to calculate it. Space is definitely an issue. My daughter said to me the other night that I had enough CDs to open a shop - and she's 4 years old! At one point last year I said to her that we would have dinner on the dining table for a change and she said "But we don't have one". We do. It was just covered in CDs, DVDs and music magazines. It is again now. We eat dinner in the kitchen. | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 57 Registered: 05-2005 |
I have a 4:1 ratio of vinyl:cds. Most of those CDs were acquired in the 1990s, until I realized (too late) that that silvery disc medium wasn’t living up to its technical potential. (We’ve had a taste of that here. OAagh! ‘Nuff said.) The above ratio is increasing. I mostly play the vinyl after work, when I have the time to do so. On moving records: the best solution is the 1.5 cubic foot (I don’t know if this unit of measure is relevant outside america) cartons, they are sized perfectly for LPs, and cradle them securely enough, even for those scary, ham-fisted ex-felon mover guys. About 150 or so per box. Then, it’s just a matter of moving / lugging the many boxes. Of course, they must be put into boxes in order, and the boxes numbered, or you will have a minor nightmare on your hands when they are unpacked. (I speak from experience.) Now, here comes the “really heavy” part. This is what all collectors will think about, sooner or later, if they “hang on” to their collections. As a kind of metaphor: I knew someone that had a HUGE wine (not record) collection. I mean, REALLY HUGE. One day, he said, “I realized the other day that I couldn’t possibly drink them all before I kicked off.” And this person was healthy, and wasn’t all that old! Makes ya think. And, face it: somewhere down the road, every disc / LP / single, etc. in your collection (unless it’s destroyed somehow) WILL end up in someone else’s hands.  | ||
| Andy Robinson Member Username: Andyblue Post Number: 27 Registered: 03-2005 |
I've around 600 CDs (probably more than I can listen to) and a couple of hundred 33s that I can't play. I had a conversation a while ago with a friend about this very subject. My collection is about 3:1 completist:stuff that I bought 'cos I really like. I think that the size really matters in a negative sense. Most of the CDs I bought at Amazon or E-bay in a pretty faceless and unemotional transaction. Looking at the vinyl - I can remember buying it, where, when, who I was sleeping with etc. I had less money so was more discerning. I picked it up while buying and subsequently cherished it, dusted it, gazed at the cover, polished the cover . . . Buying music these days is too easy. I will never again feel the excitement of buying Londons Calling on the first day it came out or yomping around dozens of collectors shops in London to find an obscure 12". Ah, happy days . . . . . . . | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 319 Registered: 05-2005 |
the one disappointment I used to find with vinyl was if you bought a realease late, you sometimes ended up with a worthless plain printed inner sleeve instead of a glossy stock inner sleeve, with all the detail on, that used to really bug me.  Vinyl was the toughest too, I remember being 11 and at my Primary School leaver's disco there were copies of Stiff little Fingers and 999 7 inch couloyred vinyls flying around the school hall while we pogo'd away, then someone would pick it up off the floor and it would still play!! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 241 Registered: 03-2006 |
This is very therapeutic...thank you all... Padraig, it looks like you take the prize. Do they all still mean something to you? Do you ever winnow down? Re vinyl: it's cool, it's fun, it probably sounds better if you can afford the truly audiophile level equip it takes to reap the benefits.... Spence, that always pissed me off too...plus, I think quality control of LPs was probaby better in the UK, but it seems like every other one I bought was either warped or skipped. You'd then get into this pointless and frustrating rondelay with your local record store clerk. He would eventually, grudgingly, give you another copy, which you would take home and discover that it, of course, skips too... And now, maybe I've grown lazy, but vinyl just seems way too much bother...by the time it takes to get an LP out, cue it up on the turntable, etc. , I could've already been reclining on the couch, slurping a big-ass glass of wine, well into the second track of a CD! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 293 Registered: 03-2005 |
Andy, your entry makes an interesting point. It IS so much easier to get things now. I remember what an achievement it was to find a Scott Walker or Easybeats record in California in the mid-70s. When you found one of those, you'd really found something. Or my best friend's score of the Shadows of Knight's second album. We needed plastic pants after that one. I figure the bar is raised now. Concentrate on looking for the local artists in distant places who have no real distribution. That's where a lot of the real interest will be, where the more idiosyncratic folks hide out. Example: somebody mentioned the Widdershins on one of the threads here. While I'm waiting for that person's description of what they sound like, I'll probably get it anyway. And it'll probably be a bit of a pain in the butt to do so. I blundered into the Plug Uglies' new antho at a record store. And have loved it since. Think of every decent-sized town in every country out there: we have our work cut out for us. I think the big thrill now is sifting through all of the available music to find those shocking little gems that hit your mainline. But maybe the fetishization of having found a rare object will never return. And maybe that's good. Maybe it was a distraction from the music itself. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 62 Registered: 01-2005 |
Checking in with 2000 cd's and around 600 vinyl LP's and maybe 100 old cassetts. I have been buying cd's for 21 years now, as I got my first player in the spring of 1985. I store my discs in wooden cabinets that hold 300 discs. I have 6 of them jammed full and need another one! The vinyl is in the basement, and yes it does include some Uriah Hepp that hasn't been played in a long, long time. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 105 Registered: 07-2005 |
Interesting just a rough calculation but approx 1100, thats a bit sccarey. No wonder Ihave to keep buying those Benne CXD cabinets form Ikea,theres not enough room.Not got rid of any vinyl and not counted that yet. | ||
| Andy Robinson Member Username: Andyblue Post Number: 28 Registered: 03-2005 |
Michael - shome mishtake surely! I don't think that Uriah was ever Hep! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 246 Registered: 03-2006 |
Randy, bet you agree with me on this: nothing beats the fun of actually, physically riffling through bins of albums or discs. Ordering stuff online or downloading just isn't the same thrill...some computer wag should invent a device that reproduces the physical sensation of working through a stack of LPs, some "riffling device", so we can at least pretend when it becomes impossible to walk into a store and buy music! Jerr, how well do those Benne things work? This thread validates my obsessive ways a bit, but also has given me some good ideas about storage options...Sigh, looks like I'm going to have to work up the "bottle" to venture into Ikea. Scary f-ing place! The one here in Costa Mesa is a zoo. Good Lord, Michael. Where do you store all that stuff? I'm a fine one to talk, but I marvel at people actually having the luxury of having the room to hang onto all their treasures... The wine analogy is a great one, Rob...I have a (pretty rich) friend here who has so much (great) wine, he actually has resorted to off-site storage. But does he share? Nahhhh, not really...it's more than he could ever drink, but does he just open his wine cellar to his pals, like any good Christian would do? Noooo..... | ||
| Andy Robinson Member Username: Andyblue Post Number: 29 Registered: 03-2005 |
Randy - I hear what you're saying with regard to the "completeist thing", but what I mean more about the ease of getting the stuff in general is that I think it does get in the way of the music and the relationship that I as a listener have. When I had to work at finding it or had less money so that I had to spend it wisely it was so different. I had the opportunity to listen to an album inside out, to get to know it and in the sense of "timeless" from that thread, I think with a timeless or classic band or album I could hear something frsh or new each time I did that. I can rarely say that with the music I buy now - I have a life outside music/other commitmants and so less time to appreciate the music. Nowadays with a collection like Padraig's of 4000 CDs, say, assuming an average length of 60 minutes and assuming that you do nothing but listen to them (including sleep) it would take 4000 hours or 167 days to listen to everything just once more. How can we have the same kind of relationship with the music we had when we were younger. What do other people think? I know that for me I have picked up some ideas of new stuff from the board and also I find seeing an artist live gives me some of the old rush. What's good too is finding new and obscure stuff through MySpace and other websites. I'm thinking that the trick is to listen and love and not necessarily to own the CD. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 283 Registered: 05-2005 |
im guessing here, but at least 2000 CDs, approx 200 vinyl albums (sold approx 1000 vinyl albums due to space issues, and the fact I got too lazy to play them - the essential ones have naturally been replaced on CD), approx 1500 mp3s. this thread reminded me of Brian Eno's record collection. he only ever owns 10 albums at any given time - if he wants to add another one he has to get rid of one of the 10. Thats masochism of the highest order!! | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 106 Registered: 07-2005 |
Hardin those Benne things are shelves which get about 15 CDs on each shelf and have 12 shelvesper unit,I've got 5 at the moment but need more, as some CDs are lying on top of the upright ones. You can also take ashelf out and store DVDs. they're pretty good and the best I've found for storage and wuite cheap. Braving IKEA is another issue the one I go to in the UK is best avoided at weekends and ok ( just about midweek) Hope this helps | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 246 Registered: 08-2004 |
So does size matter or not? There's always one bigger, that's law. I read in one of those rich list supplements that Brian Eno has a huge collection of porn, obviously hasn't enough room for that & records. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 251 Registered: 03-2006 |
That sounds like a good option, Jerry - I'll have to check them out, like I said, when I develop the balls to go in to IKEA...yeah, here you have to go in the late evening.... Brian Eno is apparently a pretty eccentric fellow, so nothing he did would surprise me. A rock star I read about, whose name escapes me at the moment, limits his collection to 700...that seems like a more manageable number, and there really is some logic to it. There are only so many hours in a day. | ||
| Mark Sweeney Member Username: Domestique Post Number: 9 Registered: 04-2005 |
I was reading an interview with Eno a while back, where he admitted to once drinking his own urine. Simply because he wondered what it would taste like... Boredom is a terrible thing! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 254 Registered: 03-2006 |
I think drinking your own pee-pee is definitely a sign that you're extremely bored. It's probably listed in psychiatric text books...At least it was his own. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 265 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hardin, no, they don't all still mean something to me. I really should winnow down. I did a little by giving away (not selling) hundreds of tapes and CDs before moving to Australia, but I still shipped thousands round the horn of Africa! I if ever move back again I think, I hope, I would be more lethal in my culling. I know there is stuff in there I will never play again. I have a stack of unplayed stuff which seems utterly pointless; but does not stop me adding to the stack. Twenty years ago my mother used to say "Don't you have enough records?" No! A guy I used to share a house with once said to me "Try heroin, it would be cheaper [than buying music]". I agree with what others have said about not having the joy anymore of buying a record the day it comes out and having more money, so being less selective. There was so much stuff in the 80s and early to mid 90s that I wanted but could not afford. Now I can afford it and I get it and it gets added to the pile. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 258 Registered: 03-2006 |
All too true, Padraig. Similar comments have been made to me by friends and family, so all of the above is really fun and validating to hear... Hey at least you got a lot of them as freebies! I've now made it part of my practice, my discipline, to trade stuff in for credit and feed my habit that way...this probably sounds particularly ruthless, but I've been applying the "haven't listened to it in a year" test, unless it's something that really means a lot to me... Shipping, by the way, is a complete, expensive and total bitch by the way...having moved in the last year I can attest to that. It makes you reevaluate your musical priorities right quick! | ||
| David Matheson Member Username: David_matheson Post Number: 71 Registered: 12-2004 |
The mention of drinking your urine reminds me of a story, which I believe is true. Back in the 70s the Indian Prime Minister, Desai, had a habit of drinking his own urine each morning. (Supposedly had some therapeutic benefit.)When he was in Australia he was late for a meeting with the Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam. On noting Desai's lateness, Gough made the observation, "He's probably been on the piss again." | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 262 Registered: 03-2006 |
So, if you, sorry, if someone, used the Brit expression, "he's pissed" about him, it may not necessarily mean he's drunk. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 63 Registered: 01-2005 |
Heep was never Hepp, that's for sure! My sp error. At lease I never bought any Heep on CD. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 302 Registered: 03-2005 |
Don't forget "All the Young Dudes." | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 265 Registered: 03-2006 |
Andy & Michael, there's another unintentionally humorous typo, on the Best Songs thread: someone refers to "Dusty in Her" (!) I was thinking - sounds like a song about Madonna! | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 139 Registered: 02-2005 |
I've been whittling away at the LP's, but like Rob, I've come to realize that the fidelity is often better than that of contemporary CD's. Still, I've given away maybe 400 or 500 LP's in recent years. I still have 3 to 4000 and about 3000 CD's. It looks like less because I've doubled-up discs in double-jewel cases by artist... I have about 800 of those cases. Storage is a PROBLEM and I'm awaiting a shipment of discsox vinyl sleeves to begin addressing the situation. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 305 Registered: 03-2005 |
So, Guy, you're okay with ditching the art and the booklets? | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 140 Registered: 02-2005 |
No, No. The discsox have pouches for the insert, the CD AND the back panel. I would never ditch any of the artwork. I'm not crazy about the idea of moving away from jewel cases, but I really have to do SOMETHING... it's cancerous. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 279 Registered: 03-2006 |
Guy, how economical are those discsox things? I, like everybody else apparently, have real storage issues, but when you talk about the kinds of numbers of discs we're talking here, costs for shelving units, sleeves, etc., mount up quickly.. | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 141 Registered: 02-2005 |
They're not cheap and you're right, it adds up pretty quickly. Here's a link for these things: http://www.discsox.com/products/dj-sleeve.htm I ordered 200 - eight boxes of 25 - and it cost me more than $100, so that's more than 50-cents apiece. And they're not perfect for me. They're 1/2-inch longer than jewel cases and are designed to go into drawers vertically with a label added to the top... I'm going to slice off the extra half-inch and store them on my existing shelves (I think... I don't want these plastic things hanging off the edge of the shelves). I always have a straight-edge and snap-blade cutter handy, so it's NBD for me. | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 59 Registered: 05-2005 |
Ouch... $0.50 each, and not including shelving... I have Can-Am drawer units. They are stackable and modular and very rugged. I think this is the best solution if you have lots of floor space but little wall space (my situation). I am very happy with this company. http://www.can-am.ca Their 3-drawer (and lockable in case that matters) unit holds over 800 CDs in the jewel cases, and also can be used for DVDs (the dividers are moveable) or both within the same drawer. In years of seeking the optimum storage system, this is where I arrived. Price is more than $0.50. It's more like $0.70 per CD once freight is taken into account, trucked from the factory in Canada, but on the other hand, don't need to buy additional sleeves or shelves. And they are as solid as a rock. Unfortunately, for LPs, the only "good" way is open shelves (and proper-LP-sized, decent quality shelves are difficult to find). | ||
| Lawrence Mikkelsen Member Username: Simplythrilledhoney Post Number: 26 Registered: 03-2006 |
I guess I have around 1500 CDs, give or take. I've avoiding counting them because the sheer number freaks me out. But I've digitised most of my collection so I can listen to it at work, and have just under 20,000 MPs on my work computer. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 374 Registered: 03-2005 |
Guy, have you gotten your first batch of Discsox yet? If so, what do you think? Do they seem durable? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 699 Registered: 03-2005 |
I was reading one of Andreas' recent posts and thinking "geez, how many CDs has he got?" I see he doesn't have an entry here. 'Fess up, Andreas . . . . how many? And for all the rest of you who have come onto the board since this thread was last used, let's hear the extent of your disease. To update mine, according to my computer list (yes, I am that geeky) I have 1,434--not including classical which don't go into the tally but only account for about 100 anyway. | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 297 Registered: 04-2006 |
randy, we had those discussion in another thread a few weeks ago. talked about the bulks of cds which are stored in our flats, talked about selling the items( i think that was the starting point, as i mentioned that sometimes i could cry bitter tears when i think about of all those hundreds of lp's which i have selled for different reasons like didn't fit anymore to my collection or storing problems). but i forgot where we debated that. hardin, do you remember? in the end i showed myself. now 30 cd's later i count 1030 cd's and 1750 lp's (i always counted. in the seventies i had a book where all my tape recordings where listed mentioning the artist, the album name and the songs and counting from no.1 till 110 or so. the lp's and the cd's i still count. just always cancel the old sum on a small note and write the new number. isn't this silly? anyway it clearly shows that record collection size does matter. a fall for the psychatrist). no download-stuff. haptic disposition, i am. i must smell, see and feel. around 30-40 cassettes which remained from a few hundreds after our last removal. that's all. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 65 Registered: 08-2006 |
Holy moly, Andreas. 1,750 LPs? I pity your moving company! Based on an informal count of my own haul, I come up with about 100 LPs (I purged in the early '90s and went CD) and about 1,400 CDs. That's in the "official" collection. I have a ton of CDs people sent me when I wrote about music - CDs I didn't like, couldn't sell and hope to canablize as needed for their casings - in a box in the closet. I don't count those, but there has to be about 600. I solved the storage problem by buying book cases and shelling out for extra shelves so the space between shelves was more CD-sized than book-sized. Then I organized them alphabetically and by release date. I can find almost any CD on the shelf without even looking! Okay, I'm starting to sound like that guy from the movie "Diner." Any other compulsive organizers out there? | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1077 Registered: 03-2006 |
I'm the exact opposite: my shit is hopelessly disorganized, it's like not having it at all, if you know what I mean. As much as I like music, and I'm sure you can tell my obsession is probably the equal of anybody out there, I HATE all the storage issues - they truly drive me batshit crazy...So, I enjoy trading in old stuff as much as I do acquiring the new stuff. It's strangely cathartic. I've also been downloading a lot, in lieu of buying, so I now just have a clogged up hard drive. But my CD count is down, based on the space it is taking up (who has time to count?), so I'm feeling pretty good about this issue. So now, I'm guessing I have about 1,000 give or take. Many people I know would still think that was a lot and a desperate cry for help, but it's smaller than the Fall section of Kevin's library! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 68 Registered: 08-2006 |
It's interesting to me that so many people who post to this board seem to have roughly the same size CD collection. How many people do you know in your daily life who have 1,000+ albums? Not many, I'm guessing. Yet here it seems the norm (Padraig messing up the curve with his mammoth collection). That's a lot of music, folks. Think of it: If you buy 30 CDs a year (which is a TON compared to the average), it'd still take you 33 years to get to 1,000 CDs. So some of us are buying WAY more than 30 a year. If the record industry's in a slump, they can't point a finger at the Go-Betweens message board. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1092 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just had a thought. Since LK (in his Hardin guise)first started this topic over 6 months ago Padraigs collection will be even more gargantuan. My own has probably grown from "2000 CDs, approx 200 vinyl albums ,approx 1500 mp3s." as I stated back then to approx 2100 CDs, no change in the vinyl, but mp3s are probably up to approx 5000 thanks to my Napster subscription. So apart from 100 CDs space has not been an issue thank God. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 915 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fu*kin Hell! | ||
| John B. Member Username: John_b Post Number: 47 Registered: 10-2006 |
My god That's how I may have ended up had I not sold my entire record collection in 1984 and changed to CD. I was in my mid-twenties at the time and had around 900 LPs. But a lot of them had only one or two good songs (the ones played by John Peel) and I needed to find a method to buy less. CDs were expensive at the time and I really chose carefully and still do. Right now I am on around 500 CDs and consider that plenty, even though I should rank dead-last here on the board. Work and family simply don't allow me to listen to music as much as in the past. | ||
| Wolfgang Steinhardt Member Username: Berbatov Post Number: 15 Registered: 09-2006 |
Does anybody of her majesties subjects remember Eddy "the eagle" Edwards? I feel like the boards eagle with only 400 CD's and 500 LP's - no storage at all, just piles everywhere, if there's some space left among the books... But I got 4 turntables not working at the moment, thats maybe enough for a No. 1! | ||
| John B. Member Username: John_b Post Number: 49 Registered: 10-2006 |
Wolfgang, I remember him very well, but that's probably rather me than you as I don't even have any LPs. But me minus the page 3 girls he was photographed with after his Calgary heroics. | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 207 Registered: 11-2004 |
I'd have around 1500 CDs and the same amount of LPs. There's also 500 45s and half a dozen shoeboxes of cassettes. Oh, and one 60gb iPod full to the brim with mp3s. And the strangest thing is, I probably listen to 20 artists and their off-shoot bands which account for so many records. I really should cut down ...IT'S CONSUMING MY LIFE! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 708 Registered: 03-2005 |
ID 19 parts, Donat? Do you have the wagon? I love those. Perfect for lugging around your music. Don't worry about the music consuming your life. It IS your life. Accept it. God, I don't know about this smiley face bit . . . | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 209 Registered: 11-2004 |
Hah, no I have a sedan, but it's spacious all the same. I don't think size matters. I could narrow my collection down to a crate of LPs quite easily - for example, I were to subtract my collection of truckin' country records, that's 50 albums right there. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1093 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ah, the double smiley face, a very hip and tricky emoticon maneuver! Do you like Red Sovine, Donat? I'm a sucker for that stuff...perhaps you're making sport... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 796 Registered: 05-2005 |
Red Sovine! "We got a big ol' convoy, truckin' through the night. CON-VOY." Love it! | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 210 Registered: 11-2004 |
I love Red Sovine. I have only cried to about four songs and 'Teddy Bear' would have to be one of them. Mark E. Smith (co-incidentally) is a truckin' country nut also. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 712 Registered: 03-2005 |
Ok, WHAT is "truckin' country?" Jeez, these genres . . . . | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 297 Registered: 01-2005 |
The Canadian truckin' country entry would have to be Stompin' Tom. My favorite of his is "Bud The Spud" about a truck driver from PEI who 'hauls the best darn pataters that's ever been growed, and there from Price Edward Island'! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1097 Registered: 03-2006 |
Hard to define as a genre, Randy, but I will say that one unifying characteristic was that you could typically buy most of the artists' works on cheaply made cassettes in truck stops (one bit of Americana that thankfully doesn't seem to be disappearing. They're just getting bigger and more high tech...)... Donat, that is a tearjerker. I also love "Phantom 309", which was nicely covered by Tom Waits. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 801 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yes, Teddy Bear brought a tear to my eyes many times too Donat. My brother was a big truckin' country fan when we were kids. Well, he had one tape that he played over and over! I used to pretend to disdain it, but I loved it really. Randy, these lyrics should answer your question. Mawkishly sentimental doesn't do it justice. Teddy Bear I was on the outskirts of a little southern town, Trying to reach my destination before the sun went down. The old CB was blaring away on channel one-nine When there came a little boy's voice on the radio line. And he said, "Breaker, one-nine, is anyone there? Come on back, truckers, and talk to Teddy Bear." Well, I keyed the mike and I said, "Well, you got it,Teddy Bear." And the little boy's voice came back on the air. "'Preciate the break. Who we got on that end?" I told him my handle, and then he began: "Now, I'm not supposed to bother you fellas out there, Mom says you're busy and for me to stay off the air. But, you see, I get lonely and it helps to talk 'Cause that's about all I can do. I'm crippled and I can't walk." I came back and told him to fire up that mike And I'd talk to him as long as he'd like. "This was my dad's radio," the little boy said, "But I guess it's mine and Mom's now 'cause my daddy's dead. Dad had a wreck about a month ago. He was trying to get home in a blinding snow. Mom has to work now to make ends meet And I'm not much help with my two crippled feet. She says not to worry, that we'll make it all right, But I hear her crying sometimes late at night. You know, there's one thing I want more than anything else to see. Aw, I know you guys are too busy to bother with me, But, you see, my dad used to take me for rides when he was home But I guess that's all over now since my daddy's gone." Not one breaker came on the old CB As that little crippled boy talked with me. I tried hard to swallow, the lump just wouldn't stay down As I thought about my boy back in Greenville town. "Dad was gonna take Mom and me with him later on this year. Why, I remember him saying, 'Someday this old truck'll be yours, Teddy Bear.' But I know I'll never get to ride an 18-wheeler again, But this old base will keep me in touch with all my trucker friends. Teddy Bear's gonna back on out now and leave you alone 'Cause it's about time for Mom to come home. But you give me a shout when you're passing through And I'll sure be happy to come back to you." Well, I came back and I said, "Before you go ten-ten, What's your home-twenty, little CB friend?" Well, he gave me his address and I didn't once hesitate 'Cause this hot load of freight was just gonna have to wait. I turned that truck around on a dime And headed straight for Jackson Street, 229. And as I rounded the corner, boy, I got one heck of a shock-- Eighteen-wheelers were lined up for three city blocks! Why, I guess every driver for miles around had caught Teddy Bear's call And that little crippled boy was having a ball. For as fast as one driver would carry him in, Another would carry him to his truck and take off again. Well, you better believe I took my turn at riding Teddy Bear And then I carried him back in and put him down in his chair. And, buddy, if I never live to see happiness again I want you to know I saw it that day, in the face of that little man. We took up a collection for him before his mama got home And each driver said goodbye and then they were all gone. He shook my hand with a mile-long grin And said, "So long, trucker, I'll catch you again!" I hit that interstate with tears in my eyes And I turned on the radio and I got another surprise. "Breaker, one-nine," came a voice on the air, "Just one word of thanks from Mama Teddy Bear. We wish each and every one a special prayer for you 'Cause you just made my little boy's dream come true. I'll sign off now before I start to cry. May God ride with you. Ten-four, and goodbye." | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 802 Registered: 05-2005 |
Convoy is by that other truckn' country legend CW McCall, not Red, of course. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1099 Registered: 05-2005 |
Dont know whether it was this thread that prompted me to do it, but tonight I decided the time was right (or to put it another way, the kids are now old enough not to accidentally destroy things!) to dust down my turntable and retrieve it from cold storage. It cost me £600 in 1995 and is a Czech built Reson RS1 and I have been looking forward to this day for some time now. Grabbed a random selection of LPs (Kilimanjaro by Teardrop Explodes, Real Ramona by Throwing Muses, Straightaways by Son Volt, Live 69 by VU, Brilliant Trees by David Sylvian and American Water by Silver Jews) and assembled the turntable. Still sounds great I'm relieved to say and the Throwing Muses is a stronger release than I remember. It was a buzz hearing that analogue sound again, even if there was a few crackles here and there. Does anybody else still play vinyl regularly, and do they get annoyed with the imperfections that vinyl can throw up compared to CD? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 806 Registered: 05-2005 |
I haven't done in a while Kevin, but it is still set up. I used to play it pretty regularly as my daughter loved the 12" of Teenage Fanclub's Star Sign! We used to jump around the room while it was playing. But then one day - while I was in the kitchen - she got out her Bear In The Big Blue House CD, put it on the turntable and put the needle on it. I couldn't be mad at her though as she just thought that's how music was played! I have one Silver Jews album on vinyl, but can't remember which one. I have a couple of their/his other albums on CD. Haven't played them in ages but I certainly used to like them. Oh, and I never thought Throwing Muses were as good on record as they are live. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1099 Registered: 03-2006 |
I'm afraid LPs now fall into the "life is too short" category for me, Kevin. I just can't be arsed to go to all that bother to listen to music...I have a nice turntable (not as expensive as yours) that I haven't bothered to hook up...At the Yo La Tengo concert, I almost bought the LP version of "Beat Your Ass" in my drunken, bleeding-eardrum stupor, till I remembered that crucial fact that I had no way to actually listen to it.... | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1100 Registered: 05-2005 |
Daughters eh, you got to love them Padraig. My nine year old was last night repeating over and over the intro to the song Elevator Music on Becks new album. Somebody(possibly Beck)counts in the band by spouting "1,2 You know what to do" She thinks this is fantastic and repeats it constantly. I think she will be pretty keen on music, she is currently over one year into weekly piano lessons (her current favourite song to play is Blowing In The Wind) and has just started violin lessons on a funky purple violin that I got her on Ebay. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1101 Registered: 05-2005 |
LK, another couple of posts and you will officially be "The Man". It was only a matter of time | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 431 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kevin, I still play vinyl regularly. In fact, I'm disturbingly obsessive about it. Vinyl is still my main format of choice, and it far outnumbers my cds (I have around 1500 records, and maybe about 300 cds). I don't mind the occasional crackle or pop, but I'm fairly anal about the condition of my records. I do get frustrated with the fact that it's gradually becoming more difficult to get LPs in good condition cheaply. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 809 Registered: 05-2005 |
Woe, you guys are running neck and neck! It's like the Melbourne Cup (on which I betted $39 for a return of $15. A $24 loss is not too bad...) | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 212 Registered: 11-2004 |
I did a needle drop of Television's Marquee Moon today and it's an original US pressing from 1977. The most recent "remastered" CD has got nothing on this, aside from "bonus tracks, outtakes etc etc" to suck Mr/Mrs/Ms completist in. *cough* recent 2cd versions of the first 6 Go-Betweens albums *cough* I can think of many releases where the vinyl sounds better than the CD - ahh, but there's many releases where the CD makes you want to forever discard the vinyl versions, like the Saints boxset. Reissue repackage repackage revaluate the songs... wait a minute, that's a Smiths song! It's a shame that there's so little quality control these days. I play vinyl more than CDs, maybe because I don't have kids yet. And what about the artwork? 12" versus 5" - size does matter folks. | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 213 Registered: 11-2004 |
As a PS, it's nice to see a few people here who are truckin' country savvy. Just my truckin' luck! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 811 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, Convoy is here! http://www.cybertrucker.co.uk/convoy.htm | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 306 Registered: 07-2005 |
I still play LPs mainly on a thursday when I have a day off and have more time my daughter is playing and I'm tinkering around, have about 6 LPs I regularly play Swordfishtrombone Marquee Moon Danger in the Past Bandwagonesque. Not bought any for years though. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 717 Registered: 03-2005 |
Donat, you are unquestionably right about the fact that the size of the art matters. And in really insidious ways. While playing some of the gargantuan Peel Fall box last night I realized that I was never very fastidious about remembering any of the information contained on the CD booklets to the original albums and how different that is from releases that I originally acquired in vinyl. (I discovered the Fall in 1986 and never had vinyl versions of their records.) Unless there are actual obessive archivist liner notes, there's nothing to induce me to bother to read the small print on CD packaging and that even goes for back when I was Jeff's age and my eyes could still focus on small stuff. Kevin, you must have the most awesome sound system. Translating that turntable price into US dollars and also accounting for some inflation yields an amazing figure. I still have one of my old belt-drive Thorens hooked up. It needs my help to get going but it works. I seldom use it; the stylus isn't in very good shape. I favored moving coil cartridges and they are pretty fragile. Padraig, I am afraid of that link but I will use it. Is it a song called "Convoy?" I remember that enjoying heavy rotation on the AM radio in the mid-70s. I used to have to hear it while working at a part-time job that involved traveling around the Central Valley of California in a car or a big passenger van. It WAS the truckin' lifestyle. My co-workers insisted on the radio, of course, but I would have preferred silence. In fact, that job will go a long way toward explaining why I hate mainstream 70s music so much. But let's see . . . | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 718 Registered: 03-2005 |
Yeah, it was that song. Padraig, it was pure masochism for me to sit all the way through that, but I did. Seriously, Fresno California was jam full of that culture back then. I'm thinking maybe truckin' country (if you want to call THAT country) is sort of a younger generation's counterpart to my thing for the most over-the-top Joe Meek productions. It's something so bad that it's good and you didn't have to listen to it involuntarily when it was new. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1103 Registered: 05-2005 |
So now that the turntable is back in use, the next step was to visit the attics to rediscover some vinyl delights, some I have not played for over ten years, many I even forgot I had. Momus - Tender Pervert. (spence, you are our Momus expert I guess - any thoughts on this release) The Fall - Hip Priests and Kamerads - a nice summary of where the Fall were at in the early 80s, includes Lie Dream of a Casino Soul, The Classical, Hip Priest abd Fantastic Life. This is on Situation Two records who also released Associates records that comprised Fourth Drawer Down at this time. The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow - In a gatefold sleeve, wonder if its worth anything? Magazine - Correct Use of soap - My favourite of theirs Liberty Belle, Tallulah and (prepare to collapse LK ) I have 2 copies of 16LL. Particularly looking forward to hearing Liberty Belle in analogue. VU - Live 69 - also in a gatefold sleeve that folds out to show those black boots and tiny panties in all their glory! The Pale Fountains - Pacific Street. From 1983, before they became Shack and I seem to remember this sounds very influenced by Love. The next one is for Randy - Luxuria's Unanswerable Lust. I cant even remember buying this, how does it rate in Devotos back catelogue Randy? Another one for Spence - Young and Stupid by Josef K. Or is it called Endless Soul? It clearly says Young and Stupid on the front, but Endless Soul on the label of the disc.Not as many tracks as Entemology but has all the classics like Its Kinda Funny and Chance Meeting. I can see fun times ahead for the next few days | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 921 Registered: 05-2005 |
Vinyl is the best innit!? Kev, Tender Pervert was an ok album, it was released just after the C86 thing it was probably caught p in it to be fair, Sexual Jealousy Parts 18-24 or whatever is great, Ice King too. He started to experiment much more on this album. Its not as good as his first two albums. Pale Fountains, that album had me in tears, I once gave a 7'' record to a girl that was Thank you from that album as a way of trying to win her back, I failed! The album is quitea moving album. Ahead of their time, but always out of time, were the Fountains. Good looking fellas too. Luxuria, that album is great too, I met Devoto around that time, he hogh fived me! Cool or what!!? Er Young and Stupid, it was co-titled Endless Soul, its on Allan Campbells Suprem label, it was the only vinyl recording available in the 80's, again, Josef K had a breif flirtation with Indie charts in '87 again around the C86 period of things, there wa s a 12'' released, on same lael, Heaven Sent, the Peel sessioin, one of their slickest greates songs. I remember dj'ing a nightclub, IU stuck it on and no one danced, so I got on the floor and bopped along to it and nearly missed queing up the next record! You enjoy yersel ma young kevin ye great scot!!!! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1106 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cheers for the info Spence, yes the Josef k is on the Supreme label and is a measly 12 tracks. AMG have a few entries for this album, it seems to have been rereleased on LTM records 3 years after the Supreme version in 1990, there is yet another version on LTM released in 2002 with a different sleeve and 9 bonus tracks. Side 1 of Liberty Belle sounded as great as I hoped it would. The CD version I have is not that good sound wise. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 719 Registered: 03-2005 |
I haven't heard "Unanswerable Lust" in a long time, Kevin. I remember being disappointed by it. My recollection of "Lust" is that it had overly sweet guitarwork and was musically predictable. No match for Magazine, or the better parts of "Jerky Versions" or "Beast Box," which was a collaboration with Dave Formula, complete with his trademark funhouse calliope-style arrangements. By the way, I agree about "Correct Use of Soap." I just checked; I see I got rid of my vinyl copy of that. It was probably really worn out. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 923 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kev yep 12 trax, but at least Allan made it available at that time. LTM release Only Fun in town and Young and Stupid as two cd's in 90 yes. OFIT was later released again on Revola, offshoot of Cherry Red, by Jo Forster and Alan Mcgee. Then repackaged as you say on LTM again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Endless Soul the CD is still fab, though Entomolgy has gotta, gotta, gotta be the lasttime this stuff is re-oackaged and re-released, surely! Ihope the remastering is worth it. Randy, its hard tolive up to Magazine sure, but I think Lust was better than jerky the Devoto solo album, do you? Soap is awesome. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 725 Registered: 03-2005 |
Spence, "Unanswerable Lust" is certainly more consistent than "Jerky Versions" but I'd say the best tracks on JV such as "Cold Imagination," "Rainy Season" and "Seeing is Believing" beat everything on the first Luxuria record. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 926 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, sure,fair comment, i agree with you. i suppose my view is biased due to seeing them live in '88, they were quite remarkable Noko and Devoto. You say tomato, i say Devoto... | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 432 Registered: 10-2004 |
I actually quite like "Jerky Versions." Side 1 is a scorcher, imho. Dave Forumula plays on it too, which certainly helps. On a different note, I get really happy anytime someone here mentions the Pale Fountains. I can't say enough good things about them. |