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Over the past few years I have come into contact with a few guys who have really large record collections. Now I have some 3-4K, I think, which by most standards is pretty large, but a couple of these guys have over 45K....wow.
I traded emails with one of these guys today, about this subject. Now it is not about the superiority of the vinyl experience - for me, that is a reason to listen to vinyl, which in general provides more of a "you are immersed in the music" experience than other formats, good as they might be. Well, 15 ips tape as produced by folks like the Tape Project is wonderful, but there isn't much variety, and there is a lot of overhead to go through to listen (threading, rewinding, threading again, waiting, then basically about 20 minutes of music).
So there are guys with 30 versions of the Planets. 30 VERSIONS - there can't be that much to this music. And how often will you listen to all of the versions? I'll bet mostly once, at most. I have collected things that I know I will listen to.....one day.
No, it is something else. We collect because we can. And because it is fun, and gives us a quest. It is not that expensive (well, it can take up a bunch of space, and Lps required care and feeding), and it is harmless. We like tangible things, too - nothing like a beautifully packaged LP or set, right? The LP form factor turned out to be just out perfect.
So I have a number of gotta haves on my wish list....and once I have them, I'll have a new wish list. Are any of you any different?
Follow Ups:
MUSIC even if it is a "collector" item, if I dont like it I will sell it. I only keep what I like, Yes I collect the music I like....
I've been collecting and listening to records since the late 1960s. For many reasons: primarily the music, music unavailable on other formats, album cover artwork, archiving & preserving rare recordings, the thrill of the hunt and so on. I also produce radio shows. I have approximately 30,000 records but I'm constantly culling or acquiring more, so it's tough to put a number on it.
My studio is a converted 600 square foot garage and I have a 1,500 square foot shop building, so space is not an issue. Time spent cleaning, filing, and listening to records is the bigger concern. If I acquired many more, it would be less a fun hobby and more of a burden. As it is, the collection is a real joy. It's very well organized, with everything instantly accessible.
Funny, I refer to my 3K LPs as my "record collection" but I don't consider myself a collector.
Growing up my parents had first 78s, then LPs, which were played frequently. So I suppose it was just natural for me to begin "collecting" 45s while in junior high, and then LPs in high school.
I always liked the idea of being able to listen to a favorite musical selection or artist any time I felt like it. Of course that was before modern digital/internet access. I was not impressed by CDs when they came out so never gave up on my records. So the "collection" just seemed to grow over the years. Now that I have such a variety to listen to I've certainly slowed down buying over the past 10-15 years.
As for strange collections, I once met someone who collected barbed wire. He had several framed boards with short strands attached, and he seemed to have a story for each one. After that I didn't give further thought to owning a number of LPs.
"You can't know what the "best" is unless you have heard everything, and keep in mind that given individual tastes, there really isn't any such thing." HP
How about collecting music? Collecting performances? To me, that's the goal.
Multiple different performances of the same piece of music? Why not! Every reading has it's own unique qualities.
Getting the most from a recording is a matter of selecting the format and playback hardware that gets the most from the media on which the performance is recorded.
We're here because we want to get the best playback from the vinyl on which those musical performances are recorded.
BP well put that is it it is the music that makes it happen for me. But I remember having 25 LPs at one time and I never thought I would have 2 thousand. And its not about the number its about pulling out the recording and listening to it. And then here the amount of information for playback is unbelieveable impressive as hell. As far as the number of recordings go just when I say thats it I have everything I need an artist comes along or a style and I got to have it, something about the search too. I wish I had half the knowledge and skill that goes into making the listening so enjoyable on this site that makes it so rewarding. Nuff said.
No blowing smoke just the facts,
I buy music to enjoy not a collectable object.
Like many in here, I still have some of the 45s that my mother played and sang along with to me when I was an infant, the 45s I got as gifts when I was a young adolescent, the first 45s and LPs I purchased with allowance and such starting at about 10 yrs old, and so on.
Records have remained my preferred way of enjoying and studying recorded music.
So I continue buying them.
"Never look at the trombones...it only encourages them." Richard Wagner
.
Later Gator,
Dave
Buy your skinny and hungry musicians now while supplies last.
After reading these posts I have concluded that I am not alone.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
And vinyl is music in its most visceral form.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
Great posts. I am the same.
Nowadays, with the busy pressed schedules, I just turn on KUSC, in the car. It satisfies during my 40 min commute. And being in LA, I go to concerts. But then I want some of these recordings, some from the LP era.
I have ~1.5 K records, almost all at least playable and most are nearly pristine or at least sparingly played*. I rarely buy new ones due to keeping peace in the family and my personal quest to change some things.
*I don't know how many times my late uncle played his Mercs, London blue back, RCA shaded and earlier mono, Westminster black, the orginal Capitols, Command classical and Enoch Light, etc. They are in very very good condition. Nor some others from my family collection and some from another collection of my friend's. They are also very good without scratches.
Hello. My name is Jack and I'm a record collector.
I have a couple of thousand, acquired over the last 50 years, but I have never thought that I was collecting them.
yeah, i started when CDs didn't exist, and did not switch to cd but added them. i waited to get a decent sounding cd player ($140 at Target!) and soon found out that LPs sound better than cd even when the LP had a digital source.
brothers in arms was my first, and great sounding cd BUT, i bought a cutout copy, possibly used and i was astounded how much better the LP was than the cd. and that was with a MM cartridge.
i continued my LP acquisitions at VERY low prices because the deaf were unloading them for cd replacements. YAY!
i have about 6k LPs and half that of cd and other optical disc units. i will soon be culling my collection because i will live in a smaller space and a great many of them were bought because i MIGHT like and listen to them. a great many of those will never be played so out they will go.
i am a music lover and always want something new and great to play and i keep finding such., both on vinyl and cd. storage is the most difficult obstacle and most of my records are not alphabetized.
just yesterday i heard a great female singer and a spacey and ethereal artist as well. then there are the older artists whom i have precious few of that i "need" more of.
get it?
...regards...tr
When I was a young teenager, you either bought records or tapes and I transitioned to records once I became interested in hi-fi equipment and my dad helped me get a Radio Shack (Realistic) system together. Before long, CDs were all the rage and I stopped buying vinyl and ended up getting rid of most of my LP collection. Eventually I had amassed a bit of a CD collection, but I didn't enjoy listening that much anymore and my system was relegated to mostly background music. I firmly believe there was something about early CD playback that could make you quickly lose interest.
Years later, sometime in the first half of the '90s, I noticed that you could buy stacks of vinyl in the thrifts for pennies and I began using it a cheap way to listen to stuff that I wasn't interested in before. I bought a new turntable and really began digging music again. Soon I had a huge incoming pile of stuff I hadn't had time to check out yet and I just really enjoyed the adventure of the hunt and listening to new stuff.
Today it's easier to check out a YouTube video, but thrifting was so much more fun and leaves me with real tangible souvenirs for my efforts. Vinyl represents an adventure to me and I love the way a lot of my records sound. I just wish I'd also been buying everyone's cartridges they were throwing out!!
Later Gator,
Dave
I know for me, at least a part of it, is to seek out new music that I and haven't heard yet. I recently read a review of a work by Frank Martin, a name I know well (he was one of the most recorded modern composers a generation ago) but whose music I have heard very little of. The work is Le Vin Herbe, and the review referenced the recording made in the early 60s I think, with the composer at the piano. There were a couple of other recordings of this work discussed, and by the way, this work is supposed to be extremely interesting. One of the reviewers preferred the one with the composer, and I found a pristine LP of it cheap on eBay. a 2 record set on Westminster, which I haven't heard yet - but really glad to have in the queue.
There is absolutely no reason NOT to, that I can think. Except maybe "storage space"?
To find that LP that no one else has been able to locate for years, to find an artist that I never heard before and it knocks my socks off, those labels that sound so sweet,that recording that I never knew existed by one of my favorite artists oh it goes on and on and all for a few bucks. And the people you meet at shows the sellers who know music, the guys picking and talking to these guys I will stop for now. And then I go home and clean them put new inner and outer sleves and they become mine.
Love it
John
My apartment is 440 square feet, and I have 4000 records.
So there NO reason not to collect records.
For the sake of your neighbor(s) underneath, I hope your floor joists are strong ones...
Your furnishings must be composed of vinyl!
Cheers,
K.
10 km from my remote little town in NW Netherlands, in another small town, i discovered a new thrift. Inside i found a large number of records. Chatting with the guy behind the counter i found out they were selling the records on behalf of a guy in that town. He has a sea container in his back yard with over 10K records in it!
It's a disease, people. Like all collectors we collect for the sake of it. You can stream all music ever made for free these days. But finding a 30+ year old record in good condition with hopefully good music on it after going through a lot of trash in the real world, still gives me a big thrill. Even if it's another version of the Sacre du Printemps.
"The torture never stops"Greetings Freek.
nt
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
An interesting topic.
I have sent away for albums for 40 years now. Living in America means getting lots of stuff not released here if you like the more obscure type things.
What I used to do in the late 70's/early 80's was simple really....$50 a week for albums and $50 per week for stereo. After 6 years or so, you look up and have acquired a nice collection of things.
The other side of the coin is you need a large seperate room in your house specifically for it. So, it becomes a boat anchor of sorts because of not selling things. But so many of my friends did the boat thing. Or exotic car thing. That stuff cost a lot more and is long since gone & those type items really depreciate. At least my stereo items at least break even and a few have gone above their purchase price. And vinyl costs have skyrocketed.
Actually, shipping costs are the killer these days. About a decade ago, things just doubled and tripled almost overnight as far as shipping goes. That means you have to be very selective on what you buy---then again, you have most of what you need anyway.
First, let me say that I like vinyl for the sound. In fact, in the classical and jazz genres I absolutely prefer my lps. But another important reason is that lps afford me a chance to hear conductors and performances that otherwise are unavailable to me. Igor Markevitch is perhaps my favorite interpreter of Tchaikovsky and his performances on Philips are excellent recordings. Ernst Ansermet with ballet music is another example. Lennie Bernstein, the Bayern Beethoven concerts... I can go on. The lps take me back in time to listen to wonderful music from orchestras where most of the members aren't around anymore. And individual performers such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Edith Farnadi, Erica Morini... my favorite Dvorak "New World" is on Westminster with Rodzinski conducting, and the body of work by Alan Hovhaness most on his personal label... So in addition to the music and the sound, records send me back 50 years to listen and appreciate. Sorry for the long post but I could go on and on.
Sim
Edits: 07/30/15
I bought records till there wasn't a local retailer who sold them. Then I ordered from Midnight Records in New York. Anyone remember them? I only bought CDs when there was no choice. Began ordering from the online sellers many years ago, (Musicdirect, Elusive Disc etal). Now I have several B&M choices locally again.
the dust in my house.
dee
;-d
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
as I emerse myself into the sound.(I am likely ADD)
On the other hand, aspects of the hobby can drive you nuts...
Is anything else real?
I never understood the collector's mentality. When I was 18 I gave almost all my albums to my best friend and started buying new albums. After 39 years of buying I have almost 700 records. Collecting? Bah! Humbug! I just want to listen to the music. I guess I'm lucky in that I was never bitten by the bug and just enjoy music for what it is. All I want is to be transported into the music and forget the rest of the world. My world is in those notes and tones.
cars, boats, and trailers etc. I can buy multiple duplicates of my favorite LP's and the wife doesn't notice. But 20 or 30 VW bugs was pretty tough to hide.
TR
Than cars and women
;-d
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
Your question is an interesting counterpoint to a post that just bubbled up to the top over at 'General' regarding the buying of Vintage gear that borders on the same thread- collecting because it is there - or a 'deal' or for the love of the media/format-and I must say that I agree with the comments from all replies ahead of me-
I collect,
My name is....
because there is some great music that I want to HEAR.
Hear in my own room, and think about, experience, re-hear...
Is there a right 'size' for a collection - only you can answer that for yourself-
I am running up against Time and space - but mostly $$ - I passed up a box of records at a garage sale this past weekend for $$ and time
perhaps next time i will strike-
are there albums that I want - YES
do I need all versions? - well, I always though it would be fun to collect all the versions of "My Funny Valentine" - but I only have Bill Evan's version as I type...so perhaps
Happy Listening
There is also a strong element of nostalgia for one's youth for a lot of us, I think. An LP and a cover, and even a sleeve if not just blank, can bring back the world of the 60s and 70s as much as anything you can collect.
I knew a hoarder who had 10,000 records. He was certifiable.
"A lie is half-way around the world before the truth can get its boots on."
-Mark Twain
I see that and raise you 60 Beethoven Piano Concerto NO.1s. :/
I don't collect records. I had over 3K at one time and am now under 500, which suits me just fine.
However, being a collector of antique fishing tackle I totally get the mentality of the record collector ...or any other collector.
The thrill is in the hunt and acquisition. After that, well, then its a matter of hoarding verses collecting.
I guess what I'm saying is fill that wish list. There's nothing much better as a collector than wanting something and getting it.
Sorry for the slightly/mostly off topic reply. While I understand the collector mentality, collecting records is something I've never had any interest in.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
Historically speaking, my record collecting "gathering" began with certain bands; then morphed into researching mid-sixties stuff with same band members pre-dating the famous bands. My 45 collection is huge. My LP collection has become huge. My 78 gathering is growing. But, whether we have 200, 2000 or 20,000 discs, don't we still mostly listen to the same 100 discs ? Funny; right ?
The "many versions" relates to our search for the "best" sounding version... or at least we hope we found that....
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