Top 10 things I despise about records and record collecting

1. Colored Vinyl – Yeah, sometimes it looks cool, but I don’t buy records to stare at them, I buy them to listen to. I’m not totally convinced about the argument that colored vinyl sounds worse, I just don’t have a setup where I think I could tell, and there are so many other reasons why a record is going to sound shitty that are likely more important. I just think it looks cheap, and makes me think the band/label are more concerned about selling a cool looking collector’s item rather than a functional product. It costs labels more to press on colored vinyl, and serves absolutely no functional purpose, spend the damn money on the recording or the artwork. Thankfully I don’t buy a whole lot of new records where this is an issue, but I’m annoyed when I have to pick between 4 ugly colors, and none of them are black.

 

2. Picture Discs – I like to buy metal on vinyl, but it seems more prevalent among metal bands and labels to release picture discs. They tend to cost more, look like garbage, and don’t even have covers. What is the fucking deal? Of the few I have, they always come in already split plastic sleeves, so even if one wanted to buy these abominations, they are a pain in the ass to take care of and store with other records.

 

3. European Pressings – Talk about low quality knock offs, why does vinyl pressed in Europe always sound bad, come on paper thin vinyl, and come packed in the cheapest possible jackets? And this isn’t just ethno-centrism, the Japanese press great quality vinyl and use sturdy covers just as well as Americans.

 

4. Single LPs longer than 45 minutes – Hell, even 45 minutes is pushing it. Some examples might be the Cure’s Disintegration, Death’s Symbolic, and the new reissue of Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains. These records sound worse than cassettes soaked in water. Do the companies who press these even care about what their records sound like? Are they under the impression people don’t listen to records?

 

5. Bonus tracks – Some bands like to put extra tracks on either the vinyl version of their album, or the cd. Why? Can’t they decide on what the album should be? Are they trying to make their fans buy two copies? A bonus track is like a big kick in the face to a bands biggest fans. I also tend to appreciate an album as a cohesive whole. When there is an extra track unique to a particular format, it messes with that cohesiveness, or suggests the band doesn’t give a fuck.

 

6. Records that are anything other than 7”, 10”, or 12” – All those stupid punk and hardcore labels that think 8.5” records, and skull shaped discs are cool, just stop it. Anyone who has tried to play a 5” record knows what a joke this novelty crap is. Make good music, don’t hide it by putting out some crazy package trying to mask the garbage inside.

 

7. Double LPs where the 1^st record has sides 1 and 4, and the second record has sides 2 and 3 – If I ever listen to these albums, I almost never listen to them in order. Off the top of my head, I can think of John Coltrane’s Live in Seattle and Miles Davis’ Live Evil that were pressed this way. What a pain in the ass. Someone once told me they used to make record players with two turntables, so that is why these double LPs were pressed with the sides out of order. Is that true? I have no idea, but if that was case, how many people could afford these?  I even have a Leadbelly triple LP box where the records have side 1 and 6 together, sides 2 and 5 together, and sides 3 and 4 together. Totally obnoxious.

 

8. Elaborate packaging – I don’t want to work to get the LP out of the jacket. It just makes me want to not listen to these records. I’d prefer to just slide the record in and out of the jacket, I don’t need some triple gatefold design where I have to open up the whole thing to get to the music (I’m thinking of the Black Angels Directions to See a Ghost), or some type of annoying clasp (like the original pressing of the Los Crudos/Spitboy split LP) that just leads to wear on the jacket over time from opening it.

 

9. People that don’t collect records telling me they have a bunch old Beatles records – I don’t care, and there is a 99% chance they either don’t play or are later worthless pressings. Just because it is the Beatles or it is old does not mean it is somehow valuable.

 

10. Mold and cat piss – I know record collectors are a weird bunch, but come on, don’t show up at a record show wearing a shirt your 10 cats sleep and piss on. Also, what is with storing records in dirty places? I’m not a freak for cleanliness, but having black and grimy hands after a good day of digging is just gross. Record collecting may be damaging to my financial and emotional health, I’m ok with that, but I don’t want to end up at the doctor because I caught some weird disease from touching a bunch of dirty ass records.

 

Honorable mentions:

 

The waiting period between record shows – Its like the day after the Super Bowl, knowing there is no football for another 8 months...

 

The credit card bill – This is my own fault, but its not quite so bad if I resist the urge to add up all the frivolous music purchases I make each month.

I just won Sodom's Agent Orange LP!

For $9.08 on the 'bay. Hot damn! I don't know what this is really worth, I guess the stupid picture disc version that comes in a tin can is valuable, but I just won the normal LP version. I am excited though, Sodom vinyl is generally hard to find, and their Agent Orange album is awesome. 

Today's finds

Yardbirds - Little Games (1967)

Killing Joke-s/t (1980)

Linn County-Fever Shot (1969)

I found all of these at the local store, We Buy Music. I was basically just bored today, so I spent a couple hours just browsing the store, and as I was about to leave, the store owner mentioned to me he had this pile of boxes, full of records, that he hadn't yet gone through to put out on the floor. There was a ton of stuff in there I was interested in, but I found this Yardbirds record and the first Killing Joke album. The Yardbirds record is ok, it has Jimmy Page on it, so that is what made me purchase it, but there are a number of amazing songs on there mixed with weird and mediocre psychedelic songs. 

I was more excited about finding the Killing Joke album. I have been keeping an eye out for this record ever since I began collecting records. The only reason being is that it has the song "The Wait" that Metallica covered on their $5.98 Garage Days Re-Revisited ep. I have always wanted to find the original vinyl versions of all the songs that Metallica covered on that ep, since it was the first thing I ever heard from Metallica, and also one of the first metal albums I ever heard. The Killing Joke record is only the second one I've managed to get. Having the Misfits Last Caress and Green Hell on vinyl is just too easy (well, at the least the reissues anyways), so I was never that motivated to seek out the other songs by Diamondhead, Holocaust and Budgie, but now that I have the Killing Joke record, I might be more motivated to finish off this search. 

The rest of the Killing Joke record is actually pretty amazing too, its very hard and gritty, mixing post-punk, industrial, and metal, which would probably turn out incredibly shitty if done today, but sounds great when its from 1980. I recently saw that this record was reissued and had been pondering picking it up, but I got lucky today in finding an original EG pressing.

The Linn County record was free, its pretty beat up, and I had no idea who they were, but I was curious in hearing it. It had the look of a late 60s hard rock/heavy blues album, a style of music I really love, so I figured I would take a chance. When the owner told me it was free, I was surprised as hell. Sometimes this guy is pretty weird about pricing, but maybe the terrible economy is hurting him and he needs to encourage more business? The record isn't bad, and I guessed correctly on the style. It sounds a lot like a mediocre version of the first Allman Brothers Band album, but not a bad find for free! 

Broken Hope

God damn I have not posted in a while. Not only have I been super busy, but I sometimes find blogging to be annoying and self-indulgent. Since I have been listening to almost nothing but metal for the last couple months, I decided I would post this 7" record from Broken Hope that came out in 1993. This record is one of the first records I ever purchased at my first ever show. I more or less remember the show, but I can't remember at all what the first record was that I purchased, I have a small collection of records I know were among my first, but its all a blur now.

So my first show was at the Thirsty Whale (I think?) in Chicago in 1993. The headlining band was Unleashed from Sweden, and Demented Ted and Broken Hope from Chicago. I only knew who Broken Hope were, and loved their cd that had just come out at the time, The Bowels of Repugnance. I think this was the first death metal band I really got into, the cookie monster vocals and the extremely disturbing lyrics were just the coolest thing to me when I was 13-14 years old. Now, I have a hard time listening to this album, but it does have a lot of sentimental value for me. 

My first show was not supposed to be this death metal show. My parents were really hesitant to let me go to a show, but for my 14th birthday, they bought me tickets to go see the Butthole Surfers and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the club (the Riviera in Chicago, if I remember correctly), the show had been canceled at the last minute. I was really disappointed, since I also was really into the Independent Worm Saloon album by the Surfers that had just come out. The next show I could find that I wanted to see was this Broken Hope show. Me being a dumb 14 year kid, and my parents being completely ignorant of the type of music it was, agreed to it, so I went to this show with my dad. I was a slightly puggy, nerdy looking kid, and I remember wearing this ridiculous Chicago Bulls Starter jacket to the show, and my dad was the only normal looking person there. Everyone else was dressed completely in black, had long hair, and to me at the time, were frankly just scary people. The club was gross and dirty, and I felt like everyone was just staring at us the entire time. 

But, the show was awesome, Unleashed were incredible, I eventually picked up one of their tapes, and Demented Ted were good too. The singer in Broken Hope actually talked like he sang in between songs, which was just the best thing at the time, and as souvenirs for the show, I picked up this 7" and a shirt. I maybe listened to the record 2 or 3 times, there was never any reason to play it since the songs were all on their album, but the shirt I got had the cover of the record on it (I can't believe my dad let me buy that, I don't think he was really paying attention...). I wore the hell out of that shirt through high school, occasionally having to turn it inside out when a teacher would look at it closely. 

I really have to give my dad a lot of credit, I don't remember him ever saying anything bad about the show, it was a little bit of a crazy experience, but no one bothered us, he had a beer and I just enjoyed the hell out of the bands. 

I wonder if Blogger is going to now flag this site for posting objectionable material, let's hope so.

Saints and Sinners...

No, not the terrible Whitesnake album, but Charle's Mingus' magnum opus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. I just got this in the mail today, and I'm super excited to finally have a copy. And a mono white label promo copy to boot.

The loss of a record collection.

This is an extremely sad and depressing story about a man who hired a moving company which lost most of his record collection. Last time I moved, my records sat in the passenger seat next to me in a moving truck. Now, that would be impossible because of its size, but I would never let someone else touch them. What was this guy thinking??

Phoenix Hunting Trip

I just got back from a nice trip with my wife to Phoenix. We basically just spent money, drank, and ate (and some other things...). Last year we went to Phoenix to primarily go to Ikea, and I found a bunch of decent record stores then. This time I went back to the better ones I found, as well as a few new ones. Luckily for us, the new light rail just started running the day before we arrived and was free the entire time we were there. Many of the records stores were within walking distance from one of the metro stops. I also brought a pile of records to trade with me, to not only cut down on costs, but also to get rid of stuff I probably couldn't get rid of here in ABQ. Amazingly, I got rid of everything I brought to trade.

1. Stinkweeds

Stinkweeds is an ok store, not my favorite, but since it is just across the street from Tracks in Wax, it doesn't hurt to stop in. I did pretty well here, scoring the 1st 88 Fingers Louie 7" for $2, after just selling it a few months back for much more than that. I also got a nice copy of Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isles. Not an original, but I'm pretty sure its either a late 60s or early 70s pressing (it has the dark blue Blue Note labels). Mostly, Stinkweeds is a hipster record store, lots of punk, indie, hip hop, and small selections of jazz and other styles. They carry a lot of new vinyl, and a lot of cds so if you are looking for for that its worth checking out. The one plus is they seem somewhat selective with what they carry, so there is no wading through hundreds of bad classic rock and 80s synth pop to find a treasure. 

Since I was on the light rail, I wasn't able to bring many records with me on the first record buying trip to Stinkweeds, Tracks in Wax, and Revolver. I traded in a copy of Guns n' Roses-Appetite for Destruction, and Mike Heron's Smiling Men with Bad Reputations, but I didn't get very much for them so I wouldn't recommend trading in records here.

2. Tracks in Wax Records

I went here on my last trip as well, and its also just across from one of the new light rail stops. It is almost all used records, with 1000s of rock lps, and large country, comedy, soul, and jazz sections. They also have a large 45 collection, and carry a good amount of pretty rare records that are hanging on the walls. Unfortunately, there $150 copy of Gene Vincent's Bluejean Bop was out of my price range as well as some Sam Cooke lps. I did ok here as well, the Lighting Hopkins record was an excellent find. The John Coltrane-Expression, and Herbie Hancock-Maiden Voyage are both later pressings, but I'm glad to have found these for cheap. 

Here, I traded in a copy of Captain Sensible's Women and Captain First, and Plainsong's In Search of Amelia Earhart. These aren't bad records, but I never listen to them, and thought they deserved a better home. The owner traded me these two for the Coltrane record, which was ok with me, but still on the low end. I probably wouldn't trade here again. He originally offered me $3 for the two records, but then decided he'd do the 2 for 1 deal. In general, I like this store, and they had a lot of other records I wanted, but the condition on a number of records was not great. Definitely a store to return to, but it seems a store like this should either have better quality control or have a vinyl listening station.

3. Revolver Records

Near the end of the 1st trip out hunting, I went to Revolver. I think this is a relatively new store, and I had not been there before. It has a large new and used rock section, and decent sections for soul, jazz, and punk, plus smaller sections for prog, blues, and metal. I think there was large classical section, but I don't remember. This place is really tiny and its hard to move around the store, but I'd definitely come back here. It was a little over whelming and my wife was mad by this point, so I didn't have much time to look at everything. I was really excited to find Aretha Franklin's 1st album for almost nothing. Maybe its not worth much, I don't know, but I also recently found her 2nd album and fell in love with that. The 1st one is just as amazing. I also picked up new reissue copies of Jimmy McGriff's Soul Sugar and Roland Kirk's left and right. I'm increasingly trying to move away from buying the new reissues, but these were pretty cheap and I wanted to support the store. The one plus Revolver has over other stores in Phoenix is that they have a vinyl listening station, which helped me put back a crummy James Brown lp I might have purchased if I hadn't been able to listen to it. The listening station itself is pretty crappy, the headphones were taped together and it required some acrobatics to get things to stay on my head, but at least they have one. No trades here.

EDIT: I obviously have no idea what I'm talking about in regards to the Aretha Franklin album. It was her second for Atlantic, and the other one I was talking about, I Never Loved A Man the Way I Loved You, was her first for the label. She had several previous albums on Columbia, and her first came out in 1956. These early Atlantic albums were her first major hits.

4. Hoodlums Music and Movies

Hoodlums may also be new, I don't know, but I didn't go there on my last trip. Its located in South Tempe, fairly far from the light rail, which may affect my decision to go back there if we go back to Phoenix in the near future. They have a large selection of used (and some new) rock lps, and a good amount of jazz and soul records. Not much else in terms of punk or metal, but I did see a few. Since we were in the car, I was able to bring a decent haul of records to trade, and I thought I did well at Hoodlums. This store is definitely a great place to trade in records, I came close to getting what I had paid for everything they took. 

I was able to get rid of:

Weather Report-Mysterious Traveller (absolutely horrible record)

McCoy Tyner-Enlightenment (I thought it was boring)

Miles Davis - Dig (a later reissue, and it has Sonny Rollins on it, but this is one of the first recordings for both these artists and does not compare to their later work)

Chick Corea-Three Quartets (ok, but I only listened to it a couple times)

Alice Coltrane-Trancendence (I just got this record, but I don't like it much)

Stanley Clarke-Journey of Love (just ok, a decent dollar find from Krazy Kat, but not worth listening to again)

Bjork-Alarm Call 12" single (I used to have 3 different versions of these, and this is the last one to go. I'm slowly purging my Bjork singles collection because I never ever listen to this stuff)

I was happy to find the Wayne Shorter lp, which I had never heard of, but its pretty good. I'd been wanting to get the live Coltrane record for a while, and I'm glad I found that as well. The Utopia record was only $1, and friend of mine had turned me on to them over the summer. I finally found one of their earlier records and its definitely some great prog rock.

The owner here (I think) saw me checking the condition on a number of records and asked me what I thought about the condition of his selection. I kind of started rambling, but generally their records were in decent shape. I did find a Return to Forever album that they were asking $5 for that I thought should have been a dollar because of a pressing flaw and told him so. I also asked him it would be easier to make decisions if they had a listening station and said they are working on it. I got the impression they just started carrying vinyl so maybe this is a place to check out in the future after they get their feet on the ground. 

5. Eastside Records

This place is located right across from ASU, and was my favorite store from the last Phoenix trip. I'm not so sure I'd say the same now, but it is definitely worth a visit. I picked up a pretty trashed copy of Booker T and MG's Hip Hug Her, but it does play well. I also got an original of Roland Kirk's Volunteered Slavery, and an excellent reissue lp of an early Maytals record.

I was able to trade in a copy of High on Fire's The Art of Self Defense, a punk comp called Hysteria from Lengua Armada Discos, and I gave them a copy of this Norwegian hardcore comp I had called ... and they have tears in their eyes. I gave it away because I have two copies that were leftover from my punk distro days, and I haven't been able to find anyone who wanted this in the 6+ years I've had them. The same is true of the Hysteria comp, but this is a much better record and I wouldn't give this away for free. In addition to Hoodlums, Eastside was the other worthwhile place to trade records as they gave me a good deal. Eastside has good selection of punk, rock, soul, and jazz records, plus smaller sections for reggae, metal and hip hop. The condition of a lot of their records is somewhat questionable, but there are definitely some good finds here.

6. Zia Record Exchange

I wasn't planning on going here, but my wife had to return some pants she bought on the morning we left, so I waited here at the Tempe location. I found a used copy of the Frodus/Trans Megetti 7" which I was happy about, but in general the vinyl selection here isn't great and its almost half new lps. (I'd show a picture of the 7" but I haven't been able to figure out how to upload more than 5 pics per post). A better place for used cd's and movies, but its definitely at the bottom of my list of places to return to.