Do you organize "spin-off" band albums with primary band albums?

I have Ian Anderson's Thick as a Brick 2 in with Tull. Under "J", of course.

 

Separatly. Otherwise it would be like putting the Traveling Wilburys in with the Beatles, TP & the Heartbreakers or ELO.

 

I keep all stuff together e.g. Morrissey and Johnny Marr are stored with Smiths (under 'S')

 

Spin-off loops :

Are Roxy Music and This Heat spins off of Quiet Sun?

Is National Health a spin off from Caravan or Gong or Hatfield or Slapp Happy? What about The Lodge? Is that a spin off of Henry Cow, Slapp Happy or The Golden Palaminos or a spin-off of the second version of National Health, which in turn is a spin off of...?

Is Matching Mole a spin-off of Soft Machine or Robert Wyatt (the solo artist) or Caravan or Quite Sun?

How about a list of prime bands. Like prime numbers. Those indivisible by anything but themselves. And then all non-prime bands can be indexed under those bands.

 

Yes, Jamming With Edward goes with the Stones' CDs. I'd never find it under "H"!

 

I would put them all together in chronological order.

 

Yeah, I store my Traveling Wilburys box along with George Harrison's CDs, ABWH with Yes and Emerson, Lake and Powell with ELPalmer and (if it counts) Tin Machine albums with David Bowie albums.

 

Not by colour of the spine?

 

I put them together. Easier to find, and would be reminded of the "spin-off" when not looking specifically for it.

 

Some of these setups sound way too complicated to me. Not sure where you draw the line...does 1973's "Ringo" go under "Beatles" since two other former band members play on it?

Doing this would give me a headache.

 

I keep my Traveling Wilbury's CDs in my George Harrison section (not my Dylan section), the other members don't have enough of a collection for a "section".

I also don't have a Wings section, just all McCartney post-1969 together.

 

I think the key is to put things where you will find them.

So, file them in the place you will most likely look for them.

I generally alphabetize everything. The rare few things that don't neatly fit into a rule, are put them in a place that I would most likely associate with them.

 

I'll admit - this is the one exception I have. Paul McCartney / Paul and Linda / Paul and Wings / Wings.

I just put them all under McCartney.

 

I've also got Linda, and H***ther M*lls CDs in my Macca section. Oh and the Fireman too....

 

I had no idea she even had a CD.

Is her name like Mark David Chapman over here where it's like saying "Voldemort"?

 

Would you alphabetize these under each "artist" name or just with the most well-known act, Cabaret Voltaire? I put them under the artist's name I most associate that cluster of musicians with.

 

My policy is that every band gets filed alphabetically according to the credited artist. The only real exception is for pseudonymous releases (i.e. it's completely the work of the main act, but they're recording under an alias), like The Dukes of Stratosphear. Likewise, Aphex Twin and AFX get lumped in together.

And there's one massive 'special case' - all of Bob Pollard's dozens and dozens of projects have their own special section, whether they're spin-offs, one-off collaborations, independent bands with defined and extensive careers or pseudonymous releases, since I'd never be able to find all those releases again if I dispersed them throughout the collection!

 

Each to his own, but I think Chris Watson is not Cabaret Voltaire. That gig has long past. I have Weather Report and El Tren Fantasma. Very different propositions to CV. I do not know Kirk's solo work, but I would not be surprised if he thinks of it as a new departure.

I think indexing is about two things. The need to find patterns and links, and the practical need to find things. So, each to his own.

All my comments in this thread are more less questioning the need to do things in any common acceptable way, but also the forcing of connections through personnel line-ups, rather than by ideas. I enjoy surprising juxtapositions, myself.

 

Just thinking. My books are more creatively organised than my records. I think it's down to the thinness of the LP spine and the vagueness of using musical categories..

Books are organised by fiction books: continent, genre, method/strategy, author, height and colour. fact books by category (science, art, photography, theory, philosophy, music), colour, size etc.

Books I can see at a glance by their spines, shapes, locations and colours. I could not do that with LPs – I'd never find them!

 

Just to be argumentative, doesn't Morrissey have more albums as a soloist, than the Smiths had? Shouldn't they be stored with him?

 

Great one, you know I was just about to post something like "I always file by the actual band name, wtf!"... but I realized when I read your post I filed Tin Machine with Bowie. Chronologically no less...

 

All of my Paul McCartney solo goes under W for Wings...which is weird...but I'm not changing it.

Simon and Garfunkel starts the Paul Simon section. Joe Simon comes before, and does not interrupt the flow!

 

The problem is if you use Bad English as an example (as per the original post) then you also have John Waite (solo), The Babys, Hardline, Neal Schon (solo) etc etc all to be somehow filed together.

Hence I gotta keep it strictly alphabetical throughout my entire collection.

 

Initially I filed last year's FFS album (Franz Ferdinand & Sparks collaboration) under Sparks, as I came to the project as a Sparks fan. However, the album is so damned good I felt obliged to recognize the group as an entity in its own right -- rather than some trifling side project -- and moved it from the "S" to "F" section of my CD collection.

 

But then Johnny Marr would be weird under Morrissey.

BTW Tin Machine filed with Bowie, Arcadia with Duran.

Wings/Plastic Ono Band/John/Paul/George/Ringo all filed with Beatles

Controversially I've filed Joy Division and Electronic (and Bad Lieutenant) with New Order.

FFS also with Sparks even though i own both FF and Sparks LPs. I see it as more of a Sparks LP though.

Lou Reed and John Cale solo stuff is grouped together with VU.