Collectors: How do you collect?

jimbo,

if you have one rap cd, you have more than me

renny

 

I've been collecting for over 30 years. In that time, I've used more than one -- and at times, all -- of the criteria in the poll for collecting.

I've collected by artist -- I've got almost all the Beatles' U.S. releases, including all three official EPs and a paste-over Butcher Cover. I tend not to go WAY overboard; I've always drawn the line at imports. But even dealing with U.S. released can be daunting for certain artists.

I've collected by genre -- I've got hundreds of 45s that fit under the category of "country & western." I've got over 1,000 soundtrack LPs. I collected British Invasion music pretty extensively in the 1970s.

I've collected by label -- I tried for a while to get every Apple U.S. 45 but stopped when I got hung up on the really rare ones.

I've sometimes collected by how rare it is -- but I've never paid premium prices. I have the original "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors on Singular, with the "count in" before the song starts; I have a Mercury 45 of "Space Oddity" by David Bowie; I have one of 50 copies that were pressed of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue on a Capitol jukebox edition with a small hole in the middle rather than the large hole. But I don't pay a lot for them. I do have my limits; I won't pay the secondary market prices for DCC releases, for example. If I find them at more "normal" prices, I'll consider them, but not for more than $50!

I've collected by chart position -- I have every Top 20 single on its original 45 from 1955 through the early 1990s. I also have 90 percent of the #1 country singles since 1968 and a growing percentage before then, from the start of the 45 rpm era.

I've sometimes collected by mastering engineer -- heck, just this weekend I found the MCA CD Vintage Music Volumes 3 and 4 mastered by Mr. H and picked it up.

Finally, I do pick up things I like, even if they don't fit in any of the above categories. Hearing something in a store will occasionally spur me to make a purchase. Again, this weekend a store I was in was playing America (the group, not the song) over its PA, and by the end of the day I had an America CD!

 

Hey Jimbo! How is your skill at writing rap lyrics? I just thought of something: The Renny Rap!

 

When I started seriously collecting in my late teens, it was mainly by artist. I loved searching out old and import singles with otherwise unavailable B-sides. It was a quest to aquire everything ever released (and occasionally unreleased) by my favorite artists.

My collecting was never about monetary value. Everyone's first question about my hobby was usually "how much is it worth", which I never really had an answer for. I don't think I've still got anything that hasn't been opened and played. I could never understand the logic of buying something and never using it for its intended purpose. Pretty much anything that I bought still sealed and left that way turned out to be rather disposable in the end. I once bought a sealed copy of Lennon's Life With The Lions on the Zapple label. Seemed like a neat item at the time, but I never had any desire to actually hear the thing. So later, when looking for a few things to part with for some quick cash, that one didn't seem at all essential to my collection anymore. I can't get attached to an item in my collection if there isn't music there for me to fall in love with.

I've never collected a specific label, but I can see why there are people who do it. I share Rudy's fascination with those old ocre A&M labels after watching so many old Herb Alpert albums spinning as a child. To this day, those old rainbow Capitol labels remind me of The Beatles, even if it's stuck to an old Wayne Newton album. Same with Apple. I think the only non-Creedence album on Fantasy I've ever bought was A Charlie Brown Christmas, yet that old dark blue label, with the script logo in silver immediately takes me back. So while I've never collected music just because it was on a specific label, these examples will always at least get a second look, strictly out of nostalgia.

Today, I've started to understand more about proper mastering, and what makes a CD sound good or bad. My old joke used to be that they remaster my favorite albums every time my hearing gets worse, just to keep up. That was when I just assumed that the words "remastered" and "improved" meant the same thing. Now that I've gotten over the "louder is better" thinking, I've started to take into account when a disc was mastered, and who did the mastering when searching through CD's. The philosophy has almost become similar to the way I approached buying bootleg albums years ago: You must keep yourself informed and up to date about what you're buying to avoid getting disappointed. So now, I'll consider buying something mastered by someone who I know takes a bit more care in their work, even if I've already got all the songs in my collection from other sources.

Now that I don't have the funds to sink into collecting that I did years ago, it gets harder and harder to justify trying new things blindly, and since I left the radio biz, I was shocked to find that I've totally lost touch with the modern music scene. This usually doesn't bother me too much, but I know I never thought there'd be a point in my life when I wouldn't be on top of the day's music. While I'd like to say "if I hear something I like, I buy it", the truth is, if I hear something I like these days, I wonder if that's the only thing by that artist that I like, or will the rest of it be worthless. That kind of takes the excitement out of trying something new.

Also I've noticed that years ago, if I liked a new album on first listen, and then read poor reviews of the work, I'd start to like the music less myself. These days, if I like an album, and it gets bad reviews, I consider it a badge of honor. Like, "I get it, and you don't."

 

By more than one category:

By Artist - Big time Tull collector. I go after everything I can find. Lately though, I've been getting into King Crimson and buying quite a few of their CD's as well.

By Genre - Progressive Music. I know that's a broad category as a lot of music can be considered prog. I mostly go after the European and UK prog bands both new and old. Bands like Triumvirat, Camel, Caravan, BJH, King Crimson, Arena, IQ, Isildurs Bane, Porcupine Tree and the Italian prog groups such as Banco, PFM, Biglietti Per L'Inferno, Le Orme and of recent years, La Torre Del Alchimista, Perifera Del Mondo and La Maschera Di Cera.

By Label. Working very hard to complete my DCC and MFLS gold CD collections. Still a LONG way to go.

 

Most of my collectable items are limited editions... like very rare Gold discs or LPs... I also collect box sets for their beautiful artwork.

I collected Gold discs by Mofi and other labels... although I knew I don't like very much this artist... for example Mofi's John Klemmer on Gold. I think I have never heard this CD, but my copy is still in my shelves.

I have collected all DCC... just for the best mastering engineer (I see no competitor!!!) and the best artwork reproduction.

BUT I don't collect by mastering engineers... I only have one Audio Fidelity copy... the other titles are boring for my musical taste... although Steve did the remastering.

 

Yea but Montavani?

 

Folks,

Actually, Larry collects all the different versions of 'I Will Survive' by Gloria Gaynor!

Bob

 

I have 2 collection going right now; one Engllish language and one Hong Kong pop.

I grew up in the late 70s/early 80s, so music of that era is what I am concentrating on. Certain artists are a must for me....Van Halen, Hall and Oates, Madonna, etc.... Recently starting a Duran Duran obsession....don't know where that came from. However, also collecting CDs from Elvis, the Beatles, Roy Orbison, the Stones, etc.... it's always about the music, but sometimes the rarity of the item is in the equation as well.

As for my HK pop CD collection, like my English language collection, it's build around certain number of artists. Current obsession, however, is on Japanese CBS/Sony-pressed and Japanese Toshiba/EMI-pressed CDs by local HK artists. I have a good number of these CDs, along with a good number of Japanese-pressed "Manufactured by Sanyo" and West German CDs for the Polygram labels (Polydor/Philips). Hard to be a collector of these CDs due to lack of info and distance from the source and second-hand market. Another obsession for HK pop....HK pop SACDs. Trying to collect as many as possible of the early titles since it's still manageable. Also working on collecting all of the SACDs released by Hong Kong Warner Bros.; so far, have 5 of 9 titles released.

 

I collect by Artist and label (DCC).

 

I Buy High!
Then, Sell Low!

Unfortunately

 

I am an obsessive-compulsive collector.

In my youth, I collected stamps and coins and baseball cards (54,000 as a pre-teen) and even rocks. I have long since moved to music and it allows me not only to fulfill my obsessive-completist desires, but also you receive true pleasure back from your collection by listening. Something the other collections can't do.

I started actually collecting cassettes! in the early 80s. But as my collecting grew, I realized that there were many releases not issued on cassette. That would not do. I must have EVERY release by a given artist, which at the time was AC/DC. Sooo, in the summer of 1984, I traded in my cassettes and moved to vinyl.

8,000 LPs later and here I am.

I usually start with artist, but as (smaller) labels are usually consistent with the type or style of artist they release, I will try other artists on that same label and so on until the label becomes the goal. examples follow...

Brain, Pilz and Ohr (german progressive '68-'73)
SST and Alternative Tentacles (US eighties punk)
Swirl Vertigo

I will buy any LP from these labels (and other) without reference, because the labels have been consistent. You pretty much know what you are getting just because it exists on a given label.

And yes, when I print out my database listing of my collection (one in the house and one in the car so I can check stuff while out and about) I do also print it by Label/Catalog number which makes it very easy to see what I still need.

Mark P.

 

I voted for more than one of the above. This is because I mainly buy based on artist and rarity. The artist part simply is a reflection of buying what I enjoy listening to. As a collector of first pressings, rarity comes into play in my purchases. I will also buy things upon a first listen if I like it. Finally, since joining this forum, I have on occasion bought music, either known or unknown, simply because Mr. Hoffman mastered it.

 

I collect Beatles and Stones, although I have a lot of British Evasion that I collect, I think of the Beatles and Stones as a different animal. I also have a lot of Garage Band, Pop, I have Easy Listening also. I collected Tom Waits for years, LP' and CD's some singles as well. I never was big on collecting posters, buttons, badges etc. If you can't play it, I'm not interested in it. I have some Jazz and Classical, but it's the Pop, Rock, etc. that does it for me.

 

I'll let Harry (HGN2001) know what he spawned.

I collect in a few different ways:

1. By artist--there are some I want to collect every song of, or at least have every album. I expand this to families of artists--Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Mike + The Mechanics, etc.

2. By genre or style--why else would I be looking for 12" disco singles I missed the first time around??

3. By label...to an extent. I collect some A&M titles, but I'm nowhere near as thorough as others I know who collect numerically, in different series (A&M 4000, 3000, 700, 19000, etc.). Although I have found that with labels, there is a certain "family" sound to them, more so in their early or formative years. In those cases, if I liked some of the artists, there is a good chance I'll like others. (In A&M though, I've never acquired a taste for anyone like Jimmie Rodgers and Phil Ochs...so even this style has its limits.) 60's-era Verve is another label I'm fond of, and really haven't been too disappointed in random purchases from artists I wasn't really familiar with.

With RCA I tend to find specific artists I like and collect those, but a lot of their LSP series I doubt I could stay awake through. A case of an LP being marked "LiViNg StErEo" being nicely-recorded cures for insomnia.

 

Oh, how about another poll choice: "Collecting by buying cheaply with the sole intention of selling on eBay for an obscene profit."

 

I'd say I mostly collect by artist, some by label (mfsl & dcc) and when I hear something I like.
One category I'd like to add: "As a result of an online discussion or review". Lately, a lot of my purchases seem to be driven this way. I'll read about something here and just have to have it, whether previously heard or not. Things I would never think of buying otherwise: Richie Valens, Zombies, Johnny Cash, Beatles EP box, etc.

Jay