I've been collecting records since high school. Started out with jazz and rhythm and blues. As the audio disease set in, back in the early '70s, my musical taste expanded and the collection grew. Now, if I were to make a rough estimate, I'd say the collection consists of 7000 LP's and maybe 2000 CDs.
Since the collecting started back in the middle 1950s and was mostly jazz, I have some fantastic collectible albums. Lots of early mono jazz records that could sell on Ebay for good money.
After the musical taste expanded, I started collecting classical and even good easy-listening music, some of which, are truly great sounding. Demo quality actually. I've recommended a few of them in these forums.
I'd like to thank all members who have or are currently, donating their CDs to the thrift stores. Its turned into a heyday much as we had with vinyl when CDs first came on the scene. With a high-resolution system, properly recorded CDs can sound fantastic.
Batmobile I think you are the first to even mention the little 7" varmits!.At least I assume you mean the 7 inch by the dates, could be 12 inch ones as well?
I used to have about 4 boxes of them but it is bad enough getting up to change sides once every 20 minutes never mind every 3 to 5 minutes.
But I do see the used 45 market is very healthy for good collectible ones.
Yes they are all 7"45rpm. US garage punk, British beat & psych, Australian garage and psych, Canadian, Dutch, Swedish, Belgian, Danish, German, Greek, Italian garage, beat, pop, popsike, freakbeat etc. Also R&B, blues, soul, funk etc.
Hey @whostolethebatmobile, it sounds like you may be hip to Greg Shaw. If not, he was the first Rock music critic to start (in the late-60’s!) a fanzine devoted to Garage, which he named Bomp Magazine. He also started a record label (also named Bomp), and was for a while The Flamin’ Groovies manager. His office/warehouse was in Burbank, where I visited him a lot in the 80’s-90’s, buying Garage/Punk/import 45’s (my collection of 7" 45’s numbers somewhere around 750-800). Shaw’s primary musical interest was Garage, about which he was an expert (he wrote the liner notes for a lot of Garage/Punk compilation albums). In 2004 he died suddenly at age 55 of a cardiac arrest, leaving behind a massive collection of Garage Band 45’s, estimated to number about 100,000!
I grew up in San Jose in the 60's, and if you are as into Garage as I think you are, you know what that means: as a teenager I saw perform live The Chocolate Watchband (seen in the Roger Corman movie Riot On Sunset Strip. The Watchband’s drummer went to my High School), The Otherside, The Syndicate Of Sound ("Little Girl"), The Trolls/Stained Glass (two albums on Capitol Records, no hits), People ("I Love You"), and all the other San Jose Garage Bands you’ve read about. I somehow managed to miss The Count Five (of "Psychotic Reaction" fame). I also saw The Music Machine ("Talk Talk". They were great!) and other national acts when they came through on tour. San Jose is considered by Rock ’n’ Roll historians to be Ground Zero for Garage, with at least one band on every suburban block!
I love The Sonics to death, and saw the reformed line-up about ten years ago. But my favorite Garage Band of them all is The Lyres. I saw them at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd. in the 1980’s, and almost lost my mind. They’re real good on record, but insanely great live. Monoman (Jeff Conolly) plays his Vox Continental organ with one hand, and a tambourine with the other. He is a man possessed!
400-500 hundred? All good quality, many rare. Mostly Jazz and classical. Smaller section with some rock, blues, world.
My source material is vinyl or hi-rez streaming. I see no reason to have vinyl of much of the new electronic music—of it was made digitally, I will replay it digitally.
One of my weird little lps is a transcription from Edison waxes. Even though that is available streamed, I find it droll to go from one extinct medium to another that was on life support and is now resurrected. And I have some emotional connection to records that were my dad’s. But for the most point, I don’t fetishize vinyl. I just love beautiful music reproduced nicely.
Wow that is amazing, to grow up in San Jose in that era! I’m jealous, hearing about all the incredible garage bands you saw in the mid ’60s. I met Greg and Suzy Shaw in 1977 when I visited their home in Los Angeles, and he showed me his record collection and spent the whole day with them discussing music. He released a 45 I made with my band, on his Voxx label.
I love the Sonics (Tacoma WA) too. And the Music Machine. And the Lyres. Here is a shot I took just now showing some of the ’60s garage 45s (and a few LPs) I have in my collection, all from San Jose (except Music Machine). Maybe you even saw some of the more obscure bands, as support acts for the more well-known bands?
According to Discogs I just broke 2000 LPs. I have another 500 or so I just culled (doubles, stuff I don’t like, bulk purchase dross) that I will off-load at the flea market for $1 and spend the money on more records.
I heartily agree with Elizabeth. No sense leaving your records around to weigh down your survivors. Several times I have visited my parents in their 55+ community to find hundreds of records in their basement that were dropped off by their neighbors kids because my mom told them I like records...I cull through looking for the stuff I like and immediately take the rest to Goodwill.
I have considered establishing a Southern Maryland Vinyl Tontine. Each member agrees to help the deceased’s family liquidate the collection as efficiently as possible. When my time comes around I hope to have culled my collection down to my favorite 1000 LPs.
But as someone once wrote on one of these forums, I hope at my funeral my friends sing an old classic song that hasn’t been written yet.
In my opinion...not nearly enough. In my wife's opinion...way too many!
But seriously, I have more records than I reasonably have room to store. I haven't counted but I think it's around 700-800 currently. I'm trying to reduce the number by selling on Discogs and ebay, but it's not making much of a dent. I recently got rid of all of my "junk" vinyl that was simply taking up space. Just about everything I own now would qualify as premium quality vinyl. I made a choice a few years ago to only keep the records that I love, and not be a "collector". Still trying to stay on this path. I don't want my stuff to be a burden on my family when I'm gone. I also want them to know that they shouldn't give the stuff away if they ever have to make that choice for me.
Most of us old music lover audiophiles have large record collections. I still have my Father's pre recorded tapes. He had a wonderful old tube Ampex back then. I never counted. I always got rid of albums that were either poor pressings or music I did not like for some reason but back then you had to be reasonably good to get a recording contract. Sometimes I bought an album simply because I liked the cover. You can't do that anymore because there is so much garbage out there. Fortunately it is becoming easier to audition music online. Having a large collection is fun because you can always pull a record that you have not listened to for years so it is almost like playing new record. Also records have memories attached to them and you can bring those memories back by listening like when my first girlfriend dumped me or the first time I played Meet the Beatles on my Zenith portable with a cobra tonearm. I can smell the tubes. When you make a significant upgrade to your system like a new set of speakers or a much more powerful amp it is almost like having an entirely new collection. Music is eternal all this other stuff not.
Unfortunately none now. Being a minimalist, i already disposed a hundred of them 15 years ago when my grandfather died. Now I can;t help to think that there are things worth keeping.
Looks like rich121 wins or loses depending on your point of view. Awesome either way. I also organize by genre and then alphabetical. My Son is a purist and recommends totally alphabetical but what does he know. Reminds me of the humor in High Fidelity.
Gee your vinyl records must be real junk if you’re worried about them being a "burden" to your survivors. My family is already fighting over who gets first pick when I kick the bucket.
We downsized our house for a townhome several years back. With that came the necessary “thinning of the herd.” So, around 100-110 LP’s now. Thank heavens for Ebay & Discogs!
One thing I do not have to worry about is my collection being a burden to anybody.
My daughter is also heavily into music, always has been, not much option being in same house as myself Tbh lol. She has her own little system and her own vinyl collection so I know where my vinyl would go!
In fact I regularly have to check that her collection has not grown while mine has shrank!
I'm gifted vinyl all the time because people know I'm a collector and I take them and go through them. A friend of mine whose mother passed gave me two boxes from which I found original pressings in mint shape catalog of Peter,Paul and Mary Willie Nelson Johnny Cash Merle Haggard Frank Sinatra I'm thankful because it filled in holes in my collection in genres I lacked. I donate the the remainder to charities to sell.
This time a classic car museum that had antique mall attached to it with yep a stall selling vinyl......lol. And a superb collection for sale as well, mostly in excellent shape and fairly priced, $3 to $8, I had to exercise a lot of restraint to limit it to $90 worth, could have (and maybe should have!) spent a lot more.
I must have about 3000 records. Never got rid of any since the 1960’s. i have a couple of hundred that I go back to time and again. Haven’t listened to the rest in a long time.
RVpiano Just a quick question then if I may and not meant to be mean spirited at all.
Bearing in mind your statement why do you keep them all if not likely to play the vast majority? If I interpreted your post correctly? TBH I have sold quite a few that after a couple plays I decided I would never play again, myself I just could not see the point in keeping them.
When contemplating the task of counting my vinyl recordings, I took the easy way out and counted how many records there were in one foot --- [75 average] --- measured my record shelves and did the math. Of course, boxed sets have as much "box" as "vinyl", but I came up with around 12,500 records. Then -- a good friend passed away and his widow asked me the favor of disposing of his record collection of 3500 or so. Over the years, several friends got rid of their collections and I was obliging enough to take them. One friend taught a Jazz class at a local university, so that was a treasure trove of golden discs ! I recently talked a friend into taking about 1500 LPs by first giving him a turntable ! He's coming back for more ! Then there was the booth at the antique mall where every LP was 25 cents ! Some of my best and favorite albums came from there and were in amazingly good condition after a good cleaning. Having a passion for anything is a good pastime. Think of how dull things would be without having a passion for something meaningful to yourself ! Don't despair ---- enjoy !!
I own a couple hundred records. I jumped back to vinyl after buying CD's for 40 yrs. What I've done is looked at my large CD collection and decided that on vinyl I would buy only the album's I truly loved. So for me it's all killer not filler in the vinyl collection. Let's face it even the greatest bands have put out some crappy records.
polkalover Very true and wise words indeed! While I decided I had to have EVERY Rush, Styx and Uriah Heep album made I would have to agree I am not likely to play some of them very often!
At one point, well over 1,000. My three sons, who are in their 30's are into vinyl big-time, so I have given most of the LPs to them. Have kept: Beatles re-mastered, McCartney Archive Collection, America, Beach Boys, Chicago, CSNY (collectively and individually), ELO, George Harrison, Billy Joel, Elton John, John Lennon, Tom Petty, Pilot, Todd Rundren, James Taylor, They Might Be Giants, Brian Wilson, and Frank Zappa. Literally, everything done by all of those artists.
I estimate about 15,000. Includes many genres rock, jazz, blues, country, classical, folk, pop etc. I've been collecting for over 60 years. Most are in very good to near mint condition, as I used to record new records on my reel to reel or cassette tape recorders and then put the LP away. Now I am just playing the records whenever I want. I have two playback systems in my basement listening room and one system in my living room. I have restored several turntables that I rotate in the basement systems including Thorens TD124, Thorens TD124 II, Garrard 301 and 401, Linn sondek LP12 with all the upgrades. I use several tonearms and carts of various vintages. The same is true of my electronics and speakers. It all depends on what I'm listening to. I've modified my old JBL L100 speakers with three way monitor quality crossovers same for my JBL L7's they sound great for rock. My Tannoy Berkeley 15" HPD385A speakers sound great for jazz and classical. I use Revel Salons, ALTEC Lansing 604-8g 15" drivers and crossovers as well. They all sound great and Its all fun.
Well, I now own 20 more records than I did this morning! Stopped in one of my LRS's and they had the dollar bin on sale - 10 for $1. Spent $2 and walked out with 20 LPs. Now comes the hard part. Cleaning, listening, culling.
Sticking to plan, I need to remove at least as many records as I picked up. So, hopefully I'll keep a few and trade the rest for better records.
Not a lot considering I've been collecting since hearing "Sunshine of Your Love" when in the 7th grade. Had a decade of not purchasing in the 80's due to raising a family and work priority. I'm sitting at +/- 6K LPs and 2K CDs. Though I hope to live another 40 years, the media and equipment are distributed in my will. Keep spinning and streaming folks.
Really, you going to make me count? Just purchased a new MT5 yesterday. If anyone want to unload their blues collection - I’m game, Particularity old Folksways recordings. One of these days I will get everything logged into Discogs. Seems like the way to go.
We should start a thread about how we keep the LPs. I have them on the 2nd floor but right above a load bearing wall! Anybody remember Per Madden Design?
Good question. I’m not sure I have a good answer. One reason is that the majority are in a hard to get at location. Another reason is I’m listening to a lot more CDs these days. Not enough time to do it all.
Good question. I’m not sure I have a good answer. One reason is that the majority are in a hard to get at location. Another reason is I’m listening to a lot more CDs these days. Not enough time to do it all.
Oh dear, just found this thread. I guess I am a collector, though I only keep records I think I would want to hear again someday. Last time I counted I was around 14,000 pieces of vinyl and 9000 CDs.I try not to keep duplicates though it is difficult. About the only thing in which I am not interested is easy-listening though I might have a couple of borderline items. The biggest chunk of what I have is rock'n'roll but I like blues, jazz, folk, classical, and a pretty wide variety of musics from other cultures. The bulk of what I have is on the third floor of the house that used to be the hang out of my teenaged children back when they still lived at home and were teenagers. For music originating from around 800-1100 A.D. on to about 1960 it is filed by historical date of origin (not necessarily by release date or recording date. After 1960 it is more or less alphabetical until 1991 when it changes to age again. Oh dear can we say crazy! My wife says that my records are one of only 2 reasons we still live in this big of a house (when we moved to Portland from Los Angeles more than 25 years ago we either had to pay capital gains taxes or but a big house). My daughter still plays vinyl but my son only streams or downloads music. Still he also wants to be able to through my recordings when I am gone. While it would be nice to have the whole collection preserved, I doubt I will care.
I'm just now adding vinyl to my rig and I will be following @polkalover's formula. If I truly love it on ripped CD, then I will consider buying it on vinyl. I own about 1,000 CDs; I don't love most of them. I will continue to buy CDs however. I think they are currently good value. I rip them and then store them. What LPs have I bought so far? Steely Dan's "Aja", "Gaucho", "Pretzel Logic", Fagen's "Nightfly", Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" (AP) Holly Cole's "Temptation" (AP) , Brubeck's "Time Out" (AP), Cannonball Adderley's "Somethin' Else" (AP), Paolo Fresu's "Mare Nostrum II", and Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden's "Last Dance" I plan on adding LPs monthly based on a preset budget.
Wow, I thought I had an issue with vinyl but I feel happy to read that I am not alone! I am merely under 800 records, plus about the same amount in CDs although the CDs I mainly play from an Aurender server, not directly.
I know it is not a contest but now I feel challenged to keep up with you guys! Cheers!
19 feet of 12" vinyl. about 1,300. 10 feet of CDs. (300?) a few more in the car only 2 feet of 45s and 78s cassettes? mixtapes? reel to reel? a few boxes
I have started culling them, but it's hard. I gave some to my niece and sold a few, but at this rate it's going to take forever.
What are you rules for culling records? If I haven't played it for 10 years, it should probably go. If it doesn't light a spark in my brain, it should probably go. But it's painful.
Some of them I know I'll keep until I'm dead. Mingus, Ellington, Zappa, Gerald Wilson, Oliver Nelson, Prokofiev, Blues.
Others I'm sort of blah about. The ones I already gave away are Ronstadt, Jethro Tull (except the first one), Elton John. I like some of it, but I've got much better.
How do people go to desert islands with only five?
It would be one very boring desert island adventure with just 5 albums, let me off after 12 hours tops!
My regime is fairly simple, does not matter how long since I played it if i like the album and the sq is good then its a keeper. If I do not get around to playing it again my daughter might...... I admit to getting rid of some I sort of liked but were either poor shape or poor sq or both!
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