Record listening party!
And you’re all invited.
For my birthday my parents got me one of these:
And I have been going bezerk record-collecting ever since.
I’ve had a normal turntable for years, and it’s out in my dining room/kitchen/living room, so I really only put records on it when I’m doing the dishes or cooking (as long as no one’s watching TV, which is rare).
Now I can listen to records through my computer—and record them onto my computer, as well.
I’ve been hitting all kinds of garage sales and used record shops and picking up tons of vinyl for only $1 each. It’s so hard to resist buying anything for only a $1. Which explains why I’ve picked up these:
I’ve been reveling in a lot of 80s stuff, I’ll post a few songs to the radio.blog:
The The - “Infected”
Psychedelic Furs - “The Ghost In You”
INXS - “Don’t Change”
David Sylvian - “Nostalgia”
B-52’s - “Legal Tender”
If you care to make a request, I’ll do my best to fill them. Here’s a list of almost everything I’ve got.
What do (or did) you have on vinyl?
Wow. I’m very impressed at your inventory skills. I really need to do the same. And how timely, as always, R. is heading out to Amoeba Records in about a half an hour.
We have everything on vinyl. Well, not anything recent. My favorites are weird records I picked up in the 80’s that are compilations of punk artists and English mod bands.
We also have a collection of anything on Apple Records from around the world. We have/had a good collection of stuff on Japanese vinyl but we’ve been selling it off. It really pulls in a good price.
Yay, records!
Comment by meems — July 30, 2008 @ 10:07 am
I had some gems, here are the 45s (singles):
“Don’t You Want Me” by the Eurythmics (sp?)
“Angel in a Centerfold” by the J. Geils Band
“Freeze Frame” by J. Geils Band
“Wrapped Around Your Finger” by The Police
And my 33s:
“Shaft” (soundtrack - mostly Isaac Hayes)
“Thriller” by Michael Jackson
“Pyromania” by Def Leppard
…and some Carpenters album I forget the name of.
Vinyl rocks.
Comment by David J — July 30, 2008 @ 10:34 am
Just looked it up - the Carpenters album was “Now and Then.” Karen’s voice on “Our Day Will Come” still evokes emotions.
Comment by David J — July 30, 2008 @ 10:39 am
I need to get me one of those.
Some things I have on vinyl:
R.E.M.’s first four LPs
Two R.E.M. fanclub-only Christmas singles
A 45″ single of The Box Tops’ “The Letter” b/w “Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March”
12″ single of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Big Star “3rd/Sister Lovers”
Men At Work, “Cargo”
Rush, “2112″
Robyn Hitchcock, “Invisible Hitcock” (Picture Disc)
And a bunch of other stuff, some of it quite bad.
Comment by BTD Greg — July 30, 2008 @ 11:50 am
My first exposure to The Alarm was a concert. A Welsh band playing to 54,000 slightly inebriated people in Wales (Cardiff Arms Park). It was fantastic, especially the Spirit of 76.
I haven’t heard The The for a lot of years. I used to have the album with a pigeon on a bayonet??
Comment by TStevens — July 30, 2008 @ 11:53 am
I have a lot of stuff. It would take me a really long time to make a list like Susan’s.
Comment by Brian V — July 30, 2008 @ 11:54 am
I cracked out an old CD of The The’s “Soul Mining” last weekend. That’s a fantastic album.
Comment by BTD Greg — July 30, 2008 @ 11:55 am
Soul Mining is fantastic.
TStevens: I met the Alarm after seeing them open for Pat Benatar way back in the 80s. They were one of my faves back then. The singer still tours and does small shows but I haven’t caught him.
Brian V: how many records do you have, approximately?
I made my initial list a long time ago and then updated it when I started buying vinyl recently. I think I started out with about 250 records from my teen years. My list has over 500 now, but a lot of those are singles I was either given or picked up *really* cheap at garage sales. I still have about 15 singles I need to add.
Comment by Susan M — July 30, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
After I saw your collection, Susan, I remembered that I also had the Foreigner single “Jukebox Hero.”
I’m actually fascinated with B-sides. I’ve got a very rare collection of B-sides CDs from some of my favorite metal bands, in which most of the time they cover someone else’s work, only heavier (of course). When I heard Metallica’s cover of “Stone Cold Crazy” (B-side to Enter Sandman), I thought it was better than the A-side!
I do remember my J. Geils Band 45s had some weird, weird crap on them. Tears for Fears had some weird experimental stuff on their B-sides too (Saturnine Martial & Lunatic).
Comment by David J — July 30, 2008 @ 12:50 pm
Susan, that’s a pretty impressive list of what you’ve got. Do you have a list of the ones you still want?
Comment by Abby — July 30, 2008 @ 12:52 pm
I don’t currently have any records, having left them all at my parents’ house when I moved out. (I don’t own a record player.) However, I remember I had one called “Songs that Tickle Your Funny Bone”. My sister and I would listen to that one all the time. We also had fun playing 33 rpm records on the 45 setting and 45 rpm records on the 33 setting just to make them sound weird. What can I say…we were kids.
Comment by Keri Brooks — July 30, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
Abby: I want everything. It’s an illness.
Comment by Susan M — July 30, 2008 @ 1:53 pm
The Pretenders were also on the bill when I saw the Alarm - they sucked though. Not really their fault as the were sandwiched between The Alarm who are great in concert and playing to a home crowd, and U2 who are always great. The Pretenders had no spontaneity and sounded like they were lipsyncing to the records.
Comment by TStevens — July 30, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
Susan, it’s not an illness, it’s life defining, in a very cool way.
Comment by Abby — July 30, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
Susan:
I really have no idea. Rough guess, about 1000 7″s and probably 1100 LPs. I could be way off, but I’m sure it’s at least 1000 of each.
Comment by Brian V — July 30, 2008 @ 5:02 pm
We got that same turntable for Christmas last year and I’m ashamed to say its still in its box. Gotta rectify that…
Comment by Chad Too — July 30, 2008 @ 5:04 pm
This makes me very nostalgic for the old vinyl days. Somehow, it seems that downloading music will never have the same feel as looking through the vinyl records at Raspberry.
Comment by MCQ — July 30, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
I only had about a dozen LPs but I bequeathed them to my aunt when I moved. What I remember:
Styx - paradise theater (neat picture on the vinyl)
Led Zeppelin - IV (zoso)
Boston - Boston
Heart - Dreamboat Annie
Duran Duran - Planet Earth
Might have been a Go-Go’s album, too.
DavidJ: Hey, I had Freeze Frame on a 45 too! (And Abracadabra)
I used to look for music at Flea Markets when I was younger. Do they still have those? I wonder if you can find them on craigslist?
Comment by FHL — July 30, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
There’s a swap meet just down the street from me every weekend. I go and look for records sometimes.
I also have a craigslist RSS feed for garage sales w/records listed. I only go if it says “100s of records,” though. Not worth driving far away to find 10 crappy records.
Comment by Susan M — July 30, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
Susan, how do you filter a craigslist RSS feed like that? I need a knew band saw.
Comment by David J — July 31, 2008 @ 7:32 am
I have about 500 records from my days as a wannabe/actual DJ. Most is electronic music but I have a bunch of the Cure and other guitar music on vinyl as well. I miss my turntables (Technics 1210s going to waste in storage).
Comment by Peter LLC — July 31, 2008 @ 7:47 am
David: Do a regular search on Craigslist for band saw, then at the bottom of the page is an RSS button. Click on that. The URL it takes you to is the feed you can subscribe to.
There’s a garage sale this Saturday in Fullerton that says they have 100s of records! Woohoo!
Comment by Susan M — July 31, 2008 @ 8:29 am
Susan - cool. I thought that RSS feed was for everything. Awesome. Thanks!
Comment by David J — July 31, 2008 @ 10:39 am
I have one of those turntables.
I own 2 45s:
Jean, sung by Oliver (the other side is Good Morning, Starshine from Hair)
ABC, the Jackson Five (I’m not sure what’s on the B side)
Comment by D. Fletcher — July 31, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
aww. the best of bread. i was named for the song aubrey. and my sister’s middle name is tennille from captain and tennille. good times.
Comment by aubrey — July 31, 2008 @ 11:12 pm