Record collection pedantry

[tiggers]

Discogs says 3747 items across multiple formats here, so not huge by some standards. There’s a lot more in the house though as that figure doesn’t include the shop stuff at all. It is purely my own collection.

4205 items here. It’s crackers when you think about it. But it’s also ace!

Lightweights - had a purge last year and got down to 1,200 records and 9,500 CDs Moved 3,000 CDS on... not a bad clear out I feel... my partner might disagree!

 

[Tony L]

- had a purge last year and got down to 1,200 records and 9,500 CDs

Mine is very fluid and can be viewed as ‘continually pruned’. Over the past decade or so I shifted about two feet of vinyl out via the shop, though with so much interesting new music occurring at present it has grown back again! There is no filler or junk in that 3747 figure, all good titles and nothing below a strong VG+/EX grade.

 

[tiggers]

Mine is very fluid and can be viewed as ‘continually pruned’. Over the past decade or so I shifted about two feet of vinyl out via the shop, though with so much interesting new music occurring at present it has grown back again! There is no filler or junk in that 3747 figure, all good titles and nothing below a strong VG+/EX grade.

Yeah, I reckon mine would be about half its current size if I removed the less desirable or only average condition stuff

 

[MotelBlues]

Would you file your Godspeed You Black Emperor! with your Godspeed You! Black Emperor?

Would you split your Alice Cooper between A and C as chronologically appropriate?

I tried the “file by spine colour” approach as a child. I only had about 80 CDs at the time but it still made finding what I was after difficult.

 

[sideshowbob]

I treat them like band names e.g. Captain Beefheart goes under ‘C’, ‘Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’ goes under ‘G’. That said I admit I have my ‘A Guy Called Gerald’ 12” in the wrong place. I think it may even be in with 808 State (‘E’), I can’t remember.

I’ve also been known to file solos under the main band, e.g. I had Edgar Froese under Tangerine Dream, though I’m pretty sure I’ve moved them now. I’d be tempted to do that with Aphex Twin, Squarepusher etc where there are multiple aliases to the extent I forget the names. I’d certainly view filing Polygon Window in with the Aphex Twin section as acceptable.

All of my AFX stuff goes under Aphex Twin. All my Palace/Palace Brothers/Bonnie Prince Billy/etc goes under Oldham, Will. Faust get their own shelf.

 

[Mr.Nic]

I've put The Stooges, Iggy & The Stooges and Iggy Pop (solo) all together under S.

I've also filed all my Lou Reed solo / Nico solo with Velvet Underground.

Sue me...

 

[John]

I have about 15 categories for my LP collection. Rock/Pop, Jazz, Dance, Blues, Classical, Newer Rock/Pop, Premium Classical, Premium Jazz, Catalogued in DISCOGS Rock/Pop seldom played, Uncatalogued seldom played Rock/Pop, Uncatalogued newer used Rock/Pop, Catalogued newer used Rock/Pop, Uncatalogued used Classical, Uncatalogued used Jazz and four stacks near my turntable of recent played or purchased. Uncatalogued account for about 13 feet of record LP’s.

I’m toying with creating a favorite Jazz records subcategory as I have a hard time keeping track of those I really enjoy. My first three would be Thelonious Monk Septet-Monk’s Music, Miles Davis-Someday My Prince Will Come and Art Pepper-The Trip.

I forgot to mention that my Classical sorted is by record label in alphabetical order.

 

[Tony L]

Classical is so complex to categorise. My vinyl and non-box set CDs are catalogued by (main piece) composer and then chronologically within work type, e.g. within any composer you’d find the symphonies in order first, then opera, then chamber works, solo piano etc. Large scale to small scale. All sorted by work, not performer/conductor. Obviously some multi-piece records, CDs or box sets break this to a lesser/greater degree, e.g. if I want to hear Elgar’s Cello Concerto I know I’m going to find it in the big DuPre CD box set, not anywhere near Elgar (assuming I had anything else, which I don’t). It is pretty messy, but no way around it as I have so many large classical CD box sets e.g. Quartetto Italiano Complete String Quartets, Haitink Symphonies etc etc.

 

[ciderglider]

Classical is so complex to categorise. My vinyl and non-box set CDs are catalogued by (main piece) composer and then chronologically within work type, e.g. within any composer you’d find the symphonies in order first, then opera, then chamber works, solo piano etc. Large scale to small scale. All sorted by work, not performer/conductor. Obviously some multi-piece records, CDs or box sets break this to a lesser/greater degree, e.g. if I want to hear Elgar’s Cello Concerto I know I’m going to find it in the big DuPre CD box set, not anywhere near Elgar (assuming I had anything else, which I don’t). It is pretty messy, but no way around it as I have so many large classical CD box sets e.g. Quartetto Italiano Complete String Quartets, Haitink Symphonies etc etc.

That's one of the many reasons I avoid the big classical box sets. When I am buying a recording of a classical work, if it is coupled with a work by another composer, it's not a showstopper, but is certainly a black mark against that recording.

 

[MVV]

Mine are sort of in villages of like minded people. They regularly go missing; Tonight's The Night is probably in someones shed! it is a disaster. Something must be done!

 

[vince rocker]

Mine are sort of in villages of like minded people. They regularly go missing; Tonight's The Night is probably in someones shed! it is a disaster. Something must be done!

Mine are like this too. There's a general A-Z but then a Fairport Thompson village (could be a real place!), a Waterson Carthy village, a Dylan small town in the mid West and of course a Grateful Dead city. I can usually find what I want...

 

[MVV]

The problem with the village approach is they are non compliant. All fine and dandy most of the time but then when someone goes missing There’s no police force. You can’t ask people to look in their shed, they won’t do it!

 

[kevinrt]

I've just helped a friend stack the vinyl and CD racks following an international move.

I thought I'd gone seriously astray when I stumbled across Captain Beefheart in the transit boxes under C, not B, but yes, OK, it's not an actual surname, but a band name.

So Jethro Tull under J, Captain Beyond under C, but Robin Trower under T and Jeff Beck under B.

I treat them like band names e.g. Captain Beefheart goes under ‘C’, ‘Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’ goes under ‘G’. That said I admit I have my ‘A Guy Called Gerald’ 12” in the wrong place. I think it may even be in with 808 State (‘E’), I can’t remember.

I’ve also been known to file solos under the main band, e.g. I had Edgar Froese under Tangerine Dream, though I’m pretty sure I’ve moved them now. I’d be tempted to do that with Aphex Twin, Squarepusher etc where there are multiple aliases to the extent I forget the names. I’d certainly view filing Polygon Window in with the Aphex Twin section as acceptable.

I think of Captain Beefheart as the alter ego of the leading band member, so would go with ‘B’.

Unlike Jethro Tull where it covers the whole band rather than 1 member.

Kevin

 

[Theo]

I've avoided this thread so far. My method is similar to Tony's (obvs, logical), but here's the big Q: R to L, or L to R?

 

[MotelBlues]

You can’t ask people to look in their shed, they won’t do it!

My postal operative delivered a Manics LP I’d ordered to my (locked) shed once. I have no idea how they did it.

 

[Tony L]

I've avoided this thread so far. My method is similar to Tony's (obvs, logical), but here's the big Q: R to L, or L to R?

L to R for sure. This is just the way English is read. I can understood the other way in Arabic countries etc. I was the wrong way for some while as that is the way one sorts in tubs (A at the front, Z at the back). You have to reverse-sort tubs to shelve a collection and I was too lazy for a while.

Here’s an ancient system pic from circa 1986 and if you really squint (or in my case know exactly what you are looking at) you’ll spot a copy of A Certain Ratio’s ‘To Each’ top right, which is clearly not where it should be. It is now located top left and all is right with the world.

PS This is before I categorised too, all genres are mixed, e.g. the box sets on the top shelf are Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu, then later on the DGG Free Improvisation box and Glass Einstein On The Beach. These are all in the classical section now.

 

[paulfromcamden]

I think I'd put the DGG Free Improvisation box in with the jazz. Though it's obviously a bit of a grey area unless there's a general experimental/weird stuff shelf.

 

[Tony L]

If I’d had a WTAF section it would have been in there for sure! I found it on the local market for £1.50.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Wow! Nice find!

 

[Tony L]

Wow! Nice find!

It is astonishing what I found on that market! Kensington Market in Liverpool, an absolute dump of a place. There was a proper record shop in there for a short while, plus various stalls around Friday and Saturday. All really cheap as it was a crazy poor and run-down area, one of Thatcher’s unemployment bomb-sites.

The two Berg albums came from there, as did a very nice UK Vertigo copy of Ralph & Florian (£1), the crazy rare one-sided DJ promo of The Smiths Barbarism Begins At Home (50p or a quid, I can’t remember) and some really nice 1st press Magazine (Real Life, Second Hand Daylight, Correct Use Of Soap), some Ventures and a lot of other things. All still in my collection. I’m talking over a period of many years, I lived there for much of the ‘80s. A lot of my early jazz indirectly came from there too as I shovelled lots of nice classical stuff I’d found there into Circle Records in town which was a specialist classical and jazz shop. Just swapped a pile of about 10 or so I’d found for 10-20p a throw for a couple of jazz records and everyone was happy. Most notably my RVG stamped Liberty pressing of Somethin’ Else was acquired that way. A few other cool albums too. I think my first copy of Black Saint & The Sinner Lady too (since replaced with a US original). This was the time I was just starting to really explore jazz.