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Please Describe your Music Collection

One of the better parts of the forums is reading about other people's systems, but I think it would be even more interesting to hear about people's music collections. Format, type of music, size, how stored, favorite artist, worst purchase, first purchase, ect. Whatever info about your music you want to volunteer. Think of it as a musical biography.

Here's some of my music info:

The collection consists of approximately 2200 records. 300 are CDs and the balance are vinyl. I've transfered about 35% of the collection onto hard disk as part of an iTunes driven digital jukebox. The albums are stored in a separate room on Intermetro modular metal racks. They're alphabetized by artist, but I have separated out the few classical records. By music type approximately 45% is pop/rock and 25% is jazz. The rest is pretty evenly distributed between blues, classical, country, reggae and R&B. I do not have any Broadway musicals.

My earliest musical recollection is my mom listening to William B. William's "Matinee Ballroom" on the radio. Also alot of early exposure to 50's "oldies" and Brill Bldg. pop. However, my first record purchases were the first Manfred Mann album (yes, the one with "Do Wah Diddy") and the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go". I still have each album although they are in very poor condition. I still listen regularly to the Supremes, its a truly great record. The guts of my collection is the standard baby boomer Motown/British Invasion/San Francisco Psychedelia/Funk/Punk/Jazz-Fusion/New Wave/sensitive singer-song writer cannon. I'm a pre-grunge kind of guy. My big heroes are Bob D., Beach Boys, Smokey Robinson, Elvis Costello, Little Feat, Steely Dan, Joni, Los Lobos and Jimi.

Starting in high school I started getting exposure to jazz and quickly took a liking to McCoy Tyner, Miles, and Coltrane. Also purchased virtually everything by Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin. I dived pretty hard into the ECM and Blue Note catalogs.

During college the most popular records were Pink Floyd's "DSOTM" and Steely Dan's "Royal Scam". Around this time I also developed a serious interest in electric blues. Over the years I've become a big fan of B.B., Albert and Freddy King, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy.

As a adult my tastes haven't so much changed as solidified. Over the last few years I'm only buying 50-70 records a year. I can't explain why, but I'm not as quick to explore new music as when I was younger. Despite this I still developed a liking for raggae (primarily Steel Pulse, but some others), Mozart, early 90s Brit pop (Lush, Cocteau Twins, etc.), Dwight Yoakam and anything by V.M. Bhatt. As time goes by I've also found that I appreciate Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong (particularly as a vocalist) even more.

I once recieved a great compliment from a friend. He was looking thru my collection and said, "You have a great collection, even you failures are interesting." As he said this he was holding a copy of Rick Wakeman's "Journey to the Center Of the Earth". Sorry Rick, it's probably my worst purchase.

Tell me about yours.
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kthomas
911 posts
 
I currently have about 1300 CDs. I have always loved music and valued decent sound, always preferring music for everything from background to prime activity over many other possibilities for same. As a kid, I built up a collection of about 250 albums, mostly of 70's and early 80's rock. I've always liked progressive rock bands like Genesis, Camel, Yes, as well as the electric guitar in it's many forms - Clapton, Hendrix, Lowell George.

I had the musically and budgetary crippling life event of getting married and having children, which put me into about a 10 year hiatus where music was there in the background, but not an avid pursuit nor a prime activity very often. During a move, I sold the vinyl and the associated playback gear and moved on with about 150 CDs that has since grown.

I consider my musical taste to have grown, but not have overhauled. This is partially due to having the money to be more adventurous in exploring new tunes, partially due to the vast amount of information available on the internet, and partially due to evolving tastes. My collection is currently about 75% rock (used very loosely), with the remaining 25% evenly split between blues and jazz.

While I'm tempted by all the adulation for vinyl, I'm not the tinkering type, and I expect continued advances in digital, particularly in terms of access and ease of use. I have copies of many of my favorite CDs loaded into changers to provide a random-play "personal radio station" of sorts, but am both frustrated and encouraged by the progress towards music servers and network connectivity. I imagine a time not too long from now when all my music will be available on a music server, and playable through any system in my house or anywhere else I can hook up to the network.

I'm probably hopelessly optimistic, as I see the current music scene as evolving and interesting, with lots of new music that I want to hear, while maintaining a healthy appreciation for that which came before. I also am fairly active in back-filling my collection, often with bands I didn't fully appreciate when they were current that I do now.

Nice thread topic.
octopus
52 posts
 
Hands down the worst I've ever owned was "Out Of The Cradle" by Lindsey Buckingham, ex Fleetwood Mac. I can't believe allmusic.com gives it a 4 1/2 star. I was actually embarrassed for the artist while listening to it. Laughably bad.
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muzikat
929 posts
 
I like everything except Rap and Opera. My collection consists of ~600 vinyl records and ~500 CDs.
I mostly listen to Jazz and Alt. Country. With Reggae and Rock mixed in.
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Hi,

I've been into vinyl since about 1965 and was lucky enough to have a relative that was a dj. He taught me how to handle records and gave me a watts record brush which was band new to the market at the time. I have a handful of damaged vinyl that I can't part with for sentimental reasons but otherwise most of it is museum quality.

I have approximately 3500 albums and about 40 cd's. Don't laugh, I've had a CDP since 1992 and actually upgraded with an HDCD unit last year. It sounds like my tastes somewhat mirror yours although my favorites are Neil Young, Steely Dan and most female vocalists. I wish I knew more about jazz and blues but I'm turning into a quick study.

I'm a real lover of any music that evolved from Buffalo Springfield and there is just so much of it. I always felt it would be interesting to do a visual family tree from that great band. Their influence is much greater than most realize.

I've been buying a few collections of vinyl from friends in the midwest and am overjoyed at the new stuff I've found. I also have the Seven Wives Of Henry The Eigth. Pretty goofy record. Also, a copy of War Of The Worlds with Richard Burton narrating.

While I'm optomistic about the future of digital I'm also frustrated with the medium and figure I'll bail shortly. The music industry today is a gigantic dysfunctional family that's full of paranoia. The decision drop kick digital is mainly to simplify my life. If they would only use all the available space on sacd or dvda for two channel I would embrace it whole heartedly. For now they have multi layers for cd playback, multi-channel and video. I guess, being a two channel guy, that I really don't hear as much improvement as I hoped for.

If you are a fan of the Supremes and enjoy Nancy Wilson then I highly recommend The Best Of Nancy Wilson. This is an absolutely stunning recording. It's pretty easy to find in a used record store.

My most disappointing album is Sopwith Camel. Fazon is a killer song (well worth owning the disc) but it seems to me like that is the only piece of inspired music they ever had. Lightning didn't strike twice with this talented group.

I've really only owned three systems in my life. First was K horns and AR, Thorens. Changed to an LP12 very quickly. I then purchased a second LP12 when the upgrades couldn't be done to the old table. Then went with British gear, Naim and now Linn. Tubes, Lowthers and a Teres are probably going to happen this year. I guess with the Lowthers I'll have to place them well into the room. After over 30 years in this passion I'll be owning my FIRST pair of speakers that aren't designed to be placed close to the back wall.
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
I own 1300 vinyls and 100 CDs in my collection. There is also a floating collection that is always changing i.e. I sell in order to get something new.

Most of my records are unique original and $$$. I dig onto progressive rock, fusion jazz, avant-jazz or avant-rock, sophisticated electronics, neo-classical avant-garde, acid jazz. I have very few pieces of a traditional jazz and routine rock such as Zeppelin or Pink. Beatles I keep for my wife although I do hate them since they cary the sin to bring pop onto the music world. I'm a great fan of tango and french chanson and have pretty thick line on my shelf for that as well.

I'm not big fan of classical music but there are a few classical pieces that I simply adore and never get tired listening to: Beethoven symph#9, #5, #6.
Tchaikovski "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Nutchacker". Rachmaninoff Conciertos #2,#3 Chopin/Cliburn Waltz C-sharp-m in particular. Vivaldi "4 Seasons".
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