Sunday, March 06, 2011
I still don't get it?
I have a pretty diverse collection of music, 7000 albums plus, I can listen to just about anything! Captain Beefheart, King Uszniewicz, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Esquivel, Martin Denny, Yes, The Cure, Wanda Landowska, Harry Nilsson, The Pretty Things, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Perez Prado, Glenn Gould, Charles Mingus, Lucia Pamela, The Beach Boys, Bert Kaempfert, The Kinks, The Mothers, Otis Redding, Korla Pandit, Fats Waller. I can listen to anything (except for country and post 1996 Rap) but I can't figure out this group called:
The Mom And Dads.
They sound awful, like the band that's playing in some Moose lodge to a bunch of old 65 year olds in the back in the 70's. Their instrumentation consists of accordion, piano, alto sax, and a 3 piece drum set (snare, bass, and floor tom. No cymbals or rack tom, this guy has a row of temple blocks on top of his bass drum). They have [scratching head] 3 platinum albums, one that went double and four gold albums, who in the fuck bought them?! I want to know. Their music is terrible. Everything is played slow, whole note melodies, the drummer playing the same "clippity klop" tempo on every song. These guys make Mantovani sound like Monk. I got Trout Mask Replica after the second listen, it's one of those albums that has to sink in before you get it. I remember playing it in the living room with my sister present back in 1977. She was into her Dan Fogelberg/Stephen Bishop phase at the time. I'll wonder in the living room and pop my Trout Mask Replica 8-track in the family's Zenith Allegro stereo, and then blast her with Captain Beefheart in all of his off kilter glory. After 10 minutes, she had tears streaming down her face crying for me to take it off, she couldn't take it or get it, or both. TMR is one of those albums that you have to get, listen and absorb it's goodness, once you do you get it. That is how I feel about the Mom And Dads, I don't get them. Every song sounds the same with the flatulent sounding sax, Myron Floren on Lunesta accordion, a piano that plays just half notes, and a drummer that taps on on wood blocks doing his klippity klop thing. It doesn't make me cry but I get the urge to get plastered like the audience at the Moose, it's the only way you can listen to it. The Mom & Dads makes those 50's era Jackie Gleason albums with the kitschy girlie covers sound like Motorhead in comparison. The Mom & Dads serve one purpose in my collection, to run people out of the house after a all night party. Yoko Ono used to serve that purpose at one time with her voice that sounds like somebody swinging a cat around by it's tail. I wonder if I played the Mom & Dads to drive everyone out, they would stay and get the urge to drink more.
Labels: record collecting
Friday, November 06, 2009
Progress
Hello to whom ever is reading this.
I've been on Facebook for awaile but I decided to come here and bullshit a little.
Facebook is cool, it's like having a High School reunion in cyberspace, but you invite the people you want. Forget the nerd or the stoner who dropped out, hang with your pals and chat and send photos. It's fun but I'm a bloghead at heart, I love to go on about records, music and my bear cave/man cave/record room/guitar room/studio/stereo room that is 75% complete. All I need is one more big shelf that could hold 1000+ classical albums and I'm done. The room is coming along nicely.
I've been on Facebook for awaile but I decided to come here and bullshit a little.
Facebook is cool, it's like having a High School reunion in cyberspace, but you invite the people you want. Forget the nerd or the stoner who dropped out, hang with your pals and chat and send photos. It's fun but I'm a bloghead at heart, I love to go on about records, music and my bear cave/man cave/record room/guitar room/studio/stereo room that is 75% complete. All I need is one more big shelf that could hold 1000+ classical albums and I'm done. The room is coming along nicely.
Labels: record collecting
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Things are going smoothly
I'm back to report that things are going along smoothly.
The two new racks are in and both are packed, one with jazz, the other with rock, I can use another two but I have nowhere to put them. A few weeks ago at Costco, I scored this big metal rack which I'm planning to put where this delopadated workbench stands, I may do that next week since I have a few days off. Get rid of the old kindling shitbox and put a nice metal rack in it's place and fill it up with Easy Listening, Vocals, and Exotica.
Most of the damaged stuff is fixed.
With a bucket of bleechy water and a rag, I cleaned the mold off the covers successfully inside and out. The JATP boxes survived with just a little discoloring, Most of the covers had some discoloring when dried which was a relief, some had some damage from the paper sticking together. Some of them need to be reglued. I'm still on a quest to find replacement covers at the thrifts, the two I'm desperately trying to find are Kinks Kontroversy and Once Again by Barclay James Harvest (on Sire Dist. by Polydor), I'm hoping on finding some trashed LPs that I can get for the covers, the rest of the flood victims are somewhat common but I would like to save my Tull Porkys/Peckos.
To clean them I took a risk.
I made a solution of bleechy water (1/2 cup of unscented bleech & a gallon of water) and a sponge and wiped the LPs removing the mold/mildew. Once the stuff melts off the surface, I cleaned the LP with Disc Doctor solution with a Nitty Gritty machine. A LP that was once caked with moldy funk is now squeaky clean. It works. My 1S copy of Burgers (Hot Tuna) is playable once again.
The two new racks are in and both are packed, one with jazz, the other with rock, I can use another two but I have nowhere to put them. A few weeks ago at Costco, I scored this big metal rack which I'm planning to put where this delopadated workbench stands, I may do that next week since I have a few days off. Get rid of the old kindling shitbox and put a nice metal rack in it's place and fill it up with Easy Listening, Vocals, and Exotica.
Most of the damaged stuff is fixed.
With a bucket of bleechy water and a rag, I cleaned the mold off the covers successfully inside and out. The JATP boxes survived with just a little discoloring, Most of the covers had some discoloring when dried which was a relief, some had some damage from the paper sticking together. Some of them need to be reglued. I'm still on a quest to find replacement covers at the thrifts, the two I'm desperately trying to find are Kinks Kontroversy and Once Again by Barclay James Harvest (on Sire Dist. by Polydor), I'm hoping on finding some trashed LPs that I can get for the covers, the rest of the flood victims are somewhat common but I would like to save my Tull Porkys/Peckos.
To clean them I took a risk.
I made a solution of bleechy water (1/2 cup of unscented bleech & a gallon of water) and a sponge and wiped the LPs removing the mold/mildew. Once the stuff melts off the surface, I cleaned the LP with Disc Doctor solution with a Nitty Gritty machine. A LP that was once caked with moldy funk is now squeaky clean. It works. My 1S copy of Burgers (Hot Tuna) is playable once again.
Labels: record collecting
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Basement remodel, and the aftermath of the backed up sewer pipe
You want the bad news
or the good news first.
The good news..........
The good news..........
The two racks are in, assembled and standing proud in the cellar ready to receive their goodies to store. From all the shit I have, I can use two more for the classical and spaceage pop albums that are still piled high. I also need a separate rack just for R&B that are piled up in two spots in the cellar, ditto for soundtracks. Make that four more racks. Soon were going to run out of cellar space.
The ugly news.............
Remember the last post about the sewer pipe backing up. For weeks, we had to take short showers and use the dish washer and washing machine sparingly. Everytime we turned on the water we had a nice deep puddle that was six feet round, 1 1/2" deep by the drain (AKA glory hole). If one took a nice shower, the cellar was one big shitty mess where the sewage would come up and do it's thing leaving it's funky residue on the basement floor. Two weeks ago, we had a plumber come by and unclogged the sewer pipe that was full of roots from the tree out side, plus a piece of a handy wipe that mysteriously found it's way down the loo. That's all over now, Margaret was cleaning the floor with bleach turning converting the "doo doo room with the reek complete" into a nice smelling cellar. She went though two buckets of water in the process scrubbing the floor while I moved the empty racks to get the funk underneith of them. We still have a ton of work to do but that's going to wait untill next week or next Tuesday depending what our plans are.
Boxes, which kind are better?
I had two boxes of records on the floor that were there before all this happened. Both of them are on plastic containers just in case of a flood, one box is carboard, the other is a Bags Unlimited black plastic container. Take a wild guess which one survived and came out unscathed!!! The cardboard box that contained all of my Jazz comps and JATP sets came out freakin' unharmed, where the collectable rock LPs inside the super duper plastic container from Bags Unlimited were 95% trashed, and that's it sitting on a plastic lid and the farthest away from the water/drain, the cardboard box was closest to the drain.
The cardboard box is indeed the winner.
The bad news...............
I lost a cache of albums to water damage in our flooding, close to 100 LPs are toast. The crates behind the boxes were high on a 3" high wooden plank so all of them survived. I'm very thankful that some of them survived. Some of the records that I kept in sleeves survived, some didn't. A mint copy of Wheels Of Fire, a original Atco pressing with laquers cut at Atlantic studios that sounds great survived unscathed. Ditto for a copy of Bowie's Hunky Dory, a genuine first press on RCA with the textured cover with no type on the front. A UK press of Roxy Music's Siren on Island (pink rim) came out OK with only a tiny bit of damage inside the gatefold cover. Water also got inside a copy of the first Faust album, the one on clear vinyl that came in a clear cover with a clear insert (German Polydor), that one survived as well. No mildew but steamy moisture got inside. My treasued copy of the Hollies "Hollies (Very Last Day)" LP on BGO is another goner, this LP isa mis-press where it's labeled mono but plays stereo. It's plastic outersleeve could not hold the fluid and got wet, it's drying out along with a UK Vertigo sampler, a UK press of the first Kinks album in stereo. A mint copy of Spanky & Our Gang's "Greatest Hits" on Mercury did not survive. It still had the original shrink wrap and was in a nice thick outersleeve and it still got waterlogged. The vinyl was soaked and it was in a plastic lined inner-sleeve, I wonder how long those records were marinating in water inside that plastic wonderbox? Some of them are no big deal like 1B 1A stamper Billy Joel albums and US Jethro Tull "Porky" cuts. I did lose some gems like some of my kiddie records like the original press Dr. Seuss Camden LPs that I had for ages, sealed Sesame Street mid-70s albums, various Chipmunks albums, and a few Golden LPs. Also in the deluge I lost a 35 LP complete NFL music library, a few of the LPs were water damaged to begin with but now the covers are all bonded together. I have 2 out of the 3 Frank Zappa "Shut Up & Play Yer Guitar" mail order LPs, both of them are toast. My Gentle Giant collection is toast. My copies of Three Frends, Octopus, along all of the Capitol albums are stuck together like glue. A few original Ricky Nelson, Monkees,Sandy Nelson, ELP, John Mayall, and Hot Tuna albums are casualties. In the mess, my original US press of Barclay James Harvest "Once Again" on Sire (Dist. by Polydor) is now confirmed as trash. I'm very bummed about this.
Labels: record collecting
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Shelves arrived.............hooray!
Not much has changed in the dungeon on doom, except that my 2 shelves arrived. Now I'm getting ready for a big freaking remodeling of the cellar. I'll spare you the gory details, but the pipe that leads to the sewer clogged and the basement floor looked nasty with sewage back-up. Now that is fixed, remodeling is on the way. I even celebrated by getting a heavy-duty metal rack from Costco to put more stuff in.
Keep posted.
Keep posted.
Labels: record collecting
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Welcome to the Bearcave, a look at my collection.
Welcome to my cellar. Don't trip over that pile of vintage vinyl over there. It's all over the place.
This is the wall of my studio which is buried at the moment. There is a autographed pickgaurd from John Paul Jones, a original 1957 Exotica (I love that cover), a original Jim Flora "Mambo For Cats" cover, and a fully autographed Ink Spots LP. Plus a two cool girlie covers.
This is the wall of my studio which is buried at the moment. There is a autographed pickgaurd from John Paul Jones, a original 1957 Exotica (I love that cover), a original Jim Flora "Mambo For Cats" cover, and a fully autographed Ink Spots LP. Plus a two cool girlie covers.
By the way,
My Name is Michael Arlt, my friends refer to me as "Bear", I've been collecting records since I was seven years old. My first LP is a copy of "The Monkees Greatest Hits" on Colgems that I still have. Not the same one but a copy I bought two years later when me and my siblings wore the original out. On that pile you will notice a original LOC "Elvis Christmas Album", King Creole, and a original 78 album for "Going My Way" which has sentimental value to me. That's only the tip of the iceberg
Here is a tower comprised of 4 Peaches crates (I was a assistant manager there in 1982 in the North Miami Beach store). The top one is all audiophile stuff, the second is all Beach Boys. The Beach Boys stuff continues, after that it's all Sinatra. Those two huge piles are all rock albums awaiting shelves, whenever Lowes gets them back in. I'm waiting guys.
This is my jazz and rock section.
I have to keep half folded album covers on the bottom sections to keep our cats from clawing at the album spines, they already hit the N rock section. If you can see those white spines dead center to the start of the next row, that's the complete Duke Ellington DETS series on LP. In the back-round, more vocals and country on the floor awaiting shelves from Lowes.
More rock and 10" LPs.
If you're looking for the Ventures or Zappa, it's all here.
A better look at the pile on the floor.
I'm ready to grab the junk on those shelves and give it the heave ho.
My records need a safe home.
My classical, reggae, R&B, Soundtracks, Florida loungecore, and box sets.
I wish the lighting was better so you can read the spines.
In the mess you can see a horde of Time-Life "Giants Of Jazz", Joker "Bix" box, and the two EMI 20-LP boxsets of Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole that I bought for my Mother when I bought her a stereo for her aniversary almost 20 years ago. The little Peaches crate is full of Sinatra EPs and jukebox LPs. The best sounding version of "The Voice" is in the front of the crate, the double 45rpm set. I'm lucky to have the complete Beethoven Bicentennial Collection that I got at work for $20, it was going to be pitched. Five of the boxes are still sealed. The set sounds great since it was pressed with DGs metal parts.
A (almost) complete set of Franklin Mint's Big Band collection.
I got that set at Blue Note from a girl who sold it to me for $50, great sound and pressings. The Ellington sets are a must own. Next to that is the Trane box, World Records Beatles Box, and a autographed copy of "From One Charlie" by Charlie Watts. Next to that in the plastic is a copy of the super rare promo only Complete Dial Sessions by Charlie Parker.
This is the funky area of the collection.
All the stuff that's hard to categorize is in this area.
One thing I love to collect are stereo test records.
These are most of my Beatles collection.
Everything is 1972 Apple from the first LP up to the red and blue LPs, and Purple "Wally" Capitol labels. Everything after that is UK, and then bootleg.
Here's my Al Hirt collection.
A better look at the pile on the floor.
I'm ready to grab the junk on those shelves and give it the heave ho.
My records need a safe home.
My classical, reggae, R&B, Soundtracks, Florida loungecore, and box sets.
I wish the lighting was better so you can read the spines.
In the mess you can see a horde of Time-Life "Giants Of Jazz", Joker "Bix" box, and the two EMI 20-LP boxsets of Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole that I bought for my Mother when I bought her a stereo for her aniversary almost 20 years ago. The little Peaches crate is full of Sinatra EPs and jukebox LPs. The best sounding version of "The Voice" is in the front of the crate, the double 45rpm set. I'm lucky to have the complete Beethoven Bicentennial Collection that I got at work for $20, it was going to be pitched. Five of the boxes are still sealed. The set sounds great since it was pressed with DGs metal parts.
A (almost) complete set of Franklin Mint's Big Band collection.
I got that set at Blue Note from a girl who sold it to me for $50, great sound and pressings. The Ellington sets are a must own. Next to that is the Trane box, World Records Beatles Box, and a autographed copy of "From One Charlie" by Charlie Watts. Next to that in the plastic is a copy of the super rare promo only Complete Dial Sessions by Charlie Parker.
This is the funky area of the collection.
All the stuff that's hard to categorize is in this area.
One thing I love to collect are stereo test records.
I must have at least one (or two) from each major label, the best ones being from London, Audio Fidelity, Roulette, Capitol, Columbia, and RCA.
The best ones are from the stereo makers themselves.
My favorite is the Sylvania "Golden Time" LP that is pressed on gold vinyl and comes in a gate fold cover with a pop-up of a smiling family listening to a Sylvania console stereo that was made for hi-fi dealers who sold Sylvania stereos in department stores.
The cover states "play this only on a Sylvania stereo", funny stuff.
You hear the announcer stating "this is the sound of a normal stereo" with the image narrowed and the sound compressed", and "this is the sound of a Sylvania stereo" and the sound blooms were the image widens and compression drops, it sounds great on my Adcom system.
You hear the announcer stating "this is the sound of a normal stereo" with the image narrowed and the sound compressed", and "this is the sound of a Sylvania stereo" and the sound blooms were the image widens and compression drops, it sounds great on my Adcom system.
These are most of my Beatles collection.
Everything is 1972 Apple from the first LP up to the red and blue LPs, and Purple "Wally" Capitol labels. Everything after that is UK, and then bootleg.
Dig the two cool UK Elvis boxsets, Thingfish and Anthology lazerdisc.
Here's my Al Hirt collection.
He's the King in my book.
Everything is here including both versions of the Southland LP,
and some one of a kind promo and foreign pressings.
and some one of a kind promo and foreign pressings.
I'm still waiting for Lowes to get those shelves in to get those LPs off the floor.
The next post will be about thift store finds.
The next post will be about thift store finds.
See 'ya.
Mr. Bear
Labels: record collecting
