Music Collector vs. Record Collector
Recently, I began asking myself, wether I had turned from a music to a record collector. Well, not recently, I think, the signs were on the wall for a couple of years. The days when I bought a record, came home and put it on the turntable or in the CD-player, and listened to it, they’ve been gone a long time ago. These days it’s more like I come home, the LPs are put in a row and the CDs piled high, for some imaginary day, when I will have all the time in the world, to listen what I have amassed. Of course, not every new record is destined to gather dust, as a few still find their way immediately onto the HiFi. But most don’t and they’re there, to be listened to eventually. It’s always up and down, but my best guess is, that there are somewhere around 150 still sealed CDs waiting to be heard.
And, before I forget it, about 150 brand new LPs as well. And did I mention the nearly 150 7”s? And the music DVDs that have their own place? About 20 of them waiting for me to view them. Of course, every now and then, one of these items makes it to the “heard and filed” section. And new arrivals are coming in weekly, if not almost daily. Music is still very important to me, but sometimes I think the purpose of me buying records has turned to amassing a heap of plastic and cardboard and paper, just so, that the EXCEL list gets longer and longer. One point is, if someone would play me a few tracks from my own collection and not telling me what it was, chances were, that I wouldn’t have the slightest clue as to what was on the turntable/in the CD player. Good music, yes, no doubt. But apart from Dr. Feelgood, Wilko Johnson, Doctor’s Order, some British R&B, early Krautrock, selected Freejazz and the odd record in my collection, I’d be hard pressed to make a decent guess.
On the other hand, it’s quite nice to know, that one has a decent choice of music among the humble collection. You’re in the mood for Bluesrock? What would you like it to be then? Or do you fancy Freejazz? Look, here’s quite a selection to choose from! And the funny thing is, a lot of this music sounds brandnew, just because you can’t remember having heard it the first time around. Sometimes, when I go through my collection, I’m really surprised to find records I didn’t even know existed on my shelves. It’s like having just bought them on the spot. Of course, one can take this as an added bonus. Right now, I think, I’m somewhere between music and record collector, leaning heavily towards the latter. Until a few years ago, there was no question about what I thought about the whole deal. Now, this is not like I mean to complain, it’s just something that has me worried for some time now. But, to be honest, I think it’s too late to make a real correction. I’d have to sell off most of my collection and, with having made a sizeable cut, start anew on a much lower level. I mean, really, who needs hundreds of media by one and the same artist? Who needs to cover a lot of bases that popular music has brought to the masses?
I don’t know, but there’s no solution in this blog here. But I do actually believe, a radical approach would be best. Getting rid of the items and buy myself a pint of Guinness down at the local pub. Anyway, I know I won’t do the selling and still do the buying. Just let me complain here about the life of a collector and carry on doing what I have done before. Discovering good music, that’s what it all should be about.
Cheers
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