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Post by dottorjazz on Jan 24, 2017 18:48:36 GMT
reading a recent comment on LJC (https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/horace-silver-horace-scope-1960-blue-note/#comment-49478) I came across this sentence: "Whilst you can go on indefinitely upgrading to a better copy, the more pertinent question is: how well do you really know what you already have? I know there are a lot of records I haven’t got round to playing very much, and if you don’t play them, what’s the point of having them? Buy less and play more". Buy less and play moremy last acquisition dates august 2016. in theory I've had time to listen to "old" records and plenty of time to really know some. I didn't for many reasons. now, reading our host's sentence, I must assert he was and is right. I've hundreds of records (and some thousands CD's) I can't say to know well. I know the musicians, I've listened to them all but: can I affirm to know the music at an higher point? no, I can't. what to do? sell and reduce my collection? arghhh! stop buying? arghhh! find the time to keep listening? io domando tempo al Tempo ed egli mi risponde: non ne ho! I ask time to Time and he replies: I haven't got.
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Post by gregorythefish on Jan 24, 2017 18:59:07 GMT
i buy when the opportunity is good. i listen when i can, to what i want to listen to. if i am not sure what i want, i browse, and try to be sure not to reject things i can't remember much of. what more can we do?
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Post by alunsevern on Jan 25, 2017 12:51:07 GMT
Dott, I understand this dilemma only too well. I think at some point one has to accept the wisdom of "buy less and listen more", unless what's the point: it simply becomes shopping. And yet, as GTF says, sometimes you buy when the opportunity arises.
I don't know what the answer is but it is a view that I try to keep at the forefront of my mind. Whenever I see a record that attracts me (and indeed the same thing goes for more or less everything else too) I ask myself: Do I really need that? Can I live without it?
I find that even that means I cut down the stuff I buy and focus more on what I already have...
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Post by dottorjazz on Jan 25, 2017 16:26:13 GMT
I do believe any collector, in front of a nice/affordable record, will say: yes I really need that. I never gave up. a solution? stop searchin'.
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Post by gregorythefish on Jan 25, 2017 20:43:07 GMT
i fear my collecting is a bit of a manifestation of some of my mental health concerns. the fear that unless i help preserve it, it will die. who knows?
but i could never stop collecting. i love it. and i don't know why. and i feel weird about it, to be honest.
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Post by alunsevern on Jan 26, 2017 9:38:09 GMT
Dott, If you want to stop buying / collecting, then you have to stop looking! That much is certain. However -- and Greg too -- I do think having too much stuff (whether records or other commodities) is only really a problem if you (a) lack space, (b) can't afford what you buy, or (c) wish you didn't buy. Within those parameters, it's perfectly healthy.
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Post by gregorythefish on Jan 26, 2017 18:43:07 GMT
A and C are never a concern, and I doubt I will run out of space. Not that I have a lot of it, but it takes a HUGE amount of records to become a space issue. B is a small issue, but never so much that i run into real trouble. still, i have been doing well cutting back lately.
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Post by alunsevern on Jan 27, 2017 17:21:02 GMT
Space *is* a concern for me because records compete with space for books -- a constant juggling act. I more than halved my collection of records a few years back by welling off every non-jazz title. Since then I have also tried to operate a sort of "some in, some out" policy, whereby when I do buy new records I try to ensure that at least some -- low-graders, inessential, rarely played -- weeded out. I want to try and restrict LPs to the one (quite large) shelving unit they currently occupy.
I don't know how many LPs I have -- it's almost certainly fewer than 1,000 -- but even so even this number is far too many to ever play all of in any real depth. Less is more, i'm coming to think.
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Post by dottorjazz on Jan 28, 2017 6:50:40 GMT
maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm stupid but, leaving home for a while, I say bye to my records and when I'm back, I say hello. every time I keep a record out for research, even if I don't play it, I feel astonished about the story of each of them. when, where, why, from whom I bought it, for some the price... everyone has its tale and thanks God I remember them all, mostly with pleasure. it's the story of my life since I was young. my first one, actually were two together, dates back in 1968 when I was 15. next year will be the 50th anniversary. I can't remember own many times I put them on the turntable but the emotion they sent to me the first time is alive yet. and still is.
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Post by alunsevern on Jan 28, 2017 10:40:28 GMT
Dott, Now *that* is very much what the urge to collect is about, I think. Difficult to put into words but the emotional charge and the happiness your records have brought you couldn't be clearer. Oddly, I have never felt quite that way about records -- not as intensely as you do, anyway -- but it is exactly how I feel about books... Each has a history, the look, the feel, the smell, where it came from, how old I was when I read it, what I felt, when I plan to reread it....
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Post by bassman on Jan 30, 2017 9:47:28 GMT
Dott, Now *that* is very much what the urge to collect is about, I think. Difficult to put into words but the emotional charge and the happiness your records have brought you couldn't be clearer. Oddly, I have never felt quite that way about records -- not as intensely as you do, anyway -- but it is exactly how I feel about books... Each has a history, the look, the feel, the smell, where it came from, how old I was when I read it, what I felt, when I plan to reread it.... Alun, I share your feelings about books just as I understand the way Dott feels about records. My old LPs and 45s (even some 78s) are very dear to me, but listening to them results from an occasional desire to return to old technology and conventional ceremony rather than anything else. I rarely buy vinyl these days. I spent lots of money on records in the old days when one LP would be something like € 120,- (£ 100) in today's currency, but paying the same amount these days for a beat-up copy of the same record is not for me. Though I hate CDs they are, technically speaking, the best way to listen to recorded music in a format that isn't all-virtual. I mean it's still "real", with printed (if hard-to read) sleeve notes. An aesthetic compromise, no doubt.
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Post by gst on Jan 30, 2017 17:25:46 GMT
I'm currently trying the one in one out technique, but I'm falling behind on the out side much to my wife's chagrin. I don't go to record stores nearly as much as i did in the past, but I'm still always looking online. It is easier to get what I'm looking for, but as others have mentioned it does kill the thrill of the hunt, and I find myself less emotionally connected to the physical object, although not the music itself.
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Post by Rich on Feb 13, 2017 20:51:55 GMT
Great topic. I'm proud to say I've been in a "buy less play more" frame of mind for several months now. I've always been aware of that looming guilty feeling when I spend way more time looking at records on eBay and making lists instead of listening and enjoying what I have. My collecting philosophy changes over time but certain aspects also cycle around. I have always been a fierce "quality over quantity" collector and appreciator of music, and when all is said and done I think I'd be happy with a collection of roughly 50 original pressings to accompany a more expansive digital music libray.
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Post by alunsevern on Feb 14, 2017 10:17:07 GMT
I took delivery of three news records on Saturday, and I enjoyed every one of them. But strangely I enjoyed them even more when I found four I felt could be discarded
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kev
New Member
Posts: 19
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Post by kev on Feb 15, 2017 12:34:13 GMT
I suppose my approach is to buy moderately and listen in depth to some. When I am writing about a record for my blog I listen on numerous occasions over a period of weeks (or occasionally months) in my attempt to familiarise myself with what is very often a complex series of pieces. This means that I combine efforts to really absorb what is going on within that recording with other quite casual listening to other recordings. I buy when something interesting comes my way, either at the right price on a wish list or when it appears in one of the very small number of stores that I visit. I also try to consider a new recording by a living artist every month, with varying degrees of satisfaction and that means scanning the new releases. I purchase 90% of incoming recordings on CD, so can relate to Rich's notional 50 great original vinyl pressings but suspect that if I get there I will just push onwards towards the 100 mark and beyond.
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