Music
What Works is What Works - For You
After a fairly “expansive” week, I now have a backlog of records to listen to as they get added into my collection.
See, I have a system - yo. Yo - for emphasis.
I start with the stack of records I just brought home. I want to listen to them while they are fresh to assess the quality of the titles I have obtained. It sucks when you get something new that looks to be in fair condition, only to discover the record’s playability has been impacted by the years.
Then again, I have been pleasantly surprised, too. Johnny Cash's Live at Folsom Prison came out the year I was born, and the copy I found had some visible signs of wear, but after cleaning, it sounded great.
I haven’t broached that topic yet - cleaning. There are a lot of products out there, and I have only ever used one style of cleaning system. You spray the cleaning solution on what resembles a chalkboard eraser from grade school. As your record spins, you gently apply the sprayed area of your “eraser” to the vinyl for a few revolutions, then tilt to the dry area of the applicator for a few more. These are common and made by a lot of different manufacturers. Mine is by Big Fudge, if you are interested.
It makes sense to eliminate any dirt or debris that may have accumulated over the years the first time you go to enjoy a record. As I understand it, this can also ensure you get a good life out of your player’s needle. If there are better cleaning options out there, I would love to hear them, but this one has worked fine for me.
Today’s listening is Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s 1986 debut, The Way It Is. They won the Grammy for Best New Artist for this record, and Hornsby has gone on to have a long and eclectic career. He has toured with the Grateful Dead and has ventured successfully into jazz and bluegrass genres.
With that being said, his biggest hits (among them “Every Little Kiss,” “Mandolin Rain,” and the title track) still are found on this album. I always liked “On the Western Skyline,” too, but my favorite Hornsby track is his later release, “Jacob’s Ladder,” which went to number one for Huey Lewis and the News.
After the cleaning and the listening, I log the new records into my collection on Discogs. I am sure other collectors have their own systems, but I can’t imagine one as fully-featured as Discogs.com. If it exists, it is pretty much searchable in the database. If it isn’t there, you can add it - and it will allow you to log everything about the record.
Not sure what version you have? Narrow it down by searching the chicken scratch in the album runout to identify that record. What is a copy going for these days? See what users are selling them for or what the low/medium/high sales range looks like. If there is a rating on your entry, you can include that as you add to your collection. I don’t know much about what makes something “mint” or “near mint,” so I seldom provide a title this ranking unless I bought it new and unopened. To keep track for myself, I will also enter the month and year of purchase and where I bought it, along with any other relevant and significant information.
Once the record is officially added, it goes into a protective sleeve and is filed alphabetically. One of my little “idiosyncrasies:” my records are alphabetical—in right-to-left order. I started it this way because I wanted to see the front of the album as I flipped through and because it makes a little more sense (to me, anyway) in the cabinet I bought to house my collection (pictured above), by Giratree.
I debate whether I have some reorganization to do, as I want things to match up more like the order in which they appear on Discogs. However, I have been filing by the artist's last name instead of the actual first letter that appears in the artist's name (for example, Bruce Hornsby and the Range are now found next to the Hooters’ Nervous Night in the H’s, instead of in the B’s. Springsteen is in the S’s, etc - as is the natural order of things. Discogs go straight alphabetically, so Chet Atkins is found in the C’s instead of the A’s.
I think I like my way better. Ultimately, it is important to have a system that works for you. You are the one who will be in and out of your collection the most, right? As with anything, the only person’s standards you are bound by are your own.
Next up in my audit of new additions to my collection is the new Black Crowes record Happiness Bastards, which I got for Father’s Day. More on that next time - thanks for reading!
