I wish i knew more about (blank) records.
mrmatthew
1,575 Posts
I wish i knew more about classical records.
Nothing worse than coming upon a grip of classical in nm condition in a thrift or flea and just not having the time or patience to ceefrenzy them all. I just know there is some gold in those crates, but i just dont know where to start.
Also, it seems like a grown-man type move to have at least a few top notch classical raers / classics (pipe and brandy related)
What genre do you wish u had better knowledge in and why?
Nothing worse than coming upon a grip of classical in nm condition in a thrift or flea and just not having the time or patience to ceefrenzy them all. I just know there is some gold in those crates, but i just dont know where to start.
Also, it seems like a grown-man type move to have at least a few top notch classical raers / classics (pipe and brandy related)
What genre do you wish u had better knowledge in and why?
Comments
I wish I knew more about the Grapevine Discovery label. Other than John Danser Octet, and Brian Post Free World Band, I know nothing, and both records are sick.
Feel free to school me if you're in the know.
No time or money at the moment to dig a little deeper.
Don't think you can really do it without a wants list with cat numbers or a way to look stuff up in the field. Just about everything has been repressed, reissued or re-recorded so composer/performers and label generally aren't enough to go on if you're gripping to flip. Certain series from certain labels are always collectable in the right condition but that's a joylessly geeky way of buying music. Forget raers and follow your ears.
For real! Seems to me post war 'modern classical' is where the raer gold is, and this music is pretty challenging to listen to. I'm talking Stockhausen, Xenakis, Berio. Not to say it's unlistenable, it's incredibly varied, but not always chillable-with-brandy to.
There is some beautiful abstract artwork on the covers of a lot of 70s and 80s vinyl recordings of 20th century classical music. It's fun to see what catches your eye then listen to the contents. And in doing so you'll start to work out what periods/ nationalities/ instrumentation is to your taste.
Turns out I love early to mid 20th century French chamber music and solo piano works (amongst others).
Somehow more rewarding to listen to on cool old records than on Naxos cds [fetish-related]
Pretty odd and obscure label from what I gather. The other one worth getting is Vocal Jazz Incorporated for the track Chiapas.
I may have a less dominant want to know a shitload more about music from Northern Brazil, Cuba, southern Africa, cumbia, traditional pop and folk, dancehall, vocal jazz, new latin stuff, death metal, dance-pop, funk, uk funky, early soul and several tons more, in the end you may wonder what you do know but then look at your collection and realize you did move a decent way.
Will investigate. Thanks!
I'd be interested to know more about transnational music too yeah, for example spanish jew music (gloria levy)
Yeah, 'difficult' late modern LPs can attract big bucks... Meanwhile, the entire baroque genre on vinyl is pretty much in the skip these days, which is a weird thought. The approach to performing early and baroque music has changed in the last 25-30 years, and for the better. A handful of old baroque LPs might be worth a few sovs but they're largely unlistenable compared to the new recordings. .
Some basic classical rules for grip and flip.
Near Mint cover and lp or walk away.
Soloists.
No singing.
Dead fiddlers.
Avant/20th century music is good to pick up, but slightly different market.
The big thing used to be Mercury Living Presence Stereo (solid red label?) RCA Stereo (shaded dog) and London blue back stereos. But most of the best titles have had audiophile reissues and that market is kinda dead.
I enjoy the vulnerability happening in this thread. I also know next to nothing about classical records, and I own about 6 45s. lol
Ditto, especially soul 45s from 1959-1970. So much cool shit I hear that I just haven't committed to memory and when I see 45's out in the world
I'm so overwhelmed and for some reason the lack of visual cues that LP's have just have made it seem just too daunting to really get into.
This. You can't fake it. You gotta know your labels/artists/producers or its just a crap shoot. Also, I think the key is digging with a portable and just listening to everything...
Friend of mine quit the game and gave me his collection, which included a stack of 40 or so dancehall 45s, some of which are instantly recognizable, but mostly unknown to me. No idea what they're worth, not that I'm looking to offload them--it's one of many genres I'm weak in. Psych and prog being 2 others. I'm know nothing about classical.
To be honest, I feel more like a generalist with some knowledge in most genres, cursory as it may be. But I don't have especially deep knowledge in any genre.
This was me about a month ago before I bought a nice collection of 10,000 classical, avant garde and electronic LPs!
Like you said, it isn't just about the $$$ value of the records (although that of course is nice), but also a matter of getting put up on great music. I plan on keeping an expedit square section of Classical stuff to jam while working on projects at home where I need to stay focused.
I wish I was up on my Cajun and Blues game a bit more.
This is a great thread, and indeed, I appreciate the honesty here. Despite having a love for and owing a fair share of cursory LPs in the genre, I wish I knew more about Latin music. My various musical mentors over the years were never into Latin stuff, so I never really got a firm foundation of exposure to the genre. Particularly, I'd love to learn more about Brazilian music since some of 'yous guys' play some great songs on your mixes (e.g., DJ Asma, Sport Casual, and others).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
If it is a soul cover song it is probably worth buying.
indeed, and you can extend this to Russian and Middle-East Music (and ton of countries that never had a proper gold-digging - Haiti, Mozambique, the Andes, Mexico cause it's so large, Venezuela, Equatorial regions, North-Africa etc, oh and Eastern europe).
^^This is a big part of why I love 45s and why, if you choose this path, you will learn to love them. It takes so much more knowledge compared to LPs, it's more like record archaeology. Anything little thing on a label--writers, producers, towns & cities, publishing companies--can be an important clue. You start paying attention to all this little stuff and making connections.
This means that at your typical flea market, there's usually less competition for 45s, and while the other record dudes are fighting over a box of LPs you can be peacefully flipping through 45s at your own pace, picking out the gems. A portable turntable is nice but can really slow you down...