#221 – Vinyl collection update

The collection grows stronger as the months have passed us by. This time late year I was at the beginning stages of my collection. The early days of a new found obsession to collect more physical media. Five hundred or more DVD’s, Blu ray and boxsets wasn’t enough, Spotify wasn’t enough at all and YouTube was never even close. Oh the vinyl how fun and exciting it is to go hunting for you or to find the one you’ve been searching for. Maybe even one you didn’t even realize you were in desperate need of until you found it. So you’ve got that excitement, you go pay for the thing and you bring it home. Sit down by the record player and open it up. You admire the art work and you read about the album, some are more detailed than others of course. Then you let it play and you sit back to enjoy. The order of the songs too is highly important when listening here. They were placed that way for a reason and it’s great to hear the vinyl purring and turning right before it hits the part with your music on it.

I haven’t really dedicated a post to my collection since last June so there’s probably a good bit to share. Last time I had only a handful of vinyl’s and not that I have a massive collection now but it is at the first twenty five and growing. I’ve added more Dylan, sampled some soundtracks, winded down with Warren and laughed loudly with Lenny. I’m having a great time listening to these great finds. Aside from the music I’ve gotten some other gems I’m looking forward to talking about.

One of the greatest benefits of vinyl I must admit is that it makes me want to listen to a full album more. Listen to the album flow and the story tell itself before me.

Bob Dylan, The original debut recording limited edition 180g marbled vinyl. Such a beautiful album with songs like House of the risin sun, man of constant sorrow and song to Woody. Dylan sounds so young here and the songs are mainly covers which is unusual for him. I absolutely adore this album and the artwork is exceptional. If only I could get a 7X8 metal frame of the album cover. It’s so beautiful I wanna fall into it and it’s psychedelic vibe.

Last Saturday me and Eva went to town. In search for hot dogs, vintage clothing shops, books and I was hunting for Vinyl also. Golden discs had a lot but I bought nothing, I saw others in the edge and lucky lane yet my cash remained in my pocket. I got to steamboat quay records and I searched and I searched and I searched. What I found was some Dylan albums and the Stones, I was set to buy one along with a Johann Strauss album when all of a sudden Eva finds a gem. Eva finds Warren Zevon live at the Roxy in Los Angeles back in the day. I’m at a crossroads now do I buy the usual or go with my favourite and of course I took the Zevon album home with me. When I put it on and I heard the audience, I heard the guitars and the band getting ready. Warren warming up on the piano and then boom ! His voice jumps out from my record player. Warren hasn’t gone anywhere, he isn’t dead almost twenty years and he certainly isn’t buried in LA. He’s playing a live show in my sitting room in Limerick city, he’s murdering too Incase you were wondering. So clear, so loud, so sad, so angry, so touching and so powerful, I loved this live album and the way it made me feel. Now I hear you ask, Ian isn’t €48 expensive for a vinyl? Yes it is and I would’ve paid €90 for this album, it’s something else. I highly recommend listening to this in any format you can, I explore you to broaden your music by adding even a touch of Zevon in there.

It’s not all been Dylan, Zevon and the Stones. I got a Bukowski Vinyl of him reading his poetry. Recorded back in 1980 this album let’s us sit in on a live recording of the writer. That’s who he is for me by the way THE writer, he’s so entertaining, funny, charming, crude, dark, beautiful and fucked up. This recording was very special to me, I’ve always found Bukowski and his words to be relatable, dark and fucked up usually but I can understand some of what he’s saying. I tend to lean into the side of things that he’s making art and something transcendent out of the rotten and dark sides of his personality. Bukowski had a way of cutting through the bullshit, skipping the excess, cutting down on the unecessary and breaking your goddamn heart as he slowly unveils his story to you. Bukowski reading Bukowski on Vinyl is a gift to me that’s so perfectly designed, I almost can’t believe I have it to listen to whenever I need to.

Buk reading Buk

Okay so that’s a glimpse for now, an update and it won’t be as long next time in between updates I promise.