OK - time to get serious about documenting my collection. UMR has evolved over the years from my primary review site to my collection archive. As I look to downsize that collection, my alternatives for finding new music are shrinking to streaming online and finding LPs/CDs/MCs in the wilds. Certainly I intend on buying original LPs (often expensive) and the occasional CD from dealers online - these are usually rare reissues, archival, or deluxe box sets. But the days of buying new CDs as they come out pretty much have stopped. It's not for a lack of desire or funds (fortunately). It's purely logistics and reality. The downsizing activity has been going for awhile, though I think I'm still breaking even haha. In any case, I do want to document all the albums I plan on keeping. Whether it's just for the next few years or until I die, I would like to get something down for the historical record. Not that anyone cares of course, but it makes me happy at the very least. For the first few dozen of records, most are very well known, and I don't have to hear them again to know what they sound like. They're etched into my DNA.
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Well it all starts here. Numero uno. The very first LP I bought for myself. As I have mentioned prior, I did start as far back as 1975 with 45 singles, but tired of them one year later. I wrote the following on the Fleetwood Mac Rumours review: "It was the beginning of 1977 that I first began to listen to FM radio intently. With my new all-in-one Sanyo stereo including tape deck, the idea that I could actually tape what was on the radio was mind blowing, and given my organizational nature (even back then), I would spend hours listening for the best songs to put on compilation tapes. I think that's why my parents bought it for me. No more Genius Hans to worry about! Here's dinner under the door...."
That stereo system of course also had a turntable. I wanted my own records too. You have to start somewhere, and for me it made sense to start with The Beatles. Especially a double album filled to the brim with their best tracks. I was only 12 years old and did not really have a musical background. My dad liked Irish folk and country. My mom liked some easy listening. And they both liked classical, but not very seriously. No brothers and sisters to influence. Not even really neighborhood or school friends. Just a few delinquents into Led Zeppelin that I recall. That would have been too much for me at this tender age, but The Beatles were perfect for someone like me just starting out. As eclectic as they get, The Beatles offers something for everyone. And sure enough I tended to gravitate to the "heady" stuff right away. No idea why, it was just in my blood. I played both of these LPs over and over. Hundreds of times no doubt.
I don't need to define The Beatles for you, but here is my personal break down of the tracks.
Awesome: Strawberry Fields Forever; A Day in the Life; I Am the Walrus (my favorite from then and still today); Magical Mystery Tour; While My Guitar Gently Weeps; Come Together (I had this on a 45 prior)
Very Good: Penny Lane; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; Back in the USSR; Get Back; Here Comes the Sun; Something; The Long and Winding Road
Good: All You Need is Love; Hello Goodbye; The Fool on the Hill; Across the Universe
OK: With A Little Help From My Friends; Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds; Lady Madonna; Revolution; Don't Let Me Down; Old Brown Shoe; Let it Be
Not For Me: Hey Jude; Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da; The Ballad of John & Yoko; Octopus' Garden
Ownership: LP: 1976 Capitol/Apple hybrid Los Angeles pressing (USA). 2xLP gatefold. The current reissue at the time. Purchased at Sears Roebuck (1977) in Dallas (on Webb Chapel Extension if anyone remembers that store). With my mom actually helping me decide (interesting to think about that now). My copy isn't really that bad considering I had little idea how to care for records back then, and for the amount of time I played it. I'd grade it VG/VG today. I've found minty copies recently, but decided to sell them at the record shows (easy money). I even wrote my name and address in the gatefold per my mom's advice in case someone might steal it. That would be her. Fortunately I only did that once lol. As special an album as they get for me.
MC: 1992 Capitol. Interesting to see these later tapes holding some value. Recent garage sale find (2024).
1977; 11/5/23 (new entry)
