Too Many Vinyl Records? Never!

With my recent acquisition of a Ann and Going Grey, by The Front Bottoms, my collection is starting to look pretty full. I only started collecting records about two years ago. Too much money has definitely been spent over those two years. Lets take a look at some of my favorites. I'm going to lead with Get Nervous by Pat Benatar. There are, I believe, five Pat Benatar albums sitting downstairs, but this one is by far my favorite. As a child, I undoubtedly heard many of her songs, as she has many, many hits. Somehow though, how truly great of an artist she is escaped me. I've always been bad at picking favorites of anything, but I feel like I can easily put this into my top 20 albums, if not in the top 10. There is a small town record shop in the town I'm from, that does a buy three, get one on used music. One thing I would do frequently is try to pick at least one that either I hadn't heard of, but sounded or looked interesting, or knew some stuff by the person and wanted to hear more. On a whim I picked Get Nervous, and another album by Pat Benatar. I'm so happy that I not only got it for a great price, but that it is still in a really good condition and I've put more use into that album that maybe any other that I own.  Speaking of old albums purchased used, I happened upon a copy of the 1977 classic, Bat Out Of Hell. Meat Loaf is a very strange man and that definitely seeps into his music. He performs Rock and Metal songs as if they were an Opera. I can't imagine a world where Paradise by the Dashboard Light wasn't played throughout cars, retail stores, and karaoke bars around, what I have to hope is worldwide, but maybe just the US. I did get this album at a very cheap cost instead of the around 30 dollars I was seeing it usually, but it was at the cost of some damage. Overall you can hear every song without any real skips, but there is a light buzz you can hear throughout most of the tracks. I personally feel that it gives it a weathered sound that fits the album, and it doesn't feel like the vinyl was mistreated. This just feels like someone has listened to it to the point where it really is worn out.

There are definitely more used records to talk about and I might just do a little bit of a list style at some point to actually show what I have, but I think it's time to jump into some newer records. Not all will be SUPER new, but I purchased these ones brand new at the very least. Starting with my first online purchase for a vinyl, Keith Urban's, Golden Road. This is another one I would probably put in my top 20 albums. The Golden Road is one that I put on when I'm sad or end up drinking alone. I found it originally when I was about 12, on cd, and the album has really stuck with me. It is kind of hard to imagine myself as a teenager listening to this compared to how I will sit with a bottle of vodka and just go to town nowadays. That's definitely something that is interesting about music that I used to listen to compared to now. Sometimes alcohol or drugs can honestly change your view point on something like music or film, but not necessarily in a good or bad way. With this album, I still can enjoy it without alcohol and frequently listen to the songs without any alteration, but I definitely enjoy it with a few drinks in me. Keith Urban was actually one of my first concerts I ever went to. The newest Katy Perry, is another one that I like to add into the drunk playlist, along with XX's I See You and of course Ed Sheeran's +. I have - as well, but plus includes a very smooth track list that is easy to follow(which is good for being very drunk) and very emotional for me. I personally love the songs UNI and Drunk. On the topic of albums that are great to listen to under the influence, I am still in search of a copy of Pocketful of Kryptonite. This is definitely one of my all time favorite albums, even though I haven't listened to much else by Spin Doctors, this list would be far from complete, as is my collection, without it. There are a few really good tracks known well like Two Princes and Little Miss Can't Be Wrong, but the entire album is pure gold. I suppose in this situation though, its more like five times platinum. Waiting for this album has been tough, but I don't want to order this one online because I don't want to have to deal with it getting damage. The longer I wait, the more it looks like I'm going to have to order it, but I'm still gonna give it a bit more time. One point I'd like to make with this album though, I was very late to the game with drinking and the such, but the wait to hear this all the way through, alone, really high... worth it. This is an album that I greatly appreciate for its lyrics, but can not look over the composition of each song. That is the thing I got the most out of during my re-listen of the album while baked. Every song just flows in a unique way that solidifies it as part of the album, yet sets it apart from each individual track. Who knows, I might the only one that feels like that, but I feel like there is a reason it sold as well as it did, and it isn't something that can always be explained simply.

I'm looking to get more Less Than Jake at some point into my collection, as they are one of my favorite bands, but for some reason they keep eluding me. I try not to buy many albums online since I had an issue with a copy of When The World Comes Down by All American Rejects. The one that is in my collection though is Goodbye Blue and White. The album has always been great, but an amazing touch on the vinyl was the inclusion of stories, written by the band, about the album and the van that they called the Blue and White, thus explaining why they titled an album after a van that no longer functions. I'd like to find a copy of In With The Out Crowd, but as far as I'm aware, there isn't a vinyl release. It was also probably recorded digitally, so pressing it onto vinyl wouldn't really help. Rose and Talon of the Hawk by The Front Bottoms are two that I'm very happy about finding. A friend of mine helped me get Talon of the Hawk when I didn't have the money. When I was younger, I would always buy things for my friends and constantly help in anyway that I could, but rarely saw things come back my way. It's very nice to have friends that I honestly feel appreciate me. At the same time as I was finding Talon, I saw some Jeff Rosenstock and had to decide which I wanted. Still, I haven't gotten around to picking up some Rosenstock, but that should be a near future purchase. Currently I have two of the Chromeo albums, White Women and Business Casual. They just recently dropped another and I would like to get that one very soon, as well.

Scrubs is my favorite TV show and I've honestly found a good amount of music from the series including Colin Hay. I have a couple of his solo albums, on top of the two Men at Work records I found. Business as Usual is probably my favorite of the four records. I had obviously heard some Men at Work prior to watching Scrubs, but I developed a bit of an obsession after hearing all of the tracks Colin had in the show. He even made an appearance in a few episodes of the series, and I have heard that him and Zach Braff became somewhat of friends. Another set of records I purchased and got more into after listening to full albums instead of just tracks here and there is Depeche Mode. I picked up Speak & Spell and Some Great Reward. The reason I got Some Great Reward is that it has what used to be my favorite Depeche Mode song on it. I always really liked People are People, but the listening to the album and being reminded of the song by, Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast, Somebody has taken over the number one slot for Depeche Mode music.

I definitely have a lot more albums that could be talked about, that I already own, but I'm gonna go over a few more that I want before posting and calling it a good post. The Final Countdown by Europe is a must have for me. I have owned the album digitally, on CD, and of course on a Cassette. Having a record would really feel like I have owned a complete set of it. Ace of Base's, The Bridge, is one of my favorite albums. As a small child, listening to this album was one of my favorite activities. There are multiple home videos of me, somewhere, dancing to this album on the CD copy I eventually got to keep. So far, I've only found both of these online, but I'm hoping I can find them soon. It's been awhile since I trolled through the record stores around. I'd really like to get some more Metallica, as I currently only have the Black Album, but it isn't necessarily something I need immediately. There are quite a few albums that I really enjoy that either don't have a vinyl pressed or it makes no sense to make one, as the quality couldn't be improved. Which unfortunately means I won't ever get any of my Aqua albums in a nice vinyl print. Another that I'm very surprised I don't have any of yet is Marilyn Manson. He came into the scene as vinyl was being pushed out, so I can't imagine finding a lot of the albums that I'd really, really like to acquire. He does have some newer ones that I should get sometime though. To end this, I think I'll talk about one of the coolest released vinyl sets I have ever heard of. Weird Al, released a set of every album including an extra record with unreleased or rare versions of songs. It has a pretty high cost of roughly 300 I believe, when it first launched, and I can only imagine that price has gone up since people have bought them and they were a limited quantity. That is my dream purchase though. It is a set of I wanna say 15 records... something close to that, at the very least. I would include his album, Bad Hair Day, to be another of my favorites and something I need to eventually add to my collection.

As always, thanks for stopping by!