Every CD I own . . .

andyp

When mine were in a proper order I did it alphabetically then in order of release. Having them on shelves was really cool as I could see them and they triggered memories of the time around when I bought them, or listened to them the most. It's awesome how CDs attach themselves to times in your life and instantly bring memories back.

This thread makes me want to go and sort them all out even though they're going to stay in the loft. Mrs. P would go nuts, she just doesn't get buying CDs at all. I'll have to do it under cover of darkness when her and the boys are asleep...

Paul_C

CD#10 Robyn Hitchcock - Olé! Tarantula

Whilst I've been aware of Robyn for a long time, I don't really know much about him or his work.
I bought this on one of many trips to an indoor market stall in Exmouth, probably as part of a 3 for £20 deal (3 for £10 for s/h CDs, but this one was new). It's blessed with a number of musicians I like, including Peter Buck as part of "the Venus 3", with Ian McLagan and Kimberley Rew (Katrina and the Waves) guesting on a few of the tracks. For some reason it's catalogued as "weird but wonderful" in my head, but musically it's less weird than I'd remembered (some of the lyrics are amusingly odd, perhaps that's what I'm remembering).

CD#11 The Flaming Lips - Transmissions From The Satellite Heart

There are times where I like the idea of The Flaming Lips more than I like The Flaming Lips, the music and vocals are both happy to play with atonality, which I don't mind, but when there's a lot of it I do find it a bit much. This has their version of Plastic Jesus on it, so all is forgiven.

CD#12 Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

There's an awful lot of Bob that I like, but for me this isn't his finest hour. There are some good songs but on some his vocal is full of quiet/loud moments and weird phrasing that takes a little away from what could have been. You couldn't say he didn't put any effort in but I'd like it more if it could have been pulled back a touch.

Reverend

lasermonkey;1005336" said:

I must have 2000+ CDs by now. All arranged alphabetically, then chronologically within the artist's section.I am aware that's quite sad.

Just sensible.
My LPs and cds are sorted but need to do the same with singles and tapes.

Philly_Q

Those who have all your CDs etc arranged alphabetically, how do you deal with the problem of collection expansion?  Or do you all live in big houses with shelves all over the place?

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

Those who have all your CDs etc arranged alphabetically, how do you deal with the problem of collection expansion?  Or do you all live in big houses with shelves all over the place?

I have one large bookcase that by luck has shelves that are exactly two jewel boxes (set vertically) high. Each shelf holds 110-115 widthwise depending on how many are singles or doubles (not many), so each shelf in total holds 220-230 CDs. There are four shelves, so that's 880-920. When I filled that I started stacking them in front as well, so that gives a maximum of 1840 - but I'm only just up to the top of the third shelf at the moment so I actually only have about 1,600 on there.

I've then got a couple of vertical stands near the CD player that I keep the things the kids and my wife like most on - one holds about 60 and the other about 120. Both are full, and there are about another 20 that haven't been sorted yet, so I have... roughly 1800 CDs. Expansion beyond 2000 will involve some decisions, yes... although I joke about buying another bookcase there isn't really room, so I'll probably relegate some of them to boxes in the loft. I have a lot of things like Now and dance compilations that I'm unlikely to ever listen to on the physical CD so that's OK.

TTony

Philly_Q said:

Those who have all your CDs etc arranged alphabetically, how do you deal with the problem of collection expansion?  Or do you all live in big houses with shelves all over the place?

I originally spec'd my CD storage cabinets with expansion room.  They were made by a local cabinet maker, and are just about the most space-efficient way of storing CDs as they're all in pull-out drawers rather than being stacked on shelves.

A couple of years later, when the expansion room was all gone, I started keeping some stuff (eg box sets) separately.

A couple of years later, when the room was all gone again, I sifted out my "unofficial" CDs (ie boots).

A couple of years later, when the space was once more, all gone, I introduced a two-tier storage system which is still - just - surviving today.  Stuff that I'm likely to listen to in CD format is in the CD cabinets.  Stuff that I'm happy to listen to in mp3/FLAC format is stored on NAS with the discs in those DJ boxes (which take up no room at all when you consider each one is holding 200 CDs!) and the CD boxes/inserts in the loft.

Paul_C

My current storage system is made up of 2 units I bought from B&Q which each have 4 canvas drawers, each draw holding around 70 CDs, plus two tick-shaped shelves I bought from IKEA a few years ago which are currently mostly empty but serving as a staging area for this current folly of mine

The B&Q units look like the top right and left bits of this structure:



IKEA shelves look like this:



though I haven't got them quite as upright as that

lasermonkey

We bought a couple of those Ikea Expedit units, the 5x5 ones.

They're just the right size for LPs.

We also made some inserts so you can get two rows of CDs in each aperture, with a back stop so they sit more or less flush with the front.

Paul_C

CD#13 Jane Taylor - Montpelier

An album of variety, Jane has a strong and sometimes idiosyncratic voice and a nice collection of songs. 

Some songs she backs herself on guitar or piano, others have the addition of variety of different musicians including one with just her vocal and double bass. I've not heard this for years but it deserves better than that.

Rocker

Approximately 1700 CDs, of which 500-600 are Classical music. About 100 picked up in Charity shops. Assuming €15.00 average cost for new purchases, spend is €24K. They are not going anywhere except into a CD player...

Paul_C

CD#14 World Party - Private Revolution

Essentially a Karl Wallinger solo album, the first few tracks shout 80s ! at you in terms of its sounds and production, though it settles down a little later on. I bought it originally to be able to hear Ship Of Fools and that's far and away the stand-out track for me, though there are one or two others that catch the ear too.

CD#15 XTC - Mummer

This is the first CD on the list which I already owned on vinyl when it was bought - I still have all my vinyl, LPs and singles, and those that aren't duplicated on CD might end up as a Playing All My Vinyl LPs blog if I get to the end of this one ;O) While I'm a huge fan of XTC and have all their studio albums they did lose something for me over the span of their recorded output, having said that this is a good one.

CD#16 Elvis Costello - When I was Cruel

I loved Elvis Costello for years, but ran out of steam a bit after Spike (11/12 great albums though, so not too shabby) and didn't seek out any of his new material for a long time. Since then I've picked up bits and pieces but not heard anything to blow me away like he does at his best. I must confess I bought this a few years ago but this is the first time I've listened to it all the way through. 

Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas are there but no Bruce Thomas (one of my favourite bass players), and the bass is less prominent than my favourite EC songs, though there are one or two moments where it's possible to think he might be playing. It's not a dreadful album but the best bits are those that remind me of the really good ones. 

TTony

This is a great thread

We've got about a 50% overlap in collections so far, but your write-ups are prompting me to think "I've not listened to that for ages" and go hunt it out (or click on the directory!).

I'm with you on XTC.  I thought the earlier albums were really inventive and clever.  Felt like they got into a bit of a rut in the middle 80s, but then my favourites of their stuff are probably Nonsuch and the 2 vol Apple Venus albums of about 10 years ago.

Paul_C

CD#17 Silver Sun - Silver Sun

The Beach Boys crossed with The Toy Dolls - need I say more ?  Brilliant.

Bonus points if you can make any sense of the lyrics to Lava.

Troy

I have approx 2000 CD's, most of them I have ripped for easier listening and I use iTunes for playback. I use EAC to rip them though still have about 100 left to rip as I got behind. Mainly a mixture of Punk/Metal/Ska CD's, half of them are now in boxes in the loft though would prefer to have them all out on display in some sort of bookcase. Also have a lot of vinyl that very rarely get played, once I've ripped my CD's then I'll have a look to rip these but I know that'll be a long process.

Paul_C

first two of the day:

CD#18 Stars - Set Yourself On Fire

I bought this because of a glowing review in the Guardian weekend magazine and I've listened to it twice since then. It's not awful, it's just not much of anything really, you could have it on in the background at a dinner party (I imagine, I'm not one for dinner parties) without it being too obtrusive, which is not a great reason for its existence ;O)

CD#19 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

When a lot of my classmates were listening to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rush et al., I was listening to The Clash, Sex Pistols and The Jam. For many years my favourite Led Zep song was D'jer Mak'er from Houses of the Holy, but a few years ago I picked up the first four Led Zeppelin albums in an attempt to see what all the fuss was about. I do like them, but they're not going to be anywhere near the top of any list I might make.

ICBM

Paul_C said:

CD#19 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

Actually my favourite Zep album, despite that not being a popular choice.

Paul_C

CD#20 Hensley & Wright - Strong

I saw them as a vocalist/guitarist duo (there's added bass and vocals on the CD) at The Silver Moon in Hitchen when I was gigging as the bass player in a duo called Cloudy, and at the time I was very much into buying CDs from acts wherever possible (though within reason, we did see some acts that I felt it best not to encourage ;O)  ) and they were very good. IIRC it was the night that we were the last act on for an evening in a room that had been packed for all the locals before us . . . we played to two or three people. Nevertheless this CD is definitely worth a listen.

CD#21 Toyah - Sheep Farming In Barnet

 Before the more mainstream pop of I Wanna Be Free there was Toyah the band, which was much more interesting. Like a lot of people I found them through a performance (Danced) on Shoestring, bought this album and a couple of singles before it all went a bit rubbish. I still love this album.

Paul_C

Day 6

CD#22 The La's - The La's

Like those who around the time of its release also bought A Brief History Of Time and only got about a third of the way through, I bought this album because of That Song, only to find the rest of the album was a bit rubbish. I have listened to it once or twice since then and my conclusion now is not so much that the rest is rubbish but that That Song is so different in style, performance and production to the others it makes the rest of the album feel like something recorded in another studio at another time, with other musicians. It is a bit rubbish though.  ;O)

CD#23 Shack - H.M.S. Fable

I doubt I'd buy this album if it was released now. Not because it's particularly bad, there are some very listenable tracks though maybe the vocals are a little weak in places. I bought it because at the time I heard about it that was the only way of finding out if the glowing review was something I agreed with. As it turned out I listened, shrugged and thought "that was ok" and put it away, never to be heard again. Now I'd listen to a couple of songs on YouTube, shrug and think "that was ok" and that would be it.

mart

Glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about the La's. That song is great, classic pop. The rest is, well, not.

Mind you, I feel much the same about the Stone Roses, except that they don't have even one good song. Maybe I just was taking the right drugs.

sticker

2 things .

1 . I'm loving this thread and finding great "new" music via Spotify , thank you Paul .

2 . you are both wrong about "The La's"