Wednesday, February 8, 2006

RESURGENCE OF A LOVE AFFAIR

This past weekend I wandered into EAR-X-TACY on Bardstown Rd. in Louisville to kill some time. I ended up purchasing three CD's. It easily could have been 30. I walked around the store hanging all my selections on my arm and when I was finished I allowed myself only three. It was tough to narrow it down.

While driving down south earlier I picked up a handful of CD's to make the ride with me. I choose them without too much thought. I think I just grabbed! One happened to be Wilson Picketts Greatest Hits. I remember buying this CD, maybe in 1999. Bridget and I had been listening to the radio, the terrific college station out of G.-town Ky (station no longer exists much to EVERYONES sorrow). We sat in the parked car listening to the very end of his version of HEY JUDE with Duane Allman adding the most unforgettable guitar! Right up there rivaling the Beatles' version. (snicker and eye roll...yea right, but it is very good).

I have been a Wilson Pickett fan since I was in the 6th or 7th grade. I had his album, I believe it was called "The Exciting Wilson Pickett". It contained much of what is on the greatest hits album! Funky Broadway, Midnight Hour, Mustang Sally...

I played that album over and over and over. I believe Judy, my close friend from down the street, tried to teach me how to Boogaloo and Shingaling to those songs. She was a terrific dancer. I am strickly an Irish Jig dancer!

I played that album until it turned gray.

I had this tiny little record player, solid black, that I could put an attachment on the spindle and play 45's. And man, did I have a lot of 45's. Most my Beatle song's were in that format.

Driving down the interstate this week end  I thinking about all those albums that I owned, collected and loved. Trying to remember them. The Beatles Second Album was my very first LP. Quickly followed by A Hard's Day Night. Judy had Meet The Beatles, so I did not want to waste my money duplicating what we already had. I won sergeant Peppers Lonely Heart's Club Band in a drawing at the downtown record store in Lexington. I passed it everyday on my walk to the Greyhound Bus station to ride the "greasy bus" home. It almost made those two years of bus riding worth it, but not quite.

I had the Monkee's. For some reason, I think it may have been being 12 years old, I adored the Monkees.

I had Paul Revere and the Raiders. Same reason.

I had Wilson Pickett. I had the Temptations and the Supremes album from a TV show they did. It was wonderful and I played it a million times too.

I had Rubber Soul.

I had the McCoys' HANG ON SLOOPY. Once again, I was 12!!

My collection of LP's was small. Yet, I remember those albums and their covers as if they are in my hands and I am preparing to slide the albums on the drop spindle so I could lay on my bed in my pink room and day dream listening to all that, what is now, classic music.

For 15 years I collected records. My collection was so large that it was a gigantic hassle to move it. And that is precisely the reason why I lost it. Lazy. Too heavy to carry down from the third floor. I left it in storage at the apartment building and when I went back to reclaim it, I was told that it was gone. That there was nothing up there. The neighbors across the hall had moved, and obviously they took it along with all their things in storage.

I was torn up. I had only myself to blame. In the back of my mind I suspected that the record collection sat in the managers apartment rather than taken away by the innocent family who lived across the hall.

It was one hell of a collection. From 1964 - 1978. Probably worth a small fortune in 2006 dollars.

I collected albums again from 1979 till I sold my whole collection at a yard sale in 2003. It ranks up there with one of the stupidest things I have ever done. Once again, I was so tired of moving it around!!!

As punishment, I had avoided buying music for years. I had a handful of CD's. Sort of re-collecting my lost stuff. Allman Brothers, Todd Rundgren, Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Guns-N-Roses, Neil Young.

Last year, I discovered purchasing used CD's via the internet, and Oh My God have I ever started collecting again. Like Gang Busters. Crazy stuff. I buy it having never heard it! So far, I have been very lucky. Only one or two I have cringed when I push it into the player in the vehicle.

Ear-X-tacy is like a candy store. Used CD's along with the new stuff. No one can beat this place for finding off the wall stuff. It ranks right up there with Amazon.

I picked up Macy Gray for $5 and I only this morning have taken her out! It is a terrific album. Now I have "Cuba Cuba" in there. And "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" is on standby.

I have an Ashley McIsaac album on the way too.

It is out of hand!

And absolutely terrific!!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Having no musical talent of my own and having lived with a musician since 1969, I can vouch- music is the window to the soul.
Tess
http://journals.aol.com/tc01hm/FirstDigitalPhotos

Anonymous said...

I too have an old collection of LP's that I have no way to play or listen to.  I had also started collecting the CD versions of all my old favorites, though I haven't bought a new CD in years.  Until we bought this new car a month ago, I didn't even have a way to listen to CD's in the car.  LOL  I know albums are worth alot if still in good condition, I've looked on eBay and can't believe how much they go for.
http://boiseladie.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Wow!  PLEASE make your music selections a regular entry.  I have been on a self-imposed music purchase ban myself.  What a nice stroll...The Monkeys, Sgt. Pepper...did you ever have Bay City Rollers?  SA!-TUR!-DAY! NIGHT! ;)  C.  http://journals.aol.com/gdireneoe/thedailies

Anonymous said...

This entry is wonderful. Made me reminisce about the good old days. Yes, I too, had LPs and 45s during my adolescence. Then the pesky audio tapes that my first tape player keeps on eating. I remember being real angry pulling the ribbon-like tapes out of the dang machine! I was into the girl fronted/rocker girls band and the folksy folks when I was in college: Lita Ford, Blondie, Heart, Eurythmics, Patti Smith, Joann Jett, Bob Dylan, Peter/Paul and Mary and the likes. Thanks for taking me back to memory lane.

Anonymous said...

I was sittaing watching tv with a friends child when a Monkees selection was advertised. "My mommy has that album" the child piped up. "Honey, I replied, "every woman between 40 & 50 has that album
"Marti

Anonymous said...

Oh man that would stink to lose those albums.  What a lovely  collection you had.  My mom lost hers too.  Forgot to take it with her during her divorce.  I would hear her talk about her missing records for years to come.  She really was sad about that.  

Maybe you can regain a similar collection by garage sales or checking into some used music dealers.  Dang, that does hurt.  It does seem over the years we lose some things moving that mean a lot to us.  I miss my CS Lewis books.  Finally went out and bought the set again in a huge paperback volume about two inches thick.  Hugs,
Lisa

http://journals.aol.com/randlprysock/AdventuresFromFlorida/  

Anonymous said...

Music is such a wonderful thing. It's like food for me, so I get it. It brings the past good times right into my present and I love that.

Angela

Anonymous said...

Very nice, nostalgic entry.

Dan

Anonymous said...

We still have thousands of LPs, EPs, 10" and 12" singles, and lots of 45s.  I occasionally fight John about hanging on to them. He refuses to set up a turntable anywhere in the house - there really is no good place for one - so I can't listen to any of that stuff, not in those formats.  So the important stuff we've either bought again on CD or downloaded.  It really is much more practical than playing the old vinyl.  

You may well have lost or sold some records that were worth money, but by and large the used record market isn't what it was 25 years ago.  People mostly want to listen to the music, and there are easier ways to get it now.  Only hardcore collectors still care about the black label Capital LPs by the Beatles, or the picture discs from 1980, or Sticky Fingers with a real zipper on the dust jacket.

So buy your CDs!  Have fun!  And don't worry too much about the Monkees LP you don't have any more. The music is still around if you want it!

Karen
former proprietor, Rockarama
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

This entry sure brings back a lot of memories for me.  I had many of the same singles and LPs that yuo mentioned here.  I'll never forget the time I found my first used CD store and the treasures I brough home that day.  I'm glad you are enjoying your music purchases so much.  Music enchances our life experience in so many ways!
Sam

Anonymous said...

I had all those albums and still do. I am now buying my very favorites on CD. For Christmas Rob bought me a turntable. Most are in great condition and I know they're worth $ but to me they are priceless! Most contain my memories as well as the music I cut my musical teeth on. I have the Monkees Greatest Hits on CD which I could burn for you if you want to email me your snailmail addy. :) ROCK ON!

Anonymous said...

I have listened to the 60's and 70's rock so much that I had to find something new and started listening to John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Luther Allison, and made numerous recording on cassette tape during a local stations public supported radio that has a Blues feature dedicated time each week.  mark

Anonymous said...

I went into the store a couple of years ago looking for a local band's CD and they didn't have it and I was dumbfounded! kind of like, hey wait, you're ear-x-tacy, you have EVERYTHING...they kindly told me how if the local band doesn't actually stock them with the cd's, there's nothing they can do. whew- my faith was restored. :)

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, I have enough old LP's to sink the Titanic......

Anonymous said...

Hey Stinky!  Just checkin' in...I see you've been using your powers for the good of the record companies...LOL.

xoxoxo,
andi

Anonymous said...

Love Ear X-tacy on Bardstown Rd.  Haven't  been there in awhile, so thanks for the reminder!  I had and love almost every album you mentioned!  I always liked the Monkees, too.  Had all of their albums at one time.  They had a lot of really good songs that you never got to hear unless you had the album.  Loved Hang On Sloopy, too!  And of course, The Beatles!!!  Thanks for the nostalgic tour!
Lori

Anonymous said...

If not for self-control my love of books and music would put me back in the poor house, and in deep do-do with hubby.

Then there's the whole i-Pod thing.  Damn i-Tunes for adding so many of my favs from the 50s and 60s on their website!!!!  Yep, that's me in the poor house, happily dancing and singing to Shotgun and Ain't to Proud to Beg.

Oh Brother Where Art Thou is a definite fav in our home. :)
Dona
http://journals.aol.com/delela1/BlueSkiesandGentleBreezes