Wednesday, June 30, 2004
becoming plastic
Bret and I have recently begun collecting LPs. For those of you too young to know that term (I'm talking to you, Tracy!), LP stands for "long-playing," as in a vinyl album. What people listened to before CDs, before cassettes, before even 8-track tapes. What WE saved our allowances for, and listened to endlessly back in the '60s and '70s. I used to leave the arm of my turntable open, so that it would keep playing Jefferson Airplane repeatedly — until my mom yelled at me!
Because I tend to hang onto things I treasure, I still have most of my LPs. Bret was astounded to discover this, and has been drooling over my collection ever since. However, some of the groups he was really into are sparsely represented on my shelf of albums — in particular, Deep Purple and King Crimson. So we decided to search for them on eBay, just out of curiosity. And what an excellent idea that turned out to be!
We've been amazed at some of our finds. We got FOUR Deep Purple LPs — originals, not remasters — for $10.00, all in near-pristine condition! Another one arrived Monday, and still another is on its way from Great Britain. I've already framed and hung Burn, and In Rock will join it as soon as it arrives. The accent shelf below them will soon be occupied by a guitarist sculpture my artist friend Valerie is creating for us.
We haven't had such good luck with the Crimson albums. We've been outbid by a good bit every time. I was particularly crushed by the loss of a rare PINK vinyl promo 45 of "In The Court Of The Crimson King," but nearly as disappointed at being outbid on a gorgeous two-LP set of In The Wake Of Poseidon and Lizard. People are outrageous in the amounts they will pay for Crimson items! Bret has a firm rule of no more than $20.00 per album, and wouldn't bend it even for the pink 45, no matter how much I pouted. Since we are picky about the condition we'll accept, we may never win a Crimson album!
Still, we're having fun trying, and watching our collection grow. And that's what counts, right?
Because I tend to hang onto things I treasure, I still have most of my LPs. Bret was astounded to discover this, and has been drooling over my collection ever since. However, some of the groups he was really into are sparsely represented on my shelf of albums — in particular, Deep Purple and King Crimson. So we decided to search for them on eBay, just out of curiosity. And what an excellent idea that turned out to be!
We've been amazed at some of our finds. We got FOUR Deep Purple LPs — originals, not remasters — for $10.00, all in near-pristine condition! Another one arrived Monday, and still another is on its way from Great Britain. I've already framed and hung Burn, and In Rock will join it as soon as it arrives. The accent shelf below them will soon be occupied by a guitarist sculpture my artist friend Valerie is creating for us.
We haven't had such good luck with the Crimson albums. We've been outbid by a good bit every time. I was particularly crushed by the loss of a rare PINK vinyl promo 45 of "In The Court Of The Crimson King," but nearly as disappointed at being outbid on a gorgeous two-LP set of In The Wake Of Poseidon and Lizard. People are outrageous in the amounts they will pay for Crimson items! Bret has a firm rule of no more than $20.00 per album, and wouldn't bend it even for the pink 45, no matter how much I pouted. Since we are picky about the condition we'll accept, we may never win a Crimson album!
Still, we're having fun trying, and watching our collection grow. And that's what counts, right?
