I'm an obsessive music buyer. When I find a band that I like alot, I normally hunt down everything that they've ever done, which can be rather difficult and/or expensive. It used to be a gradual thing, but beginning last spring break I picked up a new habit...

When I find bands that I like alot but haven't purchased anything from, I buy it all in one shot to avoid the need to worry about it. Last spring break I grabbed all 6 Bjork cds at Amoeba Records in San Francisco (amazing prices and selection there, you must check it out if you ever go). That was followed with the purchase of all 8 Wilco cds (counting Chelsea Walls and Mermaid Avenues). Today I did it again. I grabbed the Velvet Underground's 4 albums and 2 rarities compilations.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever taken out a band's whole catalog in one fell swoop?

Will

Wow....no...no man, no. That is just insane and I admire you because of this new quirk. Wow...

I for one am a very very cheap person (Fred Mertz anyone?) so I rarely take risks on bands. My risks would include the White Stripes, Dandy Warhols, Everclear...Stereophonics...hmm...I think outside that I have thoroughly investigated every band that I like and then only bought one CD at a time.

Of course I did buy four Oasis singles at one time....

i too do this on occasion, although maybe to a lesser degree. but when i do, i get burnt out really easily on that group, so i'm trying to avoid it.

I was lucky enough to be given the entire existing catalogue of a band one time. I had expressed interest in buying all five blur albums (13 would not be released for a couple more years) with high school graduation cash. It turned out that the person who I kept borrowing them from bought them all for me for a graduation gift! What a great surprise, I think he and I both wish we had the kind of cash now that we blew back then.

i used to do this quite a bit back in the day when i had a steady cash flow.

one particular day that i remember is back in 7th grade when i bought all 4 original joy division albums in one day (the main reason being that i had heard "she's lost control" earlier in the day on my local college radio station). from that day on, i was hooked. that day will stay with me forever.

(Edited by ray davies at 11:32 pm on Sep. 17, 2002)

Amoeba Records in San Francisco is indeed pretty amazing. Perhaps the best record store I have ever been in. Why do I have a feeling that last sentence is going to start an entirely new thread?

Well now, I rarely take "risks." I'd been borrowing Bjork albums from friends for a year and a half, I had just seen Wilco in concert and had loved every moment, and I've been listening to half of the VU records for the past week. The closest to taking a "risk" that I've come was a few weeks ago when I grabbed "The White Stripes" and "De Stijl" at the same time, having heard nothing off of either. Needless to say I don't regret it at all.

Will

Funny you mention this... a friend (the same friend I bought the VU albums with) and I just saw 24 Hour Party People (which everyone should see, its a film about the history of the Manchester music scene) and have been contemplating the 4 disc Joy Division purchase ever since...

Love Will Tear Us Apart = most amazing song I've heard in weeks.

Will

PS: Bands up next for the discography purchase: The Flaming Lips; Belle and Sebastian; Joy Division

Easily the best I've ever been in. True story: Some friends and I went there at 9:00 pm one night after dinner. I looked in the new and used Self sections because my sister needed Gizmodgery and The Half Baked Serenade. There was a new copy of Giz, which I got her, and a used copy of Breakfast w/ Girls, with a crack down the front of the case. The next day we woke up early, took a bus to the end of Golden Gate Park, and walked all the way back. We passed Amoeba as we left the park heading for where we were staying, so we went in. It was around 1:00 pm. The store closes at 11:00 pm and opens at 10:00 am, so this means that it was only 5 business hours after our previous visit. The new section had a copy of Breakfast with Girls and the used section had two, neither with a cracked case, and also a copy of Subliminal. Meaning their inventory turnaround and change rate is amazing, especially considering the (assumed) relative unpopularity of Self in San Fran...

Will

flaming lips -a mistake, avoid their first few albums and start with In a Priest Driven Ambulance

belle and sebastion - good call

joy division - i really should listen to more of their stuff

Out of curiosity, what's the longtime Lips fans' opinion on this? For cost's sake I was thinking of just grabbing Yoshimi, Soft Bulletin, Clouds Taste Metallic, and Transmissions from the Sattelite Heart. Is the pre-Transmissions stuff good?

Teddy, did you mean to say that the Lips would be a mistake on the whole, or just what you mentioned to avoid?

Will

i meant it's a mistake to get everything. the first 3 albums are umm 7 minute psychedellic metal songs.

personally i recommend the following:
1990 In a Priest Driven Ambulance
1992 Hit to Death in the Future Head
1993 Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
1995 Clouds Taste Metallic
1997 Zaireeka
1999 The Soft Bulletin
2002 Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

"in a priest" is about to get reissued with tons of extras so you might want to wait on getting that one

(Edited by teddyfred at 6:02 am on Sep. 18, 2002)

I highly suggest the 4 disc "Heart and Soul" box set of Joy Division. It's contains what i think is some of the greatest music EVER. if you think "love will tear us apart" is good, then you'll shit yourself over songs like "insight", "disorder", "transmission", "she's lost control", "digital", "isolation", "the eternal" ( the whole box set is amazing). you basically get joy division's entire recorded output as well as tons of alternate takes and live tracks. it's my favorite box set of all time.

get telepathic surgery by the lips......
i just dropped 40 bucks on a ne copy of Zaireeka!!!

i've been known to go on cd sprees before...but not on one artist. i was at digital planet last year and bought all their fluid ounces and self cd's for fear i would never see them again. jim asked me "what are going to do with 4 copies of in the new old fashioned way?" i said "christmas is coming up" i spent too much money that day.

The new reissue of In a Priest... will be called "The Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg", or simply "egg". It will be two discs and have 33 tracks in all. It includes the original album, plus outakes, demos, and I think b-sides or something. Sounds like overkill to me... They also released their three previous albums and EP in a three disc set called "Finally the Punks are Taking Acid" or something like that.

I picked up both Tansmissions... and Clouds... a few weeks ago. That's considered a spree for me. They were $8 apiece, though, so it was like buying only one CD. I plan on digging deeper back...

Sounds like the easiest way to grab it all, thanks.

I've heard transmission, atmosphere, she's lost control, and love will tear us apart. some amazing stuff, that. I look forward to some more...

Will

Actually, I don't think it will b/c Amoeba is hands down the best record store in the U.S. Closely followed by Music Millenium in Portland, OR.

You were that cool even back in the seventh grade. I know that at least 90% of this messageboard population would look back on the person they were in 7th grade and gag. I've already talked extensively of my horrid musical taste back in the day...Ray Davies, that just amazes me...

A-ha, I gotcha. I download in mass quantities and then never listen to them. When I think of a band that I should like, I usually go to CDNow and get like, three songs per album or so to get a well rounded view of the artist.

My greatest musical purchase day definitely took place this summer at the Disc Exchange in Knoxville. Both new Oasis singles, Talking Heads 77 and BRMC used, Main Offender Single, AKA IDIOT vinyl...all in all I spent about 120 dollars at that store in the span of two days (100 the first day, 20 the next). It was great...great...

The largest splurge I did was 3 radiohead, 2 bjork, and Joy Division's Closer. That was off of birthday money.

Speaking of JD, what do you think of the Warsaw stuff, ray?

it's pretty good, rawer that "unknown pleasures". the version of "shadowplay" on that album is good, and "leaders of men" is one of my favorite joy division songs. so i guess my thoughts are that I really like the "Warsaw" stuff, I just really miss the production of Martin Hannett on those songs.

its absolutely amazing that you spend this kind of moneys. i do it when i can, but never on one artist. i do have a tendency to get stuck on a band and listen to them and nothing else compulsively for weeks and weeks.

ive always wanted to check out joy division, but haven't done so yet. im now inspired.

bjork is hott. and her music rules me eternally.

i wish i was in san fran. cool music stores and lesbians, what more can a girl ask for?

"Shadowplay" and "Transmission" are probably two of my favored Joy Division songs. This is probably my ignorance speaking or miscommunication, but what I meant about Warsaw stuff was the material before they were called Joy Divison.

So, I own Closer, Substance, and Permanent... what would you recommend for me to purchase next by them?


on an extreme sidenote, Ive been thinking about a features take on "communication breakdown" since last night. That'd be very interesting to hear.

get "unknown pleasures" and "still". then if you want to dig deeper you can always get "bbc sessions", or either the live releases "preston" or "les baines douches".

Ive heard Unknown Pleasures before. An old friend is a huge JD fan. Well, let me ask this first, Unknown Pleasures has the graph (forgot technical name) as the cover, right? If so, then yeah, Ive heard it. I borrowed it from him for a good while.

in 7th grade on our trip to washington i was given about $150 by my mom for clothes or presents or something. however, i walked into a cd store while deep in my nsync stage and bought 8 or so of their cds (almost all were imports from holland and such). i think that was my biggest waste of money ever.

Thank the maker that I didn't care enough about the Spice Girls to buy imported singles back when I was musically insane.

So now I own the Unknown Pleasures vinyl. Best $9 I've spent recently.

Anyone ever heard of The Vines? I like their CD enough to buy them all in one swoop, but I think there's only one.

I'm not all too keen on the vines.

I remember the last time we debated the Vines...*shudder*

Sorry, guess it's not everyone's cup of tea. I hope I'm not on any kind of list now.

No, I don't dislike the Vines really. "Get Free" is a really good song. The album itself is good but it didn't grab me or impress me as much as it did...I dunno, the continent of Europe. But I will say that I stronly dislike the lead singer's insane-love of marijuana...darn hippie-tendencies.

I hate the Vines. Just my opinion...dont mean to offend anyone...

I'm with you Ray. That they are often uttered in the same sentance as The Strokes, The White Stripes, and The Hives offends me deeply.

Will

I like the Vines alot. In fact, I'll take them over any of those other "saviors of rock" bands, except the Strokes. Not a dis to those other bands (I like 'em), I just like the Vines better. It's only my opinion. Do you guys like Nirvana?

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 8:18 am on Sep. 22, 2002)

I somewhat like Nirvana. I of course own Nevermind (who doesnt?) and i must say that while it is enjoyable, it's not the greatest album ever. In Utero is better, but the best nirvana album , in my opinion, is Unplugged in NY. An album packed full of emotion that is simply breathtaking. it's the only nirvana album which hasnt collected dust in my gigantic cd tower/case/box.

Again I find myself in agreement with Mr. Davies. I'd go as far as to say that I like Nirvana. Nevermind was a part of my youthful years. And Unplugged is simply amazing. One of those sorts of "a single moment in time" sorts of recordings that feels so visceral that you have to sit down while you listen to it.

Will

I do like Nirvana. Bleach hasn't stuck with me and I haven't listened to In Utero a whole lot, but Nevermind is an amazing album whose singles I still turn up when I hear them on the radio. Nevermind was in constant rotation for me my senior year of high school. I also agree with everything said about Unplugged. That is a very very powerful and beautiful album.

And it is all of those reasons why I don't like the Vines being called "the new Nirvana." I really really don't hear it. They don't sound as rockin' as Nirvana nor do I find their lyrics or anything to be on level with Nirvana. And the lead singer is nowhere near as intelligent or charismatic as Kurt Cobain.

sounds of typing coming from YDDD's manual typewriter in candlelit room

v-i-n-e-s-f-a-n-s-t-o-k-i-l-l-:-b-o-w-l-o-f-f-i-r-e-,-j-a-m-i-e-c-a....

Well, I've done it again. Elliot Smith this time around. Two weeks of having "Say Yes" stuck in my head gave way to me borrowing XO and Figure 8 for a day and then making the purchase...

Still haven't done the Lips, and probably won't, because I don't know how far back is worth going. Heart and Soul is sure to be a Christmas acquisition. Belle and Sebastian also have yet to get "the treatment."

Will

squeeze is the next artist that i plan to dive head first into. i bought "singles-45's and under" last week, and i cant stop playing it. i absolutely love it. i love "cool for cats" and "another nail in my heart". brilliant.

My last kick was Pavement. My developing kick is Dinosaur Jr/J Mascis.

i went on a pavement kick not too long ago. i usually get involved with a band intimately and (esp. if the catelogue is big, like REM or the beatles) stop halfway and just have to buy other stuff. I've been meaning to pick back up.

the vines are ok, but not half as good as the hives or the strokes. long live the hives!