Nov 182011
Sometimes it’s fun to go back into the RTH archives, back a few years to a date almost to the day. Today is just such a day, but before I got back as far as “November 18, 2008” I stumbled across this self-congratulatory post. See if you can’t appreciate its continuing relevance. Better yet, why not forward this to a friend in need, a friend who should take advantage of the Halls of Rock as an outlet for his, uh, interests. Rock Town Hall’s recruitment for 2012 begins now!
This post originally appeared November 22, 2008.
This is why we must must uphold our high standards of rock ‘n roll discourse at Rock Town Hall. I thank you, Townspeople.
I ducked into the back office and fixed the comments on this. He was in the can and couldn’t be bothered.
Point one: I could have said “Backstory Alert” for almost every single sentence.
Point two (really a question): Is this the alt canon that leads to Elliot Smith, who I actually have a little fondness for, but not that much?
Point three: “This is where Cat Stevens went more folk” was the most specific comment about the music itself that the guy made.
Point four: Low point: That Van Dyke Parks stuff cost that much money (a lot at its time)? And that’s supposed to recommend it and its eternal cult status?
Point one: it’s a sad and depressing thing that there is a huge stratum of rock geekdom in which possession is nine-tenths of relevancy. Listen to what this guy is saying: I own this, and this, and this, and this, and… so fucking what? Bottom line: RTH does a *much* better job at this sort of thing. But you knew that already. Kudos to us!
Point two: About half of those records — no, wait, better said thusly: every single one of those records that I have ever owned has gone in the garbage pile. *And*: all those albums were of the”everybody says I’m supposed to like this, let’s give it a spin… what the FUCK?! This is TERRIBLE!” category. More specifically: most of them are LPs I’ve purchased over the last few years, thankfully for about 50 cents to a dollar apiece. It pleases me to see this guy lovingly encasing his turds in UV-shielding mylar. I got a special kick out of that Ian Whitcomb album, which many of you will remember from a recent “Thrifty Music” exploration.
Like the man said: sheesh.
HVB
I admire this guy’s moxie. It’s nice to keep in practice talking about your records, just in case you ever DO make a friend…
Brilliant comments, to date. Thanks for straightening that out, Sammy. I had no idea there was a problem.
Damn, I almost posted a youtube like this where I mumbled on about a bunch of my water-damaged vinyl and said, things like “well, this one has a bunch of songs I’ll never listen to again”, “can you imagine paying full price for THIS?”, “well, in fairness to my younger record-buying requirements, this guy once talked to Paul McCartney and used to live down the street from Mitch Easter”, “can’t you just tell that I’m the only one of three people who didn’t throw this one on the high school homecoming bonfire in 1980?”
I love the YouTube videos of people with their records. It makes me half tempted to go through mine and pull out gifts and mistakes (mistakes are the ones where I liked the cover or trusted the worng person), and fawn over them. I’ve got ABC’s How to be a Zillionaire in one of my crates, and it embarasses me to look at it by myself! I’m sure there’s more. A still sealed Buckingham-Nicks. I could do this.
Hvb – I remembered Ian Whitcomb from Thrifty Music. Man, I can’t believe he’s proud of that one!
The two things I noticed about the video is that the guy had those records tightly wrapped in plastic (doesn’t that actually harm the vinyl) & that one of the albums had the original owner’s signature displayed in the back.
Those plastic sleeves are pretty worthwhile. Even leaving them in shrink wrap doesn’t seem to affect them, so long as they’re stored vertically.
Those record collector videos take me down the weirdest rabbit holes. I think this guy has ten of the shittiest records ever made (Mastadon isn’t so bad), and the way he peers around the cover with those crosses on his wall really creeps me out.
http://youtu.be/9f4NeUZmozY
OOOOOHHH I”m soooo impressed. But, I’m also suffocating in your cloud of smug. I am humbled by your royal snootiness.
I will now retreat to the bunker with my scratchy Bay City Rollers albums, thank you very much.
Yeah, some real rarities, there. Brilliant observations on each LP as well. I’ve done been schooled!
Not only is he smug, but he got some things wrong. Man Who Sold the World was Bowie’s third album, not second. Also, Warners lost big money on Van Dyke Parks but they never offered a refund. They did offer to send two new copies if you sent them an old copy. From Wiki:
“Despite rave critical reviews, [Song Cycle] sold very poorly so Warner Bros publicist Stan Cornyn wrote a tongue-in-cheek advertisement hoping to promote it. Opening with a declaration that the label had “lost $35,509 on ‘the album of the year’ (dammit)”, the ad suggested that those who had purchased the album had probably worn their copies out by playing it over and over, and encouraged listeners to send these supposedly worn-out copies back to Warner Bros, who would exchange it for two new copies, including one “to educate a friend with”. Incensed by the tactic, Parks accused Cornyn of trying to kill his career.[5]”
I’ve got a few of these in digital form. I like the Bowie, Cale, and Nilsson albums. Carole King, Cat Stevens, and Tim Buckley are sort of meh to me. Al Steward is sub-meh. I’ve heard Parks’ Song Cycle maybe a half dozen times and still can’t decide whether it’s great or pretentious horsepucky. Of Nico’s album, there’s no question – horsepucky, but at least she’s not singing “Deutschland Uber Alles” like she did on her next album. Anyone under the age of 65 who has a Claudine Longet album is an ironic hipster, and I’ll have more to say about Lord Sutch later.
Yeah, those first three are really good; I especially like the Cale album (See, I don’t hate ALL prog-rockers!). I tried with that Parks’ album back in the early ’90s, but, for me, it goes in the dumper with Nico, for what is most likely the opposite reason: trying too hard (something of which I doubt Nico could ever be accused).
Has Van Dyke Parks been covered in depth here on the Hall??? If so, could someone give me a synopsis? Ima scratching my head here. Can someone please explain his rep to me? His critical renown is just a by-product of his relationship with Brian Wilson, right???
The quality of his recordings does not jibe with the adulation that he has received in the Musik press.