Crate Digging 101
In the first edition of 'Crate Digging,' tips are given on just how to get into the overwhelming world of record collecting.
This is for all you nubile hipsters who happen to be new to searching for vinyl treasures in the record store racks. This activity is more commonly referred to as crate digging.
First off, I commend you on your appreciation of the vinyl experience. Records represent the best way to enjoy tunes. The size of the album allows for creative artistic covers and sleeve design, and 20 minutes a side goes by just about right (most times, depending on what you got going on as you dig your jams). And the analog sound waves coming out of your speakers, if you could see them, would look like a child’s wild scribbling on a white wall, compared to the rigid stair steps of digital sampling on CDs and MP3s.
So you enter a store selling vinyl. Where to begin?
First, I would try to get a store that has a listening turntable for used vinyl. Unfortunately, in Chicago, only Permanent Records, Jazz Record Mart, KSTARKE Records and Logan Hardware come to mind as stores with vinyl listening. I will be glad to mention any others I neglected to mention.
That leaves a lot of great stores, like Reckless, Hard Boiled, Shake Rattle & Read, Dead Wax and Dusty Groove that have awesome treasure awaiting discovery, but have to be decided upon solely on visual clues on the cover and jacket.
This is where the sleuthing comes in. So how do you know a great record from a crappy waste of plastic?
First rule of thumb, check the New Arrivals bin. Most stores put the new arrivals out for regulars and they tend to get picked through for gems the quickest. So dig in before the real gems get snatched up.
Second, know your music genres. What are you into? Hippie rock? Reggae? Folk? Most great lps were released in the 1960’s or 70’s. That hold true for your classic rock (compare Traffic, Genesis, Steve Miller, Boz Scaggs, ELO or Alice Cooper lp’s from the 60’s or 70’s to anything they released in the 80’s.)
A lot of artists did their best work before they got big. Cheap Trick’s first LP (with the B&W cover!) is by far the darkest and raunchiest rocking they ever did. Same with Peter Gabriel’s solo work. Pink Floyd had a bunch of great LP’s before Dark Side Of The Moon (Obscured By Clouds, Meddle, Umma Gumma, Atom Heart Mother). Bands like Journey (before they traded Greg Rollie for Steve Perry) and Blood Sweat & Tears (who let Al Kooper walk in favor of David Clayton Thomas) transformed from great progressive musical innovators to vapid AOR airwave dominators. So if you find an artist you like, often times the early work is a lot cooler. Dig the pre breakthrough vibes!
Follow your gut on cover art. A cover that turns me on (or, conversely, turns me off) has proven a very reliable indicator in my years of crate research. I have found some gems (like Zephyr’s Midnight Ride, featuring a beautiful airbrushed cover) selected simple by cover without a clue of what the music would sound like.
Check out who played on and/or produced the album. Some session cats had a knack for working on a lot of great music. Names like Klaus Voorman (Beatles’ session bass player) mean a more melodic adventure. Wah Wah Watson or Dennis Coffey on guitar, meanwhile, guarantee a funk filled wah wah pedal work out. I also like congas, so Ralph MacDonald’s name on a record goes a long way to convincing me to give it a chance on my turntable.
Check out louzlounge at thepulsechicago.com for Great Lost Chicago Vinyl videos & more!
Posted by Prof Louzlounge on Jun 28, 2010 @ 7:07 am
