Collecting Bands' Complete Discographies (1 Viewer)

dunderhead

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Saw earlier that the group Utopia Strong are releasing another 12" soon. I think this is their fourth one in probably 18 months or so. They are limited to 250 usually and sell out within a few hours. Think it was about €40 all in incl. P&P. (pre Brexit kicking in). Very pricey. Once no. 3 was announced I didn't bother. It's a really expensive rabbit hole to go down. Especially when it looks like they are knocking them out every few months.

Got me thinking about the whole proper collecting of bands' discographies. As a teenager I used to do it a bit with albums and cd singles from a small few bands as it was the only way to get your hands on the material, more or less. In general it must be a pain in the head to feel compelled to buy any old crap a band release. Admittedly I have found myself buying any album/7" that is released on a smallish UK label called Clay Pipe Music but it's a variety of artists and generally the releases are varied enough and more often than not, really good.

Experiences doing this? Anyone committed to buying any old shite from certain artists regardless of what it sounds like?
 
Utopia Strong - the electronica project Steve Davis is involved in ?

while there are some bands that I have dozens of records by between demo tapes, EP's , CD's and LP's
I am still missing stuff by nearly every band that has more than 5 or 10 releases.
so I'm not really a collector

one of my fave bands once did a lathe cut 2 x 5 '' EP (!!) that came with a T shirt.
as I had a shitty record player at the time that couldn't play records the size of a CD I didn't bother.
But the guy from the band was cool and made me a CD-r with the music.
 
I'm not a completist. All bands/artists have a cut off point for me. I tend to love them up to a certain point & then hit a wall. Still into them within this period.....but not feeling it after that. I move on to something else. Buying music just to complete a collection when I know it's just going to gather dust is a waste of money imho.
 
Depends what is considered complete.
Loads of bands i have a copy of every release,but then some only have a few so its not hard. Then there are bands i buy variations of releases ( but really only if i see them cheap)
Discogs tells me i have 135 releases by cheap trick. There are a bunch of releases i have maybe 5 variations of. But its very rare i pay big for any record by any band

And to somewhat contradict myself. I really dislike the current way of releasing records in too small quantities and with many stupid limited variations,and then the repress has a bunch of variants too.




Abd
 
Utopia Strong - the electronica project Steve Davis is involved in ?

while there are some bands that I have dozens of records by between demo tapes, EP's , CD's and LP's
I am still missing stuff by nearly every band that has more than 5 or 10 releases.
so I'm not really a collector

one of my fave bands once did a lathe cut 2 x 5 '' EP (!!) that came with a T shirt.
as I had a shitty record player at the time that couldn't play records the size of a CD I didn't bother.
But the guy from the band was cool and made me a CD-r with the music.
yup,the Steve Davis outfit
 
I got one of the Utopia Strong ones, I like it and play it but I'm not going to bother with the rest, €45 is a bit too much each time. Unless you're just buying it to flog at a profit later, I suppose.

Sometimes I want to hear everything by a band but I don't necessarily mind what format it is and I definitely don't need multiple formats and reissues etc. I do occasionally re-buy things for various reasons.
 
Depends what is considered complete.
Loads of bands i have a copy of every release,but then some only have a few so its not hard. Then there are bands i buy variations of releases ( but really only if i see them cheap)
Discogs tells me i have 135 releases by cheap trick. There are a bunch of releases i have maybe 5 variations of. But its very rare i pay big for any record by any band

And to somewhat contradict myself. I really dislike the current way of releasing records in too small quantities and with many stupid limited variations,and then the repress has a bunch of variants too.
Yeah, that variants of new albums idea is an awful scam.
apparently Paul McCartney's new one has multiple versions
 
most records I buy come out in pressings of 300 or less.
but that's more do with what you can sell of DIY release in the last 15 years -
in other words the demand isn't big and they are easily tracked down.

I think lathe cut records are daft though. they come in amounts of 100 or less and usually less than 50 -
they are hard to get and I think the artists should just release a demo tape or CD-r instead.

even allowing for the cost of postage the Utopia Strong record is far more than I would pay.
 
There isn't any group I would be that obsessive about nowadays maybe when I was younger and perhaps it's more likely if you come across a band at the start of their career but it must be hard enough to keep listeners interested over a long period.
"Any old shite" and "Any old crap" is maybe a little harsh ? It's more interesting to find new things in general I suppose and possibly it's as easy to get fed up with certain genres or styles as much as it is specific groups. I will try to keep an eye on some labels or groups of course if I like them but also find new ones.
 
Purely aesthetically, sort of like having a stags head mounted above my portrait in the reception area of my humble tower house, i'd love to have all the bowie albums on vynils.
 
There's one or two bands i've got everything by, in every case due to very limited amount of released by them though. I do occasionally get really into one album by a band and try and get all the singles off it just for a laugh. Been toying with getting all the 12" singles from Generation Terrorists but, uh, there were many. Variations based on, like, the barcode and stuff though... christ...

The good thing about being into Prince is that as late as 2020 i've still come across songs that were officially released that I had never heard before. I like the idea of picking up the odd 12" single by him every now and then for the rest of my life as there's always more.
 
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"Any old shite" and "Any old crap" is maybe a little harsh ?
...meaning you buy regardless of hearing it or hearing about what it's like. And even if you hear it and dislike it, the completist in you is still willing to part with your cash.
 
Was watching some bits about Johnny Cash online recently. Was recommended this video.

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Sun Records collector. Interesting details about Sun 45s and 78s. Think he is only a couple off a complete collection. Watched another couple of videos of his out of curiosity. Seems to make his living driving around Texas looking for Rockabilly, funk/soul, country/hillbilly, psych 45s and 78s and flipping them online. Fair dues to him.
 
i don't, as a rule, buy everything by any one band. the most complete discographies i have are probably by the cocteau twins and alice coltrane, for which i have pretty much all of their released recordings on vinyl. however i don't have all the "og" copies of all of these records - i like to have vinyl copies but i'm fine with reissues. on the rare occasion i'd buy a second copy of something it'd be because my existing copy is battered.

most bands jump the shark eventually or else i just lose interest, and i don't bother buying music i don't want to listen to.

there's one label i buy on sight every time, however. but it has only ever had very high quality releases. and with pressing runs of around 250, if you don't buy them on release day, forget buying them later because the second hand price is through the roof. i'm missing the first 3 out of 46 of those. prized possessions. but again, there's no bad music on that label.
 
The only discography I actively try and hunt down is anything Arthur Russell related- I'm probably on around 40 or 50 releases between 12"s, albums, reissues. I don't bother with discogs tbh but will always search first thing in a second hand store... So in reality the chances of completing the discography is minimal but it doesn't bother me either..

@shidheat what label is it you're buying from? I reckon I am more inclined to buy consistently from labels too rather than acts...
 
 
Ah right- have seen the name but never realised it was hot property
 
Complete discographies means singles, eps, all that stuff? That seems mental to be fair,but i can see how that collection madness can take hold. Ive been looking up old editions of Select magazine on ebay. Only thing i would possibly have are complete albums.

For artists with 10+ studio albums, think the only one I have there is the Manics. After a concerted effort. Radiohead i never got Pablo Honey. PJ Harvey just didnt happen much after White Chalk. Belle and Sebastian have a lot.

I dare not go count the Ryan Adams albums upstairs.

Have a lot of Rory Gallagher, but definitely not everything.
 

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