Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsThe collectors are the (alleged) stars, not the collections.....just so you know....
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2016
Updated: 2/23/2020: Downgraded to ONE STAR. The book’s construction "quality" is unassailable; let's get that out of the way first. It's built like a tank and isn't likely to ever suffer from "lazy/cheap publisher" syndrome.
Here's my reason for the two stars: The other two negative reviews hit on the same criticism, but I feel it needs more fleshing out than has been done elsewhere. This collection seeks to celebrate the "hyper-idiosyncratic". The number of collectors who acquire "porn/party” type records constitute a significant percentage of the book. Punk, Blues, and various "oddball" and what Cartoonist Tom Bautik once shorthanded as "The Malevolent Morons" ("Their new album adds an E chord to go with the A chord used so well on their last record...") type specialties get the OVERWHELMING majority of the space here. Towards the end of the book, there is a short section about people for whom ACTUAL music is what drives their collecting hobby, but the silent narrative is these people are OUTLIERS and the music unworthy of serious discussion. I did see THREE records in the whole book that I own. First was a Doc Severinsen album (featured because of the-now, at least-modern "hipster" art of the covers, not for the music, which is the FIRST reason somebody ought to collect ANY Severinsen record) the next was an E,W&F record and the last was the now again hip "Other World's, Other Sounds" Esquivel Living Stereo LP. All the rest were interesting only to the degree that they weren't over abundant flotsam like the innumerable Mantovani, Vaughn Meader, Burl Ives or 101 Strings LP's that we've all waded through at every thrift shop in the Western Hemisphere. I actually do have a smattering of those records (Faye Richmonde and Redd Foxx's early LP's) but here's the thing: The collections aren't about the MUSIC (contrary to cover to cover protestations to the contrary) it's about the "square peg in a round hole"-edness of the collectors. The way it hits ME (I'm a trained musician, sorry about that, but there it is. I majored in it. Matters of fidelity, interpretation and CHOPS always matter.) is the "Art" of music is a distant second place if it finishes in the rankings at all. "A Love Supreme" made its requisite appearance. (A good record, I've got a copy, but ONLY one, that's all anybody needs.) Nobody can explain taste (or lack thereof) and some of these folks have formidable sized collections and are perfectly entitled to like what they like. But if you want to REALLY shock/deviate from the baseline, write a book about trying to collect the entirety of the Living Stereo LSC/Shaded Dog discography. (Or even those LSP's that "Other Worlds" belongs to....) How about the complete discography of Bud Brisbois? (Okay, start easier. How about Maynard?) Most of the 45 stranglers in this book would be surprised that to discover that the Monkees single "Daydream Believer" b/w "Goin Down" would already have them on their way. Brisbois played the trumpet solo that Mickey Dolenz (and his JB perm) wiggled around to in the TV show episode. I know that makes ME the incredibly idiosyncratic "Trumpet player" collector and it's clearly a case of physician heal thy self. The book "Vinyl Junkies" does make a half-hearted stab at seeming inclusive (The first chapter is named after the TAS Holy Grail "Scythian Suite" conducted by Dorati, performed by the LSO) but by the end of the book, you're absolutely convinced that No person in his (non-fiction I'm assuming) Magnum Opus would be caught DEAD paying "Robert Johnson" money for Mercury SR-90006. His passion (and 99.44 percent of the narrative) is focused on the same "oddball" demographic that this book dwells on. It is NOT (in my personal experience) in any way representative of the people that I know that have been scouring Thrift/Junk/used record stores during MY lifetime. The real kicker (and disclaimer) is if ever there was a time when "YMMV" is applicable, I fully recognize this is it. My only reason for posting is so somebody else HOPING for a tome that focuses on stuff besides post-modern "flotsam" will not take the (fairly expensive) plunge that I took. Again, the photography is excellent and the author/photographer is very loving in how he renders his subjects. Just know that they are ALL of a stripe and that stripe is what you find if you look up "Head Shop" in the Dictionary. Not there's anything WRONG with that. You just need a little bit of Rembrandt or Picasso to go with your M.C. Escher.
