Vinyl Records {Collections: 1}

I'm definitely a collector. Some might say hoarder. :) For a while now, I've been wanting to do a series of posts about several of my collections, and I'm finally getting around to it! I don't know how often I'll do one of these posts...maybe once or twice a month.

 

Anyway, first up is my record collection. (Lots of photos in this post, so I apologize in advance! Also, they're not the best quality. My room is dark.)

 

I love listening to records, and I've been collecting them ever since I fell in love with old music. Most of my albums came from thrift stores and yard sales, and they generally cost about $2 or less. Several of them were given to me (when people find out that you collect records, it's a perfect chance for them to get rid of their unwanted ones!). I don't really have tons of space for my records, so every so often I go through them and weed out the ones I don't listen to anymore.

 

In case you're wondering, this is the record player I have. My parents bought it for me for my birthday years ago, and I've been happy with it! It's pretty, and though it's not the absolute best quality (the knobs are a little loose and wobbly, and with anything other than a CD, you have to turn the volume up at least halfway to get a decent volume), I've never had any trouble with it. And I love that I can hook my iPod up to it...that's how I listen to music most often. (But don't pay $120 for it. Target puts it on sale for $80 sometimes.) I also have one of those big Wurlitzer stereos from the 60s that was given to me by a neighbor (you can see it here).

 

First of all, I have my new records. I love it when modern artists make their new music available on vinyl! They are expensive, though (usually around $20), so I don't have many. :) I love She & Him, and I found these two at a FYE store. They included codes for digital downloads, too, which is amazing because of course I wanted to put the music on my iPod, too.

Then I have The Secret Sisters album (it was a birthday gift, but ordered on Amazon), and Relient K's Mmhmm. (That's actually a two album set, and I got it free when I preordered that CD years and years ago. They albums themselves are gorgeous...they're mint green and have a sunflower in the center!)

I have several of these big boxed sets from Reader's Digest. My favorite one is The Swing Years, which introduced me to lots of big bands when I first got interested in that kind of music! I also love the Bing Sings one, though. So many Bing Crosby songs, in chronological order from his first hits to his later songs. :)

A few more Crosby albums. The one on the left is probably my absolute favorite album that I own. It's Rosemary Clooney and Bing singing travel songs. Not only do they sound amazing together, but they have a great banter going on, too. It's so much fun to listen to. :) {The one on the right doesn't actually include Bing singing...it's instrumentals of some of his hits.}

A couple more big band records.

And my Glenn Miller albums! He is by far my favorite band leader. The one on the left, despite the atrocious cover, is a two album set and the best Glenn Miller record I own. It has so many of his hits! I expected to dislike the "New" Glenn Miller Orchestra, but honestly they did a great job of continuing with his classic sound.

More Glenn Miller.

Frank Sinatra! The most glorious voice ever. :) These are my favorite records of his that I own...

As well as these three. What can I say? The Capitol years were great ones. Also, apparently Sinatra wore the same hat throughout those years. :)

And my other Sinatra records that I don't listen to as much.

Some hits of the 30s, and that one with the crazy cover. Because sometimes you just need some flapper music, you know?

A bit of Doris Day, and a collection of Buddy Holly's hits. Because he was pretty awesome, and very underrated.

And now for my Elvis records. I started collecting Elvis records years before I bought any others. Because from the time I was about 9 until I was approx. 17, I was completely obsessed with Elvis. I knew every bit of trivia about him. My parents took me to Graceland. I had a life-sized cardboard stand-up of Elvis in his famous gold suit (honestly, I still have it...it's folded up in my closet :). His face covered my walls, and I kept up a small Christmas tree year round to display my Elvis ornaments. Yes, it's true, you guys.

I still love Elvis, but I'm not nearly as devoted as I once was. :) I still enjoy his music and think he was one of the most incredible entertainers ever. I keep meaning to watch through all of his movies, which should be fun despite the fact that he basically plays the same character in all 31 of them.

A couple of "greatest movie hits" albums...

Gershwin instrumentals and...Cole Porter for Dancing. Because, you know, I do a lot of dancing. To Cole Porter songs. Obviously. :) My main professor in college actually gave me this one (along with some others that I ended up not keeping).

Now we get into the soundtracks. How to Steal a Million is one of my favorite classic movies, and the soundtrack to it also happens to be one of my favorite records! It's deliciously 1960s-ish. Then I have soundtracks for The Pajama Game (the Broadway version- not the Doris Day film) and Porgy and Bess.

The Broadway version of My Fair Lady (because while I think Henry Higgins is a jerk, I do enjoy the songs) and songs from two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals that I haven't actually seen yet: South Pacific and Carousel (this isn't the film version).

The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, both film versions.

I do love Disney. :) I have two "greatest hits" records with songs from classic Disney films, and the Snow White soundtrack.

And a couple of kids' records. Lady and the Tramp and Hansel & Gretel have storybooks inside and play the story with music. The Wizard of Oz one includes songs from the movie, but they're not performed by the actors from the film.

(I have images of my nerdy little future children sitting around a record player and listening to these while following along in the storybooks. And hey, if any of them eventually want a life-sized Elvis in their room, I've already got it taken care of, thank you very much.)

Some other random ones: Lynyrd Skynyrd (I think that was my dad's...it has the infamously long Free Bird on it :), some Elvis 45s, an ABBA one featuring Dancing Queen (that was my mom's), Man on the Moon (which is apparently some sort of recording celebrating the first man on the moon? It's narrated by Walter Cronkite...I haven't listened to it yet), something from the Beatles (I don't even like them, so I'm not sure where this one came from), and a couple of others.

And finally, my Christmas albums. Perry Como, one featuring Julie Andrews, and one with various artists (including Nat King Cole, which is why I've held onto it. It's impossible to find any of his albums around here).

Elvis Christmas albums...

And more from Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

So that's my record collection! I got rid of quite a few albums last year, and I haven't bought any new ones in at least six months (the Goodwill where I used to buy them often doesn't really have any now). I'd like to fill in a few gaps eventually...some Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney, and Ella Fitzgerald would be nice...but right now I'm pretty happy with my collection!

Writing this post has got me in the mood for vinyl, and I've been listening to my records a lot more lately. :)