for those who never gave up their turntables
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS feature articles that don’t fit comfortably into any of the other categories. As most “experts” suggest not overwhelming readers with a plethora of categories, a lot of things find their way here.
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DAVID BOWIE’S “SPACE ODDITY” was released in mid-1969. In Italy, new lyrics were composed that transformed the tale of Major Tom’s dilemma in outer space into a unique Italian Space Oddity. This “new” song was titled “Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola,” which translates to “Lonely Boy, Lonely Girl.” [Continue reading]
I HAVE BEEN BUYING RECORDS for sixty years and collecting them for about the same length of time. As far back as I can remember, I have referred to LPs and EPs and prerecorded tapes as ‘albums.’ Since the Digital Revolution of the ’80s, I have referred to tapes, EPs, LPs, and CDs as albums
During this time, I called a seven-inch, 45 rpm record with one track per side a ‘single’ while calling a seven-inch, 45 rpm record with two or three tracks per side an ‘EP.’ [Continue reading]
SHRINK-WRAPPING ALBUMS did not become standard practice for the American record industry until 1963-1964. Prior to that, EP albums and LP albums were shipped to wholesalers and retailers without any protection! Then Robert B. Cohen, a rack jobber in New Jersey, started wrapping records in protective plastic sleeves, making him the “Godfather of Shrinkwrapped Albums.” [Continue reading]
I HAD TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION: “Who was the first rock band to sell a million albums?” It was on Quora and immediately seized my attention. Why? Because not only had I never thought about it, but I had never heard a record-collecting friend or a professional music writer address it. [Continue reading]
IF YOU ARE A SUBSCRIBER TO THIS BLOG (Rather Rare Records) and you do not receive updates and other notifications via email from this blog, listen up! It appears that I initially misunderstood quite a few things in setting this blog up, including the subscription process and how emails are sent to subscribers. [Continue reading]
WHEN REQUIRED TO POST A PROFILE on the internet, I usually write, “Mystical liberal likes long walks alone at night in the dark in the city in the rain with an umbrella and a flask of 10-year-old Laphroaig.” While this bit of irony works for some readers, others want a little more in terms of personal background information. [Continue reading]
I MOVED TO CALIFORNIA from Pennsylvania in June 1978. I naively believed I would find some semblance of “the sixties” hidden away in San Francisco. But in only a few years, most of it had been blotted out. There were still a lot of hand-painted Victorian houses and a few hip coffee shops and bookstores.
WHILE THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG is to address the records that were released decades before most of the people who spend the most time on the internet were even born, I can look at a current topic every now and again. I suppose my fascination with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in not establishing some objective standards for eligibility and the equally obstinate Wikipedia in insisting on “sources” but not on hiring editors to fact-check those sources. [Continue reading]
