When you buy a total dud that looked interesting,

[patricia]

I haven't really seen this subject discussed, so I thought I would bring it up.

From time to time while flipping through the bins I see a record that either has promising instrumentation, vaguely familiar personnel, or a glowing set of cover notes and I buy it.

Then, when I take it home, it is not at all what I expected.

With all the small groups that call themselves jazz these days, I keep hoping that I have discovered a band that is taking up the mantle. Or I think that they may simply be a group that hasn't had the best promotion.

In any case, what do all of you do when you have a fistful, or more of records that, having listened to them, don't move you, or touch your soul the way you had hoped??

Edited August 5, 2005 by patricia

[clifford_thornton]

Give 'em props anyway and pretty soon they'll start to stick!

Otherwise, I just try and pass them off until somebody trades me something I actually do like. I used to work in a used book and record shop, and I think that's where most of my Enja records ended up...

[mikeweil]

Sell it on ebay, trade it in - there may be someone searching for an item you fiound disappointing (just don't tell , or sell or trade it at a used record shop.

That's what I do.

[patricia]

Usually I'm told that my taste is not the same as other people's. But, if the record is so obscure that nobody knows who the artists are, I guess a yardsale is a possiblity.

I always feel so guilty passing on a record that I can't get with, or worse, one that is truly awful. Even free it somehow seems mean.

But, somebody thought whoever the artists are were good enough to record, so, maybe it's just me.

A quandry.

Edited August 4, 2005 by patricia

[AllenLowe]

well, I'm going to use this to plug a member of this board - the only record/CD place in the universe that I trust, that gives not only an honest trade-in for credit or cash, but that also tells you the truth about the value of something, is Stereo Jack's, in Cambridge Massachusettes - so that's where I go -

[WD45]

well, I'm going to use this to plug a member of this board - the only record/CD place in the universe that I trust, that gives not only an honest trade-in for credit or cash, but that also tells you the truth about the value of something, is Stereo Jack's, in Cambridge Massachusettes - so that's where I go -

←

That is one of the best ways to keep the truly devoted coming back again and

again.

Having worked in a store for years, I would love to know what they give for trade-in credit. A CD for example. $5? $7? 2/3 of retail?

[AllenLowe]

I'm not sure of the exact percentages - if Jack is around, he may want to chime in -

[JSngry]

When we reach a definitive answer to the original question, let me know. I've got a scratchy copy of Harold Alexander's Raw Root that wants to know.

[patricia]

When we reach a definitive answer to the original question, let me know. I've got a scratchy copy of Harold Alexander's Raw Root that wants to know.

←

I guess in starting the thread I was most interested in what was going through your minds when you saw the record that turned out to be not just not very good, but truly awful.

I don't think that anyone sees a record and doesn't hope that it is going to be fun to listen to, or even a gem in disguise.

For example, I still remember the high hopes I had for a ten-inch LP called "Voices of Haiti". I thought that it would be an unusual collection of exotic sounds, unique percussion, passion and rhythm. It turned out to be totally incomprehensible noise, that just went on and on.

BUT, somebody recorded this, thinking it would be enjoyed. Who would enjoy it?? It was truly the most awful collection of horrible noise I have ever encountered. But my heart was so hopeful on purchasing it.

Do any of you have any stories of thinking that you were taking a bold step into unfamiliar musical territory, either by buying an unfamiliar genre, or artist and been totally turned off by it, to the point that you felt like an idiot for having done so??

Edited August 4, 2005 by patricia

[AllenLowe]

hey, I like that Voices of Haiti LP - are you referring to the Folkways?

[Peggy-Ann]

32 Jazz's double-disc set "At Last" reissues two of Tony Scott's best albums, "Golden Moments and I'll Remember". Thats what allmusic said. With Bill Evans, Jimmy Garrison and Pete La Roca filling out the group I figured that it had to be real good

and I would looking for somthing with a clarinet. I was expecting something similar to

Buddy DeFranco (w Sonny Clark) or Jimmy Giuffre but I would have been happy to

just hear some clarinet (which is hardly heard, either missing or drowned out by the

drummer.

[jazzbo]

[AllenLowe]

thanks, jazzbo - I'll have to find my copy, as the cover looks very different, as I recall -

[jazzbo]

This is an Elektra 10". . . and may be the one that is in question. . . ? I think the Folkways may be an entirely different animal.

(I've heard neither. With my luck I'd contract a voudoun curse).

Edited August 5, 2005 by jazzbo

[jazzbo]

You know, this hasn't really happened to me in a long time, because I've explored so much music that I now have a pretty good sense of what will or won't work for me, and I rarely end up with a recording that looked very promising but was disappointing. . . .

I might be disappointed in the sonic quality perhaps, but even that. . . I listen to some stuff that just sounds awful to others. . . . I post on a board for the manufacturer of stereo equipment I use, and reading the posts there a lot of the material we here think sounds great they would consider mediocre; they would really be aghast at the sound of some of the historical recordings we can enjoy here. . . .

[patricia]

←

THAT'S THE ALBUM!!! A journey into Hell as I imagine it to be. I think that Kenny G's take on the theme from "Titanic" would be in the same rotation.

HORRIBLE!!! Of course, just my opinion. Sorry Allan. I had thought all copies of this would be cosigned to an undisclosed location.

Edited August 6, 2005 by patricia

[alankin]

[...]. . . I listen to some stuff that just sounds awful to others. . . .  I post on a board for the manufacturer of stereo equipment I use, and reading the posts there a lot of the material we here think sounds great they would consider mediocre; they would really be aghast at the sound of some of the historical recordings we can enjoy here. . . .

←

Some people like to listen to recordings; others like to listen to music.

[patricia]

[...]. . . I listen to some stuff that just sounds awful to others. . . .  I post on a board for the manufacturer of stereo equipment I use, and reading the posts there a lot of the material we here think sounds great they would consider mediocre; they would really be aghast at the sound of some of the historical recordings we can enjoy here. . . .

←

Some people like to listen to recordings; others like to listen to music.

←

I guess I was mostly thinking of music, primarily jazz. But, I sometimes venture into unfamiliar territory and am not always disappointed.

However, I have made my share of grievous errors in judgement when it comes to vintage vinyl. "Voices of Haiti" is but one of them.

But, I think that we must sometimes take a leap of faith and that involves a certain amount of risk. But, having acquired a real dud, it's sometimes difficult to admit that you are not really into calypso, or jazz fusion, or other genre. I quite often find myself thinking that I have been missing something by not giving an artist at least a listen. So.............there the album sits.

By historical albums, what do you mean, Jazzbo?? Do you just mean really old recordings of vintage music, or actual history on records??

Edited August 6, 2005 by patricia