Three Things I Learned Cataloging My Record Collection
+ Matt Berninger + Meshell Ndegeocello on Identified
I have one record shelf in our Brooklyn apartment. It’s big, but it’s not stuffed. I’ve always estimated that it’s around 800 records, definitely less than 1,000. I like to keep it that way—when it starts to feel or look too full, it’s time to purge. Once each year or so, I’ll do a quick glance through and pull out anything that seems unnecessary. A new release I bought on a whim at a show but have never played, or a work album that I really like but likely won’t play on the home turntable.
This year, I decided to be more diligent, logging every record into Discogs, and only keeping those that I really wanted to keep. The big upside was that some records surprised me with their Discogs value, making them easier to part with. It was a fun exercise to touch every record I own. Some go back to college or my first record store job in Seattle in the mid-90s. Some were incredible dollar bin finds while on tour in the early 2000s, when that was still possible. And some were just normal-ass records that had me questioning how they ever ended up on the shelf. I got rid of about 200, some for exponentially more than I paid, others for free to someone who cares more than I do. Some records reminded me exactly where I was when I bought them and with whom. Others were more of a mystery. By the end of the months-long, very on-and-off, gradual process, I learned a lot about what matters to me in a record. Here are my 3 big takeaways:
Condition doesn’t really matter
I worked in record stores from 1994-2008, and every time a customer returned a record that I wanted—because it was scratched, warped, or otherwise unsellable, I took it home. Those records all play perfectly. Records were meant to be played! They were meant to be beat up a bit. There’s something about the worn records in my collection that have more character than the perfect, flat ones.
I don’t always need every release by my favorite artist*
The Knife’s Silent Shout and Deep Cuts are 2 of my favorite albums of all time. So naturally I also had the self-titled debut, and the later album, and a bunch of 12” singles with remixes. I don’t listen to those albums, ever, I listen to the 2 that I love. It felt liberating to let the others go, to know that they’ll hopefully end up with someone who plays them, while thinning out my shelf.
*Sometimes I do need every release by my favorite artist
I have several copies of Pixies Doolittle and Nirvana Nevermind. None are hot-shot first pressings or anything like that, and some are beat to shit—like the Italian pressing of Doolittle that looks like someone used the jacket to hold their ash tray and wine glass. There’s something gratifying about finding a record in the wild, even if I already own it, and learning that there’s something different about it. It means that my “N” and “P” sections are a bit fatter than they need to be, but it makes me happy.
My shelf is back down to a manageable size, and it looks better than it has in years. I keep telling myself this will make next year’s purge faster. It won’t. I’ll buy 40 more records I don’t need, fall in love with two of them, and be back here in twelve months, touching everything I own all over again.
Season 3 of my podcast, Identified is live now. This week’s guest is Grammy-winning musician Meshell Ndegeocello, and last week’s was Matt Berninger of The National. It’s all on YouTube and all podcast platforms.
My memoir is called My Life in the Sunshine. You can order it here, or listen to the audiobook on Spotify. Upcoming events are always listed HERE.
Meshell’s Bitter is on my vinyl holy grail list, not sure if it was ever released on the format
For a summer project my kid is cataloging my records to Discogs. I wanted it done so I’m not out there in a record store wondering did I already have a copy of this mark Murphy album or not. But now I realise I can check how much what I have is worth and should I make space by parting with it. Great idea!