Confessions Of A Vinyl Collector

Not too much activity over the past few weeks and in fact of the additions I’m recording here only two were bought by me.

A decision to hit one of my local 2nd hand vinyl sellers rather than wonder aimlessly around the town following the wife the other days yielded dividends with a record I’ve been after for a while and a nice compilation.

The compilation is called Alice Cooper - The Early Recordings - School Days. A grand title with an obvious marketing ploy working on the School’s Out theme but in reality a double album featuring Pretties For You on record 1 and Easy Action on record 2. Housed in a nice gatefold sleeve it’s features a brief comment about every song and after the disappointment felt when revisiting Trash the other week will be a nice comparison.

Second purchase is one of the standout live releases of the rock genre. The Scorpions Tokyo Tapes is a 2LP set with an iconic cover and a release I remember borrowing from my cousin years ago and playing no end. Capturing The Scorpions live in 1978 when Uli John Roth was still with them I can still recall the “Wow” when I first heard In Trance on this release.

Combined price : £6

A nice couple of presents from my parents next. Not for any reason though… I’m just a good son!

Thin Lizzy - Fighting… a fine album picked up from a second hand shop somewhere in Great Yarmouth. Always an album I enjoy, I listened to this one a hell of a lot a couple of years back on my personal mini-disc player. Highlights include Rosalie, the George Best tribute For Those Who Love To Live and the magnificent Suicide.

The Beatles - Love… the 2 LP deluxe vinyl version of last years mash up release. An absolutely lovely release in a gatefold sleeve with the booklet blown up to full 12″ size. Sit this next to the CD and the reason why vinyl lives on is abundantly clear. Apparently only 5000 of these are available but although I’ve read that in a few places there do seem to be plenty available online at present. Not cheap though!

Finally, gifts deservedly lavished on me for Father’s Day!

The Who - Endless Wire… again a long delay between CD release and the subsequent vinyl issue. It’s split over 2 records with the new ‘mini-opera’ fitting nicely on the second disc. Given I’m on a Who thing after seeing them live this is a nice asset to the collection.

Finally, not vinyl, but a rather nice 3CD boxset entitled Lightnin’ To The Nations - NWOBHM 25th Anniversary Collection. A Castle/Sanctuary compilation that captures just about every early 80’s band that gets put under that banner - with the notable exception of Def Leppard and Iron Maiden surprisingly!