Collection Filler

So, HoM, what is the one album or CD you hang onto to keep a band/ artists discography intact? I am probably never going to listen to it again; I am not going to trade it off or give it away; it just stays there, keeping a place.

Lynch Mob - Smoke This

I know that it was an attempt to stay current and jump on the rap core bandwagon of that era and I have no problem with that. I know George is a musician and that's how he pays his bills. This is just a terrible album in my ears. But as a collection filler, it's awesome.

What say you fine folks?

St. Anger springs to mind. Can't remember the last time I played it. Have zero desire to revisit it. It physically pains me to listen to that "ping" drum sound. I don't even want to infect my hard drive by ripping it. Yet I can't bring myself to ditch it. Part of me knows I wouldn't get Jack-sh*t for it on ebay anyway. I'd be better off driving over the Tacony Bridge to Jersey and flinging it out the window on Rt. 73. Maybe I'd hit a Guido.

I've toyed with the idea of getting rid of both Load albums as well. I've ripped them to the computer if I want to give 'em a fresh listen, but if I'm in the mood for some Metallica, neither one of them is getting the call. They're just taking up space really, but I'm not sure I can part with them either.

Any filler went away along with the majority of my physical collection several years ago. I no longer care about collecting, I only buy albums I KNOW I want to own and that will get played somewhat frequently.

If it's a band or artist I really like, I can pretty much find something redeeming in all of their albums, even if it's not a "go-to" favorite. I still enjoy the collecting aspect.

Peter Criss' '78 KISS solo album springs immediately to mind... I picked it up recently (along with Gene's and Paul's solos; I already owned Ace's) merely to fill out the collection and cuz it was cheap.

A few others:

Deliverance's Back in the Day: The First Four Years is a mostly unlistenable collection of crap quality demo recordings, bootleg live stuff, etc. - some of Jimmy P. Brown's "Behind the Music" style commentaries between the tracks is pretty funny, but overall this "album" is a waste of plastic.

Dokken's Yesterday & Today is a totally useless re-packaging of tracks from the One Live Night and Live From the Sun albums, both of which I own. So why do I still have this? (shrugs)

Iced Earth, Alive in Athens - I love Iced Earth, but I don't particularly care for live albums... yet I picked this one up anyway for some reason, and there it sits on my shelf. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Judas Priest's Demolition - this album totally, completely and utterly blows goats... yet I cannot part with it because having a hole in my otherwise complete JP studio discography would bug the hell out of my collectors' O.C.D.

KISS, Psycho Circus and Carnival of Souls - see above remarks about collector's O.C.D.

Metallica, Bay Area Thrashers - a crap quality bootleg that I keep around mainly as a conversation piece.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Judas Priest's Demolition - this album totally, completely and utterly blows goats... yet I cannot part with it because having a hole in my otherwise complete JP studio discography would bug the hell out of my collectors' O.C.D.

That's the only album missing from my JP collection as well. I had it years ago, might even bought it as a new release, then ditched it because it was so terrible. I've thought about getting it again to fill the gap, but cooler heads prevailed so far. While I wouldn't go out of my way to replace my copy, if I found it in a Goodwill shop or flea market for a buck or so, I'd probably grab it.

I'm going to a record show Thanksgiving weekend, so maybe I'll get lucky dumpster-diving.

The Peter Criss solo album is one. I think I may have listened to it (on cd) once and I've owned it since I upgraded my collection some 20 years ago.

There might be others but I can't think of any right now.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

If it's a band or artist I really like, I can pretty much find something redeeming in all of their albums, even if it's not a "go-to" favorite. I still enjoy the collecting aspect.

I used to be that way, feeling like I had to own every album by my favorite artists...but at some point I just realized it was kind of silly if I was never going to listen to it.  

Take an artist like Jethro Tull, one of my "desert island" bands that would easily make my Top 5 of all-time...  

At one point I had all of their albums on either CD or LP.  But what I eventually realized was that my core period of interest in their music was 1968 to 1979...then just scattered tracks here and there during the 80s...then finally a couple full albums in the mid-90s that in my mind were a return more to the form of what I liked.  That left 6 studio albums released between 1980 and 1991 marooned.  I then ripped the tracks I liked from those albums, saved them in a playlist called "Jethro Tull 1980-1991" and got rid of those albums.  Never regretted that decision.

I guess it would depend on the band in question. Take Aerosmith for example.

You can break their discography down into 2 distinct eras, 70's/early 80's classic and post-Permanent Vacation. While I love their classic 70's stuff and that gets the majority of air time, I still on occasion like to take Get A Grip or Just Push Play for a spin. And they mostly suck.

Thankfully, in this day & age of the web, I'm less likely to buy crap albums just to fill out the discography. I like The Cult, but I know their early albums are too goth/alternative for my taste, so I won't buy them just to have them. Back in the day, I probably would have though. Same with KISS. The majority of their output in the 80's is cheesy trash to me, so I'm never buying Hot In the Shade just to have it. I'm perfectly fine with only having stuff from them that I know I'll listen to.

I'm not real keen on that new Anthrax single, but I'm still going to buy their album the day it comes out because they've got a good track record. I've never heard a bad Anthrax album yet, in my opinion. And I'm confident that I'll dig this new one just the same. Now Metallica on the other hand, has so tarnished their reputation and my opinion of them, if & when when a new album does eventually come along, it's going to need to win me over before I plunk down cash for it.

S.D. wrote:

Any filler went away along with the majority of my physical collection several years ago.  I no longer care about collecting, I only buy albums I KNOW I want to own and that will get played somewhat frequently.

Know what, I'm coming to the same conclusion, I moved all of my vinyl, CD's, & DVD's into one room the other day and rather than being proud of a collection that has taken me the last few years and thousands and thousands of pounds to build, I just took one look at it and thought 'well that looks like a f*%king mid life crisis! Cheaper than a sports car but only just!'

I'm not making any hasty judgements but I'm fairly into the idea of reducing it to a couple of hundred records that I truly love and sound awesome on vinyl and selling the rest (which would mean selling over a  thousand albums)

I could then buy a sports car!   (just kidding)

Well, don't be hasty. My decision to dump my collection was primarily financial at first, I needed relocation money. It was after the fact, realizing over the course of the next year that the "lack" of a collection wasn't having any long term impact on my happiness. It was also a lack of disposable income to start going out and building another collection. All those factors combined, along with a desire to seriously simplify my existence put the final nail in my collector coffin.

Now I generally listen to albums several times online before deciding whether to add a physical copy into my collection. If it's something that is good but will likely only get played every couple years when the mood strikes then I don't need to own it. If it's something that sounds like it could go into frequent rotation I grab it.

I'm finding by being much more selective about my purchases and only picking up maybe 1 or 2 albums a month (if that) I'm ending up with a collection I feel very strongly about. Albums I want to hear over and over and really get that personal attachment with like I did when I was a kid. Quantity is everywhere, but items that truly resonate remain few and far between...and cherished when I find them.

As always, great responses and discussion- thanks all. I have a big background in collecting sports cards (and actively engaged in the hobby from 1988 until about 2010) so the "collector" in me is always butting heads with the "listener" as to what to purchase. In the last 2 years, getting married and getting a house, plus kid on the way, has helped the "listener" win out.

This is a great point, S.D.:

"I'm finding by being much more selective about my purchases and only picking up maybe 1 or 2 albums a month (if that) I'm ending up with a collection I feel very strongly about. Albums I want to hear over and over and really get that personal attachment with like I did when I was a kid. Quantity is everywhere, but items that truly resonate remain few and far between...and cherished when I find them."

I agree and would add that I feel as though I am doing the band/ artist and myself a disservice by not savoring and digesting something they worked hard to create for our enjoyment.

007 wrote:

The Peter Criss solo album is one. I think I may have listened to it (on cd) once and I've owned it since I upgraded my collection some 20 years ago.

There might be others but I can't think of any right now.

You know, this is the only "Kiss" album missing for me and I think I would only get it if it's dirt cheap or thrown in on a trade.

the sentinel wrote:

007 wrote:

The Peter Criss solo album is one. I think I may have listened to it (on cd) once and I've owned it since I upgraded my collection some 20 years ago.

There might be others but I can't think of any right now.

You know, this is the only "Kiss" album missing for me and I think I would only get it if it's dirt cheap or thrown in on a trade.

Now that I've finally added Peter's, Gene's and Paul's '78 solo albums, the only two KISS studio albums I'm missing on CD are Crazy Nights and Hot in the Shade -- and since those two are their absolute rock-bottom worst (IMO of course) I'm certainly not in any hurry to add them to my collection. If I came across them in Goodwill for 99 cents ... maybe, but I'd probably still hem and haw about it.

Looking over my collection this morning, I think I do an alright job trimming the fat and ditching stuff I don't listen to. However, I could almost make the argument to drop the non-Ozzy and non-Dio Sabbath albums (oh, and keep the Ian Gillan one too).

If I'm in a Sabbath-y kinda mood, I'm not reaching for any of those albums from the 80's and 90's. Not that there's anything wrong with them for the most part. But it's just not what I'm looking for if I want Sabbath. I made a playlist of all the Tony Martin, Ray Gillen, Glenn Hughes, etc. stuff and while there is some good stuff in there, it's too generic sounding.

I have no immediate plans to drop those albums, but if I had to for some reason, I probably could without too much fuss.

I also made a compilation of the Tony Martin era Sabbath stuff because I really don't need to own the individual albums.

I kept Seventh Star because it's a Tony Iommi solo album and it's also the album I like the best after the Ozzy/Dio/Gillan albums. I also still have a copy of The Eternal Idol on LP which I'll keep, doesn't take up that much room.

Fat Freddy wrote:

the sentinel wrote:

007 wrote:

The Peter Criss solo album is one. I think I may have listened to it (on cd) once and I've owned it since I upgraded my collection some 20 years ago.

There might be others but I can't think of any right now.

You know, this is the only "Kiss" album missing for me and I think I would only get it if it's dirt cheap or thrown in on a trade.

Now that I've finally added Peter's, Gene's and Paul's '78 solo albums, the only two KISS studio albums I'm missing on CD are Crazy Nights and Hot in the Shade -- and since those two are their absolute rock-bottom worst (IMO of course) I'm certainly not in any hurry to add them to my collection. If I came across them in Goodwill for 99 cents ... maybe, but I'd probably still hem and haw about it.

Fredo, I am pretty sure I saw those on the $1 wall at Princeton records.

Quote :

Fredo, I am pretty sure I saw those on the $1 wall at Princeton records.

When I realized that Crazy Nights and H.I.T.S. were the only KISS CDs I was missing I briefly thought about hunting them down, just to close out the collection.... but then I listened to them both on Spotify and said "Mmm, nah, on second thought, I won't be doing that."

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

Fredo, I am pretty sure I saw those on the $1 wall at Princeton records.

When I realized that Crazy Nights and H.I.T.S. were the only KISS CDs I was missing I briefly thought about hunting them down, just to close out the collection.... but then I listened to them both on Spotify and said "Mmm, nah, on second thought, I won't be doing that."

Those are filler in my collection LOL!

My brother is a big fan of HITS.... of course he was in high school at the time and it was his personal first KISS album. I remember being at the mall and he picked it on cassette, put it on in my car and I thought "Damn, this blows!" He thought it was great....

I still think it blows

Not necessarily filler, but still unnecessary purchases (or lack thereof):

Looking at my collection from where I sit, it still makes my eye twitch to look at those horrid Priest remasters not completely forming the flaming cross due to a lack of Screaming for Vengeance--thanks to the 30th anniversary.

Same thing with Maiden--I kept my old first pressing NotB and SiT CDs and bought the (again horrid) remasters later on. Now Eddie looks glitchy.

The Megadeth is bugging the hell out of me too.

Anyway, yes, it bother me enough to want to blow money. I still need/want Theater of Pain to complete my Crue collection--and I really don't like Crue, let alone the worst album in their lineup.

No. I will never re-buy Theater Of Shame. My brother's friend stealing it from me was one of the best things to happen to it!

One of the most unlistenable records in LA metal history.

Theater of Pain was my first experience in having a favorite band "sell out" when I was a kid. I had loved, loved, LOVED Shout At the Devil, bought into all the hype that they were the most evil band on earth, blah blah blah (gimme a break, I was 12) ...I waited three years for a new album and when it landed, I was like "WTF?"

Not only did Vince Neil kill Hanoi Rocks' drummer, the Crue looked like they'd raided the poor bastard's wardrobe closet while everyone else was at the funeral. And the songs... BLEAH! Turd-burgers, each and every one of 'em.

I traded my Theater of Pain tape to another kid at school (for a Scorpions' Blackout tape if memory serves) and never looked back. The Crue never got another nickel out of me.

It was a harsh life lesson for an 8th grade kid.

I owned Theater of Pain for about a week, then sold it to some chick at school that just LOVED Home Sweet Home. Never listened to it again.

I'm mostly a japanese music fan so most of my collection is imported. There aren't as many english-centered groups that I collect or like everything by which I own CDs of except All Star United, and Ratt. My standard for deciding how to collect an artist's albums depend on how much of it I like vs. how little. If it's about half of their studio material, then I'll only be collecting that portion. If they have more trash than good, I only collect my favorite albums. If it's mostly good but with a very tiny portion of trash, I'll usually go ahead and fill the void with the bad album, but sometimes even that doesn't happen. There has to be at least something good about it to be worth keeping in any regard.

As for some I have collected in the past/present:
Glay - a famous japanese power pop group. As far as mainstream rock goes, this band can easily beat most western equivalents because of their instrumental skill and decent catalog, but there is a lot of material that really bores me. Too many similar songs. That also brings me to...

Fanatic Crisis - another japanese pop/rock group that wasn't as famous as Glay but had a loyal fanbase. I only really listen to their first 5 records (our of maybe 12 in the catalog) but there are songs scattered on the others that stand out well enough to have led me to collect all their studio material. But it's not terrible, just not terribly remarkable. As far as major pop/rock visual groups go, I felt L'arc-en-Ciel and La'cryma Christi were more consistent but even they have some fairly mediocre tracks, just not to the extent that FtC does.

Sorry to say, I can't think of any others in my collection that meet this criteria, because I don't collect entire discographies in general. The amount of candidates for my top ten are not that big. For a band to earn it's status as my favorite, it has to have a sizeable catalog and also has to really be the ones mentioned where I like virtually all their works album-wise.

Of course, TM Network comes to mind. This group was basically like a synth-pop/rock group of the 80s (japanese, obviously) who had a very signature style that was something like a cross between a Stock Aitken Waterman song and Yellow Magic Orchestra. However, they tried to go progressive rock by releasing this EP called Major Turn Around. Very boring and dreadful album, and one that I am not eager to get if at all. Their recent albums since the reunion were mixed, but MTA was pretty bland. They only recently called it quits for good after 30 years. Haven't heard their final album yet.