While fishing around for a better copy of Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic, I came across Rosie Vela, a model turned chanteuse, who seemed to only turn out one album in the 80s, enlisting the help of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. As a result, she's credited with bringing Steely Dan back together, as they had parted ways after Gaucho. I was a big fan of this duo, so coming across this album was a nice addition, especially when it only sold for four euros. Doesn't seem like Rosie ever built much of a following.
I've long been drawn to obscure titles like this, adding a little character to my album collection. I got back into LPs a few years ago, when I couldn't find a CD of Crystal Gayle's We Must Believe in Magic. I had found myself humming Don't It Makes My Brown Eyes Blue. I eventually bought a Rega Planar 1 turntable, a tiny Pro-ject pre-amp and a pair of Edifier powered speakers, so that it all fit comfortably at one end of my table in the attic.
It also gave me a chance to play some of my mother's old albums, which I brought back with me after she passed away in 1999. My favorite is Amalia Rodrigues at the Olympia. My mother had always loved Fados. When my wife and I were in Lisbon, we went to a couple Fado clubs and were introduced to the rising talent Mariza. A few years later, my wife heard her on Charlie Gillett's World of Music. She had become a star. She was scheduled to come to Vilnius, but cancelled at the last minute. I still have the concert poster.
Having had some bad luck with skips, warps and ratty covers through Discogs, I've turned mostly to new vinyls. You can't always trust the ratings. However, I found I had to be careful here too, as sound quality varies dramatically with all these new reprint labels. What I have enjoyed most are the deluxe reissues like this three-vinyl copy of Mingus at Carnegie Hall. Before you could only get a sampling of this great concert, now you can listen to it in all its glory.
Same goes for Zappa in New York. He's a cult figure all around the world. Vilnius is famous for the bust that was erected in his honor 20+ years ago. A lot of Zappa fans in the city, including one of my colleagues who was instrumental in getting the monument through the city planning department. Since then there have been a lot of non-traditional sculptures in the city, including a sand sculpture of John Lennon in the old Lenin square. I nice little bit of irony, if short lived.
Vinyls are very personal for me. I had a great collection many years ago, but Hurricane Opal wiped it away along with my parents house in Florida. I rebuilt the collection through CDs, but it just isn't the same thing. Sure, you get longer play on one side, but there is something about the warmth of sound on vinyl that is so much more rewarding. I hardly listen to anything on CD anymore.
The odd thing is that not very many classical musicians are recording on vinyl. I had heard Piotr Anderszewski at Paliesiaus dvaras, and wanted a recording of his music, but they are only available on CD. Critics have lavished praise on Anderszewski. A friend of mine said he is to Beethoven's Diabelli variations what Glenn Gould was to Bach's Goldberg variations. Maybe Paliesius will release a live recording at some point, like it did of Gidon Kremer a few years back. This is an absolute treasure!
I keep finding new old titles, like this one of the John Wright Trio. I listened to a couple of his songs on Youtube and had to get a copy. There were only a handful of original vinyls available on Discogs, and they sold for exorbitant prices, so was pleased as punch to find a new pressing on Blue Sounds for 25 bucks. Apparently, there weren't very many new copies made, and the reissue now sells for $200 on ebay. This helps me justify my purchases to my wife, calling them investments ; )
I get a lot of obscure jazz titles through a small company in Vilnius called NoBusiness. They've built up quite an extensive LP catalog over the years that would be the envy of any free jazz collector. My favorite is the Charles Gayle concert that was recorded in Vilnius, now out of print. I took my son to see the concert and had a friendly chat with Charles afterward. He was happy to see there were young persons in the audience. My son was bowled over by his style of play, comparing it to Cream, which was his favorite rock group at the time. Charles got a good laugh. I also struck up a friendly relationship with Dominic Duval on social media, adding one of his titles to my collection. Exceptional bass player, but alas both he and Charles are now gone.
There used to be a great jazz scene in Vilnius. The Ganelin-Tarasov-Chekasin trio was famous for their free jazz in the early 80s. Only Vladimir Tarasov remains in Vilnius. I occasionally see him at jazz concerts. He looks a bit like Pierre Richard. The younger jazz players aren't so young anymore either. One of my favorites is Liudas Mockūnas.
Needless to say, my son will inherit most of the vinyls. I had hooked him on vinyl several years before, buying him a used Pioneer turntable, amp and speakers at Thelonious, a basement record shop in Vilnius. Unfortunately, we never could get the turntable to work properly. The belt was just a little loose and started to drag after a few minutes. We tried replacing it, but just couldn't seem to get it to work right. He later bought a new turntable.
My daughters also like vinyl, and I've picked up a few albums specifically with them in mind. They will probably have to fight over the Amy Winehouse at the BBC box set. It doesn't matter much to my wife, although I've bought a few albums thinking of her. She's a big fan of Vladimir Vysotsky. I found a copy of his Sons Are Leaving for Battle at the Kaziuko market three years ago, along with a deeply worn copy of Oktava that has a couple of skips, but lovely just the same.
It was really nice to see that the daughter of Vytautas Kernagis had a small 10-inch vinyl pressed of her father's music in Small Confessions, a movie from the 1970s. Kernagis was quite young then, playing the troubadour Ben. I have a couple other albums of Kernagis, another one of my wife's favorites.
Some albums I buy just for the fun of it, like a recent purchase of The Association Greatest Hits and Gordon Lightfoot's Summertime Dream. The latter principally for The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I was surprised my Danish friend hadn't heard of The Association, as he loves vocal harmonies, so I played Along Comes Mary for him.
There really isn't any rhyme or reason to my collection. Most important, it tells a story.
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