Jerry also says, "In the last few years I have collected Hawaiian shirts. I am not a social guy, so I only get to wear them to the supermarket. I liked them slowly at first and once I got an amazing one I liked them a lot."
I think that about covers it.
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I have also recently been reading interviews with Harry Smith, who is probably the Patron Saint of Collectors. On the subject of his collections, Harry says, "The reason for looking at objects is to perfect the self. It's a kind of selfish thing."
He also says, "Like at the present time I'm interested in sorting records, because I think that music has like some kind of powers to it that would be interesting to explore, and I've already done this. I've made a large collection of records."
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When I was thinking about my own collections of stuff, I realized that the path of the Completist leads mostly to frustration. Because really, who can compete with Harry Smith? Being a Completist has an edge of competition to it, with an underlying flavor of desperation (see the clip above, from Alan Zweig's 2000 movie Vinyl.)
I like to think that being a Collector is more about appreciation than competition. And then, the key question for a Collector is, can you share something that you appreciate about something you collect, with someone who doesn't collect what you collect, in a way that isn't self-congratulatory?
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This blog highlights interesting record-label designs.
The goal is to share well-designed, quirky, and/or beautiful labels. These are original scans of labels I like from my collection, posted on a daily basis. The audio contents of the records are less important than the images on them, although commentary about the artists or genres or labels will surely have a place here. Some records may be rare or obscure, but most will be relatively common. The only criteria is the visual design.
I would like to use this blog as a collaborative forum with other collectors who will post interesting labels from their own collections.
I really like looking at the designs of these labels for several reasons. First, I have a general, if untrained, appreciation for graphic design from the 50's-70's. Second, I'm interested in the fact that, unlike the cover-art of records, these are designs that are not meant to sell records. Third, I like that these labels are associated with the visual culture of recorded music, but they don't bear the responsibility of communicating anything about the actual music. They are designs that reflect the flavor and self-image of the record label, not the band. They show up on dozens, if not hundreds, of different bands' albums. That's a really interesting task for a designer. And lastly, I appreciate that these labels are actually what I'm looking at when I am hearing a record for the first time, and what I'm looking at every time I put my favorite records on the turntable.
