Fanatic?

[tomato tom]

Am I becoming too obsessed with my collecting? I picked up my third copy of The Supremes A Go Go album today from a charity store for 2.50. Its the British Tamla Motown reissue. I already have the original British issue, plus the original Canadian issue. No U.S. issue yet. I keep doing this. I have numerous multiple copies of the same album on different labels, countries of issue, reissues ect. WHY? It seems, if I see something on a Motown label, I have to have it, no matter how many times I may have a song on 45, album, cd or whatever. I did the same last week, when I got Thelma Houston Saturday Night, Sunday Morning 45 on UK Motown. I already had the same on a UK green demo 45. Plus the original US Tamla 45, plus the US 12".Plus on numerous vinyl albums and CDs. Do I need help? I should I just continue my passion, and hope my better half understands.....Paulo xxxx

[blueskies]

Addiction VS collecting VS hoarding?? If you feel it's interfering with your life, job, personal and financial relationships....get some help. If not.....have fun! Sounds like you're finding some goodies out there!

[Roger Polhill]

You`ll be heading for divorce if you intend buying multiple discs of "Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye" ,"Return Of The Blues Boss" or "Do You Love Me".No you just need plenty of space and an even bigger disposable income.Collecting Motown shows you have impeccable taste.

[Hotspurman]

For some of us, it's not just Motown that takes care of our disposable income. I also collect [[wait for it): Tottenham memorablia such as programmes [[over 3,500), ticket stubs [[over 2,000), teamsheets [[1,000), dinner menus [[100 plus), executive passes [[600 plus), books [[200 plus), badges [[100 plus), a rather nice Russian doll depicting five Spurs players of the 2006-07 season, models of the train, plane and ship Hotspur, and anything else even remotely linked to Tottenham. Then there's my Monopoly collection [[150 plus, including the Motownopoly as well as the Beatles and Elvis editions). not forgetting thimbles - this is a bizarre one I started on my travels following Tottenham and on holiday. And matchbook covers, which I started on my first rip to America in 1973 but which has ground to an abrupt halt as smoking is pretty much banned the world over. The only money I manage to collect is unused coins and notes from my various travels, most of which are now totalyl worthless - Italian lira, Dutch guilders, German marks, French francs, the Euro....

[mysterysinger]

It all sounds too familiar but perfectly normal. At least that's what my Psychiatrist says

[tomato tom]

Hotspurman..Ha Ha..I understand your user name.My god, I DO understand your collecting. I Just cant stop. My local flea market had a huge batch of mint Motown 12" for sale at just a price too cheap to ignore. Spent around 20 for 5. And these I didnt have. Now, if I could just afford the other 30. Spurs, GREAT soccer team, I must say...Paulo xxx

[tomato tom]

Roger..I dont even HAVE those yet in my collection..the hunting goes on..Have the Contours on CD though.xxPaulo xxxx

[tomato tom]

Hotspurman..whats the Motownopoly???/ very intrigued!..Paulo xxx

[tomato tom]

I do have another collecting hobby. Anything PAN AM. I worked for them 19 years as a Flight attendant. Now the TV programme has taken off, lots of stuff popping up on E-BAY. Sorry, this off topic...Just wanted to show how we like to collect stuff ...Paulo xxx

[tamla617]

For some of us, it's not just Motown that takes care of our disposable income. I also collect [[wait for it): Tottenham memorablia such as programmes [[over 3,500), ticket stubs [[over 2,000), teamsheets [[1,000), dinner menus [[100 plus), executive passes [[600 plus), books [[200 plus), badges [[100 plus), a rather nice Russian doll depicting five Spurs players of the 2006-07 season, models of the train, plane and ship Hotspur, and anything else even remotely linked to Tottenham. Then there's my Monopoly collection [[150 plus, including the Motownopoly as well as the Beatles and Elvis editions). not forgetting thimbles - this is a bizarre one I started on my travels following Tottenham and on holiday. And matchbook covers, which I started on my first rip to America in 1973 but which has ground to an abrupt halt as smoking is pretty much banned the world over. The only money I manage to collect is unused coins and notes from my various travels, most of which are now totalyl worthless - Italian lira, Dutch guilders, German marks, French francs, the Euro....

stroll on hotspursman
150 monopoly games? [[sounds like a monopoly too).and i thought i could collect.i got nothing on you tho'
man utd collected 20 titles [[sorry!)
apart from soul vinyl [[mostly motown) airline postcards [[started when i was 3. stopped years ago) over 4,000.
daily mail and daily express motorshow reviews 1954 to 2006.
u.s. weekly magazine "look" car show every october from 1954 to 1971.very expensive to post from the states!and she who must be obeyed loves the smell of old books and magazines,her intakes can pick one up from another room!
man utd videos'/dvds'
aircraft books,car books,art books.
i cant remember a time when i wasnt collecting something.i dont understand people who dont collect at least one thing.
now that isnt normal!

[tomato tom]

Can I add Badges, Pins? I have over a thousand. Just picked them up from everywhere, all over ther world. Why/? I have no idea. Social history, I guess. Also airline swizzle sticks. Although, most airlines have dispensed with these, I have managed to aquire a few dozen. ANYWAY, back to Motown, I used to ignore any 45 on the Motown Yesteryear series,as I had all the tracks somewhere in my collection. Somehow, over the last year, I have managed to aquire some 38 singles on this label, because its MOTOWN. I am becoming obsessed. I am even buying stuff on KUDU /CTI, because it says distributed by Motown record Co on the label/sleeve. And its not even Motown per se. Also stuff on Manticore and Gull labels, which they distributed. I want to be a completest, but short of winning the lottery, I know that will never happen, so I just aquire bit by bit. And I LOVE every moment of record hunting and finding something new, or not.
Thats the fun!...Some of the music is truly awful though..i.e. Albert Finneys Album...Paulo xxxx

[daddyacey]

I have a few multiples too. Sometimes when you find something that old and in great shape at an excellent price ,you feel obligated to save it from a fate undeserving of its value. Theres been many times I've seen classic original pressings of 45's ,78's and LP's , screwed up on a wall or used in a clothing store window as a backdrop for a window or store display. I have checked out the labels of some of these records used as "props" and some of them were titles I was looking for. There have been times when I've seen 45's and 78's laying out in the street broken ,the victims of some asshole kids ,using them as Frisbee's . Seems like such a waste.
Sometimes I would buy a duplicate of something I have because I know it's value is more than what it's selling for at the moment at a flea market or second hand store or one of the places we have here in NYC that buy stuff from evictions or stuff they clean out from peoples houses who have passed away ,but maybe I could use it later as a trade or sell it for funds to use to buy other things that I want. The current used and new vinyl market has become very interesting. With online sites and the Japaneese buying large collections of older collectors
and the used music stores dwindling in numbers ,I've found that some discs that were impossible to find let alone at a reasonable price have begun to pop up more often than say 2 to 4 years ago. This was a very good year for me as I've found quite a few gems I was looking for as well as some I have learned about from fellow members on this forum.
This is typical behavior for an addict ,to stockpile and scheme to keep the object of his addiction in supply. I know I have an addiction and I love it and don't hide it. I also like to collect vintage electronics ,but I have a control on my collecting. Sometimes I pass things by , like the marble top Fisher 4 way floor standing speakers with 15 inch woofers that were just sitting in the basement of my apartment bldg. No damage that I could see ,but they didn't go with my decor. I still kick myself in the ass for that though , in fact I'm doing that now!! Don't judge ME!! Me and my monkey on my back are just fine , thank you.

ONWARD--- The hunt awaits............................

[tamla617]

i can see large pieces of me in all these posts.especially daddyacey's comment that he cant stand to see bust up classics etc. and things going dirt cheap.i got to buy it.
i can sell it,i can replace the one i have 'cos its better and sell the old one!

i passed on 20 aircraft books for 50p each.i've been thinking about them ever since.i just know i'm going back there to get them soon!worth about 3-5 quid each! am i mad,stupid or obsessed?......................answers on a postcard please and with an airliner on it too! cheers

[kenneth]

I think I may have 15 copies or so of the Marvelettes' "Sophisticated Soul." It was my favorite Motown album until perhaps "Return of the Marvelettes," which I may have 10 copies of. I just got in the habit of buying [[especially sealed) copies when I found them at a good price. Of course it's ridiculous! How could I ever wear even 2 or 3 of them out, assuming even that I played the vinyl instead of the CD [[at least in "Soul's" case)?

[tamla617]

kenneth
no wonder the lp's fetch a good price...you've got them all!i've only seen them in one secondhand shop and that was in stutgart and had a pile of lps' already and couldnt work out what to leave behind.thats 2 more things that play on my mind everytime i hear the word marvelettes!

[kenneth]

kenneth
no wonder the lp's fetch a good price...you've got them all!i've only seen them in one secondhand shop and that was in stutgart and had a pile of lps' already and couldnt work out what to leave behind.thats 2 more things that play on my mind everytime i hear the word marvelettes!

LOL...yes, I told you it was ridiculous! Of course the prices here rarely rose to more than $20 on those, even on a sealed copy, and usually they were much less. Until the "EBAY era" of the 90s, I probably bought half my Motown collection in the cut-out bins. I had to stretch those dollars as I was in school in the late 70s and early 80s, but I'm sure every spare dollar went to acquiring music.

[Hotspurman]

Paolo - The Motownopoly is the game of Monopoly but with Motown songs used instead of the traditional properties. You also get a six track Motown CD to play whilst playing, but since Monopoly usually takes about an hour and a half, you will need to have this on repeat!

[Hotspurman]

For those who haven't seen it, here's a link to the Motownopoly game:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13140/motownopoly

[tamla617]

how much do you get for passing going to a go go


look different.i might even play that!

[tomato tom]

hotspurman...thanks for the info on Motownopoly! I knew they did different sets. We have the Brighton one, for example, as thats we we live. But Motown? This is going to be hard to track down methinks..Paulo xxx

[Hotspurman]

I thought the Motownopoly was relatively easy, but looking at Amazon's US site, they have it listed at $169.99, so it has obviously become a collector's item. There are currently three on ebay at reasonable prices, if you hurry....

[platters81]

i used to give these Motownopolys to friends as presents...they loved it......make sure you get the one with the CD....They are sometimes missing if bought second hand......my fave was the Chance card which said "pay a $10 fine or do the Watusi"..or something like that

[tomato tom]

Faab!...Will be looking at e-bat tonight!

[R. Mark Desjardins]

After reading this thread I learned about the Motownolopy game and was dismayed at the high eBay prices and the reluctance of sellers to ship to Canada. I googled Craigslist and amazingly found a next to new copy for sale in Burlington, Ontario, Canada being offered for $7. Of course I had to pay about 3x more than that in postage to have in sent to Vancouver, B.C., but it arrived today [[minus the CD) and I can see that the fun factor will be worth every penny. As a friend once told me when I lost out on an eBay auction, "hey these kind of items were mass produced. It's not a one of a kind item and another one will pop up when you least expect it. " Happy hunting SDF readers!

[R. Mark Desjardins]

Paulo, like you I am very much into collecting Motown label vinyl releases. I would love to own copies of all the Workshop Jazz releases, but because they can go for hundreds of dollars apiece, I decided on the much more affordable Black Forum label releases. They were hard to get, but patience paid off. These are now priced out of my range. I then collected the entire Kudu series because it was relatively cheap to acquire. As you know, any good quality vinyl records are worth their weight in gold now. My only concern is that when I'm carried out of my apartment feet first, some hipster will be amazed at all the bargains available at the local thrift store for 50 cents. But then again, would that really be a bad thing? LOL!

This vintage photograph is of the fabled CBC Radio music library as it once was in Toronto, Canada. I understand they have long since gotten rid [[!!!) of vinyl records and are now divesting of CD's, and placing music in digital files. Hopefully a solar storm does not destroy this storage system. As for me, I've maintained my vinyl and CD's and expect to be asked to lend out things in the future when digital storage fails.

[arrr&bee]

Hey paulo,jai over here,listen up if you can afford it do it and enjoy yourself[like is short]i too collect[on the cheap of course]and i love my hobby my regret is i can't go to the record shop every day,ain't nothin wrong with you my friend i also have more than one copy of several albums some for the covers and some for the one or two songs that may not be on the other copy[you know what i'm talking about]heck i recently bought a second copy of[all by myself-eddie kendricks]keep collecting and have yourself a ball while doing it!

[kenneth]

Regarding the photo of the radio station record library above, many such records eventually do show up in the used record stores. Here in Southern California, for years the best classical music station was KUSC [[University of Southern California public record). When they got rid of all their vinyl, it was unbelievable. For years we saw the records turning up at places like the Sal Army, Goodwill, and more "retail" used outlets, sometimes for as low as 5 for a dollar! Many were imports on very fine labels such as Germany's Archiv, Harmonia Mundi, Bis, and so on.

What was interesting about the classical records was each one had a tag on it showing each time it was played on the air, and which tracks. These guys were meticulous, or possibly fanatics themselves!