Collecting is different things to different people. Am I a collector, gatherer, hoarder, accumulator, or none of the above? Hmm. Some people collect to make a profit, some to simply ‘get the whole set’, others to step back in time. Yes. The act of thinking, searching, finding, evaluating, remembering a specific object… that is also a form of collecting. Let me give you a personal example.
The first record I ever bought was ‘Microphonies‘ by Cabaret Voltaire. Microphonies was released in 1984 on glorious cheap vinyl, through the Virgin Records label. Many hailed the album as ‘groundbreaking in its field’ which could mean absolutely anything you wanted it to. I still rate it in my Top 10 Albums of All Time though. It had two tracks released as singles (‘Sensoria’ and ‘James Brown’), both on 7″ and 12″. Both had great B-sides (‘Cut the damn camera’ and ‘Bad Self Part 2’) making the records double A-sides, really. The video for the 12″ version of ‘Sensoria’ appeared on a Cabs’ VHS release (Betamax had already been floored like HD-DVD this month), mixed in with another track from the album, ‘Do right’.
I could go on and on but that’s part of my point. I know a lot about Cabaret Voltaire’s recordings. So do a lot of people. But what makes it all special, is my copy. The ‘me’ in ‘my copy’. When I bought it. How much I paid for it. Why I bought it. How it introduced me to new sounds, and new people. And what was happening in my life when I bought it.
Early in the week that I bought the LP my friend Mark, a forklift driver at the produce market where I worked, played a tape of Cabaret Voltaire to me in his car. Most of it was pre-1981 Cabs, and to be honest, most of it was (still is) a tough pill to swallow, even after a few drinks. Not many Philharmonic Orchestras that I know of include ‘Nag nag nag’ or ‘Photophobia’ in their set lists. The two tracks at the end of Mark’s tape changed that. They were from their 1983 album, ‘The Crackdown’ and were much more… palatable. I remember Mark’s words very clearly: “You get yourself some Cabaret Voltaire, put on the early experimental tracks, the chicks will cringe. Put on the recent stuff after that, they’ll be all over you. Works a charm.” I laughed to myself.
And then went to get me some of this ‘Cabaret Voltaire’.
My copy of ‘Microphonies’ came from a second hand record store. The hand-scrawled price on the sticker was five dollars. The bottom left corner of the sleeve had a coffee cup stain on it. I argued successfully to the disinterested store owner that it should be reduced to four dollars. The store, the record and its sleeve, even the gum-popping goth behind the counter – all of it had a warm, musty smell to it. Very ‘High Fidelity‘.
It was a special day. Outside, it was hosing rain as well as inside the store, over in the dark corner marked ‘Alternative and Other’. They had a bucket to catch the ping-ping-pings as they dropped from the ceiling, and a plastic sheet to protect Neil Diamond and Glen Campbell in the neighbouring ‘Easy Listening’ section. I went back to work (after taking the opportunity to also pick up a copy of OMD’s ‘Architecture and Morality’ – three dollars – essential listening) to show my Mark my new purchase.
When I arrived, I could see Mark was having woman trouble. He was in his car, grovelling to his soon to be ex-girlfriend. She was screaming at him to take his ‘Cabarette Vulgars’, his ‘Monica’ who that morning called their flat three times asking for him, and shove them all somewhere dark and odious.
So there you are. Cabaret Voltaire didn’t sell millions of records, maybe thousands, but even so my little story is probably unique. I bet you have stories like it too, although yours probably won’t feature Mark, a clapped out Nissan with a cassette deck in dire need of a head clean, and the mysterious Monica who by all accounts had ‘slept with all of Hamilton’. You might have a special book, or toy, or stamp, or… whatever. What makes it special is you. Aww.
And that’s what Kollecta is all about. Yes, you can be a full-on Cabaret Voltaire nut who knows that New Zealand was the only country where ‘Drinking Gasoline’ was released as a single record played at 33rpm, rather than 2 x 45rpm records. Cool. Or you might be the kind of person who just has the one Cabs’ record and the memory attached to it, and you want to relive and share that memory. Cool too. Kollecta is also for you – welcome.
Add it, got it, want it, rate it, value it, recommend it, share it, live it. Kollecta it.
And Mark – if you’re reading this – I left my Simple Minds compilation in your car……..
Kollectamaniac 