Zappa.com

For you obsessives out there, how do you organize your collection when the main member of a band also has a solo career? For example, would you put an Ian Anderson solo album in chronologically with your Jethro Tull stuff? Would you put a Utopia album in with your Todd Rundgren stuff? A Freddie Mercury or Brian May solo album in with your Queen stuff? I think you get the picture. Obviously (to me), MOI stuff should be treated as one in the same as a Zappa record. But what about a Zappa tribute record like the Ensemble Modern one and the many others? Where do they go?

Personally, I would put those above examples together, but at the same time it doesn't seem right to put Paul McCartney (with or w/o Wings) or John Lennon solo stuff in with the Beatles. Man, there's just so much stuff to worry about?

Alphabetical according to the band name or artists last name.

/thread

_________________
Make your checks payable to QUENTIN ROBERT DeNAMELAND, Greatest Living Philostopher Known to Mankind.

I actually have my Zappa cds and vinyl right at the end of collections under Z and my Mothers under M.
Like Jaypfunk says, keep it alphabetical.

Capeesh?

PS - I have seen Jaypfunk's cd collection when visiting his mum and I can clarify that he has his Britney Spears under S and Mariah Carey under C

_________________
"drums are too noisy, 'n you've got no corners to hide in"

Solo separate from group, except for Frank Zappa, and Robert Fripp. Anything they are on goes under their name.

_________________
You're probably wondering why I'm here
(not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

When I started out collecting Zappa--and his discography was a LOT simpler, just hitting the double digits--I filed Hot Rats and Lumpy Gravy under Z and everything else under M. Eventually I grew displeased with that arrangement and combined it all under Z.

My Utopia albums are filed under R. Ian Anderson albums, however, are filed under A. Alice Cooper albums are filed under C, even though I only have ones from the period when it was a band called Alice Cooper, so they really should be under A--but then if I did buy an Alice Cooper solo album I'd have to move them all back to C anyway. Asylum Choir is filed under R, because Leon Russell is actually credited as the artist on the CD reissue I have. "ProjeKct" albums are filed under King Crimson, but Fripp is under F.

Classical albums are filed under the name of the composer; if there's more than one composer, it's filed under whichever name is listed first on the spine.

Half my CDs are in piles on the floor anyway, since it's too much hard work to interfile them.

_________________
Buy some! Now!
https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelPDawson

Alphabetical, all seperate, except : Zappa, Neil Young, Iggy, and obvious stuff...like Beck,Bogart,Appice being in Jeff Beck etc...

I have everything put together on an excel spreadsheet so it makes it easier to keep track. Also, (because i'm old and have time at home), i'm creating a sort of giant database of my collection with tags such as label, musicians on album, Producer etc....

_________________
"Welcome to the Frank Zappa Memorial Country Club & BBQ" at wgt.com 75 members and counting.

I have my collection entered on the Discogs database, which has tons of info listed for each release. It could save you a lot of time and effort.

http://www.discogs.com

_________________
Good writing is clear writing.

Nice.

I love Discogs.

My stuff is all on my hard drive in alphabetical, chronological order. Like Doug, all the fz goes under "Zappa". Also, Coltrane, for example, has a lot of 1965 releases, it took some effort to put 'em in order. I'm sure some of you do it the same way. My Cd's are all randomly stashed in boxes at this point. I have 30 or so vinyl albums in no order. One is a French 200 Motels, one is the non airbrushed VU/Nico, with full undamaged banana sticker!, which I should probably sell soon. Got it for 16 US dollars in the 80's. Cover is good, record is scratchy.

I love Discogs too. I want to set up an account for my dad who has approximately 800 LPs. I file all Zappa under Z (not my Jean-Luc Ponty Zappa LP though) and I believe my Lowell George and Paul Barrere solo albums are under Little Feat.

_________________
Check out my band!:
http://burgerfriespop.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/burgerfriespop/

My Burning Query:

Do you all keep Zappa at the end no matter if you own a Warren Zevon album or whatever? Just ever-so-slightly out of alpha order? I sure do.

Things like Ed Palermo, Jean Luc Ponty King Kong, GP Ensemble Modern, are placed at the end of the "real" FZ created music. All (or nearly) FZ programs.

I have my collection busted up into 5 sections:

1. The So-Called Rock Music Collection (Frank lives there)
2. The Jazz Collection
3. The Old Timey, Ethnic, Folk Music Lost World Collection
4. The Left Hand Path Collection
5. The Classical Modernist Bullshit Area Collection (title tbd)

Years back I was amazed a friend busted up his Johnny Guitar Watson collection into 2 separate area. Now it just makes perfect sense to me, I do the same.

All chronological by RELEASE date.
Rockers lean this way while jazzbos go by session date.

Classical music section is organized chronologically by composer birthdate, Zappa is organized chronologically, Primus is organized chronologically, there's a little CDrack on my desk for easy access.

_________________

Join the PackardGoose forum! Send me a PM!

Zappa has his own rack.

Everything else has individual members solo albums mixed in chronologically. Working in a record store for 10 years, and having to alphabetize everything made me want to do something different. Soundtracks are at the end chronologically.

_________________
"Everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back"

These are interesting approaches.

I file Soundtracks under M for Ennio Morricone mostly. I like John Carpenter a lot, too. Obviously I love The Thing(1982) because it's Morricone and Carpenter together.



No, but I think I might start doing that now!

Nope, I have Zevious, ZGA, ZNR, and the Zombies after FZ. John Zorn is a CD collection unto itself; that stuff is in boxes (and more boxes).

_________________
Buy some! Now!
https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelPDawson

Captain?
or
Beefheart?
or
M for Milk?

That composer birth date listing made me laugh. Do you wear an ascot, too?
What about the golden oldies, the unknown birth dates?
That would make me very uncomfortable as I wear an ascot at times, too.
Birth or Baptism?

So what do ya have filed immediately preceding FZ? Mine is boring 'cause there is only One: Tappa Zukie.

For Beefheart it's David Bedford's Nurses Song with Elephants and Han Bennink's Tempo Commodo

Wait, no one else divides up their collection into vague genres? I'm surprised (so far).

Dweezil, of course.

And DVV is between Capability Brown and Caravan.

_________________
Buy some! Now!
https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelPDawson

No. Warren Zevon and all John Zorn related CD's (Naked City, Masada, etc.) are after Zappa. All Zappa related CD's are together under Zappa.

Classical is first, arranged in last name order by composer. The lone exception to this is I keep all CD's conducted by Leonard Bernstein together, regardless of composer. For each composer I also try to group symphonies, string quartets, piano music, etc., together. I keep classical box sets on a separate rack, again in composer order.

After classical is everything else in alphabetical order according to band name or artist's last name. There are a few exceptions besides Zappa and Zorn; I keep Clapton with Cream, Fripp with KC, probably one or two more. I also try and keep the "everything else" CD's in chronological order of original release. Soundtracks are under "S".



Interesting.
One problem I have with classical is how to organize a CD that contains works by multiple composers, for example, a single CD that has Holst's The Planets and Elgar's Enigma Variations. I have quite a few of these. If I pick a composer and file it alphabetically, I frequently forget that it contains the other work. I tried keeping the discs separate at the end of the classical section, but then I forget they're there. Such problems!



Captain.

_________________
I can't tell when you're telling the truth.
>I'm not.
How do I know anything you've said to me is...
>You don't.

Mostly alphabetical, but, out in the living room, in their own special section, are Zappa, Beatles, anything with Robert Fripp on it, Alice Cooper, C.S.N.Y., Hawkwind, Iron Butterfly, Tangerine Dream, plus a Comedy section, and an "inherited from my dad" section.
I live in an apartment, and have over 3,000 albums and CDs. They are, basically, all over da frickin' place!

_________________
You're probably wondering why I'm here
(not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

Ya want obsessive, borderline autistic?
All my ceedees are transferred to archival vinyl sleeves.
These sleeves have a pocket at the top where one can insert a slip of paper.
On every single one of these slips of paper I have handwritten the artists name,
the release date, and the recording date(s).
For classical type stuff, I have also listed the composition date.
And the known birth-death-flourished date for those long dead guys.

It's like owning trading cards. i can shuffle them around on a table and if I am on a marathon listening binge
can easily determine how I go about the program (by release, by session, by composition, etc.)

The downside is digis, custom packaging, too fat booklets, etc don't fit the sleeves.
The upside is all the digis, custom packaging, too fat booklets, etc. are kept separate, alphabetized and remain NEAR MINT from less handling/shelf wear should I ever choose to sell 'em off.

PS I also store a ton of the original jewel cases as I am always purging the collection, need to reassemble when I unload 'em.

So now you know my dirty little secret.

pretty much this, aside from the ones in the chamber...
which are organized (loosely) by BPMs, stringless violins, invisible guitars, and spaghetti bag percussion.

Alphabetical by mothership, chronological within the mothership, and then alphabetical by officers.

So all Beatles releated stuff is together in the 'B' area, but it goes Beatles, Harrison/Wilburys chronologically, Lennon/Ono/Plastic Ono Band chronologically, McCartney/Wings/Fireman chronologically, Starr, Cimarons, Elephant's Memory, Julian Lennon/Sean Ono Lennon/Rhada Krsna Temple, Splinter

Comedy section is separate to music section, but again:

Goon Show, Bentine, Milligan, Secombe, Sellers

Where it gets difficult:

Captain Beefheart has his own section in C, but does Bongo Fury go with Beefheart or Zappa? Trout Mask Replica - Beefheart or Zappa? My Wild Man Fischer, GTOs on Bizarre are at the end of the Zappa stuff.

Where did you put "Some Time in New York City" -- Lennon or Zappa?

_________________
You're probably wondering why I'm here
(not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

Easy. I just go by the oldest composer when there's two, three, four composers - when about each track is by a different composer, I put them with the classical compilations at the start. First classical compilations, then come compilations that stick to a certain age, then the medieval music, then it's on per composer.
Box sets, however, are put wherever I have place. They tend to have a mediocre quality about them anyway, so I don't play them much.

I easily forget about my box sets, I have one with 50 CDs and one with all Chopin and vast amounts of Bach and Mozart in boxes - once for musicology I needed a copy of Mendelssohn's 4th symphony for harmonic analysis, so I bought it - turned out it was also in my box set!


For Bongo Fury: Zappa vs CB there's only one solution: get another copy!

_________________

Join the PackardGoose forum! Send me a PM!

I'm on a first name basis with my music collection so all the John's (and there are many) are together, and Frank Zappa comes right before Fred Frith.

_________________
"Welcome to the Frank Zappa Memorial Country Club & BBQ" at wgt.com 75 members and counting.

oh yeah: only my Stockhausen-Verlag issued ceedees remain separate, in their original case/box sleeves. They are just so massive, 1/2" thick booklets, etc. and uniform it cried out for it.

Most custom sets, boxes of all sorts in general are typically a pain as far as housing the actual disc, prone to damage. I don't think they meant it as some type of Dada sandpaper concept but that's how I view them. Did you put yr big MOFO discs back in the booby trap? Or scuff yr Miles Davis in those built in, hard paper sleeves?