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PAM
@pamsrecordcollection
Residing in the Northern California area of the States, Pam has an immense passion for music and her record collection shows that fact. Each record is carefully selected for her collection which is pretty incredible considering she has close to 5600 records!
The variety in Pam’s collection is astounding and there are genres, records and artists in it that Im sure even the experienced music fan wont have listened to! Its an honour featuring Pam’s incredible collection for this project and it deserves to be recognised as one of the best in the vinyl community!
You have an extensive record collection but do you remember what the first one you bought was?
I can’t remember the first album I bought with my own money if I’m honest. The first adult album I was given, by my mom, was The Beatles “Hey Jude.” I still have it in my collection.
When did you start collecting records?
I started acquiring rock records when I was around 7 years old, but at that time I wasn’t collecting so much as that’s just how I listened to music. I did collect Beatles records early on, though. I got rid of some albums over the years, mostly when I was in college and needed the money or didn’t want to haul them around but never any Beatles albums! And most of the stuff that i got rid of I wasn’t too keen on but still there were some regrets there, like Sid Vicious’ solo album. I thought it was horrible but now it’s pretty collectible so I wish I had kept it. I think that record acquisition turned to record collecting, in a big way, when I paid off my student loans and had some disposable income to spend on records.
How many Beatles records do you have in your collection?
On last count I have 86 LP’s and 16 45’s. There are some variants and bootlegs accounting for some of that number also. I don’t go out of my way to find variants usually, but some have crossed my path and I will happily add them to my collection. I am a huge Beatles fan!
So how many records do you have in your collection?
It’s currently around 5,600. I do catalog them in Discogs but I know that I’ve missed a few here and there, especially foreign language albums that weren’t in the database and I was too lazy to add into Discogs.
Do you have a dedicated room in your house where you listen to records and where your collection is stored? Talk me through your shelving units?
The room that used to be the living room is now my record and listening room. All of my storage shelves are from IKEA which is a combination of “Expedit” (the old model from IKEA) and “Kallax”. I have all of my rock and soul albums in two 25 cubes against one wall. My jazz records and soundtracks are in a 16 cube unit on the other side of the room. I then keep my classical and country albums in one next to that. My international folk albums are in an 8 cube unit with my stereo components on top. Its a set up that works really well with the room size and the size of my record collection.
Were there records in your house growing up from your parents or your family?
Yes, there were records in my house when I was a child. My parents kept their records in my room, so I remember being very young - I know I was less then 4 years - and looking at the cover of Jimmy Smith’s “Midnight Special” and Merle Haggard’s “The Bottle Let Me Down.” My mom was a jazz collector and she wouldn’t let me touch her records until I was a teenager. My dad had a lot of country and bluegrass albums. He played guitar in a bluegrass band. He, on the other hand, didn’t take such good care of his records although they’re still in pretty good shape. They both passed their record collections on to me. My mom’s records are pretty stellar, because she was buying jazz albums on Bluenote, Prestige, and Impulse in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Plus, she took excellent care of them.
Where do you go record shopping?
Anywhere there are records, really. Before the lockdown, I looked for records in thrift shops a lot. As for record stores, my favourite ones are in and near San Francisco. Down Home Records has a lot of great, obscure stuff, and there are two very good record stores within walking distance in Berkeley which are Ameoba Records (@ameobaberkeley) and Rasputin Records (@rasputinmusic). I keep on eye on local ads for people selling record collections.
Do you just buy in local record shops or do you buy online too? What about buying from eBay or Discogs at all?
I do buy from both eBay and Discogs, especially the last few months during the pandemic. Sometimes that’s the only way to find a somewhat obscure record. Buying from eBay can be nerve wracking, though. There’s that joke going around social media about having your record show up in a pizza box. That’s happened to me!
What do you think of Discogs as a tool for record collectors? Some people have told me it raises the price of second hand records as sellers can check how much they are selling for on there? What do you think?
It wasn’t that long ago, only a few years ago, that only record collectors knew about Discogs. As soon as the general public started catching on, I started seeing thrift shops marking their albums at insane prices, even if they were all beat up. I’ve noticed that sellers will often look at that “maximum” column in Discogs and price their albums there, not realising that the album that went for that price might be a promo or something. So yes, I think that Discogs has been both a blessing and a curse for collectors. Its a good tool for keeping track of your collection and what records you have when you are out digging.
What’s the record you have found for a great price that sticks out for while you have been digging?
As far as worth, probably Moondog’s “The Story of Moondog” on the Prestige record label. I found it in a thrift shop for two dollars and the condition is VG+ or better. I’ve found some good ones over the years. I found two Modern Lovers records on Beserkley for a dollar each. That was weird! I also found Iggy Pop’s “The Idiot” at a garage sale for a dollar which was an amazing result!
Finally, what would you want to happen to your collection when you pass on?
Yeah, I’ve thought about that before. I plan to hang on to them until the end of my days, but once I’m gone I expect they’ll just be sold off. That’s fine with me, as long as they go to someone who will get as much enjoyment from them as I have. I’ve actually written a little note in my copy of “Hey Jude” explaining it’s personal history to me, so that the next person who gets it will know that it meant something special to the person who owned it before they did.
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