Hidden Gems!

[Vince Capece]

What are those hidden gems in your record collection? Records that aren't necessarily collectible but you wouldn't want to part with them. Records that you pull out whenever the conversation leads toward interesting music. We've all got them. Here's a taste of mine:

Def Leppard "Rocket" single - I've got all seven vinyl singles from the Def Leppard album "Hysteria" and they all have interesting B-sides. "Rocket," however, has the most interesting. It's listed as "Release Me" by "Stumpus Maximus and the Good Ol' Boys." It's actually Def Leppard with their tour manager Malvin Mortimer singing and Joe Elliot on piano. They cover Engelbert Humperdinck's classic song but it'll never be on a Humperdinck tribute album. It's something that needs to be heard...mere words can't describe the....um...performance.

Berlin "Masquerade" single - This lesser-known Berlin track from their debut album "Pleasure Victim" is a great song, but the flip side is a live extended version of their first hit "Sex (I'm A...)," at over six minutes it is perhaps the longest song on a single that I own.

Dire Straits "Love Over Gold" - Before they released "Brothers in Arms," there was "Love Over Gold." Only five tracks long, the album contains "Industrial Disease" (a radio-friendly track that got me to buy the album in the first place), the title track (a beautiful song in the Dire Straits tradition), and "Telegraph Road," an epic song that was re-recorded for the "Live Alchemy" album later.

[Bryan Bierman]

My favorite is an album by Renaldo + The Loaf called "Songs For Swinging Larvae." They were signed by The Residents' record label because nobody else would sign them. It's unarguably (?) the weirdest album ever made. It's also great.

[Daniel Edlen]

Utrenja by Penderecki is both an amazing piece of music and an important recording in the development of my taste in music. As I discuss in the post linked to above, how we find out about music, how it works itself into our lives, is vital to our appreciation of it. I've got some Philip Glass, Reich, and Adams in my collection, along with Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg. I've got a mess of classical. But it's Utrenja and the Bach performed by Glenn Gould that are my gems because of how they came to me. Gould was introduced to me by my piano teacher as well as the movie with Firth. Understanding the man, the music, and its connection with my piano teacher make it part of me.

I've also got some great psychedelic stuff, and, well, Beatle bootlegs that'd be probably considered gems.

Peace.

[Paul Luscusk]

Daniel, I can relate. I played classical music most of my life, but could not get into chamber music at all. I was the music director at my college radio station, and one day in the package of promos from CBS was a copy of the the Dvorak String Quartet No 6 (American) and the Quintet No 3. by the Budapest Quartet it was to by their last release.I knew that we would never play in on the station, so I took it home (aaah the perks of college radio) This record changed my musical life. The Allegro ma non troppo of the American(1st movement)moved me so much,( I'm felling it even as I type this), This record led to a life long live of Chamber music, just as Howard Hanson, "The Composer and His Orchestra,"fixed forever my love of lagre scale classical music(I was 9 years old I first heard that record) I've glad to say I have The Mono Lp and the stereo CD.

[Alan B. Cook]

Paul McCartney-”Unplugged (The Official Bootleg.)" Unfortunately it was never released in the US so you have to buy it as an import. It was recorded during an MTV unplugged appearance, and released by Parlophone. It is not a bootleg, that’s just a tongue in cheek title. The entire album is what unplugged is supposed to be, all acoustic instruments! The album preserves the witty between song banter, retuning of instruments, moving of microphones, etc. It’s easy to hear that everyone involved is having a great time, including the band. The audience is very respectful, yet excited. One of the most natural and engaging live albums that I have ever heard. The sound quality is extremely high. There is a minimum of compression and great sound staging depth. As Paul turns around to direct comments to the band or steps away from the mic the tonality of his voice changes. Also when he messes up the lyrics of an old Beatles song the frustration in his voice is apparent, as he apologizes to the audience. Geoff Emerick did a great job in the engineering and mixing department. The material is a mixture of old rockabilly, Beatles material, and early McCartney solo work. This album is priceless.

[Paul Luscusk]

Alan, it was released in the US but only on CD for a very limited time and then went "out of print"(I Have a copy) Japanese CD's (if you can find them go for around $100.00 I

[Alan B. Cook]

At one time it was quite rare but Amazon has the CD pretty reasonably:

http://www.amazon.com/Unplugged-Official-Bootleg-Paul-McCartney/dp/...

Another closely related album much in the same off the cuff, for the hell of it vein is Choba B CCCP. Which was originally released only in the USSR:

http://www.amazon.com/Choba-B-CCCP-Back-USSR/dp/B000002UZL/ref=pd_b...

Both, I believe were available on record for short period of time, but are pretty rare now.

[Paul Luscusk]

I see this record used all the time in Pasadena Ca . Usually under$15.00,

[Steve Nathan]

I've got so many hidden gems, in my humble opinion, that I would not know where to start .... I consider records to be hidden gems, period, in 2008! I actually do most of my current listening on Rhapsody .... cheap and easy and a huge catalog. I even found Viking Crown out there tonight ... that's another Phil Anselmo (Pantera) New Orleans metal project .... appropriate for Halloween (or Helloween ?)

I have a gem, no longer very listenable, sitting on my mantle .... Leonard Bernstein / NY Philharmonic / Beethoven's 7th on Columbia, the original 1958 stereo release. I played it to death when I was about 7 on an ancient RCA stereo my grandfather found in a pawnshop in '63. I think it had a 32 ounce steel hammer for a tone arm ....

My latest is "Gods Of The Earth" by the Sword on Kemado Records (pictured on my site). Very heavy stuff and a classic cover that reminds me of Yes albums from the 70's. 1 of 1,000 pressed. Released April 1, 2008.

I have a copy of "Look-Ka Py Py" by the Meters in near mint condition, I say near simply because I opened it and played it once and that is it (I have the CD of course). Classic New Orleans, I think this one is on Josie Records. ? I'll have to get it out and share that one.

Do have a near mint copy of "The Cry Of Love" by Jimi Hendrix. I had not seen that one since I was 14. And I was 14 when I heard on the radio that he had died, I can still picture exactly where I was and what I was doing, it was that terrible, my heart was just broken. Welcome to the real world, Steve.

I actually gave up listening to records for a long while, then once about 300 CD's were stolen out of my collection and I went bankrupt and had to sell the rest for food and shelter (I ripped everything, of course) .... once I finally was able to regain prosperity :-) I discovered used records in a store in Louisville, along with the huge collection on EBAY .... and have more vinyl than ever, but they only come out on Saturday morning ....

[Vince Capece]

Does anyone have those "hidden gems" that are in your collection, you never play them (for good reason) but won't get rid of them either?

I've found a few over the years. I won a record on a radio contest once for a local band called "The Lincoln Conspiracy." The band was AWFUL, but they did a cover of "In the Year 2525"...no less awful than the rest of the record. The inner sleeve includes the lyrics.

Browsing through a record store back in the late 1980s, I found a new release by Jon Bon Jovi's cousin Jodi Bongiovi. Again, the record is bad and includes the cover of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" (about an octave higher than Grace Slick's version).

Another local band called "Tommi Gunn" was popular on the local radio stations with their "hit" song "KMA" ("Kiss My..."). I may have to pull that one out when I get home tonight.

[Paul Luscusk]

Since I had to pack and unpack and put away all my Lp''s this last week I found a buried "hidden gem." "Hot Socks "by Sha na na . I got this as a radio station giveaway from Capt.Kearth of KRTH FM the oldies station in LA about 1972 or 73 I don't really remember. He flew in to the parking lot (In a chopper)of the record store I was working at.The album is a strange mix of "covers" and some original stuff, like the title "Hot Socks(it's a lame dance song) with a cool Bowzer lead bass vocal".Grease For Peace"

[Chris Sommovigo]

I'm in the middle of a catastrophic move between offices, homes, industrial spaces. Late last week I was packing my collection and ran across a few interesting titles - but none that gave me a smile bigger than seeing my original copy of Spinal Tap's "Black Album" - which I bought the moment it hit the bins, after having seen the film who knows how many times. Since the whole HiFi is packed away right now, I haven't listened to it - but just thinking about it brings back the tunes to my memory.

Big Bottoms, Big Bottoms
Talk about mud-flaps, my girl's got'em
Big Bottoms drive me out of my mind!
How could I leave this ... behind?

[Paul Luscusk]

Chris ,
just don't get stuck in a Hell Hole,and don't sniff the glove.