Let's See Your Collection! Any Size!

Now that @Kris has shown us what organized looks like, I'll show you what it looks like to cram 5,000+ records into a home.

I'm running out of space and at the moment in the process of shifting stuff around to 'grow' the spaces I'm devoting to specific categories of music. My current/indie and jazz sections are the fastest growing, so they're the ones that need additional space. But there's not much of that available, so I'm really going to have to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Some day.

The size of my psych/rock collection hasn't changed much, so this set of shelves is sufficient and resides in my living room.

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I've posted a photo of this one before but here it is again, located in my family room. Top two sets of shelves (full width) have been devoted to current/indie, but now I'm going to have to devote one more section of shelf to it. A good part of the next two sets of shelves have been devoted to jazz, which also is going to require another section. The bottom shelves have been the start of my (mostly older) rock collection, but now that's going to have to be shifted to the bottom-right-most shelf.

5000.2.jpg

This (first of the below photos) small two-shelf area is a continuation of my rock albums, which then also spread into the bottom three sets of shelves in the second of the below photos. The very top shelf in the second (below) photo is devoted to 80's music and assorted other stuff, and the second-from-top shelves had housed box sets and my Beatles collection. That's going to change now and rock will take over those shelves.

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My singer-songwriter albums start in the first of the below photos, which is in a unit that houses a second stereo system in my dining room. Singer-songwriter continues in the second-below photo, which is a stand for my TV in my family room.

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Then we move on to miscellaneous stuff, which is mostly either records that have come in that for whatever reason just haven't been shelved, or stuff I've been holding out to clean, or stuff I've cleaned that I didn't want to put back on the shelves yet because I wanted to listen to it first (oh, yeah, and my Dylan collection). First of these photos is a composite--they're on either side of my TV. (Now that I think about it, at least one of the cubes on the left is devoted to blues.)

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This is a vintage record cabinet in my living room that has held mostly newer stuff and records I've cleaned and want ready access to (my main system is in my living room). Now I'm thinking it will house all of my MoFi's and as many of my box sets that will fit into it.

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Finally, there's the basement, which houses records I have no good reason on this earth to even own since the likelihood of me ever listening to them is zilch. (But how to get rid of them?? Or better yet, why did I ever bring them into my house?.....) I'm posting two photos, and there also is another Ikea 2x4 shelf with only a few of its cubes devoted to records.

5000.10.jpg

Oh, well it looks like I can't attach an 11th photo, so the designers of this forum are a lot smarter than I am! You get the idea.

Anyone knocks on my door today I'll be looking to see if they're holding a straightjacket.
 
Now that @Kris has shown us what organized looks like, I'll show you what it looks like to cram 5,000+ records into a home.

I'm running out of space and at the moment in the process of shifting stuff around to 'grow' the spaces I'm devoting to specific categories of music. My current/indie and jazz sections are the fastest growing, so they're the ones that need additional space. But there's not much of that available, so I'm really going to have to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Some day.

The size of my psych/rock collection hasn't changed much, so this set of shelves is sufficient and resides in my living room.

View attachment 128642

I've posted a photo of this one before but here it is again, located in my family room. Top two sets of shelves (full width) have been devoted to current/indie, but now I'm going to have to devote one more section of shelf to it. A good part of the next two sets of shelves have been devoted to jazz, which also is going to require another section. The bottom shelves have been the start of my (mostly older) rock collection, but now that's going to have to be shifted to the bottom-right-most shelf.

View attachment 128643

This (first of the below photos) small two-shelf area is a continuation of my rock albums, which then also spread into the bottom three sets of shelves in the second of the below photos. The very top shelf in the second (below) photo is devoted to 80's music and assorted other stuff, and the second-from-top shelves had housed box sets and my Beatles collection. That's going to change now and rock will take over those shelves.

View attachment 128644


View attachment 128645


My singer-songwriter albums start in the first of the below photos, which is in a unit that houses a second stereo system in my dining room. Singer-songwriter continues in the second-below photo, which is a stand for my TV in my family room.

View attachment 128646

View attachment 128647

Then we move on to miscellaneous stuff, which is mostly either records that have come in that for whatever reason just haven't been shelved, or stuff I've been holding out to clean, or stuff I've cleaned that I didn't want to put back on the shelves yet because I wanted to listen to it first (oh, yeah, and my Dylan collection). First of these photos is a composite--they're on either side of my TV. (Now that I think about it, at least one of the cubes on the left is devoted to blues.)

View attachment 128649

View attachment 128650

This is a vintage record cabinet in my living room that has held mostly newer stuff and records I've cleaned and want ready access to (my main system is in my living room). Now I'm thinking it will house all of my MoFi's and as many of my box sets that will fit into it.

View attachment 128652

Finally, there's the basement, which houses records I have no good reason on this earth to even own since the likelihood of me ever listening to them is zilch. (But how to get rid of them?? Or better yet, why did I ever bring them into my house?.....) I'm posting two photos, and there also is another Ikea 2x4 shelf with only a few of its cubes devoted to records.

View attachment 128653

Oh, well it looks like I can't attach an 11th photo, so the designers of this forum are a lot smarter than I am! You get the idea.

Anyone knocks on my door today I'll be looking to see if they're holding a straightjacket.
Nice Outlaw amp :)
 
Now that @Kris has shown us what organized looks like, I'll show you what it looks like to cram 5,000+ records into a home.

I'm running out of space and at the moment in the process of shifting stuff around to 'grow' the spaces I'm devoting to specific categories of music. My current/indie and jazz sections are the fastest growing, so they're the ones that need additional space. But there's not much of that available, so I'm really going to have to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Some day.

The size of my psych/rock collection hasn't changed much, so this set of shelves is sufficient and resides in my living room.

View attachment 128642

I've posted a photo of this one before but here it is again, located in my family room. Top two sets of shelves (full width) have been devoted to current/indie, but now I'm going to have to devote one more section of shelf to it. A good part of the next two sets of shelves have been devoted to jazz, which also is going to require another section. The bottom shelves have been the start of my (mostly older) rock collection, but now that's going to have to be shifted to the bottom-right-most shelf.

View attachment 128643

This (first of the below photos) small two-shelf area is a continuation of my rock albums, which then also spread into the bottom three sets of shelves in the second of the below photos. The very top shelf in the second (below) photo is devoted to 80's music and assorted other stuff, and the second-from-top shelves had housed box sets and my Beatles collection. That's going to change now and rock will take over those shelves.

View attachment 128644


View attachment 128645


My singer-songwriter albums start in the first of the below photos, which is in a unit that houses a second stereo system in my dining room. Singer-songwriter continues in the second-below photo, which is a stand for my TV in my family room.

View attachment 128646

View attachment 128647

Then we move on to miscellaneous stuff, which is mostly either records that have come in that for whatever reason just haven't been shelved, or stuff I've been holding out to clean, or stuff I've cleaned that I didn't want to put back on the shelves yet because I wanted to listen to it first (oh, yeah, and my Dylan collection). First of these photos is a composite--they're on either side of my TV. (Now that I think about it, at least one of the cubes on the left is devoted to blues.)

View attachment 128649

View attachment 128650

This is a vintage record cabinet in my living room that has held mostly newer stuff and records I've cleaned and want ready access to (my main system is in my living room). Now I'm thinking it will house all of my MoFi's and as many of my box sets that will fit into it.

View attachment 128652

Finally, there's the basement, which houses records I have no good reason on this earth to even own since the likelihood of me ever listening to them is zilch. (But how to get rid of them?? Or better yet, why did I ever bring them into my house?.....) I'm posting two photos, and there also is another Ikea 2x4 shelf with only a few of its cubes devoted to records.

View attachment 128653

Oh, well it looks like I can't attach an 11th photo, so the designers of this forum are a lot smarter than I am! You get the idea.

Anyone knocks on my door today I'll be looking to see if they're holding a straightjacket.
Wow, that’s an amazing collection! I too have half a crate of records I can’t bring myself to just throw away.
 
John Peel's 120,000 album collection being curated to other artists by his son Tom Ravenscroft
With collections of this size I find it interesting what might be in it. Being someone "famous" kind of adds to the intrigue, who gave him what, who signed what, demos and so on. Would be fun to just be able to thumb through it. :)
 
With collections of this size I find it interesting what might be in it. Being someone "famous" kind of adds to the intrigue, who gave him what, who signed what, demos and so on. Would be fun to just be able to thumb through it. :)
In the case of John Peel he was one of the longest-running BBC DJ's and had an incredibly successful show. Musicians used to send him demos, tapes and vinyl in the hopes that he would listen and give them airtime. It's no understatement to say that he launched the British careers of several now well-known groups and artists. He was also something of an obsessive and reportedly would listen to every bit of music that was sent his way (although im sure in later years this became impossible). He would time each track and place the correct times on the tracklisting, as well as giving each song a star rating which he would then use to select which songs to play on his shows.

Supposedly he was the first to play the likes of Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Happy Monday's, Joy Division, Sex Pistols.....

@JohnnyCashFan made a thread that will be interesting. The other day I also shared the new BBC show that sees musicians visit Peel Acres to dig into the vinyl and create a playlist whilst also chatting to Peel's son (the Nubya Garcia one is great). I have linked that below along with a few other interesting Peel related videos.

Nice idea! I will dump the post I put up the other day here as well as there are a couple of good links in there. The Mr Thing video is really interesting and the one that took me down the John Peel rabbit hole.

There is also this BBC doc that aired quite a while ago now. After his passing a box was found in the house which contained Peel's favourite records of all time. The "John Peel's Record Box" highlights each of these with musicians and celebs giving comments.



Then there is also this youtube vid where Peel himself shares some of his rarities.

 
John Peel's 120,000 album collection being curated to other artists by his son Tom Ravenscroft

Nice podcast ..I listened to the Damon Albarn one ..very interesting... felt sorry for the family trying to deal with that daunting collection and how best to honour it
 
I have a few weeks off, so I’ve been reorganizing some records and building new shelves. The set of shelves on the right side of the photo has been dismantled and repurposed. The new set I’ve built is a mirror image of the set on the left, but with some drawers for 45s.

B6A615BA-1B12-43F3-B8C1-11E3D14D2088.jpeg
It always bothered me that the shelves on the right were taller than those on the left.
The taller set was from my old loft space in Brooklyn. I just needed to have some usable record storage so I moved them up and put them to use. The shelf unit on the left I built specifically for my new home here in the lower Hudson Valley.
 
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I have a few weeks off, so I’ve been reorganizing some records and building new shelves. The set of shelves on the right side of the photo has been dismantled and repurposed. The new set I’ve built is a mirror image of the set on the left, but with some drawers for 45s.

View attachment 138528
It always bothered me that the shelves on the right were taller than those on the left.
The taller set was from my old loft space in Brooklyn. I just needed to have some usable record storage so I moved them up and put them to use. The shelf unit on the left I built specifically for my new home here in the lower Hudson Valley.

This is one of those rooms I'd never want to leave...
 
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