RECORD STORE TALES #1114: Music Groups / Party Poopers

They say it’s not about size, but I do have a pretty big music collection.  I guesstimate at around 6000 CDs at present.  Because my goal in collecting music is to acquire physical copies of “all the official tracks” by the bands I like, I do have a lot of rare discs in my collection.  Primarily, Japanese imports with bonus tracks.  I don’t go out of my way to buy multiple copies on multiple formats (though I still do) and I don’t shell out big bucks for anything if I already have all the tunes.  I don’t buy cassette reissues, I don’t worry about vinyl variants.  I just want a physical copy of “all the official tracks”, be they remixes, live, or whatever.

Because I have so many rare CDs, twice in 2022, Tim Durling asked me to guest on his show Tim’s Vinyl Confessions.  We did two episodes on rare CDs (#351 and #390).  I showed off a number of my imports, but because my music is so scattered around the house (a whole other story), I missed a few.  Some I didn’t even think of.  I mean, I could have grabbed every Japanese import in my house, but instead I grabbed a few dozen of the closest ones with obi strip intact.  They just look cooler that way.

Fast forward a year to summer of 2023.  While relaxing one Saturday afternoon at the cottage, I was ambushed by Tim and John the Music Nut, as they tried to coerce me into buying some Y&T CDs.  Their methods worked, and I ordered Black Tiger, UnEarthed Vol. 1, and the DVD On With the Show.  However, Tim was flabbergasted when the subject of “Go For the Throat” came up.  “You need the 2006 reissue of In Rock We Trust,” cautioned Tim, “because, aside from the Hear N’ Aid CD, it’s the only place you can get that track on CD.”

“I have Hear N’ Aid on CD,” I responded.

“WHAT?”  Tim was absolutely floored, flabbergasted, and perhaps a little betrayed that I had never brought this fact up before.

Hear N’ Aid, of course, was a project produced by Ronnie James Dio in 1986 to raise funds for famine relief in Africa.  It was released on cassette and LP, with a 7″ and 12″ single too.  There was a documentary on VHS, and sources report there was even a very rare CD single in Japan (found on a Japanese music auction site).  In 1986, there was no compact disc release.

This changed in 1994 when a limited Japanese CD was released overseas. It was deleted again shortly after.

“Mike…that has to be one of the rarest CDs you own!  Why didn’t you show it off on my show when we did rare CDs?”

The Music Nut concurred that it was very hard to find on CD.  It didn’t occur to me.  I acquired it for about $15 many years before, from “Gum Chewin’ Conrad”, a customer of mine at the Record Store who always sold Japanese imports (no obi, unfortunately).  I also had a cassette (in a Thunder Bay landfill now) and vinyl, but the CD was the only thing they cared about.  A few days later I posted about it on Facebook, and Reed Little from the Contrarians immediately jumped into the comments, remarking on my rare treasure.

There must be some issue with record labels and estates, considering the artists involved.  The Hendrix estate is already a tangled affair, and there was a Jimi song on the album (“Can You See Me”).  The album also contains rare live Kiss, Scorpions, Accept, Dio, Rush and Motorhead.  The song “Stars” recorded by the supergroup Hear N’ Aid, had members of Motley Crue, Dokken, Journey, Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Blue Oyster Cult, Queensryche, Night Ranger, W.A.S.P., Y&T, and solo artists such as Ted Nugent and Yngwie J. Malmsteen.  Even Spinal Tap were involved.  You can imagine, this must be why Wendy Dio has struggled so long trying to reissue the album.

In recent months, I began dipping my toes into the murky world of Facebook discussion groups.  The best, by far, is Jamie Laszlo’s Let’s Get Physical.  I enjoy the Rock Candy Magazine group.  I also joined a couple Facebook CD collector groups.  The experience was, to say the least, mixed.

I discovered one property that I will declare as an axiom:  there is always a party pooper in any Facebook music discussion group.

Disclaimer:  When I collect, I don’t care so much about value.  I care how much I spend for music I want, but not resale value.  I am also not an audiophile and tend not to get along well with diehard audiophiles.

I decided to post my Hear N’ Aid CD in the Rock Candy music group and see what the reaction was.  My caption was “Some folks say this is the rarest CD that I own,” which is 100% true.  Folks do say that.

There were over 500 reactions, and only two negative comments.  Negative comments, sadly, are as constant as the north star.

“It’s not that rare,” said the first Negative Nancy.  “There are copies on Discogs right now for as low as $50, and there are 17 copies available.”

Thanks.  Go buy one, then.

The other Negative Nancy wasn’t happy with the sound quality on the CD.  He complained there’s a low hum throughout the disc.  He showed me some kind of graph.  I told him I was very happy with my disc, and I enjoyed listening to the music and never noticed a hum.  He told me I never really listened.

I get it, everybody wants to say their two cents.  Most people were very cool and posted pictures from their own collections.  From about 500 reactions, there were about 10 to 15 people who owned the album on CD.  Most had vinyl, cassette, the single, or a VHS tape.

I left one CD collector group immediately, when all the comments were either focused on value or sound quality.  I stayed in another group, despite two weird comments.

“Crappy pic…more disc, less face next time,” said one guy who couldn’t read the title and never heard of the zoom feature.

“This CD is mastered from the LP,” said another guy who had no evidence for his claim.  “Wendy Dio doesn’t own the masters and the reissue will also be taken from vinyl,” he insisted.

Weird folks in some of those music groups, I’ll tell you.  The audiophiles reminded me of dealing with those types in my Record Store days.  Guys who could hear things I never could, and get angry because I couldn’t.  Music collectors are by and large an amicable group of nerds, but there’s always one or two ready to rain on your parade.