Music blog on UCC Boole Library record collection

Wolflinge

http://boolerecords.blogspot.com/

It's really easy. Set aside some time for yourself to spend on Q+3. Stroll up to the main desk at Q+3. Ask to see the catalogue of records. It's not drawn up too well. You won't have any indication of what the record looks like, who's on it or when it was made. As far as I can remember, you'll be faced with a lot of large plastic ring binded pages with barely legible titles. Have a browse through and see if anything catches your eye. Ask if you can order it in. You'll be notified of when it comes in. Set aside an hour or so, bring a comfortable pair of headphones and a blank tape or two.

The records currently live in a store room in a warehouse. There will never be room for them on Q+3 again. I started this blog because the collection meant the world to me as a student, and still does. I was gutted when I'd heard they'd vanished and couldn't understand why lots of people never knew they even existed up there to begin with!

I'm taking the blog at my own pace, and am not interested in uploading mp3s of any of the recordings found there. The time I spent curled up in a raggedy listening booth on the third floor was so well spent. Most of the music I discovered up there shook me more than anything I've heard since.
I hope you might share the same experience.

vx

indough

so to clarify you check out the catalogue then order in what you want to listen to? and is it possible to record what you like? is it really obscure stuff?

Wolflinge

Depends what you mean by obscure...

There's some great stuff from the 70's UNESCO collection, some Folkways stuff, some old Topic wreckchords from the 1950's (folk stuff, it's amazing -really heavy vinyl, VERY old liner notes), lots of classical stuff, modern stuff, very cool trad stuff, New World Records stuff. Basically, records you'd cack yourself over in a charity shop or the city library.

A great way to do it is to do it blindly... It was better when the collection was there, when you could flick through everything yourself and get a look at the sleeve artwork. Now you're looking through a photocopied book but the same records are still there. I used to take a stack of tapes up with me and spend the day recording stuff. Obviously the library can't officially give anyone the thumbs up to go recording stuff but there are still tape decks in the record players (I think). I listen to them from the warehouse or at home so I'm not sure.

The records can't be taken out so yeah, the best way to do it is book a bunch of records you think could be interesting and sit down with them in your own time. It might just change your life...

Vicky x

Max001

Cheers Vicky

Never would've known that resource existed
if you hadn't posted details here.

During a house move years ago I threw out all
my old vinyl that I'd been buying since I was
eleven or twelve and regret it now. There's
something about vinyl thats got more soul
than cds or mp3s, though I'm buggered if I can
explain it better than that.

Posting here was a very nice thing to do Vicky.

TanG411

Off topic: I have the exact same record player at home in that picture

On topic: This may be very interesting. I should give it a go

Wolflinge

Apologies for lack of updates in the past while. I put up a couple of new ones on the blog recently.
http://boolerecords.blogspot.com/

In related news, the Glucksman has reopened and the records I chose for the Thingumajig exhibition will be available to hear on the third floor of the gallery.

See the Glucksman website for more information on the exhibition.
http://www.glucksman.org/exhibitions_current.html

Fabio

That's mad! I'm going to have to take a look at that catelogue and do that...that's brilliant!

Thanks for posting it!