Sometimes I think of it as more than a collection of records. More like 800 little pieces of 'art'. In more recent times when they weren't played as much, I tended to look at it as a unique kind of 'furniture', in as much as it colourfully filled most of a wall in my home.

Anyone who has collected both vinyl records and CD's will surely agree that real 'cover art' was lost with the demise of vinyl. The little booklets that come with CD's are as rigidly formatted as the music is itself these days. With vinyl records, 'artistry' and imagination extended beyond the grooves of the records and into the sleeves and packaging.

Obviously I can't show all 800 covers. But I would like to show some visual highlights and share some observations that formed as I created this web site showcase for the collection.

First and last. The Beatles get credit for a lot of music innovations, but consider this... they took a lot of us from 45 rpm singles to the 33 1/3 rpm record album. This first Beatles Canadian release, capturing the excitement of those days, was the first real album I bought. Chronologically, the collection closes with Don Henley's appropriately titled album "The End of the Innocence". This dark, moody album came out in 1989 just as I (and everyone else) was switching over to CD's.

In terms of 'quantity', by individual recording artists, Dylan leads by far. There are 24 Bob Dylan albums in the collection. It clearly demonstrates his influence in both lyrics and musical styles. Here he takes us from Folk through Rock to Country and beyond. Other innovators, The Doors, had a much more short-lived career. The collection contains all the major Doors releases including the controversial "American Prayer" which is Jim Morrison's spoken word poetry album done before he died.

Every collection has its share of obscurities and mine is no exception. Most interesting among these are albums where there's one song that lives forever on the radio. Blue Oyster Cult are probably the ultimate example... doomed for all time to be known for "Don't Fear the Reaper". Here's your chance to hear it in the context of their album "Agents of Fortune". The Buggles are a band nobody's heard of but everyone knows their anthem to the video era... "Video Killed the Radio Star".

Another way the Beatles changed the world of music. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" raised album cover art to fantastic new heights. The ultra competitive Rolling Stones followed with the amazing 3-D plastic patch on their "Satanic Majesties" album. Then there's the ultimate gimmick -- the Andy Warhol 'zipper' on "Sticky Fingers". Other artists with a penchant for packaging include Jefferson Airplane and Alice Cooper. Search in vain in CD's for interesting and fun inserts. My records contain all the original stuff the artists intended you to have.

It is mostly Rock but some of the 800 albums would fall into other categories. Some would be called 'Folk' music from the pre-rock Dylan era. Tragic folkie singer/songwriter Phil Ochs is shown here on his album "Pleasure of the Harbor". There is also a smattering of Soul and Motown (Stevie Wonder) including Curtis Mayfield's marvelous music for the movie "Super Fly". I was somewhat surprised to discover I owned several comedy albums by the likes of Cheech and Chong.

If anyone out there is still making 'concept' albums, they aren't turning them into hits. Radio formats won't allow it. But there was a time when recording artists made big 'profound' (or was that pretentious?) albums that wanted to be more than a collection of songs. The Who were the masters of this. Before their operatic work ("Tommy"), they did a clever concept album with pseudo commercials ("The Who Sell Out"). The ultimate 'concept' was Jethro Tull's all-one-song "Thick As a Brick".

I guess S must have been my favourite letter. Of the 800 albums, 100 are by artists filed under S. B, C, D and M were other popular letters. Prominent among the S's is Rod Stewart. Shown here is his breakthrough album "Every Picture Tells a Story". Bruce Springsteen fans will know he had 2 albums before "Born to Run", including "Asbury Park". Other significant S artists are: Bob Seeger, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Steppenwolf, Cat Stevens and Supertramp. And yes, there are two solo albums by Ringo Star.

I hope you enjoyed this brief words-and-pictures tour of the highlights of my record collection. It is intended as more than something to help sell the collection. It is designed to be a permanent 'remembrance of my records (see Personal Introduction section). To view all 800 titles, go to the list section.

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