Crate Digging: Deep Diving My Own Record Collection

Introducing the First Four

Have you ever bought a record just for one song? Have you ever done that so many times that you start to run out of physical space for all your records and then wonder how you accumulated so many that you don’t even remember buying half of them? I have. I have definitely been pulled in by the hunt, the thrill of digging and finding new records to the point where once I have them, I don’t really play them. Well, it’s time I change that.

I recently rewatched High Fidelity, the TV series. Not the movie with John Cusack, but the Hulu show with Zoe Kravitz, which personally, I find far superior. While I was watching, I was so taken with how Rob, Simon, and Cherise spoke so fluidly and with ease about all of these different types of records and they just sounded so knowledgable. I know just a little about a lot of things, but only a lot about a few things. I want to expand my depth of knowledge about my greatest interest—music, of course. I remember I used to read books on punk and I would watch interviews just to look up every musician that an artist I loved mentioned. I used to be in such a phase of learning, but at some point that stopped and I don’t know when that was. When did I stop learning and started trying—trying to be impressive, trying to sound smart? It’s a wasted effort. There will always be someone who’s unimpressed or who definitely knows more than you and you’ll have never felt dumber. So instead of trying to prove anything to anyone, I’m just going to be curious and I’m starting by being curious about my own collection.

Once a month, I’ll be compiling all the records I’ve spun that month into one reflection that goes directly to your inbox. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you also love these albums, own them yourself, or are thinking of giving them a listen for the first time.

Starting off, here are the first four in my collection, in alphabetical order:

America—Hearts (1975)

I originally bought this record for $1.95 because I knew one song. We all have those records (at least I hope we all do), but I had never listened to it the whole way through. It started off on the folkier side of folk-rock with “Daisy Jane” followed by a rockier offering on “Half a Man” but then sounded pretty samesies until “People in the Valley” caught my ear. The song itself was only 2:95 in play time but when I flipped the record and “Company” played, I thought I was still listening to the same song. Upon a second listen I hear now that they are different songs, but I really thought it was a 5 minute song split over two sides, which might have been interesting had they done that. I wonder if another band has. The standout track for me, aside from “Sister Golden Hair” has to be “Woman Tonight.” It surprised me by how different it sounded to the song before it. I also enjoyed “The Bell Tree.” I know a song intrigues me if it inspires me to look up the track listing to find out what it’s called. I was also surprised to find that George Martin (yes, that George Martin) produced this record and the cover was designed by Phil Hartman before he later went on to Saturday Night Live.

Overall I liked it and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it having only known one song when I bought it. But over the time that’s passed since I listened to it, I don’t find myself thinking that much about it. It might be one that I put on in the background while I work, but I probably wouldn’t put it on to dance around my room.

Arctic Monkeys—AM (2013)

Seeing that I own this record, you’re probably thinking one of two things, either that I must be the most basic bandwaggoner or you’re nodding because you own it too. In my defense, they would have taken my “Tumblr teenager in 2014 with a Crosley player” card if I didn’t own this record so really it was a necessity. I was already pretty familiar with this album before I gave it a spin again recently, but hearing it again with fresh ears, I think it might hold up to the hype.

So many of Arctic Monkeys’ biggest songs come from this album—“Do I Wanna Know?,” “R U Mine?,” “Arabella,” “I Wanna Be Yours,” and “Why’d You’d Only Call Me When You’re High?” Special mention for “Fireside” which I’ve come around to in the last year or so. Despite knowing this record better than I did the America record, I still hadn’t listened to this album the whole way through until now. The fun thing about this experiment is learning new things about records I’ve owned for years, including liking songs that are new to me such as “One for the Road” and “Mad Sounds,” which has a kind of Lou Reed sound to it. That said, I just couldn’t get behind “Snap Out of It.” Knowing a bit about the albums that followed this one, I think “No 1 Party Anthem” sounds a bit like  predecessor to Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino.

Listening to this record had me thinking a lot about the sound trajectory of this band. Over their 20 plus years as a group, each of their seven albums have such distinct styles with their own different vibes and influences. This album takes the style of the ‘60s garage bands that later lent their sound to the formation of ‘70s punk. The version of “I Wanna Be Yours,” originally by punk poet John Cooper Clarke, lends to this association with that vibe. It’s interesting that the band hovers around that sound and influence on this album as their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare is said to be following in the sound of the early Strokes, which they themselves were following in the style of the ‘60s garage band sound.

I think my record skips on the opening track which is a bit a bummer, but there’s also something kinda romantic about it as a record owner, like I’ll always know this copy of the record is mine because it skips in a specific place.

Kelsea Ballerini—SUBJECT TO CHANGE (2022)

I love this album SO much. It came out in September 2022 just as I was getting settled in Edinburgh and it quickly became the only thing I wanted to listen to. Not usually a country pop listener before this, it just scratched something in my brain. I’m so sad I didn’t get to see her when she played in Glasgow a few months later, but I’m hoping with the huge year she’s had, she’ll be making a stop in Pittsburgh on her next tour.

Because I love this album, I knew it very well already when I spun it for this week’s listen. Songs like “I Guess They Call It Fallin’” and “Muscle Memory” have been favorites since my earliest listens, but hearing the slower songs like “Universe,” “Love is a Cowboy,” and “Marilyn” sounded more powerful on vinyl, like I was really hearing them for the first time and understanding their meaning. I’ve read in other reviews that “Weather” isn’t well liked amongst critics, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s fun and summery and I like the metaphor of changing feelings as quick and extreme as the changing weather.

One of the reasons I love this album and find myself keep coming back to it is it’s theme of change and transition. Songs like “Subject to Change,” “It’s The Little Things,” “Doin’ My Best,” and “What I Have” feel like such important reminders as I go through my own era of change and rediscovery.

Although Ballerini has always toed the line between country and pop in her music, with the massive success of her EP, there were murmurs that she was going to transition fully to pop music a la Taylor Swift. But she recently resigned with her indie label in Nashville and appears to be staying put in country music. This move isn’t all that surprising, especially when listening to this album. If there was ever an accusation that Ballerini was more pop in her country-pop sound, this albums disproves that notion. “Heartfirst” sounds so much like the music of Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, and maybe a little Shania. “You’re Drunk, Go Home” features fellow country singers Carly Pearce, who has recently become another favorite of mine, and Kelly Clarkson. “I Can’t Help Myself” has writing credits from Josh Osborne of The Brothers Osborne. Shane McAnally, who I know from his frequent collaborations with Kacey Musgraves, but he’s written for lots of country artists and collaborated outside of country, produced this album with Ballerini and Julian Bunetta. These credits from Osborne and McAnally stand out as they are both queer men in the country music genre, which can be unkind to artists who don’t fit into the mold of what Music Row wants. But Ballerini doesn’t play by Music Row’s rules and I think to the betterment of her career. By being on an indie label, she’s less bound to the conservative culture of mainstream country music which allows her do things like perform with drag queens at last year’s CMT Awards in protest of Tennessee’s drag ban. On top of being the right thing to do, I think this also helped endear her to a larger audience outside of mainstream country than she may have gotten if she played by Nashville’s rules.

Kelsea Ballerini—Rolling Up the Welcome Mat/(For Good) (2023)

We got a Kelsea Ballerini double feature! I was still jamming to SUBJECT TO CHANGE in early 2023 when she announced this EP and, rightfully so, the pop girlies came running. If we credit Taylor Swift for elevating pop songwriting, then Ballerini is an obvious Swift disciple in that. But Ballerini is an artist in her own right and this EP speaks for itself. What Ballerini is able to do with this short 6-7 tracks is more powerful and packs a greater punch than some artists are able to do with full albums. Of the recent string of country girl divorce albums, including Kacey Musgraves’ star-crossed, Carly Pearce’s 29, (new subgenre pending) I think this is the very best. A few months later in August she released Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good) which included an extra song as well as a few updated tracks. This particular vinyl that I ordered directly from her store includes both versions of the EP, one on each side. And this is easily the most gorgeous vinyl I own, split half and half and described as “7am smoky sunrise” on her site.

As soon as I put the record on, I noticed the sound of thunder before the opening song, a detail I had never heard when listening to the song on streaming. That’s what I love about vinyl and especially this project, I’m getting to notice little details that I hadn’t before. The physical act of picking out a record, putting it on to play, and not being able to pause or restart a song makes me a more conscious listener and I’m able to get so much more out of the experience then if I just hit play on Spotify. Fellow record collectors, especially those that have been collecting for decades are probably thinking “Well duh, that’s the point,” but I just wanted to appreciate the ritual of playing a physical record.

The opening song “Mountain With A View” is a direct response to Ballerini’s ex husband’s song “Over For You” which he released in November 2022 and asks “I'm just wondering/How long has it been over for you?” If he thought he was being clever in getting ahead of this story and getting his side out there first to garner sympathy, he had another thing coming.

To open her EP, Ballerini sings “Scream, I'm just like my parents and givin' up easy/But you never took that last flight to see me/Looks like our ending ain't endin' happily/I think that this is when it's over for me.” She references his song a few more times on the record, notably responding to his claim “I would have searched the whole world over for you/Took a flight, through the night” with “Now you're singing it loud on the radio, like you're the only heart that breaks/You would've searched the whole world over? Yeah, sure, okay.” Even with that, she’s never mean on this record. The final song, “Leave Me Again,” I think is very kind given what’s been alluded to in terms of how she was treated in her marriage. In her final address to him, she genuinely wishes him well and hopes in the future that she never again sacrifices parts of herself to make someone else happy.

Turning the record over to the updated Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good), I was a tad disappointed that some of the songs are identical on both sides. However, the more I thought about it, I actually really love that this is a duo record and you get the best of both versions. I don’t think it’s necessarily a record that you would play both sides of each time you listen to it, like you would a full album. Instead, this is a record that you can have your pick of which side you want to hear.

On the updated version, the extended “Interlude” is even more biting with references again to him trying to get ahead of the story and painting her as the villain, “I hope you sleep better at night now that you got an army/Of people that believe I'm the word that you used to call me.”

The added song at the end of the updated version is “How Do I Do This,” which has solidified the updated version as my favorite and is one of the biggest reasons I wanted this on vinyl. After promising to never leave herself again, this song is her trying to get back to dating after not being on a date since she was in her early 20s. A Youtube comment on a reaction made this connection, but it’s just so perfect how the last line of the EP ends with “And now it’s 7 on the dot” and the first line if you were to start it over again would be “It's 7 AM and I'm on a mountain with a view.” Something about that symmetry is just so satisfying.