Buying the same album over and over?

[zorrow]

Have you ever bought the same album more than once? If you have, how many times, which artist and why?

I ask the question because I just purchased King Diamond's "Abigail" Top Shelf Edition. I have the original album, plus a couple of reissues (German and Polish), plus the Gold Edition, the 25th Anniversary Edition and now this one, plus the album is included in a King Diamond boxset I own. BTW, I already had all the albums contained in the aforementioned boxset. Why do I do this? Well, because I collect King Diamond and Mercyful Fate albums!

Now, what's your story?

[Steve Haynie]

KISS records and cassettes were repurchased on CD, but not the remasters. The same is true for Cheap Trick and a lot of other bands.

Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies was bought twice on cassette because one was eaten in a cassette player. Then it was bought again on CD. But wait! There was a special edition CD that came later with live tracks and hard to find tracks. That album was purchased four times!

[Willie G. Moseley]

There were LPs, and I later bought the cassette version, and later bought the CD. May have gotten rid of the CD, and sometimes wish I had 'em back. Examples of CDs I wish I had back include Santana's third album (extended version w/ live tracks, and "Everybody's Everything" has a killer horn arrangement that still holds up), Santana's Caravanserai, the Electric Flag's A Long Time Comin', etc. May list others later.

[specialk]

I need to think of the specifics, but lots of albums bought over and over.

Either the first copy was eaten by the playback machine or due to format changes.

But yes, lots of albums!

[Submariner85]

I bought Pink Floyd The Wall 3 times because I wore that sucker out.

[Toadroller]

My brother must have Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair (a great album) on over 10 formats...

Cassette, multiple copies on vinyl, special editions on vinyl, Laser Disc, dvd, surround dvd, SACD, MP3, ad nauseum...

I'm pretty sure I bought the CD once, and have been using the same 128 ripped mp3 from device to device. laptop to laptop over the last 15 years.

[elduave]

Yes, not sure, various, and either because I forgot I had them or because a more desirable format (vinyl) revealed itself.

My latest kick is buying vinyl versions of albums I bought after I made the switch to CD ('88-'90 is the sweet spot).

Recently Mr Big, The Cult, Tommy Conwell, Aerosmith Pump, Circus Of Power...

On my want list are Tesla 2nd and 3rd, Kings X first few.

[TBP]

- John Coltrane's Blue Train, both on LP and CD. Could probably get another LP, as I wore it out.

- Smashing Pumpkin's Gish. First as one of the early release cassettes, then the CD, which I loaned to a girl and never got back, so I bought it again.

- Led Zeppelin II, twice on LP - Think I just wore it out. I didn't feel bad about getting a digital version from the library.

- Oh, ZZ Top. I bought the '70-'90 Studio Recordings box set, so I've bought Rio Grande Mud twice and Tres Hombres three times (first on vinyl, then on CD, which was loaned to someone, and then as part of the box).

- Speaking of box sets, I have the Miles Davis John Coltrane box set, so I've bought Kind of Blue on vinyl and two versions of CD, making for three, and 'Round Midnight on vinyl and as part of the set, so twice there.

[JohnnyB]

I have had four LPs of the 1961 Dave Brubeck Quartet album, Time Further Out. First was an original 6-eye pressing my sister gave me around 1965. I played that one until I feared that I'd worn it through, so I bought an early '70s LP reissue, something that Columbia did for a lot of albums from that era ( I have a Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" repress from the same program). Then I lost most of my LPs when my basement apartment got flooded. When CDs came out--and I had no turntable--there were lots of "Time Out" CDs but no "Time Further Out" CDs that I could find. When I got back into LPs I found an old 6-eye (original) LP pressing that I bought, but it was pretty worn, so later I came across a '70s re-press in great condition and that's the one I use now--my fourth LP of that album.

Speaking of which, I've thought of starting a thread on albums where you have it in several formats and you saw the live show. I have a few of those: I bought the Brian Wilson CD of "Smile." Then I saw him do the Smile sets live on tour, and then bought the DVD concert filmed at Royal Albert Hall. I have the Buddy Rich "Live on King Street" double CD, then bought the DVDs of that concert, and then stumbled onto the 2-LP album. Although I didn't see Rich perform that particular concert, I saw him live around 5 times, so as far as I'm concerned, I saw him live, have the recording on two formats, and have the video.

I saw Louie Bellson and his big band perform at Howard Rumsey's "Concerts by the Sea" in April 1975. A couple years ago I stumbled across (and bought) his LP with the same personnel and much of that set list. This band was loaded with the best session cats of that era, plus some of the giants from Count Basie's band, such as Cat Anderson, Snookie Young, and Blue Mitchell. The cake-topper for me was the dueling tenor saxes, Pete Christlieb and Don Menza. Christlieb was the sax soloist on Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues" and Menza was a monster in the Buddy Rich band of the '60s. Good times fer-shure.

I have Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" on their 30th anniversary LP reissue pressed in 2003 plus a 4-channel bootleg DVD-A done by Alan Parsons himself. DSOTM came out at the peak (such as it was) of quadraphonic's popularity, and was (AFAIK) recorded and mixed with that technology in mind. My DVD-A (sent by a thoughtful HFC-er) recreates the mix as conceived by PF and Alan Parsons.

[hamerhead]

My whole collection has been bought at least twice, I think. That 'LP -> 8-track -> cassette -> CD -> MP3' thing was great for record companies. Well, maybe not the MP3 part.

What's the current most popular format now?

[Brooks]

I have owned Frampton Comes Alive on 8 track in the 70's,

vinyl in the 80's, then cassette in the mid 80's when I got my drivers license,

cd in the 90's, and on my ipod since the mid 2000's.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath same deal, 8 track/cassette/vinyl/cd/ipod, plus the black box remaster.

also owned Physical Graffiti on vinyl in the 80's, original cd issue in the 90's, reissue in the 2000's also transferred on my ipod, and I will buy the upcoming reissue as everyone is raving about the job jimmy page recently did on I, II, & III re-reissues.

every time I see scofield's A Go Go used, I buy it and give it to a friend/student.

PG, SBS, & A Go Go are my top 3 records ever.

[tommy p]

I hate to admit I've bought and rebought hundreds of albums. Remasters, bonus tracks, foreign versions, even different covers sometimes. The worst thing is I intend to get rid of the originals in remaster or bonus track situations but rarely ever do. I also still have probably 2 crates full of vinyl and most of that has been bought on CD.