A Dream of an 8-Track Discography

I really wish we had a site where we could start entering all our 8-tracks to create, eventually, a complete database of what was made. Discogs has exactly the set up I envision, but they focus on electronic dance music for DJs. It is a site where people can go and add listings by record label. I wonder if I can talk them into explaining how it works to me? I guess it can't hurt to ask.

It would be the bomb if I could have it at the 8trackmuseum.com domain I one day propose having. I have big dreams, but so little initiative. I want other people to come along and do all the work for me. If it was uo and running as I envision it, I would gladly sit here entering all my 8-tracks one by one, but I can hardly be bothered to try to create it myself. I guess I'm just fundamentally lazy.

Good 8-Track Karma

I musta done something right. Yesterday one guy I met on the 8trackheaven group, my home away from home, sent me a free 1975 Schwann catalog. Thanks, Larry!

Another guy, Chauncey, who is 16, I think, emailed me a while back that he was collecting 8-tracks. He asked if I could send him any I didn't need. Wanting to encourage such healthy pastimes in today's youth, I sent him a big box of tapes. Yesterday (after not hearing from him for several months, even for a thank you!) he sent me back the box, full of tapes he found that he didn't want. Mostly easy-listening, but as anyone who reads this blog knows, I'll eat anything. There was one Billie Holiday cart I didn't have and a Tommy Garrett and the 50 Guitars.

Then today, Norman brought me some 8-tracks at work. Mostly Beatles, mostly bootlegs, but still cool. I gave him $10 for these:
-The Beach Boys - Wow! Great Concert - Pickwick P8-1148
-The Beatles - A Collection of Beatles Oldies - Alpine Bootleg w/flower design
-Cher - Sound Values bootleg w/weird medieval wood-cut art. Musta been free clip art.
-John Lennon - Mind Games - British EMI 8X-PCS Cover pic is black and white and song order is completely different than my US Apple cart.
-Simon and Garfunkel - Best of - Alpine bootleg w/gold foil and funky 70s geometric shape design and two tone shell. Front is red, back is white.
-Three Dog Night - Golden Greats of - Pickwick P8-3664 Nice cover pic.
-Various Artists - Blockbuster - K-tel (Fly, Robin, Fly; Chevy Van; War, etc.)
-Various Artists - Rock Hits Vol. 31 Bootleg with the shady sounding company name "After Dark Entertainment ". May be recorded over. Hand-written "misc. shit".

2 are from an outift called Zodiac. These are " made in the style of your favorite artists by our sound-alike artists and musicians". One is all Beatles' solo work covers. The other is Rock Hits Vol. 30 w/Bungle in the Jungle.

Also got a head cleaner and 4 homemeade tapes. One is Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, another is Fiddler on the Roof. 2 are unlabeled. Blank?

Good score. Send out 8-tracks into the world and 8-tracks will return to you.

Broke as Usual
I got so broke, this time from paying my taxes, that I decided to sell 110 8-tracks on ebay. The auctions all end tonight. So far they're only going for $91 all together. I'd be sad to let so many of my beloved 8-tracks go for so little, even if they are duplicates. But I really need some cash. Sigh.

On the happier side, yesterday I got the music from Dark Shadows 8-track for only 2 bucks, in pretty good shape. It was weird because one of the guys on Dark Shadows is named Barnabas, and yesterday's reading at mass was about Paul and Barnabas. Then our awesome Priest, Father John, said in his homily that there probably weren't many Barnabasses in the congregation, but later on I found the tape in a junk store. I wonder what it means? Perhaps Quentin and Barnabas shook the dust from their shoes before the left ABC?

Also today one of the nice people at the 8trackheaven message board sent me a 1975 Schwann catalog which lists all the new 8-tracks which were available then including quads. It is pretty cool. I have been pouring over it for hours. I think I'll try to update my wants list.