artists you are or were or could be completists of?!

meaning regular releases but i could have had alot more but just 1 release ruined it for me with alot of artists but some of these i have completed like boards of canada, boogie boys, butthole surfers, dead kennedys and lfo and i was before with eric b and rakim, men at work and the police and i could be with colourbox, laid back and the yardbirds!

there was a brief period when i tried to be a collector ssscum for ZTT and Madness.
but both set ups took the piss, and i realised it was never going to happen.

I was a Richard D. James completist in the late ‘90s, at least in terms of material available on CD (including import CDs) – which was a bit of a “fun” lift, especially in those days, as it was a little harder to get your hands on rarities.

I’ve also been a completist of various rock bands, but that’s less interesting, as it usually just means buying all their albums.

ztt would be quite the task but personally i only like the early art of noise and one song by fgth welcome to the pleasure dome and as for madness they have alot of good stuff but i am sure their newer stuff does not compare!

I was a completist with Hendrix in the early 90s but for some reason totally lost interest in 94-95 and have hardly listened to any of his stuff since. Maybe it was the increasing shoddiness of the posthumous releases.
Mid 2000s I became a Bowie completist after spending years not bothering with anything after 'Lodger'.

i like alot of aphex twins material but it is spread out over his many aliases including
Blue Calx, Bradley Strider, Brian Tregaskin, Caustic Window, GAK, Karen Tregaskin, Phonic Boy On Dope, Polygon Window, Power-Pill, Q-Chastic, Ricardo Jamiro, Richard D. James, Rutchkfard Games, Smojphace, Soit - P.P., The Dice Man, The Tuss, user18081971 and user48736353001 but i do not like most of it and as far as rock bands go there are some who i only like one release of and then some singles after like glass tiger and mike and the mechanics and the outfield but i could not be completists of!

jimi hendrix would be easy as he only had 3 regular releases but david bowie has had alot more and i always wondered why kraftwerk praised him but he has had alot of good singles!

I may have everything that Bow Wow Wow put out on vinyl in the UK and US. They were only in the business for three years so you’d think it would be easy, but they have numerous 7” and 12” single releases that are unique to each of those markets - plus at least a couple of tracks exclusive to Japan which I have also.

pretty much everything malcolm mclaren did was a hit as he had the best english punk band and the best english hip hop production!

Bow Wow Wow were his best band overall though

I think I have pretty much everything Neil Hagerty has released or played on*, including rare / semi-official vinyl & cassette stuff. There may be one late-period 7” I don’t have.

*post–Pussy Galore

(but not in every format; like all the RTX stuff on Singles Live Unreleased, I don’t have or need the original 7”s)

shaved cunt is nice!

I think I have every pre–breakup Payment thing, including CD singles and most vinyl ones, except for Slay Tracks, the Medusa Cyclone split, and that cassette comp with the track “David’s Gone.”

I was very nearly a GBV completist up until the point where Pollard wrapped it up in '04...and then I don't think I've intentionally heard a note of anything they've done since they restarted. We used to hit Luna Music like a couple times a month around the turn of the century so it was pretty easy to keep up with the Recordhead releases when the Fading Captain series was dropping (not to mention all of the obscure Elephant 6 releases Luna was issuing at the time).

Oof, and I'm only now remembering all the GBV-related 7-inches I no longer have after my vinyl disappeared into the ether several moves ago.

^lol @ yr new handle!

gbv were cool! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQQT8Lhn5nA

bands I was a completist about at various points in my life: american music club; piano magic; peter gabriel; kate bush; cocteau twins; joy division; elliott smith; david sylvian

I was a Syd Barrett completist when I was very young & had absolutely everything in circulation (officially released or not). That was a very manageable 4 albums + 2 mini albums + a couple of tracks on one album + various bootlegs that people on the internet were willing to make me copies of for free. Only a handful of tracks and some alternate mixes have come out since then, all of which I have. It's not a huge discography.

There were artists I was completists of when they only had a few releases (mostly singles & eps, no more than 1 album) but didn't keep up with as their discographies grew... or they quit releasing music so i have everything just by default.

I have a couple of the INA GRM 'L'Oevure' box sets (Luc Ferarri, Parmegiani) but not sure how complete they actually are.

Morricone is the artist I have the most music by and it's not even close, but very far from completist and never will be.

I’ve tried with Anthony Braxton. Damn near bankrupted me at one time.

Guitarist Glenn Jones

Definitely a Bill Dixon completist, but his officially-released output is small relative to that of his contemporaries (under 30 releases, including sideman work). There’s a TON of unreleased material, but very little of it is in circulation.

I’m actually not a Who completist. I’ve got all the official studio releases, deluxe editions, boxed sets, lots of bootlegs (physical and otherwise)…but they released all the shows on their ‘02-‘09 tours, and while there’s surely good stuff there, their setlists rarely (if ever) changed from show to show. No way could I sit through that repetition — I have a total of 15 of those shows and while the consistency is admirable, there are few surprises. There are also many extremely confusing (and barely perceptible) mix variations in some of their ‘60s material that I’ve never been motivated to wade through.

I’m not a Milford Graves completist only because one of his records is with John Zorn, and a Zorn record will not enter my home.

I’m a Cecil Taylor completist with regard to his official output, but I haven’t even attempted to seriously delve into his bootlegs.

I’m a Cecil Taylor completist with regard to his official output, but I haven’t even attempted to seriously delve into his bootlegs.

Breeders, Smog/Callahan, Silver Jews, Jonathan Richman

I dunno, Cecil’s discography felt a lot easier for me to assemble than Braxton’s seems. But I’ve been a Cecil fan for longer, and I don’t have any interest in post-‘96 Braxton. That said, what is the Cecil release on a Greek label?!

Each of the discs in the FMP box were released individually. They were relatively easy (and inexpensive, for imports at least) to find in the US in the ‘90s, but today it’s conceivably cheaper to buy the box.

xp

I got a boodle of artists where I have all their CDs, but diving into some jazz artist discographies or really any artist that put out lots of vinyl over decades seems a serious task. I kinda save that compulsion more for my comic book collection I suppose (although I got way over 4000+ CDs).

The one I have been working my way through over the past few years is John Scofield and he has a few Cd's that I have left to get that are a bit harder than some and sometimes go for a few bucks or been long out of print. That said, there are quite a few sidemen CDs by him that are supposed to be good that I have not got yet too.

Stereolab could be fun. Amazing artwork throughout their career + consistent music quality + loads of rare 7” and Eps.

I’m not a Milford Graves completist only because one of his records is with John Zorn, and a Zorn record will not enter my home.

This is interesting. Care to elaborate? It feels like this goes beyond just disliking his saxophone style, or something. (I don't like that much Zorn myself, only his rock/metal-oriented projects really do it for me.)

I don't think I'm a completist with anyone, even artists I love. There's always a cutoff point where an album sucks so hard that I say "Nope, this shall not stand."

Everything I've heard of his was either some kind of cutesy melange of surface characteristics of various genres or, in his approach to the horn, lots of borrowings from other approaches/players that never add up to anything remotely distinctive (or gripping, or exciting, or mildly interesting, or...). But I think he's done brilliant things with Tzadik -- bringing back Jacques Coursil, for one, but especially the Milford Graves solo records.

But then, I have that awful record Graves made with Laswell (said awfulness supplied entirely by Laswell), so I can't imagine the Zorn record being worse.

Zorn has released (literally or personally) hundreds of records on his labels, and while they are not all winners a huge number of them are incredible, if not necessarily for Zorn then for his cohort. Masada and adjuncts, for example. Just some of the best playing I've ever heard from Joey Baron, Dave Douglas and Greg Cohen, and Zorn's not bad, either. Or all his Filmworks releases, for players like Ribot and Quine. Or the Big Gundown, for his take on Morricone. I can't imagine at least some of this making a positive impression.

It's not outside the realm of possibility that one (or more) Zorn records might be to my liking, given (as you said) the vast quantity he's released. But I've dipped into so many of his projects over the years (including a few that you mentioned) and I was always left cold at best. And Joey Baron is one of my least favorite drummers.

Please explain this opinion!

I give Zorn credit for Tzadik, and being an indefatigable catalyst and for helping promote others. But I’ve never warmed to his own music either. Probably the whole “magick” and Japanese torture porn stuff he flirts or flirted with makes me a bit uneasy.
Also, I saw him with Masada open for Cecil Taylor at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and was displeased to see half the audience leave before Taylor came on. This supposed downtown bad boy Zorn was playing what sounded to me slightly Sephardic tinged Ornette-isms and had the audience eating out of his hand, despite his constant complaining about the sound in his monitors. Meanwhile after the interval Taylor comes out dancing and chanting his poetry and half the audience is streaming for the exits. Who’s the real radical?

(I love Taylor’s poetry and dance, if you can’t hang with that you don’t deserve the piano fireworks).

i am a don cherry and popol vuh completist, but the process is ongoing. both i think are particularly apt for career-spanning deep dives, not least of all because of certain melodies or motifs that reappear over the years under different names.

my opinion about john zorn is that i like his solo organ improvisations ("the hermetic organ" -- released as several volumes) and not too much else.

Please explain this opinion!

He always struck me as a kind of less bombastic Ginger Baker. He’s obviously very respectful of tradition, but seemingly to a fault, as I don’t hear a lot of risk-taking in his approach, nor do I hear a particularly distinctive voice.

This set me off wondering if I'm accidentally a completist for any artist.

At points, I've definitely tried to own everything by Saint Etienne and everything by Tindersticks.

For Saint Etienne, I'm sure I have lots of things on 2 CD single versions, possibly bought for 99p each.

(I love Taylor’s poetry and dance, if you can’t hang with that you don’t deserve the piano fireworks).

I do too, but it’s interesting when and where he chose to incorporate that. I only saw him three times, and he only did poetry at one of those performances; and even then, he was reading into a mic from offstage (a very moving poem about the recently-deceased Jackie McLean and Raphe Malik). He seemed more inclined to employ his poetry and dance at his solo performances, and for large ensemble performances he’d have the musicians join in on vocalizations. But when collaborating in small groups, he seemed less inclined to show that side of himself. The first time I saw him was in a duo with Elvin Jones, and there was no poetry or dance (and it was a stunningly understated performance, extremely uncharacteristic of what one would expect from that duo). And when he played with Bill Dixon — as a duo or a trio with Tony Oxley — he never danced or recited his poetry.

Broadcast, Annie, The Blue Nile, Associates, Art Brut, Talk Talk and The Normal are my most complete collections. Just the odd gap that I'm still working on.

I'm always working on my Saint Etienne, Go-Betweens and Stereolab collections, but I know I'll never get there. I'd like to collect all The Cure singles released on 45, but those first couple are impossible to get. A Forest is as early as I could get.

I used to have tons of these in the 90s collecting every release by Mansun, Strangelove, The Boo Radleys and um, Bennet. I didn't really feel the need to hold on to most of those apart from The Boo Radleys who I still really rate (not enough to buy their new album though apparently).

Generally can't find it within myself to go for full completism - mostly for $$ reasons! But also endlessly trying to rationalise my drive to possess physical media - trying and failing! But I do try and ask myself whether a record has a special halo around it before buying, not just getting it cos it fills a gap.

HTRK probably the contemporary band where I'm closest - picked up a lot of their limited run things on release - and could probably hoover up the missing ones fairly easily if I cared to.

But mostly prefer to just snap things up when I see them reasonably priced at record fairs, charity shops etc.

If you want to play the obsessive-bordering-on-serial-killer fan, Nurse With Wound has an insane discography that you can collect and for extra insanity you can collect the NWH list or recommended albums.

As a teenager I was a completist with the Chemical Brothers, at least in terms of stuff released on CD (didn't go as far as trying to collect all their remixes). I think Come With Us was the point where I just bought the album rather than all the singles although I think I did get Star Guitar. I don't think there's any artist I'd do it for now.

There's a question of how you establish rules for completeness. My Sparks albums collection was more or less complete and then I decided to sell The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman simply because I had no desire to listen to it and it was worth money at the time. I don't really have any desire to listen to Annette, either, and didn't buy that. But I'm not sure I can really say they "just don't count." Similarly, I used to have Pet Shop Boys' film and ballet scores but then decided they were just clutter in the collection and sold them. When I see them in used CD bins it makes me sad.

I dunno about "completism". Björk and Tori Amos and David Bowie, when I was a teenager. Owned as many CD singles of the former artists as I could lay my hands on, but ended up selling them all when I was 20. Owned every Ryko issue of the latter, but ended up selling them all too in my mid-20s.

The artists now I would consider myself a "completist" have to do with how many of their albums I've sprung for on vinyl. I have all the Stars Of The Lid albums that have been issued on vinyl, all four Electrelane albums (RTTM and Axes were gifts from a record store owner friend who got copies in and held them for me). I have all the important pre-1970 Stockhausen recordings on original vinyl pressings because for a while they were easy to find and they sound amazing, most were reasonable but I think I must've paid $50 or $60 for Hymnen. I have all the Grouper albums but buying them is more out-of-habit now than out-of-fandom. And I have multiple vinyl pressings of Ives Symphony No. 4 (three different recordings) and Piano Sonata No. 2 (four different recordings). I've paid some cash too for childhood-throwback albums that there's really no reason to own on vinyl but I got them anyway (Bjork debut, Foxy Brown Ill Na Na, Digital Underground Sex Packets, Lisa Germano Geek The Girl)

I can't call myself a US Maple completist because I've weirdly never owned (or listened to?) Purple On Time. But I do have the vinyl of the first four including the rather rare Long Hair

I was a John Dwyer/Coachwhips/Oh Sees completist from 2002 up through 2016... much easier to be a completist when you're seeing an act live a lot and getting stuff as its coming out before it disappears into the collector ether. I don't see myself going back and paying big $$ for rarities to fill in the gaps in my collection though. If I missed it, I missed it.

Most of the other ones I can think of off the top of my head are lo-fi bedroom weirdos like Dump or Pumice.

chris & cosey. coil. zoviet france.

lots of artists with small, perfectly formed discographies i have everything by, off the top of my head - esg, liquid liquid, 23 skidoo, tackhead, african head charge (lots of on u sound artists in fact).

several artists i have everything over a specific time period, eg hawkwind 1970 - 1980, gong 1969 - 1977. psychic tv - 1982 - 1989.

a couple i will possibly end up completing - alice coltrane, popol vuh.

Broadcast, Annie, The Blue Nile, Associates, Art Brut, Talk Talk and The Normal

oh, the normal too, and robert rental.

Honestly, I think, none. I think, "I could be finding a new or lesser-known artist to me instead of investigating dregs".

I've gone the distance on Spacemen 3, Spectrum, Bardo Pond and Flying Saucer Attack. I think I have a copy of every Sp3 gig that was ever recorded too.

think i have the first 10 years of Virus Recordings output (about 20 12"s and 10 LPS) and about the same timespan of Tech Itch releases (which was much more prolific, touching 100 12"s probably, all told) and a bunch of their main act's work (ed rush, optical, technical itch, decoder) on other labels. haven't been keeping up with either since they went digital despite that making it much easier (and cheaper)

and a complete set of Sarah records (100 singles near enough, 40ish LPS). there are variants to some sleeves i don't have but where later cds combined 2 singles under one number i did buy the 7" of the missing one so that i do have, for instance, 94 and 95cd despite 95cd containing all of 94. am missing of things like the first Japanese compilation (but have the second) - not that fussed about the foreign stuff tbh, none of it has new material.

Julian Cope probably, although I've got sizable chunks of many artist discographies. koogs has me beat on the Sarah Records stuff though!

i started after hearing Sarah 16 on the radio and everything but the first 6 were still in print. only the first two were expensive and then only 20 quid or so, not the hundreds that the first one goes for now.

original smiths 7" singles i think i have all of as well, although i think one of them is a 12".

(William it was really nothing RT166)

Probably Kristin Hersh / Throwing Muses. I think I have all the albums and she's stopped doing singles which helped!

At one point this was XTC for me but I've since given my set of complete 12"s to my vinyl loving mate.

I thought of myself as a Zappa completist up until Playground Psychotics. Realizing that there would be more Flo & Eddie era vault stuff, and a lot of vault stuff period, snapped me awake and I pretty much quit buying FZ. But even before that, I wasn't really a completist -- I had opportunities to buy the Baby Snakes picture disc, FZ singles, the Mothermania comp, and Does Humor Belong in Music? and passed on them all.