Record Collector Of The Month: December 2018
Tell us a little bit about yourself: My name is Joey Partee, I am just about 32, I live in San Tan Valley, Arizona and currently I am in my graduate program for Education; I am hoping to teach high school English and eventually get my doctorate and move in to Administration. Some fun facts, I have always been a bit of an entrepreneur. When I was 5 years old I would purchase items from Oriental Trading (it was only a catalogue back then) and resale them in my neighborhood to other kids and make a profit. To this day I run Daily Vinyl and Partee Productions, LLC which is event planning. I am married, nearly nine years now, and my wife Seleania and I have two daughter who are eight and five. We spend a lot of time with music in our house and have tried to take the girls to diverse concerts already to build their musical sensibilities; this year we went to Maroon 5, Weezer with The Pixies, and Ghost! Needless to say, I myself am either always spending time playing with or digging for records, or at concerts myself, I usually average about 30 shows a year, and a festival, I just saw Wheeler Walker, Jr. the other day which was ridiculous and fun; it is crazy that some of his fans don't actually realize it's a joke.
Favorite album: This is almost impossible for me to answer. I feel like it changes frequently, and it's never going to be the same. If I had to narrow it down to some of the most important albums in my life though, Ryan Adams and The Cardinal's "Cold Roses" (even though I like Love is Hell better), Nine Inch Nail's "With Teeth", Parkway Drive's "Deep Blue," Rx Bandit's "The Resignation," and Ben Howard's "Every Kingdom" would top the list. If I was picking my favorite release for 2018, it'd likely be the new one from Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweat's "Tearing at The Seams" because of how eclectic and replayable it is; my wife surprised me with the LP a few months back.
First album: So when I was a sophomore some older friends turned me on to The Doors, so I bought their self titled record (which is incredible) at a Half Priced Books and it was a constant spin on the credenza cabinet from Goodwill that I had in my room at the time; however that early bit of records (maybe 150 LPs) were given to a buddy when I moved to Los Angeles. I stopped collecting for a few years until I was back in Arizona and well, what I consider my first true purchase was based on a country singer my father-in-law (r.i.p.) turned me on to, Don Williams. I was shopping at the another goodwill, saw it on a shelf and picked it up for him to hang in his mancave; but rather he said that I had to keep it, and that I had to play it. It was "The Best of Don Williams, Volume II" and I was reborn into the collector I am today with that purchase.
Favorite Enjoy The Ride or Enjoy The Toons release: I have several of these, but I think "Songs From Bluffington" from Nickelodeon's Doug is my favorite. When I was younger I had a green sweater vest and was lovingly known as Doug in school for a brief minute. I mean seriously, who can resist Killer Tofu?!
Favorite album artwork: Probably the simple yet extremely complex cover for Coldplay's "Rush of Blood to The Head," I'd love to get this tattooed someday actually.
What are your favorite local record shops, in case any readers are traveling through your town? Right now, Record High! They are downtown, they carry some fantastic vinyl and their small shop in unlike any I've been into before; built into an old home there are some different rooms that divide up the genres creating individualized spaces. I'd also recommend Revolver, or Zia which has several locations.
What have you been listening to more frequently lately? Colter Wall's self titled release is really killer, he has such a crazy rich voice, I really enjoy his stuff. The Talking Heads have been getting an abnormal amount of play by me too, mostly "This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)" though because I think that is such a beautiful and underrated love song. I've been really hooked on these YouTube covers of Tool and Rage Against The Machine too, a group called Brass Against, there live studio performances give me chills and make me long a horn section in all my music.
What are some of your favorite albums you have in your collection? Based strictly on record collecting, first is a custom LP my wife had made for me a few years back at Christmas. It is full of songs special to us; she even put a photo on the cover that I had once said "this will be our album cover if we ever make one someday" on it. I also love my Waylon at JD's which was a limited press of albums Waylon Jennings put out in Phoenix well before he was successful, it's signed by him and the whole band. My copy of Sean Lennon's "Friendly Fire" is also up there, it's really rare and I adore that album! My Ryan Adams "Live After Deaf" boxset is another favorite, so many special performance's on there; September (which was a Whiskeytown track) played in Stockholm gives me chills every damn time. OOOOh and I have a copy of Nine Inch Nail's "With Teeth" an early press that is signed by the whole band; Trent is one of my musical hero's so this piece is framed and one of the first things you see walking into my home.
Any specific albums you wish you had on vinyl? Oh this is an ever growing and shrinking list, right now all the Ryan Adam's 7" records that I don't have (there are a ton), "Silver Wilkinson" by Bibio, "Feels" from Animal Collective, the "Pulse" boxset from Pink Floyd, The Cure's "Pornography", The 13th Floor Elevator's self titled, and the collective DIIV works; I had a few others like "In The Court of The Crimson King" and "Speaking in Tongues" - but I just found them at the Discogs record fair her in Phoenix last week!
What album would you like to be pressed on vinyl? Absolutely! "As Far As The Eye Can See" by the defunct band People in Planes, that whole stinking album is phenomenal and only gets better with age. I'd also love to see the San Diego Indie/Emo band Noise Ratchet's album "Till We Have Faces" get a release, because that is just an excellent piece of music (early work from some Delta Spirit members for any fans), I am pretty sure it got a bit of recognition when it came out too.
What was the best album(s) you've discovered so far this year (can be anything, doesn't have to be a new release): Whitey Morgan and the 78's "Honky Tonks and Cheap Motels" is a lot of fun for sipping whiskey and hanging out with. I probably played "Reverence" the latest from Parkway Drive the most though, because for all my country sadness I am really a metalhead at heart.
What will you be doing for the holidays? First, hosting my annual classy Christmas party! We have been doing this since 12' and it just grows every year - we put up seven Christmas trees! There have been baby announcements, proposals and even real live carollers. This year we had custom ornaments made for all the attendees, and our regular Santa is bringing my daughters, wife and I a "surprise" trip to Disneyland - we will be there for the holiday which should be a unique experience for sure! I love Disneyland, it is where I proposed to my wife, so it is always a special time going there.
Favorite holiday themed album in your collection? Ramsey Lewis Trio "Sound Of Christmas," I love this album! The Jazz twist put on 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' is just superb.
What holiday albums do you wish you had in your collection? For some bizarre reason I have yet to get Vince Guaraldi Trio's "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which may be because I have a CD copy, and I swear I bought it before! And the new Elvis with The Royal Philharmonic Christmas album, those Elvis Royal Phil albums are so stupid good; I have them both, but not the holiday one -yet!
What have you been listening to more frequently lately? Modern Alternative Country, I use to just listen to old stuff and maybe Sturgill Simpson, but this has been really expanding; Tyler Childers, Brent Cobb, and of course Colter Wall to name a few. Also I stumbled onto this group called Land of Talk that stole my heart with their(her) track "It's Okay."
What holiday albums would you like to be pressed on vinyl? This is tough because so much gets pressed now, but all of the Tran Siberian Orchestra stuff, I think a few of them have been put out there, but not all of it. Perhaps the Jingle All The Way score, that could be cool. It could be packaged really neat to match all the Turbo Man stuff from the movie, and I suppose in the vain that Mondo put out Home Alone, this would be super cool.
What are some of your favorite things about the holiday season? Family. Friends. Comradery. Period. Getting to have excuses to get together and enjoy that is the best part, probably why I host a big annual Christmas party. New Christmas wax would be good too ;) but no one ever buys me records...they just say "I didn't know what you had or didn't," which I suppose is fair at this point.
Scenario time! Lets say you decided to sell most of your possessions + live in a tiny house for the remainder of your years. You can only take 7 records. What are they (Here's the catch - for each person you live with, you have to make one of those choices their favorite album - the more people you live with, the less choices are yours. Yes, this includes tiny humans)? Okay, so l'll start with my wife, of the records we own that are hers Portugal. The Man's "Censored Colors" would have to come. It has a magic to it that is also special to us and our relationship -it's also when PTM were still a good band! For my elder daughter Aubrey, it'd likely be her Alessia Cara album "Know It All" she had three purchased from her at the same time and the CD version last Christmas, that should sum it up. For my younger daughter Paisley, Ghost's "Meliora," she is a little metal head and loves to head bang, and she always wants me to play THE GHOST! as she calls them. As I have thought about this a few times, I would have to grab my Waylon at JDs, simply for the rarity that it is. Which leaves me with only three other choices, which would be my custom album my wife made for me, the Don Williams album I bought that brought me back to vinyl collecting, and probably my Butcher (The Beatles) cover album - it's framed and would stay that way, but it has such a crazy backstory and history that I would feel dumb getting rid of it.
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