Q&A Remix With Chris Ingalls

The Q&A Remix is a frequent column on IHTOV in which people from all walks of life answer a set of pre-written questions about their vinyl collection. Today we welcome PopMatters writer Chris Ingalls.

Have you ever bought a record just for the artwork?

The one that comes to mind is I’m in Love with a Rent Boy by Nonnie and the Onnies. I bought it for the artwork, the title, and the fact that it was only 50 cents. I got it in 1987 at Murmur Records in Orlando, my go-to record store when I was a teenager. It’s a synth-pop 12-inch EP, I think I might have listened to it once or twice in the 38 years I’ve owned it. I can’t bring myself to get rid of it.

What is your most memorable vinyl buying experience?

On a Saturday morning in September 2021, my friend John and I went to a neighborhood garage sale here in Melrose, Massachusetts, where we both live. I think the guy who was selling the records goes to conventions and record shows all the time, and every once in a while, he holds these giant garage sales that are basically the size of a small but well-stocked record store. I think I spent a little more than a hundred dollars over two separate trips in one day (I went back later that afternoon for Round Two, which shows how addictive vinyl shopping can be). I got a lot of bang for my buck – Cecil Taylor, XTC, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Elvis Costello, Bill Bruford, Dave Brubeck, Steely Dan, Miles Davis, etc. We had a great time and I was thrilled to fill in some gaps in my collection.

What’s the first area you head for in a record store?

Usually the pop/rock section, simply because most of the stuff I like or am looking for is there. But I also spend a lot of time in the jazz section. I rarely go into a record store with a plan, unless it’s Record Store Day and I have some specific titles in mind.

What’s the most treasured album in your collection and why?

In terms of records that are important or significant to me, it would be a small list of personal favorites: there’s Get Happy!! by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, which is probably my favorite record of all time and the one that introduced me to Elvis’ music when I was in high school. A classmate friend of mine named Goran lent me the cassette, which I selfishly never returned, and I later bought the CD, and eventually acquired the vinyl a few years ago. I bought Look Sharp by Joe Jackson in 1986 or 1987 and I still have that same copy. It’s probably my favorite debut album.

There’s also Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano by Claude Bolling, which I discovered back in 1983 while I was aimlessly browsing my father’s collection and was particularly taken by the artwork on the cover. I wasn’t a jazz fan at all back then, but there was something about that record that moved me tremendously, and still does. I finally got my own copy on vinyl from eBay fairly recently.

In terms of nice, semi-rare sets, I have some lovely Record Store Day releases, including Eric Dolphy’s Musical Prophet and Tangerine Dream’s Live in Paris, which was recorded in 1978 when I lived in Paris with my family. I wasn’t into Tangerine Dream in 1978, but I find comfort in listening to an album that was recorded mere miles from where I was living at the time. It’s also a great record.

What one record in your collection would you be most eager to share with new friends?

I’m going with a very new record: Swirl by Flora Hibberd. It just came out in January and I reviewed it for PopMatters. It’s an absolutely flawless collection of indie/folk/power-pop from a singer/songwriter born in the UK but currently living in France. There are hints of Nick Drake, Serge Gainsbourg, and the Pretenders in there, among many others. It’s exquisite music with something for everyone. I can’t recommend it strongly enough.

Are you a completist when it comes to artists? Which artist do you have the most records from?

That’s a hard task to accomplish if you don’t have a ton of disposable income. I try not to get obsessed with getting every single title by a particular artist – there’s just too much great music out there, old and new, and I prefer to have a collection that’s wide and varied instead of being laser-focused on one artist or genre.

Having said that, I like the fact that I currently own every physical release – all six of them - from the greyfade label, an experimental music imprint run by a wonderful musician and producer named Joseph Branciforte. It’s very unusual music, often atonal and process-based. Real egghead stuff. The music is fantastic and the artwork is very beautiful, modern, and consistent. Also, none of the music on greyfade is available on streaming services – they believe strongly in music consumption as a physical, tactile experience. I love that.

I believe Elvis Costello is the artist I have the most vinyl of – ten records, some I’ve had since high school, some I’ve acquired over the last few years to fill in the blanks.

What is/are your white whale records, something you have your eye on but haven’t been able to find?

Well, as my brother pointed out when he was interviewed on this site, the internet has – for the most part – done away with the concept of the white whale. Almost everything is out there, particularly on eBay or Discogs. Some of the stuff that’s on my wish list includes Green by Hiroshi Yoshimura, an ambient masterpiece first released in 1986 that was reissued on vinyl by Light in the Attic a few years ago and quickly went out of print. I’ve become a big fan of Japanese ambient music in recent years. I’d love a copy of Literature by Tomotsugu Nakamura, which came out in 2020 and is already out of print on vinyl, Logos by the Chicago-based Latino band Dos Santos, and I recently became obsessed with getting a Mobile Fidelity version of Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, which is my favorite Dylan album. I bought a used vinyl copy in 1984 when I first got hooked on Bob’s music, but I sold it, along with several other great records, during an ill-advised yard sale in 2011 when I didn’t think I’d ever buy or listen to vinyl ever again. That was kind of stupid of me. I’d love to make up for that mistake by splurging on a nice, high-quality version.

What is your greatest “score;” could be on value or just rarity or something you were looking for the longest?

Being a writer for PopMatters, I occasionally get advance copies of records for free – it doesn’t happen all the time, and I never expect it to happen, but when it does, I’m always very grateful. I reviewed two mega deluxe boxed sets of Rolling Stones albums – Let it Bleed and Tattoo You – and the label was kind enough to send me courtesy copies. These are incredible sets to have in my collection, particularly Tattoo You, an album that came out when I was 12 and I’ve always loved a lot.

Do you have a favorite live record?

As far as live records currently in my vinyl collection, probably Sunday at the Village Vanguard by Bill Evans. Everyone should own a copy, it should be a right, like healthcare or a living wage. As far as favorite live albums of all time? It’s Too Late to Stop Now by Van Morrison. Flawless. Van and his band never sounded better.

Who/what got you hooked on records?

I have three older siblings – my brother Gary is four years older than me and my sisters Julie and Karen are about nine and eleven years older. When I was in kindergarten, my sisters were in high school. The golden age of music discovery for me was when I was between the ages of five and ten, from 1974 to 1979, when we lived in the suburbs outside of Paris – our father worked for the defense contractor Raytheon and his job brought us over there, which was an incredibly enriching experience that essentially helped shape the person I am today. My sisters helped fuel the obsession, but my brother and I took it to a whole other level. My sisters were never really into finding rare records, buying stacks of records at a time, filling in gaps in their collections, stuff like that; they just liked listening to music. My brother and I turned it into an obsession, and we couldn’t have done it without them.

As much as my sisters got me started, it was my brother Gary who really helped maintain that momentum. He’s been an avid record collector since the late 70s and has never really stopped. He got me into a lot of different kinds of music, and these days I’ve been influencing his tastes more and more – I like to take some credit for his relatively recent addiction to jazz. Our music tastes aren’t exactly the same, but we’re both a bit of a rarity due to the fact that we’re in our fifties and still love discovering new music. A lot of people I went to highschool with are stuck in the same musical rut and I can’t abide that.

What are your first memories of listening to records?

I have very vague memories of being maybe three or four years old, before we moved to France, and hearing my sister Karen’s copy of Tommy by The Who. I was a pretty squeamish kid and I remember the artwork was very creepy and scared the crap out of me. But my strongest early memories involve sitting in the living room in France with a record on the turntable while I pored over the record’s liner notes and photos. I used to do that all the time and the fact that none of my friends or classmates were doing that at such an early age clued me in to the fact that maybe it was an abnormal obsession, particularly for such a young kid.

What’s your favorite record to listen to on headphones?

It’s a bit of a cliché, but honestly, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd is the one that immediately comes to mind. It doesn’t do much for my dwindling hipster cred to tout a record that’s sold a zillion copies, but I can’t deny the greatness of that album, particularly how it’s produced and arranged sonically. It will always remind me of a time when I was maybe five or six years old, hearing it for the first time, but it still stands up after more than 50 years.

Tell us a little about your favorite record store.

Back in 2023, the town I live in finally got its own record store, Green Street Grooves, which moved from its former location in nearby Somerville. It’s a great little place, and there’s always a ton of excellent stuff there. Not necessarily a lot of new releases – although they have some of that – it’s perfect for finding older stuff in pretty much any genre. The owner is very particular about the records that he acquires, so the quality of the collection there is outstanding.

But honestly, most of my record buying happens on Bandcamp. A lot of the music I buy is new stuff by indie artists, and Bandcamp is the best place for that. Plus, it’s a very artist-friendly model and I love that.

What’s the weirdest record you own?

That’s a tough question. I own lots of weird stuff. But probably the most unusual albums I own are on Orange Milk, a very odd and amazing experimental label run by two guys out of Ohio, Seth Graham and Keith Rankin. The strangest Orange Milk releases I own might be Obanikeshi by Koeosaeme or Schmalster Point by Ervin Omsk.

Samuel Goff’s This is My Body, This is My Blood, on his own label, Cacophonous Revival, is also a pretty weird record, but I feel like labeling it as such is misleading, because it’s more cathartic than weird. It’s a deep, dark journey and if you like your music intense and soul-cleansing, this is the one for you.

How has your record collection and appreciation for vinyl evolved over the years, and what has influenced your tastes?

I first started getting my own records when I was 10 – Queen II by Queen was the first one I ever owned – and from ages 10 to around 15 I was pretty much only getting records with birthday money or as gifts. At the time I was still very much into stuff like prog and classic rock, influenced by what my brother and my classmates were into. When I was in high school, I started hanging out with friends who were more into indie and new wave and singer/songwriter stuff and my collection began to reflect that – Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Elvis Costello were the big ones for me back then, also stuff like The Smiths and The Cure – and I had a part-time job, so I was able to buy more stuff on my own.

But in 1987, when I was 18, my record buying stopped in favor of CDs and the fact that I was about to join the Navy and move around the world made hauling vinyl around very inconvenient. So, my records stayed at my dad’s house I didn’t buy a single vinyl record from 1988 until around 2015, when I finally got sucked into the vinyl revival movement. Nowadays, my tastes are pretty much unlimited. I don’t really buy contemporary pop music – it’s not a snob thing, I just doesn’t do much for me. I’m a lot more into jazz and experimental genres, but again, I don’t want to be constrained by labels. My collection is pretty eclectic because I like a lot of different stuff. I also like music that’s difficult to categorize.

What’s the last record you purchased?

I’ve been on a huge Roxy Music kick lately, having only really been previously familiar with their singles. I went to Green Street Grooves last weekend and picked up Siren and Flesh and Blood, as well as Bryan Ferry’s The Bride Stripped Bare, and – for good measure – London 0 Hull 4 by the Housemartins, a band I’ve loved for decades but never owned anything on vinyl until now.

What’s the last record you listened to?

Flesh and Blood by Roxy Music. I’ve become obsessed with this record over the past week. I know it’s not considered top-tier Roxy by many people, but I find it beautiful and compelling and a very early example of the sophisti-pop genre.

Chris has been writing about music for PopMatters since 2016 and previously wrote for the now-defunct experimental music site Tome to the Weather Machine*. He is an occasional guest on the music podcast* Losing my Opinion*. He lives in Melrose, Massachusetts, with his wife, son, dog, two cats, and lots of records.*

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