Q&A Remix With Matt Carter

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 my very own brother in law, Matt Carter

Have you ever bought a record just for the artwork?

I bought Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band solely for the artwork. When vinyl was dying in the 1990s I bought some album frames from a catalog. Maybe Hammacher Schlemmer, I don’t remember, but people my age used to love looking through the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog because it showed you how other people your age who were less savvy with their spending habits lived. These frames would allow you to display your album artwork in your home or office without having to build them yourself. They also paired well with The Best Tabletop Radio which is currently backordered until March. I mounted Trout Mask Replica along with a few others and decorated my basement stairway with them. People would come over and enviously gaze at them sometimes. I liked that. I would say things like “Maybe you can get some album frames for yourself…” and then I would do an extra long pause and then I would say “once you get a second job!” and then I would laugh out loud and slap them on the shoulders and say, “I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding” because you can say anything to people as long as you add that on the end. I also purchased Giant by Johnny “Guitar” Watson for the artwork, but I ended up actually liking that album, which never happened with Trout Mask Replica. I also own a picture disc of Frank Zappa’s Baby Snakes which Michele referred to as “aesthetically unpleasing” which makes me love it even more.

What is your most memorable vinyl buying experience?

My most memorable vinyl buying experience is probably my first. My mother took me to Apex (a local department store) and told me I could buy whatever I wanted. I looked around the record department and found Iron Maiden’s self-titled debut. The cover looked like something my parents would hate, so I decided to buy that. I just now realized that I could have used this for question number one and avoided all of the Hammacher Schlemmer business. I took the album home and put it on and that is the very moment that I didn’t want to listen to my parents music anymore and decided to venture out on my own. I packed myself a bindle and left my parents house to go find myself. Nobody came looking for me, and I didn’t return until lunchtime. Also, years earlier, my mother took me to the aforementioned department store to buy school clothes. I was probably five or six. We picked some stuff out and I went into the dressing room to try them on but I had to go to the bathroom so bad that I tinkled in the dressing room. I swore that day that I would never tinkle in a dressing room again and for the most part I haven’t.

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

Z. I always check out the Frank Zappa section first, even though I know going in that I’m probably not going to find anything that I don’t already have, because if they did, it would probably be too expensive and behind the counter. I’ll look at Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, maybe a little sprinkling of Stravinsky and then I’ll see what they have by Red Peters before I leave.

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

The Iron Maiden self-titled is up there because it was my first and because it’s the only record I ever bought in a place where I also tinkled in the dressing room, but I think the soundtrack from Alex Winter’s Zappa documentary is probably my favorite because my name is in the liner notes. The movie was crowdsourced and I contributed enough to get the backer copy of the album and my name in the movie credits. It made me wish I had a cooler name that nobody else has like Airplane Rhinoceros or Blanket Jackson.

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

That’s a tough one. I don’t really want any new friends, but if one wandered in here I would probably put Frank Zappa’s Sleep Dirt or Waka/Jawaka or The Grand Wazoo on. They’re all excellent albums, but maybe not for someone who has never really listened to Zappa before. If I was trying to get the person to actually be a new friend instead of leave I would put on Overnite Sensation or Joe’s Garage. They both have enough catchy songs with a mix of comedy that maybe a new listener might get into it. Or maybe One Size Fits All. That’s probably the one. Or Apostrophe(’). I don’t know. Quit bugging me.

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

No. Zappa dominates my collection but I don’t even know what I’m missing by him. Behind that is probably Steely Dan but I don’t know what I’m missing from them either, although I think I have the first seven, which is all I care about.

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

I would like to acquire the original pressing of High, Low and In Between by Townes Van Zandt but I don’t really know which one is the original. The prices on Discogs are all over the map depending on which version it is and I don’t have 22,000 yen to blow on records right now.

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

Probably For the Sake of the Song by Townes Van Zandt. It’s not a great album (in my opinion) but apparently it has cash value to some people, although I would never sell it. I’ll let my kids do that at my estate (yard) sale.

Do you have a favorite live record?

This is a difficult question for any Frank Zappa fan because so much of his material is recorded live. I immediately go to The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life, because it has some great stuff from different eras in Zappa’s career, and they cover Stairway to Heaven with the horn section playing the guitar solo. That alone is worth a listen. There’s also Roxy & Elsewhere, which is fantastic. He recorded everything, so there is so much live material available that it’s difficult to pick one. If I went with a different artist I would probably go with Live at the Old Quarter by Townes Van Zandt. Even if you don’t care for his music, it’s difficult to not recognize the set of balls it takes to walk out on stage with just an acoustic guitar and your voice and play for two hours. That’s crazy, and he did it every night for a week straight to record the album.

What are your first memories of listening to records?

I had a 45 rpm of “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell that I wore the grooves off of when I was about five years old. That’s when I decided that I was never going to be a nice guy, because nice guys get washed away like the snow in the rain. So I packed up my bindle, stuffed a subway token and a dollar inside of my shoe and headed out for the dirty sidewalks of Broadway. I came home for lunch though, because my mother promised to make me a Supersonic Sandwich, which is what I called cheese and mayonnaise on white bread.

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

Animals by Pink Floyd. I also love The Final Cut but when you tell people you love The Final Cut they think you’re saying that just to be a hipster/contrarian. I love that album because I have a specific memory tied to it. I was driving home from the beach with some people and we were listening to it and everyone in the car fell asleep and I watched the sun go down and then I fell asleep and then somebody in the back seat woke me up because I was driving the car at about six miles an hour along the guardrail. I told my dad somebody must have sideswiped me in the parking lot at the beach for ten minutes.

Tell us a little about your favorite record store

My favorite record store that is still currently open is In Your Ear records in Warren, RI. They’ve been around forever, although they were on the East Side of Providence in the 80s.My favorite all-time record store was Sam’s Records, Tapes and Stuff in Cranston, RI. The guy who owned it had super tight curly hair and he was always cranky but he liked Frank Zappa and would sometimes be listening to him when I went in, which was weekly. The place was tiny, but he had everything in a small space. 

What’s the weirdest record you own?

Probably The King’s Jesters picture disc of Who’s Got a Tent for Rent and Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy. I have no idea where I got it from but I remember my mother used to sing Shoo Fly Pie while she was baking and sometimes while I was leaving with my bindle.

What’s the last record you played?

Giant by Johnny “Guitar” Watson after I talked about it earlier. I thought I would end this on a bright note so I would like to point out that Johnny “Guitar” Watson died on stage.

Matt Carter is some jerk who delivers beer for a living and is no longer on social media. He divides his time between work and not work. He wants to start a website about correspondence between people in the 20th century but has yet to figure out how WordPress works and doesn’t like asking for help. He has a dog named Duke but never calls him that unless he’s in trouble.