101 Strings: Phase 1 End Is Near

The finish line is finally in sight! I received one of the best packages ever in the mail today, containing some beautiful, hard to find 101 Strings Orchestra records.

I can count on fingers and toes the number of vinyl releases I need to finish Phase 1 of my collection, which is the complete Alshire and Somerset catalogs. I now have 331 out of 350 individual releases in my possession.

While the few remaining I need are going to be expensive and hard to find, I’m beginning to feel a sense of accomplishment now that the end is near.

But after Phase 1, I start on Phases 2 and 3, which are the releases by other labels (Alshire licensed the recordings often), and then the international releases which I’ll write about in a future post. Those together will be another 50-100 releases, bringing grand total on vinyl up to about 450. I can’t think of any other band that has had that many.

Back to the package, several of these don’t exist in Discogs, which is rare. One is Mint Sealed. And a Test Pressing! Only one I’ve ever seen. I was flabbergasted when I discovered not only the ancient but incredible MusicStack website, but found a single seller who had not just one but many of the very few remaining records I needed.

So I have to give praise to Craig Moerer Records By Mail for having all of these in their possession and selling them at reasonable prices (and an impeccable pack job, best I’ve ever seen!)

I think it’s time to start building my 101 Strings fan website, document each and every single one of the releases, all nicely categorized and represented. That might take me as long as it did to acquire them though!

And check out the amazing and bizarre inner gatefold to Come Swing With Me: