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From Vinyl to Memorabilia: Collecting Gloria Estefan (Part 1) · Let It Loose: A Gloria Este-FAN Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_06: Hi everybody, it's me Gloria Steph and welcome to Let It Loose with Carlos Robin West.
0:07
SPEAKER_06: Don't miss it.
0:10
SPEAKER_05: Welcome back everybody to another episode of Let It Loose.
0:14
SPEAKER_05: Hello, hello.
0:15
SPEAKER_05: We're back.
0:16
SPEAKER_05: We're back.
0:17
SPEAKER_04: Here we are.
0:18
SPEAKER_04: How you guys doing?
0:20
SPEAKER_04: I'm good.
0:21
SPEAKER_04: How are you?
0:22
SPEAKER_04: I'm good.
0:23
SPEAKER_04: I'm tired.
0:24
SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm on my third shot of Cuban coffee right now trying to wake up.
0:28
SPEAKER_05: I thought you were not doing Cuban coffee.
0:31
SPEAKER_04: I'm not doing Cuban coffee during the week.
0:34
SPEAKER_04: I'm keeping it just for the week.
0:38
SPEAKER_04: No, see the difference.
0:39
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
0:40
SPEAKER_04: It's it's the amount of sugar in Cuban coffee.
0:43
SPEAKER_04: It's just recording.
0:44
SPEAKER_06: Oh, it is.
0:45
SPEAKER_04: It is recording.
0:47
SPEAKER_04: It's like, are we doing a show?
0:49
SPEAKER_06: We're working, Wes.
0:50
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
0:51
SPEAKER_06: I couldn't remember if we hit record yet, and we're talking about coffee.
0:54
SPEAKER_06: So hey, a little banter.
0:55
SPEAKER_06: People might laugh at this.
0:56
SPEAKER_06: So it's what it is.
0:57
SPEAKER_06: It is what it is.
0:58
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
0:59
SPEAKER_04: Wes, are you excited about this episode?
1:01
SPEAKER_06: I am.
1:02
SPEAKER_06: I'm um I've known these guys.
1:05
SPEAKER_06: Well, we we've known you've we've we've already had Steve on.
1:10
SPEAKER_06: I'm kind of jumping ahead here before introducing him.
1:13
SPEAKER_06: We had him on last season.
1:14
SPEAKER_06: I've known Steve a while.
1:16
SPEAKER_06: Anton, I've known for years and years and years since the early days of uh the Conga list.
1:21
SPEAKER_06: Um when I was a kid, he helped me build my collection.
1:26
SPEAKER_06: But anyway, I guess we'll get into the introductions here in a little bit.
1:29
SPEAKER_06: So I'm skipping on that.
1:30
SPEAKER_05: Um but that kind of tells everybody what the episode's about because this is your this is your baby.
1:37
SPEAKER_06: Like this is about it's it's funny, but it was your idea.
1:40
SPEAKER_05: It was my idea because like I thought it would be cool to like hear people talk about like their completionist mentality of like I gotta have everything.
1:48
SPEAKER_06: And like, yeah, it's a collector gene.
1:51
SPEAKER_06: Totally, it is um, it it really is.
1:54
SPEAKER_06: Um because I'm not a big collector of um of music, you know.
1:58
SPEAKER_06: Since I was a kid, yeah.
1:59
SPEAKER_06: Um I mean not just glorious stuff, you'd find me in a music store, and that would annoy the shit out of everybody.
2:07
SPEAKER_06: Um of course, because then you couldn't get me out.
2:10
SPEAKER_06: That or um shoes, I like to I'm not a shoe collector by the case.
2:15
SPEAKER_06: Seeing your shoe collection.
2:16
SPEAKER_06: Yes, I have a big Nike uh a bunch of Nike shoes in my closet.
2:21
SPEAKER_06: Let's just say that.
2:22
SPEAKER_05: Okay, so now you and I are Venn diagramming on this.
2:24
SPEAKER_05: The shoes I can get into the everything else, I don't I don't collect anything.
2:29
SPEAKER_05: And like even as a kid when like Pokemon was a thing, I was like, I gotta catch them all.
2:33
SPEAKER_05: No, I'm gonna catch some and then I'm gonna get rid of them.
2:36
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you know what's interesting.
2:39
SPEAKER_06: Um big baseball guy.
2:42
SPEAKER_06: Um, I can't say I was yeah, I was I had baseball cards growing up, but I wasn't like super, super, super baseball card collector.
2:50
SPEAKER_06: I was more into like, hey, I want this CD.
2:53
SPEAKER_06: And it's not just Gloria, I have tons of other CDs that um are sitting in totes.
2:59
SPEAKER_06: Um yeah, I don't know what to do with them one day, but hey, you know what?
3:03
SPEAKER_06: CDs are coming back.
3:04
SPEAKER_04: They are, they're they really are and they should have been.
3:07
SPEAKER_04: It's funny how the it's funny how vinyl came back and then now CDs are coming back, but I've even seen people collecting cassettes as well.
3:16
SPEAKER_04: Cassettes are also coming back.
3:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's crazy.
3:18
SPEAKER_06: We'll talk about here.
3:19
SPEAKER_06: Yep, cassettes are coming back.
3:21
SPEAKER_06: Awesome.
3:21
SPEAKER_06: Um it's it's the physical, like people wanna I I from what I heard, like the kids want to like have it in their hands, they want the physical stuff back, I guess.
3:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, nostalgia's a big deal with the kids.
3:33
SPEAKER_06: It's not just online, but um I mean if you want to get into like the audio quality, I could really get into the nerd like audio oh we know we know you know your shit.
3:48
SPEAKER_04: Actually, Rob, can we can we go ahead and share with the listeners?
3:52
SPEAKER_04: Share with can we share with the listeners that we know that you and I know that Wes knows his shit.
3:58
SPEAKER_04: Oh my god, yes.
3:58
SPEAKER_04: We know that Wesander is the West Cyclopedia.
4:05
SPEAKER_04: He knows so much more than we do, like no, but like legitimately, as far as like I just want to put it out there to you know let it loose land that we know that Wes knows his stuff.
4:17
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and I will say to those people that don't know that, you know, you hear a lot of oh, vinyl is superior in sound quality, that's why a lot of collectors want it, right?
4:26
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, if it's coming from an analog source.
4:28
SPEAKER_06: But the the thing is now is they're attracting kids.
4:31
SPEAKER_06: You can buy you can buy a vinyl album for$30,$40, and it's from a digital source, it's not a true analog recording.
4:43
SPEAKER_06: It's all about the money.
4:44
SPEAKER_05: You heard it here first.
4:45
SPEAKER_06: Some of them are, some of them are, but some of them are true, like they're basically when a vinyl is cut, it's coming from a CD source, not a true analog source.
4:55
SPEAKER_06: Probably not.
4:57
SPEAKER_04: The last time that you and I said that we were gonna take a back seat, yeah.
5:01
SPEAKER_04: The episode, it was the vinyl episode.
5:03
SPEAKER_04: Great, and we got so into and yeah, we got so into it.
5:07
SPEAKER_04: So you know, I know that we said that we're gonna take a back seat, you know, here um and let them geek out, but who knows?
5:13
SPEAKER_04: Maybe we'll get uh inspired and who knows as excited.
5:16
SPEAKER_06: It's about the production of vinyl, too.
5:18
SPEAKER_06: A lot of people like, I mean, it looks great, you know, the color, the big cover art, people want to see that.
5:23
SPEAKER_06: That's good.
5:24
SPEAKER_06: That's what it is, you know.
5:26
SPEAKER_06: Because and it all depends on what you if if somebody out there buys a vinyl record and they're like look thinking it's you know superior sound quality and you have like a$80 vinyl turntable must be no, you have to have top, top quality stuff to get the actual um you know good sound quality out of it, you know.
5:47
SPEAKER_06: So absolutely if you watch it, if you go on YouTube, I I suggest people do this, I find it fascinating.
5:54
SPEAKER_06: Um, there's documentaries on well, there was a one I watched the other day from um vinyl is so popular now, all the vinyl you know, record pressing plants, a lot of them closed back in the day.
6:06
SPEAKER_06: Now they're opening back up and they have such high demand.
6:09
SPEAKER_06: Um more and more are opening up um to cut vinyl again.
6:14
SPEAKER_06: Um but to watch the process is pretty fascinating.
6:18
SPEAKER_06: Like the term cutting, how they I mean it's made by hand, so yeah, things can mess up, you know, depending on how good the the vinyl is pressed.
6:27
SPEAKER_06: Um, but it's pretty cool to watch how how it's done.
6:30
SPEAKER_05: Rob play the music, let the music play.
6:37
SPEAKER_06: All right, guys.
6:40
SPEAKER_06: Welcome to another episode of Let It Loose.
6:42
SPEAKER_06: I'm Wes.
6:44
SPEAKER_06: We already did that part, didn't we?
6:46
SPEAKER_06: See, I can't do the intro.
6:47
SPEAKER_06: For fuck's sake.
6:49
SPEAKER_06: All right.
6:50
SPEAKER_06: See, guys, we fuck up.
6:52
SPEAKER_06: It's so routine for you to be doing it.
6:55
SPEAKER_04: I know, but the way that you wrote it.
6:57
SPEAKER_06: Where did Rob go?
6:58
SPEAKER_06: Rob is here.
7:00
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
7:01
SPEAKER_06: All right.
7:02
SPEAKER_06: Today we're going to dive into the world that I absolutely love, the world of collecting, from rare records and international releases to concert memorabilia, promotional items, and those one-of-a-kind treasures.
7:14
SPEAKER_06: We have three very special guests with us today who we can officially call super collectors.
7:20
SPEAKER_06: These guys have spent years building up some pretty incredible collections, chasing down rare finds, discovering things that never even we've never even knew existed.
7:31
SPEAKER_06: And let's be honest, probably spending way too much money along the way, right?
7:35
SPEAKER_06: We have Anton and Jimmy who are joining us for the first time, and Steve, who many of you know from season one.
7:42
SPEAKER_06: So, guys, welcome to the show.
7:44
SPEAKER_06: It's great to have you here.
7:45
SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much for coming on.
7:47
SPEAKER_06: I can't wait to hear about your collections, your rarest finds, your biggest collecting scores, and maybe even a few stories about the ones that got away.
7:56
SPEAKER_06: So let's get started.
7:57
SPEAKER_06: Who wants to tell us how this obsession all began?
8:01
SPEAKER_04: Ooh.
8:03
SPEAKER_05: Hey everybody, thanks for being here, everyone.
8:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, thank you for being here.
8:06
SPEAKER_04: Rob, you and I are gonna have to take a back seat because we are not collectors.
8:10
SPEAKER_05: I am sitting back.
8:11
SPEAKER_05: I have one thing and it's right there, and that's it.
8:17
SPEAKER_05: I don't know how I can do that.
8:18
SPEAKER_05: But I didn't have stuff though.
8:19
SPEAKER_05: I had like I had like regular fan stuff, I had CDs, I had like magazines from like the people would get me as a kid.
8:24
SPEAKER_05: I had a tour book, but like I've got a keychain still in my work bag, and I've got my Gloria fan club membership card in my wallet.
8:33
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but beyond that, I collected magazines as a kid, and I have a ton of them, and they're in like a tote under my bed back home at my parents' place.
8:42
SPEAKER_06: I haven't seen them for years, but I still have those and some tour shirts from home, but in all the tour books.
8:48
SPEAKER_05: But like to your question, Wes, how did this obsession begin?
8:51
SPEAKER_05: I think like for many people, it starts with like family members who will enable you.
8:58
SPEAKER_05: Like my family would buy whatever they saw that had Gloria on it or in it, you know.
9:04
SPEAKER_05: And like as a kid, you're you're psyched.
9:06
SPEAKER_05: Like you would have I had like posters and magazines kind of plastered against my wall, but like it starts for me.
9:12
SPEAKER_05: The obsession began because my family was enabling it.
9:16
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, my dad um was a music guy, so we had a nice sound system growing up.
9:21
SPEAKER_06: Um and he bought CDs, and that's how it started for me.
9:26
SPEAKER_06: I never had posters.
9:27
SPEAKER_06: You it's funny, I've never I have one poster that I bought many, many years ago, and I think it's in like a poster tube in the attic somewhere or in my room.
9:35
SPEAKER_06: But I never had posters or collected anything like that.
9:37
SPEAKER_06: It was always the music for me.
9:39
SPEAKER_06: Um, I was telling these guys, um, you know, growing up, uh you would always find me in a record store, and then uh the the funny thing was, oh god, you get Wesley in a record store and then you can't get him out, right?
9:52
SPEAKER_06: So let's introduce let's have you introduce yourself.
9:56
SPEAKER_06: So tell everybody about you and where you're from.
9:58
SPEAKER_06: And let's start with uh let's start with Jimmy.
10:01
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
10:02
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh Well, my name's Jimmy.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: I'm I live in the UK, uh Bristol to be precise.
10:10
SPEAKER_02: Um do we need to say anything more?
10:14
SPEAKER_04: What we want your home address, your phone number.
10:16
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
10:19
SPEAKER_05: Can you hold up your credit card right up to the screen so we can screenshot you?
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: So my name is Steve.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: And the U.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we know who you are.
10:29
SPEAKER_06: We know who you are from season one.
10:33
SPEAKER_06: Anton.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm from Holland, the Netherlands, from Rotterdam.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: I'm collecting since uh 85.
10:42
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, okay.
10:44
SPEAKER_06: I've known this guy for many, many years from the early days.
10:47
SPEAKER_06: Yes, you know, and um, you know, when I was I'm out, I was a little guy, high school, like learning about you, you know, different releases.
10:56
SPEAKER_06: Um, I didn't even know, you know, there were international editions.
11:01
SPEAKER_06: The first time I ever found out there was an international edition was um there was a virgin mega store right across from Bongos in downtown Disney.
11:10
SPEAKER_06: Um so after going to Bongo's for the very first time, of course, there's a record store I'm going, right?
11:16
SPEAKER_06: And there was an import section because I looked at everything that they had in that store.
11:22
SPEAKER_06: There was an import section.
11:23
SPEAKER_06: I remember buying my first international or a couple international releases I bought was the Gloria Japanese version, um, and the reissue of Into the Light.
11:34
SPEAKER_06: And then, as you all know, I've then I discovered, oh, there's more songs on this one.
11:40
SPEAKER_06: I didn't know I had no idea that Language of Love was a song, it was even existed.
11:44
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
11:44
SPEAKER_06: Um, and then that's where it started for me.
11:47
SPEAKER_06: And then I found the vinyl about the Gloria Blue vinyl and the um the 12-inch double pack of Reach.
11:55
SPEAKER_06: So then it really, really skyrocketed for me there.
11:59
SPEAKER_04: Anton, since you've been collecting uh since 1985, you said, right?
12:04
SPEAKER_04: Yes, Conga.
12:06
SPEAKER_04: With Congo.
12:07
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so is that is that when you first discovered Miami Sound Machine, Gloria Stefan?
12:13
SPEAKER_01: No, no, my my father was a big record collector of South American uh music.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh, right.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: I know the ready the Miami Sound Machine from the Spanish numbers, the Spanish songs.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Wow, but for me it started with Dr.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: Beat in '84, but collecting from '85 and then collecting also the the Spanish uh stuff from uh 1977 until uh 1983.
12:34
SPEAKER_04: So before you started collecting, you already knew the Nocela Pantes and Menamore and all that stuff.
12:42
SPEAKER_06: This guy probably had a collection collection out of the four of us.
12:46
SPEAKER_06: Anton has, and your your vinyl collection is massive, and a lot of the early Miami sounds like vinyl CDs, cassettes.
12:55
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's how I he's how I knew or I learned about all the early Miami sound machine releases from all over the world because he has them.
13:02
SPEAKER_04: So Anton, it wasn't it wasn't necessarily that that music was being played in Rotterdam and Holland.
13:11
SPEAKER_04: Um, it was that your father you said was was a collector, and that's how oh that's very cool.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because the Spanish the Spanish songs you've never heard them in in in Holland.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: Wow, it's always started with Dr.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: Beat.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: There was a big massive uh uh giant hit in the in uh was written in Holland, and then it started with Conga, and then she got very famous.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: But from Spanish music, she's not famous here.
13:35
SPEAKER_04: Got it.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy, how about because I like it, it's very nice music.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: Of course, absolutely.
13:40
SPEAKER_04: Jimmy, how about for for you?
13:41
SPEAKER_02: How when did you first discover Gloria?
13:44
SPEAKER_02: So I I actually vividly remember this.
13:47
SPEAKER_02: It was in about '94, and I was in um a city near Bristol called Bath, and um I was walking past a little record store, and they had um like this Standee for um Turn the Beat Around.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: And I saw that and it said something like Gloria She's Back or something like that on it, or something I can't remember exactly what it said, but that piqued my interest, and then I started looking, and then I realized that she'd had all this career before that I'd somehow missed at that point.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: But then I was only 14 at the time.
14:17
SPEAKER_04: So um I love that.
14:20
SPEAKER_04: I love that it's it's interesting that you say that because Rob, I think that you've mentioned this before, though, an episode idea of fans that became fans in different eras, you know, different years.
14:32
SPEAKER_04: That would be a really cool idea because we had we had a fan recently on one of our Spanish uh last season, uh one of our Spanish episodes that um just discovered Gloria's music last year.
14:44
SPEAKER_04: Fabiola discovered her wow through uh and now she has this huge Instagram page, and like uh she's like you would think that she's known Gloria, you know, her entire career.
14:57
SPEAKER_04: So that's pretty cool.
14:58
SPEAKER_04: Uh Steve, you've you've been on the show before, but for anyone that missed it, um uh share with us, you know, when you first discovered Gloria and the Miami sound machine.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: Well, first discovery was Dr.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: Bates in 84 as well.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I was like 11 years old.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you didn't have a lot of money, pocket money back then, so I was very selective in the records that I was buying, but really it was 86.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: A bad boy was in the charts, and I remember it was in the summer of '86, uh, it was at number 16.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: It was shown on a show called Top of the Pops, and I just loved the video.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, because I love cats.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh the cats the cats got you.
15:40
SPEAKER_04: If you love cats and Rob runs away from them, I love cats.
15:45
SPEAKER_05: The animal, but if but people dress like cats freaked me out.
15:49
SPEAKER_04: I just yeah, I just realized what you hate the video cat uh the video of bad boy because of the cats, yet you love cats.
15:57
SPEAKER_04: Of course, yeah.
15:58
SPEAKER_05: I what's I what's the deal with I'll tell you the deal.
16:02
SPEAKER_05: Um, the deal is the cats musical.
16:05
SPEAKER_05: Oh, you did share this run okay, it was running in New York, and the the commercial for the boot show was so terrifying with cats kind of the people dressed like cats kind of slinking all over the audience and touching people, and it used to terrify me as a kid.
16:19
SPEAKER_05: And then, of course, Gloria's like, that's a great idea for your music video.
16:22
SPEAKER_05: And so there was no safe space for me because even when I would turn on a home video, there were the people dressed like cats again.
16:28
SPEAKER_05: So gotta love it.
16:30
SPEAKER_06: Yep.
16:31
SPEAKER_06: Anton, do you remember what the first item you ever collected was?
16:36
SPEAKER_01: The first uh record I bought was uh the seven inch of Conga.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Seven inch, yeah.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: Yes, not the normal one, not the poster sleeve, but the normal one.
16:43
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
16:44
SPEAKER_06: You know, there were reissues over there, and you you the Dutch fans, the European fans, man, you guys were so lucky.
16:51
SPEAKER_06: You had so many releases.
16:53
SPEAKER_06: In the US, we didn't.
16:54
SPEAKER_06: We we didn't we didn't get as many things, so um, which I learned to find out from you, thankfully.
17:00
SPEAKER_06: Um what about you, Steve?
17:05
SPEAKER_00: The first item I ever bought was uh I believe it was the Let It Loose CD.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Um it was called Let It Loose, actually.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: So it was December 11th, 1988.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: I still remember the day.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: It was the day after uh Homecoming was televised on uh on the BBC here, and I just fell in love with Gloria and I'd known more of her songs after A Bad Boy I'd Heard Anything for You Can't Stay Away from You on Rick D's radio show.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I was watching that show, it just triggered something.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: So I was out with my parents next day doing Christmas shopping, and I saw the Little C D and picked it up.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: And then I had a pen pal at the time who lived in Florida.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: Her name was uh Katie, and I happened to mention that I'd watched the show.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know too much more about Gloria at that point.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: I had met I had mentioned Dr.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Beat and Conga, because anybody who knows me how much I love Conga on that show.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: And the next thing in the new year, I got two cassettes from my pen pal, which was Eyes of Innocence and Primitive Love and Cassette.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what really, really, I guess that was the catalyst for really starting to buy glorious singles to begin with.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, in Ireland back in the late 80s, there wasn't a lot of exposure, there wasn't like HMV or Virgin mega stores back then, it was just small uh stores, so you didn't have a lot of exposure to collecting as such.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: So initially it was simply buying seven inches, rare seven-inch packs and 12-inch singles, and really it was 1989 it began to snowball when cuts both ways was released, and I managed to snag the in-store display for Cuts Both Ways, so the big red oh I love that.
18:47
SPEAKER_06: I love that.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: That's my favorite album, which is beside me, and I remember walking through the town with that under my arm and all the empty CD cases and cassette cases and people staring at me, and brought that home and just looking at it, and that's where the uh I guess almost the need became that I needed to really just get anything of Glorious that I could get my hands on.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: So I'll blame the cuts both ways display for going from casual interest collecting to really, really deep diving into editions and I guess you know, uh expanding into magazines, concert memorabilia, everything you can name.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to get my hands on that.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, 1989 was the year.
19:34
SPEAKER_06: What about you, Jimmy?
19:37
SPEAKER_02: So definitely the first thing was turn the beat around on CD single and cassette single because I have to have every format so.
19:46
SPEAKER_02: I didn't I don't do it, I don't recall buying the 12-inch at the time though.
19:50
SPEAKER_02: I got that later.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: So that was a strange one.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: Wait, considering now that I pivoted to mainly vinyl that I collect.
19:57
SPEAKER_06: So for for me, I I got hooked on Glory.
20:01
SPEAKER_06: Steve, you mentioned homecoming concert, but um, like I was said earlier, my dad bought cuts both ways, the CD, and that's where I kind of was introduced.
20:09
SPEAKER_06: And then '91 went over here on Disney Channel, um, it was called Coming Home.
20:16
SPEAKER_06: It was the smaller version of like the Into the Light tour.
20:19
SPEAKER_06: Uh, that's when it kind of kicked off for me.
20:22
SPEAKER_06: Then I discovered Homecoming Concert.
20:24
SPEAKER_06: But the first item that I collected, my grandma bought me the um cassette of Into the Light.
20:30
SPEAKER_06: And I remember still buying that, and I still have I will always keep that one because she's no longer with us.
20:35
SPEAKER_06: So she bought that for me.
20:36
SPEAKER_06: So that's that was my first item.
20:39
SPEAKER_06: That's when it kicked off for me.
20:41
SPEAKER_06: So 1991 when I was a little boy, probably like seven years old.
20:45
SPEAKER_04: That was my first item, the Into the Light cassette.
20:49
SPEAKER_05: Yep.
20:50
SPEAKER_05: Mine was Mitiera.
20:52
SPEAKER_05: That would have been mine.
20:53
SPEAKER_05: I still have that cassette too.
20:55
SPEAKER_05: And that's oh, so see, I have more things than we think.
20:57
SPEAKER_05: I have that and I have whatever I've got of the city.
21:00
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I do have quite a few things.
21:02
SPEAKER_04: I have some stuff, but not nothing crazy.
21:06
SPEAKER_04: It would not impress anyone in this in this hall right here.
21:11
SPEAKER_05: So, but Steve told us a little bit about the um the catalyst, like the thing that made him want to start being becoming a serious collector, right?
21:20
SPEAKER_05: Was it the that was the standee for you that really kind of gave you that itch?
21:26
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
21:26
SPEAKER_05: So for for Anton, what was the thing that moved you from I'm just gonna buy you the records that come out and whatever to becoming like, well, I need to also have uh that stuff and uh start really uh diving into the world of collecting, not just uh records but memorabilia.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, the first thing was uh because my father has all these uh uh records from South America, so that's what my interest in vinyl and uh tapes.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: Um I still love the vinyl.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't I'm not an I don't like CDs.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Hear the noise of a vinyl because it makes noise.
22:03
SPEAKER_06: You have a lot of CDs though.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: So I have a lot of CDs because I can't play them anymore.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm just collecting.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: Now the collecting stuff it started with um why you know eBay, it's very easy to uh to look for things.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh you show you see uh some people uh posting things.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh I worked in a record shop, so it was very easy to get also the the special uh editions, also the imports from Japan.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: And it's it was a lot easier to buy it for me.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Now these days Vina was back, so the record shops are back, but there was a lot of time, it was only eBay, there were no record shops anymore.
22:42
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that was it for me, eBay, when I discovered eBay.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: That's yeah eBay, you were eBay uh America's my best friend.
22:49
SPEAKER_06: It went downhill from there.
22:50
SPEAKER_04: I gave I gave up on eBay because there was this one guy that would always outbid me on every single item.
22:57
SPEAKER_04: His name was something like Wesley Larkins or something like that.
23:02
SPEAKER_04: Oh interesting.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Every single freaking item, it was like I I won one, I won one thing, I want a thing from him.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: You remember?
23:11
SPEAKER_01: Good.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: You still don't have it in your uh collection, I think.
23:14
SPEAKER_06: Which one was it?
23:15
SPEAKER_06: Mi Buenemoor.
23:17
SPEAKER_06: Uh people get into the Zoom.
23:20
SPEAKER_06: But um, I want to get on the U the US promo CD topic here shortly.
23:24
SPEAKER_06: That's right.
23:24
SPEAKER_06: That's one that I uh that's one that I don't know.
23:26
SPEAKER_06: You lost it.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: You sent me a message.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: Was it you?
23:30
SPEAKER_05: Oh, I remember that.
23:34
SPEAKER_05: That is awesome.
23:35
SPEAKER_05: So, Jimmy, when did you make the switch into becoming a series collector?
23:38
SPEAKER_05: Like, what was the thing for you?
23:40
SPEAKER_02: So there was uh a magazine in the UK called Record Collector, and it had lots of mail order lists in there, and I used to look through that, and there's what one particular company called Esperate EIL that's still going actually.
23:54
SPEAKER_02: And so I used to order a lot from there, and I already was kind of a collector of another artist, which won't go into, but you'll go into it.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: We want to see who you're cheating on.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: Cheating on Lord Wins.
24:05
SPEAKER_02: I already was, I always well, I could see that me and Steve have very similar tastes.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: Um so Madonna is my other big one that I collect as well, along with um along with Kylie as well.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: So yes, um I have I have four that I collect.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: So I'm quite an a rabid collector of these things.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: Don't know where their money comes from, but lovely.
24:29
SPEAKER_04: All right.
24:30
SPEAKER_04: So Steve, was there one uh was there one record or song in particular that changed collecting from a hobby to a passion?
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a really good question.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think it was possibly reach.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: Really?
24:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, it wasn't just the song, it was the aesthetics, the cover, the way the video was shot, then the destiny campaign, which accompanied it.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: So I think as many people know, destiny, that entire uh campaign and the evolution tour is one of my favorite Gloria eras, and indeed one of my favorite um endeavors of any musical artist that I like.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: I just loved everything about it.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: I found it very, I think lush is the word, just the the photography, this you know, the soft browns, the beige colors and the blacks, and the way Gloria was photographed.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: I felt that on the video, it just accompanied the song so so well.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: And so buying the 12-inching, have having it in a larger format, and then moving on to uh I'm not giving you up, which was quite similar in terms of the photography.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: That really I was there, I was buying every format I could.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: And as Jimmy touched on, Esprit as well, I bought started buying a lot from them in the mid-90s when I became a little bit more um solvent.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: I had you know a job and I had money, so I would have used record collector and this was pre-internet um Esprit and buying a lot of the Gloria imports, the Japan higher came in the Japan higher CD, which I just loved, and just everything about that era, even now talking about it.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, I love it so, so much.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: So that really, really was I would say it was the first uh, let's say, Gloria era where I felt that I had a a very comprehensive, let's say, time capsule or capsule of everything that was done.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: There's one thing from the destiny era that I'm missing.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: I've never been able to get it, but I feel that I have everything else, at least that I want.
26:36
SPEAKER_04: Okay, well, share, share it.
26:38
SPEAKER_04: Um there might be someone, there might be someone in uh let it loose land that may be willing to share that.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: I keep getting tapes about it.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: So it's not the vinyl, I have the vinyl, um, the original vinyl of Destiny, but it was the the promo VHS cassette.
26:54
SPEAKER_06: Oh yeah.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: It came in, it came in like a really, really luxurious um box.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen it in real life, but the photographs that I've seen of it, so that's always eluded me.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: I was outbid once on eBay by it, and that was in the early days.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: I was naive.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that I could really push my limit up.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: I thought I could only go up like a dollar at the time.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: So I I I've learned that lesson well.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully someday it will fall into my hands if you know there's somebody out there who just decides they don't want it anymore.
27:27
SPEAKER_05: Um I'm gonna tell you what though, just the way you described it makes it sound really beautiful.
27:31
SPEAKER_05: So I don't think anybody's gonna give up that.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: That was so nice.
27:36
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, fingers crossed.
27:38
SPEAKER_06: There was a really lot of cool promo packs back in the day that you know it doesn't happen anymore because of the digital digital world.
27:44
SPEAKER_06: But yeah, there was it was so cool to you know to see those sort of things back then.
27:49
SPEAKER_04: Isn't it crazy that we're we're talking about this?
27:51
SPEAKER_04: And that was 30 years ago.
27:54
SPEAKER_04: Crazy.
27:55
SPEAKER_04: It's wild.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: That that was the time.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: So reach it was, and then what really, really nailed it for me was in the Evolution Tour program.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: There's this gorgeous picture of Gloria from the Reach video.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: It's like um it's almost like I'm I'm not a fashion guru, but like I think her arms are out, and it's like basically her outfit spread in the wind, and it's just amazing.
28:17
SPEAKER_04: Are you talking about the one that she's on the platform?
28:20
SPEAKER_04: Yes, the very first photo when you open it.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's over, it's literally sitting beside me.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: I'll look at it straight after this.
28:27
SPEAKER_06: Um, there was just a post on a Stefan unplugged with the um tour books.
28:32
SPEAKER_06: If anybody wants their out there ever check that, um yeah, all the pictures from the tourbooks.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: I think that's Stephanie Gloria's loveliest tour book.
28:41
SPEAKER_04: So 19 1996 was when the bug bit you.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it took it took about eight years to like really go in there.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, I was buying the the special packs and you know the seven-inch and the 12-inch calendar packs, all that good stuff.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I would say that's where it became really, really costly.
29:03
SPEAKER_04: So Anton, uh 1985 is when you know, uh you start becoming a fan and start uh collecting.
29:12
SPEAKER_04: But was at that moment, was that the moment where you became obsessed and started collecting like crazy, or was there another period where that happened?
29:21
SPEAKER_01: No, that was a little bit later.
29:23
SPEAKER_04: It was a little later.
29:24
SPEAKER_04: So at what point did that happen for you?
29:27
SPEAKER_01: Um I have to think because with Conga, I was 12.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: So let's say with 16, I I had a lot of uh before I was in um in a period with um illegal concert tapes.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: So you know, you know, you start to get people who have special stuff, and that's what's I'm interested in collecting things.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: I had a guy who worked at um the customers in the Netherlands, and sometimes they had stuff and I got pictures, and I thought, wow.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even know that there was existing uh this kind of things to collect, special records, uh illegal records, uh bootlegs, you know, that kind of thing.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: So that's what I started to get.
30:15
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's more than only the official uh records you can buy in in the shops.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: You have the international stuff, you have things uh who are forbidden, you have the bootlegs.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: This was my period to to start collecting uh big, bigger and bigger, bigger.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: So as I told that was my best friend.
30:34
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you guys have access to way more you know, bootlegs, way more formats in Europe than we did over here.
30:42
SPEAKER_06: You know, in in Europe, three-inch CD singles were really popular.
30:46
SPEAKER_06: We never had three-inch CD singles, there were two released over here, and the format flopped.
30:52
SPEAKER_06: Um, singles were cassette singles were were priority for the record companies over here, but you had everything.
31:02
SPEAKER_04: So Jimmy, Jimmy, 1994 is when you discover Gloria.
31:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, was that when you became a big collector as well, or did that come later on?
31:14
SPEAKER_02: So it's it's a funny story actually, because I I was immediately a fairly big collector, but then I would say around 2000, when I was about 20, my priorities shifted and I started going out a lot.
31:28
SPEAKER_02: So actually I kind of stopped collecting.
31:30
SPEAKER_02: And this is for all artists I like then, and I didn't pick it really back up again until about 12 years ago, maybe about 2014.
31:39
SPEAKER_02: And that's when I became really rabid and because that's when I started buying a lot of stuff because I'd missed that time.
31:46
SPEAKER_02: I missed all that period and I regretted it.
31:48
SPEAKER_02: Um so then I started really um and I just love and what I what I hate that I miss is the um the Alma Carabina period because I love all those sleeves and like the 12 inches are so yeah, they're so beautiful.
32:06
SPEAKER_02: Um so I I love the fact that I could get some of those on 12 inch afterwards and stuff.
32:10
SPEAKER_02: So I wish they'd released all the singles because there's loads of the little um Spanish card CDs you can get, which are also beautiful.
32:19
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I wish they also had them as in 12-inch format and stuff for all of them.
32:23
SPEAKER_02: I want everything, mind you.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: It's never it's never enough for me.
32:28
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
32:29
SPEAKER_06: So now I'm curious.
32:31
SPEAKER_06: You know, I I know Anton's answer.
32:33
SPEAKER_06: We're gonna talk about the hunt, you know.
32:36
SPEAKER_06: What's your favorite format to collect?
32:40
SPEAKER_06: I already know, but you already mentioned it.
32:42
SPEAKER_06: But um every type of refinery.
32:45
SPEAKER_06: What was it for vinyl that just made you like set you off?
32:50
SPEAKER_06: Let's say like the same thing.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because it's it's it's the sound, it's the noise, uh, it's a big sleeve.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that has lyrics, um, it has two sides.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: You have to after 30 minutes or 20 minutes, you have to change it of a double record.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we know there are a lot of uh like uh Reach have a double record, so you get like uh eight remixes.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: And if you have an album, it's always well, you have uh you know that in some countries they have an extra number, a bonus number.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it's it's all for me as uh records, uh little ones, uh seven inch, twelve inch, uh ten inch, yeah.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Those are picture disc, everything.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: What about I have CDs, but uh it's not my favorite uh part of the music.
33:32
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
33:32
SPEAKER_06: What about you, Steve?
33:35
SPEAKER_00: It's vinyl, yeah, questionably vinyl.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I went through a bad period of where it was primarily CDs, but there's just something tangible about holding a vinyl, looking through the liner notes, just yeah, it just has more of a presence.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's an element of nostalgia to it.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: It brings me back to my childhood, thinking about having records when I was young too.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh but I think just the attention to detail in vinyl production is so much better than CDs, which are you know, they're quite small, they're more insignificant.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: But to uh Jimmy's point, you know, about the Alma Carabena singles, I think that's best Gloria's best photography era in terms of the promo.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: So it would have been it would be lovely to see more, like even that album on vinyl, because it's it's the colors are just so vivid.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, that would be nice.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I I really get off on vinyl.
34:30
SPEAKER_04: Since since you guys are vinyl lovers, why do you think it made such a huge comeback?
34:38
SPEAKER_04: Because it, I mean, it went away and then all of a sudden it just exploded everywhere.
34:42
SPEAKER_04: It never really went away, but yeah, but it wasn't, I mean, it wasn't like the primary scene.
34:46
SPEAKER_06: Never really went away.
34:47
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was most of like the club scene.
34:49
SPEAKER_06: But a lot of people think that and I'm not saying that you're wrong, but yeah, it it never really went away.
34:55
SPEAKER_06: It just for the average consumer, it wasn't a good one.
34:59
SPEAKER_06: For the average consumer, it was a little more difficult to find, but you had to go to the major over here in the US, you had to go to the big record stores, like Virgin Megastore, and they still had a vinyl section.
35:09
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but like the people who were buying vinyl are the the you guys, like the collectors, right?
35:14
SPEAKER_05: So, like why why is it having such a resurgence?
35:16
SPEAKER_05: Is it just nostalgia?
35:17
SPEAKER_05: Is it just because like the kids like that?
35:19
SPEAKER_05: Or because it's like in urban outfitters, it's not just like in record stores, it is like targeted toward like Gen X.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's driven a lot commercially because you know, with um streaming services, artists don't earn as much money anymore.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: So record companies have to find other ways to to generate income.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: So if you look at a a lot of artists these days, um not going to name many names, but Taylor Swift, you know, will maybe release 20, you know, different formats for an album because it's a money spinner, and vinyls are at least quadruple the price they were back before the CD came along.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: So I think a lot of it is commercially driven, but as a nice consequence of that, you know, because it started creating more demand, it's encouraged record companies to actually start printing old records and you know, anniversary editions.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: So it's allowing people to go back to their youth or you know, to have a bit of nostalgia as well.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, those albums being released for the first time, you know, after 20, 30 years, those are big coups too.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: So I do think that that's got a lot to do with it.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: It's been a bit of a snowball effect, I would say.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it certainly in my world and in collectors' worlds, it's been touched on vinyl has never really gone away, it's just hibernated for a while.
36:43
SPEAKER_05: But Steve, to your point, that's a good way of putting it.
36:45
SPEAKER_05: The liner notes, like I remember getting a CD or getting a cassette, and like the first thing I would do is pour through the liner notes.
36:52
SPEAKER_05: So, like the liner notes are so much more vibrant, easy to read, beautiful on vinyl that like that's because we're old now.
37:01
SPEAKER_05: So we need the bigger break.
37:03
SPEAKER_05: My eyes were always bad.
37:06
SPEAKER_05: So um I appreciate the the size, and like it really makes you appreciate artwork in such a different way.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a couple of things for me, I'll let the other guys speak.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: But one is I know for songs where I've paid attention to the packaging, the liner notes, I'll know the lyrics better than a song that I've just bought a CD for or you know, listen to on streaming.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: But the other thing is you when you're analyzing the liner notes, you get to learn about recording studios, equipment used, who the backing or you know, the the backing band is, you know, vocalists, all that type of stuff, you know.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like Susie Carr, for example, I wouldn't know Susie Carr if it wasn't for the Primitive Love album, you know.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: But there I go looking for her on Instagram.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: Who does that?
37:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's the impact that that kind of stuff has.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, but with CDs, not so much.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: I can I would never really flick through a CD.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: It's too awkward to get in and out, whereas the vinyl, at least it's there, and you can just look at up these.
38:09
SPEAKER_01: I have a daughter from 14 years old, so uh she's really interested now also in vinyl.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: So what uh Steve said about Taylor Swift, uh we had a four months ago, we had uh Ayana Grando Competo.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: It's 12 different versions in different colors, different sleeves, uh, extra bonus numbers, uh a Japanese uh ob she wants them all.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, picture disc.
38:30
SPEAKER_06: It is, it's the marketing, you know.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: Kids want the only thing it's it's it's triple the price in in the 80s and 90s.
38:38
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's um and Anton, I imagine you can't say no to her wanting them all because she's like, Well, you have all that's funny, and we have now the signed copies the Zara Larson, um uh Adela signed copies.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: It's a very smart uh it is super smart, yeah.
38:58
SPEAKER_06: Very smart.
38:59
SPEAKER_04: Very smart, uh I have to say that there's nothing that I have that's gonna impress you guys, right?
39:06
SPEAKER_04: But I am proud of this one item.
39:09
SPEAKER_04: This is this is the one item that I'm really, really proud of.
39:13
SPEAKER_04: The original Miami Sound Machine Live Again, I said um, I think they were only uh it was pressed.
39:20
SPEAKER_04: Oh when Jimmy I saw when you uh when you got it, Jimmy.
39:24
SPEAKER_04: Um, you had posted about it.
39:26
SPEAKER_04: And I think at the time that you had received yours, I was like a few days from receiving mine or something like that.
39:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, um, but yeah, there were only 500 that were pressed, right, Wes?
39:37
SPEAKER_04: Um, I think so.
39:38
SPEAKER_04: Uh 500.
39:39
SPEAKER_01: I saw 300.
39:40
SPEAKER_06: Oh, 300?
39:42
SPEAKER_06: Even better.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: Because there are two different sleeves.
39:44
SPEAKER_01: There's one other with it with another another color.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's the one I'm not the yellow one, but uh this one has also an another color.
39:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you're you're talking about I think it's the first press.
39:53
SPEAKER_04: So this was the first press, and then this is the other one.
39:56
SPEAKER_04: That's the first press.
39:57
SPEAKER_04: That's the third thing.
39:59
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, wow.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so then also being released in 86 in 86.
40:05
SPEAKER_04: Interesting.
40:06
SPEAKER_06: When it comes to like early when it comes to early Miami Sound Machine stuff, I'm not the guy to ask.
40:12
SPEAKER_06: Um, like after '84, because I really never even bought finished the early Miami Sound Machine albums until probably a few years ago.
40:21
SPEAKER_06: I mean, I had most of them, but the last one I bought was the 86 reissue of Live Again Renesser.
40:28
SPEAKER_06: Um, but Anton, he'll tell you, he's the guy to go to about the early Miami Sound Machine stuff.
40:33
SPEAKER_06: He knows about it.
40:34
SPEAKER_05: But you know what, Wes?
40:35
SPEAKER_05: Like, that's a perfect segue into our next question.
40:37
SPEAKER_05: Because in order for anybody to be as granular and aware, hyperaware of all of these things, you have to be a fan.
40:48
SPEAKER_05: Like, you can't just like like I guess I'll collect all these uh vinyl variants.
40:53
SPEAKER_05: Like, you have to really love the artist, right?
40:54
SPEAKER_05: So we want to dive in on like what Glorious Music means to each one of you, because first and foremost, you're collectors because you love the music, I assume.
41:05
SPEAKER_05: Right?
41:05
SPEAKER_05: So uh Jimmy, let's start with you.
41:07
SPEAKER_05: What does Gloria's music uh mean to you?
41:11
SPEAKER_02: Um so for me, I just know I just I just love I love all the Spanish stuff.
41:19
SPEAKER_02: Um Gloria was probably my first uh introduction into not probably, she was my first introduction into Spanish music.
41:27
SPEAKER_02: Um and we did we don't we don't get much of it here.
41:32
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, I uh I don't speak Spanish, so I but I do like I just love the sound.
41:37
SPEAKER_02: I love her voice on the Spanish stuff.
41:40
SPEAKER_02: Um it's uh it feels me when she sings in Spanish, it's it's richer or something.
41:46
SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't really understand how that's possible.
41:48
SPEAKER_02: But um but yeah, and and I just I I do I I love that I just love those sounds, and that's that's the niche in my in my music listening that she feels in a way, and all those horns and and stuff, um, and and instrumentation that comes through of all of all that music.
42:06
SPEAKER_02: I love all that stuff.
42:07
SPEAKER_05: I love that.
42:08
SPEAKER_05: Anton, what about you?
42:09
SPEAKER_05: What does Gloria's music mean to you?
42:12
SPEAKER_01: For me is the same as the Spanish music, yeah.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: Not only the the the old songs, but also uh the mitiera, uh alma cabreña.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: For me, it's it's warm.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: It's uh I love her voice when she's doing Spanish songs, uh it's more emotional and it's it's got rhythm, but I like that much more than the English uh music from Gloria.
42:35
SPEAKER_05: It's like Steve said the perfect word earlier.
42:37
SPEAKER_05: It is just lush, like it is delicious, you know.
42:41
SPEAKER_05: All of those albums, I completely agree.
42:43
SPEAKER_05: Uh Steve, what about you?
42:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, very similar to what the the two gents have said there, I would say there's both that part, not just the Spanish music, but I think her organic music.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: So particularly on Wrapped in Destiny, along with Tierra and Adriendo Poetis.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: Um just that whole richness, that fullness, uh, the warmth of Gloria's voice.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll call out a little push in particular, which uh and show me the way to your heart, which are two of my favorite Gloria songs, uh, coincidentally.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: But conversely, then I love Gloria, Gloria's euphoric aspect, her carefree aspect.
43:23
SPEAKER_00: So the Gloria album Miss Little Havana, that complete uh liberation, the carefree attitude of her music, the joy, which you know I think that's what where I first related to her, which was uh it was rhythm is gonna get you, and then in the conga on the homecoming tour, I just think it's the most inspired musical arrangements and the reaction to the audience.
43:50
SPEAKER_00: That's how I feel when I listen to Gloria's music.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: There's one particular scene from the Homecoming video where it's two Asian girls they're dancing, and one is swinging.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: I think a t-shirt above her head during Conga.
44:03
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, that's how I feel listening to you.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: Makes me happy.
44:09
SPEAKER_04: That video so much.
44:11
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
44:11
SPEAKER_04: You know, we're we're gonna start talking about favorites.
44:15
SPEAKER_04: And this, at least for me, this one, this is tough because my favorites vary and it it they change, you know, from one day to the next.
44:26
SPEAKER_04: So we could talk about a favorite song right now, and I'll tell you one thing, and tomorrow you ask me the same question, and it's something completely uh different.
44:33
SPEAKER_04: So I don't know if you know if it's the same for you guys, but Jimmy, is there a particular album or song that you feel really connected to?
44:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's for me, there's a whole run from Destiny right through to Unwrapped that I absolutely love.
44:52
SPEAKER_02: And we I've already mentioned obviously that the Alma Caribina, I just absolutely love that album.
44:58
SPEAKER_02: And I love the one with um Failure Cruz.
45:00
SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, there's a title.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, so I and I there's a few highlights on there, but obviously what would be my favorite for years.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: My favorite song was actually Show Me the Way Back to Your Heart for absolutely years.
45:16
SPEAKER_02: That was my favourite song of her.
45:18
SPEAKER_02: Um now it's probably something off of Alma Caribina.
45:24
SPEAKER_02: But we could say it was Show me very heart, but that it tugs at me.
45:29
SPEAKER_02: How about for you, Anton?
45:31
SPEAKER_01: For me, the my favourite album is Alma Camila Caribeño, and there's one song, it's from '86, which uh is a song it's it's not very common, but it had it has to be a big hit, but it never was.
45:47
SPEAKER_01: It's called Hot Summer Nights.
45:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
45:50
SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
45:50
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, oh my god.
45:51
SPEAKER_01: I mentioned I don't know why it's never been uh never been a hit or whatever.
45:56
SPEAKER_06: It's yeah, I've only released as a single over there.
45:59
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I agree.
45:59
SPEAKER_06: That's a great, great song.
46:01
SPEAKER_04: I mentioned that in a previous episode that that should have been a huge, massive hit worldwide because it's just I mean, it's it it just has hit all over everything.
46:16
SPEAKER_05: You know, we are hot summer night stands on this show, absolutely.
46:19
SPEAKER_05: Yep, absolutely.
46:20
SPEAKER_02: One of my friends, um Glenn, has just been in Japan for a few weeks and he's brought me back, he's brought back loads of Japanese stuff.
46:27
SPEAKER_02: One of them is the Hot Summer Nights Japanese 7 Inch.
46:30
SPEAKER_02: So I'm really looking forward to that.
46:32
SPEAKER_06: Right, yeah, it was only released as a single internationally over in Europe and Japan.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: It's it's released in the box.
46:39
SPEAKER_01: All the singles.
46:40
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
46:41
SPEAKER_04: You go ahead, you go ahead and show it off, Anton.
46:45
SPEAKER_04: I love that.
46:45
SPEAKER_02: I've never seen that box before.
46:48
SPEAKER_02: I need to locate that book.
46:49
SPEAKER_06: All the singles are inside.
46:50
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's cool.
46:51
SPEAKER_06: The movie.
46:52
SPEAKER_04: Oh, look at that.
46:53
SPEAKER_06: That's cool.
46:54
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, there were two seven inches.
46:55
SPEAKER_06: There was one that came in the box, and then there was the other one with the picture sleeve.
46:59
SPEAKER_01: Yes, the blue one and the box one.
47:01
SPEAKER_06: I have the picture sleeve on.
47:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, love that.
47:03
SPEAKER_04: Steve, is is there a song?
47:06
SPEAKER_04: I mean, song and album, but is there a song that you are very connected to, and why is it Prisoner of Love?
47:17
SPEAKER_00: It connects me to you.
47:19
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
47:20
SPEAKER_04: Steve and I, we talk about it all the time.
47:21
SPEAKER_04: That that is our dream to see Gloria sing Prisoner of Love Live.
47:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: Unquestionably.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, so I I've touched on obviously A Little Push Will Forever be my favorite Gloria song, but I think in terms of relatability, um, lyrically, it's I wish you.
47:39
SPEAKER_06: Um, nice, great song.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: I can just I I can draw from a lot of the I guess, you know, the the context of the song.
47:47
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a fantastically, it's a beautiful song.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: I've only ever heard it performed once live, which was at the Moon and the Stars show in Locarno in Switzerland in 2009.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: And that was one of those life moments, you know, even watching her perform it, you know, I felt like an even deeper reaction and a shiver um watching her do it.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: So there's just something so beautiful about that song.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: I genuinely don't understand how it wasn't a massive hit.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, I really don't.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of the absolute jewels and a massive jewelry box of songs that she has.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: So I think that's the one I connect to lyrically, um, and Con Los Anjos too, but I think I wish you just a little bit more.
48:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, over here in the States, I believe that, and Wes, you could correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that I wish you went to number 18 on the adult contemporary uh chart.
48:43
SPEAKER_04: It it was it was in the top 20.
48:45
SPEAKER_04: And I know that in South Florida, and the one of the the light, you know, easy listening channels, it was it was on constant rotation.
48:54
SPEAKER_04: So we did get to hear that.
48:55
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
48:56
SPEAKER_04: That was that was uh because they were promoting that specific station, was promoting the live and re-wrapped tour.
49:04
SPEAKER_04: Okay, sure.
49:05
SPEAKER_06: Yep, number 18 on the adult contemporary.
49:08
SPEAKER_04: I know some stuff, Wes.
49:09
SPEAKER_04: I know some stuff.
49:10
SPEAKER_06: I heard it, I heard it not all that long ago in the grocery store, believe it or not.
49:13
SPEAKER_06: And I was like, Really?
49:14
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's that was recently, yeah.
49:18
SPEAKER_06: So my next question is I can relate to this with I'll start with you, Anton.
49:23
SPEAKER_06: Has collecting introduced you to friendships or community?
49:28
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I have a lot of uh friends uh because of collecting records, especially from Gloria.
49:37
SPEAKER_06: Yep, yeah, that's how I connected with you.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: You're my best uh my best part in the USA.
49:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
49:43
SPEAKER_01: And I have some uh some friends here in the Netherlands.
49:45
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
49:46
SPEAKER_06: So I learned so much from Anton back in the day.
49:49
SPEAKER_04: Was everyone here?
49:50
SPEAKER_04: Was everyone here on Conga online back in you know, back in the day?
49:55
SPEAKER_04: Oh yes.
49:56
SPEAKER_06: Jimmy, you were?
49:57
SPEAKER_02: I I wasn't sure if you were like the email list when it was when it was the email list, yeah.
50:01
SPEAKER_02: And I even had my own Gloria website that I used to run back then in '98.
50:06
SPEAKER_02: Do you remember the name of the thing?
50:08
SPEAKER_06: You connected until that long ago, until like the Instagram, my Instagram account, I think.
50:13
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
50:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:15
SPEAKER_06: But Stevie, I think we connected through the Instagram account as well.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: That's right, yeah.
50:22
SPEAKER_04: And how about during that time of going online with the mailing list?
50:26
SPEAKER_04: Uh, did anyone ever sign up for the Pen Pal?
50:30
SPEAKER_05: No.
50:31
SPEAKER_04: No, I didn't.
50:32
SPEAKER_04: No, I didn't know anything about that.
50:33
SPEAKER_04: I probably wasn't allowed, to be quite honest with you.
50:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I have I still have all my pen pal uh letters.
50:40
SPEAKER_04: They they went ahead and distributed a list of everyone's, anyone that wanted to participate, names and addresses, and then you could just write to anyone around the world.
50:50
SPEAKER_04: So I received, I remember receiving a VHS from a fan in Spain, and I was so excited because it was the press tour for the Gloria album.
51:03
SPEAKER_04: So it was it was something that I didn't have access to.
51:06
SPEAKER_04: So I was so excited when that VHS came, but I guess because it went through security, I don't know.
51:11
SPEAKER_04: So actually, no, I no, you told you you told me, Wes, that it's a different format.
51:16
SPEAKER_04: That's why I couldn't be.
51:18
SPEAKER_06: You can't see it on the United States unless you have like a universal VCR or a POL VCR or PAL.
51:24
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
51:25
SPEAKER_06: I'm wondering because I still have that VHS.
51:28
SPEAKER_06: It's from regions, it like protected people from back in the day buying like they would release certain things in the US that they didn't want people in Europe to get yet because it may have been in theaters still.
51:38
SPEAKER_06: Does that make sense?
51:40
SPEAKER_06: So each each country or each part of the world had different regions, and that's continued on with DVD.
51:45
SPEAKER_06: DVD there would be a region one, two, three, four, five, six.
51:49
SPEAKER_06: But but in the US, we were US and Japan were NTSC.
51:53
SPEAKER_06: So you could watch a VHS from Japan and um the US or North America, Latin America.
52:00
SPEAKER_06: But yeah, Europe was on a whole different whole different system, I guess, called Pal, Europe and um South America and uh Australia.
52:10
SPEAKER_06: So you couldn't watch anything from on a VHS tape from there.
52:14
SPEAKER_04: Interesting.
52:14
SPEAKER_04: And then uh going back to Wes's question, Steve.
52:17
SPEAKER_04: Uh I'm assuming, you know, uh having collected Gloria memorabilia, all that stuff, that's led you to many of the friendships that you have, correct?
52:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, so many friendships.
52:31
SPEAKER_00: Um well, Jimmy and I, we know each other on social media too.
52:35
SPEAKER_00: We've never spoken though.
52:38
SPEAKER_00: But it was in 2007 in Rotterdam, actually, when Gloria was there for um some promo, I went over and I met for the first time a lot of fans, some of whom have become really lifelong friends.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and our big collectors, uh, David Riley, who I tried to convince him to come on to this today because his collection is phenomenal, but he's he's too shy.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: And Sarah Reese, um, who everybody most a lot of people will know as big Gloria fans, but so many people then it just opened up.
53:09
SPEAKER_00: It's and then some of the bashes in Miami getting to meet people too.
53:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, not necessarily all massive collectors, but massive Gloria fans, which is you know so important.
53:21
SPEAKER_00: But David Ile per in particular, I will link in with if I've got questions around the collection or if I see something and I'm not sure if it's genuine or official or not, he'll he'll keep me on the right tracks.
53:39
SPEAKER_02: What about you, Jamie?
53:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the one thing I really value from it is just having other people who you can talk to who you know get get it, and you know love Gloria as much as you do, and getting to meet them.
53:54
SPEAKER_02: So I didn't actually meet many fans.
53:56
SPEAKER_02: There's loads of times over the years where I almost went to this and always went to that, but it wasn't really until I went to the recent um Tenerife concert that um that I really met a load of the fans.
54:09
SPEAKER_02: Um and actually now then I went to Madrid and then I've actually visited some of the fans, some of the fans in their home countries and stuff as well since so um I've made some real big connections and some real big friends through this, and and it and it and even like it's a pity I never stayed in contact with some of the people from the old Congo main list when I was on it, because back then you were like they would it was the Gloria album was out, and people were sending me CDs from like Australia and the US and stuff like that, and you were exchanging, and I was sending the ones from the UK and stuff, and it was it was a great time.
54:46
SPEAKER_02: Um but it's nice to now reconnect to some of those people, not knowing whoever it was that I exchanged with, could have been anyone of the city.
54:53
SPEAKER_06: I know that's why I have so many different versions of the same album.
54:56
SPEAKER_06: I get asked that a lot, and I'm like, I didn't buy the same version of eight versions of the same album, is because people connected with you, and I would get a Colombian version or an Argentinian version.
55:06
SPEAKER_06: Um, so yeah, those were fun times for sure.
55:09
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, for sure.
55:10
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I know me and you have connected about thanks to Jimmy, I was able to obtain one of my long sought-after 12-inch singles from the UK that we'll talk about here shortly.
55:21
SPEAKER_06: And I know I have one that he really wants.
55:25
SPEAKER_06: Um part two of Bet You Say That.
55:28
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I actually look I allocated that one.
55:30
SPEAKER_06: Oh, you did get it?
55:31
SPEAKER_06: I didn't know that.
55:33
SPEAKER_06: All right, good.
55:34
SPEAKER_02: I do know I I I had located it from I live in the UK.
55:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, can't it never comes up for sale?
55:40
SPEAKER_02: It came up for sale in Japan.
55:43
SPEAKER_06: That's wild.
55:43
SPEAKER_06: Really randomly.
55:44
SPEAKER_06: Oh wow, yeah, that's wild.
55:46
SPEAKER_04: All right, so you guys kind of already answered these questions, but I want to do a a little quick rapid fire.
55:58
SPEAKER_04: And I want to know about your favorites, but favorites to favorites today, because I'm sure like I said right this second.
56:07
SPEAKER_04: What is your favorite album era and do you prefer English or Spanish?
56:12
SPEAKER_04: Right now, this moment.
56:14
SPEAKER_04: How are you feeling?
56:14
SPEAKER_04: Steve, go.
56:16
SPEAKER_00: Destiny, Destiny era, prefer English.
56:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jimmy.
56:22
SPEAKER_02: Um I think it's Gloria and the Gloria era, and I I do actually prefer English.
56:30
SPEAKER_02: Anton.
56:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh Spanish.
56:38
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
56:39
SPEAKER_04: Awesome.
56:39
SPEAKER_04: The Spanish era.
56:41
SPEAKER_04: Well, you know what?
56:43
SPEAKER_04: I was just gonna say, Wes, what cuts both ways?
56:45
SPEAKER_06: Both ways all the way.
56:46
SPEAKER_06: I just love everything about what was my first album.
56:49
SPEAKER_06: There's not a song that I it is a skip by any means, they're all perfect.
56:54
SPEAKER_06: Um, and the cover art and all the photos and just her look were flawless in that era.
57:00
SPEAKER_06: Like Randy St.
57:01
SPEAKER_06: Nicholas, who's a famous photographer for a musician, like she's pretty famous.
57:06
SPEAKER_06: Um, she did all the photo shoots.
57:08
SPEAKER_04: English or Spanish?
57:10
SPEAKER_06: English.
57:11
SPEAKER_05: Rob Favorite album will always be Mitierra.
57:16
SPEAKER_05: Always.
57:16
SPEAKER_05: Um, favorite era, I I would say either Destiny or Gloria era, just because in that time she was everywhere.
57:25
SPEAKER_05: Like I could go to Sears and see the little stand-up.
57:27
SPEAKER_05: I could go to Sam Goody, and there was a new single out every week, it felt like so.
57:33
SPEAKER_05: Those eras where she was everywhere on every show, you know, were really special.
57:38
SPEAKER_05: I I think I prefer Spanish today.
57:42
SPEAKER_05: No English, no Spanish, no English.
57:44
SPEAKER_04: Rob, we we we need to learn from Steve, Jimmy, and Anton because they did it rapid.
57:50
SPEAKER_04: You just went on a tangent.
57:52
SPEAKER_04: I wanted to we need to learn from we need to learn from them.
57:55
SPEAKER_04: Our rapid fires are never ever rapid fire, and now I realize it's gonna go rapid or now I now I realize it's our fault.
58:03
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I want to go back and say my my favorite era would be what Rob just said too, because of that reason.
58:08
SPEAKER_06: I wasn't thinking of that.
58:09
SPEAKER_04: So favorite era for me, I I would have to combine it.
58:12
SPEAKER_04: So favorite album, hands down, destiny.
58:14
SPEAKER_04: Favorite era has to.
58:15
SPEAKER_04: I I have to come uh combine destiny and gloria, the 96, 98, because like you said, she was just everywhere.
58:24
SPEAKER_04: That's I'll stop there.
58:25
SPEAKER_04: And then English or Spanish.
58:29
SPEAKER_05: That's hard.
58:30
SPEAKER_04: That's that's hard, right?
58:31
SPEAKER_04: Say Portuguese to today, today.
58:35
SPEAKER_04: I'll I'll have I'll say Spanish today because right before jumping onto this meeting, I was listening to Hablas de Mi, which I hadn't heard in such a long time.
58:46
SPEAKER_04: And oh my god, that song is so beautiful.
58:50
SPEAKER_04: And I think um, I know I know that everyone here knows about the original Hablas de Me, but for those out in Let It Loose Land, I don't know that that's actually a re-record of the song that she was that in Prim uh in the Primitive Love album.
59:08
SPEAKER_04: So and that was something that I didn't discover, I didn't discover that until later on in life that she had recorded that for that album.
59:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so that's that's my answer.
59:20
SPEAKER_04: Not so rapid.
59:22
SPEAKER_05: So before we dive into everybody's collection, and there's a lot to discuss, we're actually gonna wrap up this episode so that we can really respect the art of the collector's mentality and really let these guys geek out on their collections in like a full episode.
59:40
SPEAKER_05: So we're gonna wrap up this week uh by thanking our guests and telling them to stay put and don't move because they're gonna come back in 30 seconds for part two.
59:49
SPEAKER_05: And and to thank our listeners out there as well.
59:52
SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, I love what Steve said that these albums and the reason they collect um is to sort of have a time capsule of being a fan.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_05: So um we would love to hear from you all as well.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_05: We would love to see if you have a collection, what your favorite items are, um, and not just albums, not just records, not just music.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_05: If you have like a niche, something or other from some era, we want to see your wildest, um, the wildest thing in your collection as well.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_05: So follow us on social media, email us at let it loosepod at gmail.com.
1:00:25
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1:00:26
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1:00:27
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1:00:29
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1:00:31
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1:00:35
SPEAKER_05: Press all the buttons on your phone, and we will see you next time with more of this episode.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_05: Hasta luego.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_03: Thank you for listening to Let It Loose, a Gloria Estic Fan podcast.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_03: Let It Loose was produced by Carlos, Rob, and Wes with Graphic Design by Lara.
1:00:51
SPEAKER_03: Thank you to Gloria for bringing us all together.
1:00:53
SPEAKER_03: Subscribe, rate, and share the love.
1:00:55
SPEAKER_03: And join us next week for a brand new episode.