When everyone discovered CDs in the early nineties, Richard Shelton was conspicuously absent from the bandwagon. Instead, he was busy adding to his LP collection, which he had started when he was ten years old. Today he’s got more than eighteen thousand platters, spanning the past half-century of popular music. But it’s not all about the music; in fact, it’s mainly about the record jacket. Shelton, who teaches animation and music history at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, reveres the LP as an exceptional vehicle for art. His collection, which includes some of the most beautiful, shocking, and era-defining works of design of the past half-century, is to be seen and heard. About four hundred of his LP jackets are currently on view at the Goldstein Museum of Design.
SHELTON:The first extremely memorable one that I got was The Beatles 1967-1970, a greatest-hits collection.
Were you consciously collecting for the artwork, or for the music?
I definitely wasn’t conscious of the art at that point. I was obsessed with rock music, and it became a way to sort of escape things in my life. When I went to art college, I became more aware of the art.
Where do you buy your records?
I used to get them mainly at garage sales. When I lived in Los Angeles, I’d get them at swap meets. Now I buy a lot of the records at stores. And I buy lots of big collections. I run an event called the Record Show, where people can buy and sell records every couple months, so people know who I am. They call me if they want to sell things privately. Have you come to regret selling a particular record? I regret, like, hundreds of records I sold. It’s just ridiculous for me to even say that, because I sold so many records. But I do have regrets, for a number of reasons. I miss them, or they’ve just gone up so much in value that I look back and say, “What was I thinking?”
What’s your most valuable record?
A Jack Kerouac record with Steve Allen, which was put out on the Dot Label. Then the owner of the label heard it and immediately had those records recalled and destroyed. A few slipped out. Before I got my copy, I’d never even seen a reproduction. It has the most beautiful woodcut; its value is between ten and twelve thousand dollars. I can’t put that record in the show.
Have you ever had an adventure while adding to your collection?
That’s a good share of the reason why I collect. I consider meeting all these people, going to their houses, getting to see how they live to be an adventure. I was at a swap meet in Los Angeles long ago, and this couple showed up with thousands of records. I bought hundreds of them. They invited me to their farm outside L.A., and then the next thing I knew, I was in a barn with literally seventy thousand records in there. For weeks I sneaked away from graduate school, going back and digging through those records. One that I found there was an Elvis forty-five on Sun, “Mystery Train,” an extremely rare record. Probably thirty thousand of those records were in bad condition, but they were just amazing to look at.
If someone called you today with a certain record to sell, what would you want it to be?
John Coltrane. He’s one of my favorite musicians. His very first record was on Prestige, and an original pressing of that is very hard to find. I’d be very excited if that record was available.
Do you listen to much modern music?
I try to, but I’m so obsessed with older stuff. In the car I listen to Radio K. I’m not interested in the oldies station, since I have all those records.
Hip Art That’s Square runs through April 3 at the Goldstein Museum of Design, 244 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Ave., St. Paul; 612-624-7434; goldstein.che.umn.edu
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