Cassette tapes: an inventory

The household stock of recorded music is chiefly on vinyl, and there's plenty of it, even though the most valuable LPs were sold long ago. CDs are in moderate supply. Seeing a couple of pieces about cassette tapes recently prompted a listen to what's on hand in that format.

• La Leyenda; Vicente Fermandez; MusiTex, San Antonio; 1985: contains old favorites Volver and El Rey
• Conjunto volume 3, Texas-Mexican Border Music; Rounder; 1990; selections by many, including Valerio Longoria, Santiago Jimenez, Los Dos Gilbertos, Tony de la Rosa, Steve Jordan, Roberto Pulido, and others
• Conjunto volume 5, Texas-Mexican Border Music; Polkas de Oro; Rounder; 1994; selections by many, including Ruben Naranjo y los Gamblers, David Lee Garza, Los Hermanos Farias, Ruben Vela, and others
• Conjunto volume 6, Texas-Mexican Border Music; Contrabando; Rounder 1994; selections by many, including Ruben Ramos and the Texas Revolution, Los Pavoreales, Flaco Jimenez, and others; a cut-out; 
• Conjunto Classics; Roberto Pulido y Los Clasicos y Los Dos Gilbertos; Rounder 1991
• El Gato Negro; Santiago Jimenez, Jr.; Rounder 1990; includes La Piedrera, Viva Seguin, and El Gato Negro
• Arrancanme El Corazon; Ramon Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte; Freddy Records 1996
• 20 Exitos Gigantes; Ramon Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte; ; Freddy Records 1998; includes Tragos Amargos, El Disgusto, Un Rinconcito En El Cielo
• Ramon Ayala Interpreta Fuerza Nortena; Big Star, Rangel Record Distributors, San Antonio; 1990; includes Puno de Tierra, Vestida de Color de Rosa, Damelo
• Musica Sin Fronteras; La Tropa F; EMI Latin 1997 ; includes Sin Aviso, Luna, Soledad, Corazon Vacio
• Un Recuerdo Especial: Homenaje a Cornelio Reyna; Michael Salgado; Discos Joey 1997; includes Ya No Llores, El Disgusto, and Me Caiste Del Cielo
• Exitos de Los Tigres Del Norte; Roy Sales, Brownwood, 1981
• Before the Next Teardrop Falls; Freddy Fender; MCA 1985; includes Wasted Days and Wasted Nights; El Rancho Grande; lots of soul and some great country arrangements a cut-out
• Epoca de Oro; Trio Los Panchos; Discos CBS International 1981
• Los Panchos; Discos CBS International 1986; includes Ya Me Voy
• Los Panchos Hoy; Trio Los Panchos; Sony Discos, Miami 1991
• El Coco Rayado Power Mix y Mucho Mas; Ruben Vela; Hacienda 1996; many great polkas, a huapango, and versions of El Coco Rayado
• Llevame Contigo; Intocable; EMI Latino 1996; includes No Te Vayas, Y Todo Para Que
• La Pistola y El Corazon; Los Lobos; Warner; a cut-out
• Dulzura; Jennifer y Los Jetz; EMI Latin; Ven a Mi; a gift
• Corazon de Piedra; Santiago Jimenez, Jr.; Watermelon Records (Austin); many classics
• Selena Live; Capitol/EMI; includes Como La Flor, Baile Esta Cumbia, and a duet with Emilio; this was a gift
• Canciones de mi Padre; Linda Ronstadt; Elektra/Asylum; Por Un Amor, Los Laureles, Hay Unoos Ojos, Tu Solo Tu, Dos Arbolitos, La Barca de Guaymas, El Sol Que Tu Eres, and more classics; a cut-out
• The Essential Gene Autry, 1933-1946; Sony 1992; does not include In My Adobe Hacienda or Dust Pan Blues, but does include It Makes No Difference Now, The Call of the Canyon, Mexicali Rose, Amapola, and many more
• Greatest Hits; Bobby (Blue) Bland; Fairway; Cry, Cry, Cry plus all the greatest hits; a cut-out
• Portrait of the Blues; Bobby "Blue" Bland; Malaco; includes A Hurtin' Love; a cut-out
• Blues from the Montreux Jazz Festival; Bobby Bland, Johnnie Taylor, Denise LaSalle, and Mosley & Johnson; Malaco; includes Stormy Monday, that's the Way Love Is, Further On Up the Road, Pity the Fool, Who's Making Love, Cheaper To Keep Her, and more
• His Greatest Sides; Little Milton; Chess (MCA) 1984; inclues Grits Ain't Groceries, If Walls Could Talk, and more; a cut-out
• 20 All Time Greatest Hits; James Brown; I Got You (I Feel Good); It's a Man's Man's Man's World; Night Train; Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud), Please, Please, Please, and more; a cut-out
• King & Queen; Otis Redding and Carla Thomas; Atlantic (originally issued 1967; Stax/Volt); every track is great; a cut-out
• Best of Delbert McClinton; Curb; includes Shotgun Rider, I Wanna Thank You; Givin' It Up for Your Love
• Satch Plays Fats; Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars; Columbia 1986; Keepin' Out of Mischief Now, All That Meat and No Potatoes, Ain't Misbehaving; a cut-out
• Begin the Beguine; Various British performers, from the 'thirties by the sound of it; Point Productions 1992; plenty of Cole Porter; a cut-out
• Guit With It; Junior Brown; includes favorites Highway Patrol and My Wife Thinks You're Dead; a gift
• Great Artists at the Met: Placido Domingo; a free premium for ordering librettos
• Romantic Zarzuelas of Spain; Jose Carreras (with Teresa Berganza on some selections); Tradition; wonderful operetta music
• A Galaxy of Country Stars; John Anderson, Clint Black, Radney Foster, Lee Roy Parnell, Lorrie Morgan, Martina McBride; BMG; handed out free at some street event in downtown Austin
• Haydn; Symphony No. 100 in G "Military (Bamberg Symphony) and Symphony No 103 in E-flat "Drum Roll" (Pro Musica Symphony, Stuttgart); Allegro; a cut-out

These three dozen or so tapes have been played again and again. The cut-outs came from Cheapo Discs on Lamar. Other cassette tapes came from Half Price Books, from Acapulco Video (in the old spray-concrete Schlitz beer-distributor building on the East Side that had a counter selling campechana), from Maldonado Records (also in the East Side), or from the little booth inside La Michoacana when it first opened on Riverside.

Of the performers, the following have been heard live: Placido Domingo, Junior Brown, James Brown and his Famous Flames, Ramon Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte (on the Capitol grounds), Michael Salgado, La Tropa F, Los Dos Gilbertos, Santiago Jimenez Jr., Flaco Jimenez, Ruben Vela, Ruben Naranjo y Los Gamblers, Ruben Ramos and the Texas Revolution, and Steve (Esteban) Jordan,

I love Discogs, but it's not as useful for Tejano, bolero, ranchero, conjunto, orquesta, and other Latin music as it could be.