Welcome
Sound and video recordings have challenges for both preservation and access. Every physical recording carrier is degrading and becoming obsolete. Even CDs and DVDs, which we often think of as stable, are susceptible to data loss and library users increasingly do not have access to playback equipment. Because of this, Callie Holmes and Matthew Vest led an effort to implement Avalon, a secure streaming platform, for UCLA, securing approval in 2016. Avalon allows UCLA authenticated users to stream material that is under copyright for research and pedagogical purposes.
In April 2019, Avalon was in production and the UCLA Music Library began to add content. By March 2020, there were 200 recordings available in Avalon. Since then, Christopher Brennan, Alan Lee, and Matthew Vest have worked from home to add over 1,700 recordings from the Music Library, Arts Library, East Asian Library and Young Research Library. With over 2,500 hours of media published, users could listen or view 24 hours a day for over 15 weeks without repeating content. Avalon has received over 26,000 media views since September 2020, allowing significantly greater access to media collections than previously possible at UCLA.
The UCLA Music Library adds recordings every week. Recent additions from the Music Library’s collections include Southern California Punk CDs, Los Angeles Hip Hop CDs, Bollywood DVDs, and some of the most used CDs. You can listen and watch via Avalon and also find links in the Library Catalog to individual Avalon recordings. You can request that we add a recording from our circulating collections. Send any request via email with the Call Number for the recording.
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Avalon houses streaming audio and video collections at UCLA. Content is restricted to UCLA users and requires additional UCLA authentication for use both on and off campus via the "Sign in" link.
Recommended recordings in Avalon
Please enjoy these recommended recordings in Avalon from UCLA Librarians and Library Staff.
(GI) by Call Number: CDA 26779Date: 2012 (Creation date: 1979)The only studio album by LA punk band Germs, many consider GI to be the first hardcore punk album.
Selected by Jimmy Zavala, LSC Punk Collective.
Alexander's ragtime band by Call Number: CDA 21041Date: 1994 (Creation date: 1927)Recordings from the late 1920s by blues legend Bessie Smith.
Selected by Diana King, UCLA Arts Library.
American totem : reckoning with gun cultures by Date: 2020After public mass shootings, the national gun debate consists of predictable talking points that focus on the object and neglect the underlying causes. However, firearms are unlike other objects.
Selected by Joseph Yue, Young Research Library.
ANPO, Art X War the art of resistance by Date: 2010ANPO reveals the untold story of resistance to U.S. military bases in Japan through a collage of paintings, photographs and films by Japan's most respected artists. Their stories and their art depict the struggle against the U.S. Military presence, which provoked a national uprising in 1960 and still festers today.
Selected by Su Chen, East Asian Library.
Black box the complete original Black Sabbath, 1970-1978. by Call Number: CDA 18699 DVD 368Date: 2004 (Creation date: 1970)All 8 albums featuring Ozzy Osbourne as vocalist. Includes a DVD as well!
Selected by Christopher Brennan, UCLA Music Library.
Damn by Call Number: CDA 30075Date: 2017Just one year after releasing Untitled Unmastered, Grammy Award winner Kendrick Lamar returns with one of the most buzzed about albums of 2017.
Selected by Callie Holmes, UCLA Music Library.
Double nickels on the dime by Call Number: CDA 15789Date: 1989 (Creation date: 1984)Seminal double album from San Pedro's Minutemen released in 1984 on SoCal hardcore label, SST, Double Nickels features punk rock infused with jazz, folk, and funk.
Selected by Courtney Dean, LSC Punk Collective.
The ecstatic music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda by Call Number: CDA 30099Date: 2017 (Creation date: 1982)Originally released on the cassette albums Turiya sings (1982), Divine songs (1987), Infinite chants (1990), and Glorious chants (1995).
Selected by T-Kay Sangwand, Digital Library Program.
Fiddling in West Africa (1950s-1990s) by Call Number: CDA 21336Date: 2007Audio supplement to text by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, Professor Emerita and Director of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive from 2000 to 2007. A complete oral history of DjeDje is available online as a part of UCLA’s Center for Oral History Research.
Selected by Christopher Brennan, UCLA Music Library.
Frank Lloyd Wright : his living voice by Call Number: Cassettes NA 737 W7 A2 1987Date: 1987Sound recordings from cassettes that contain 13 of Wright's Sunday morning talks. Selected and with commentary by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer (1987).
Selected by Diana King, UCLA Arts Library.
Give me convenience or give me death by Call Number: CDA 33272Date: 1987Compilation album, Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death.
Selected by Annie Watanabe-Rocco, LSC Punk Collective.
Lemonade by Call Number: CDA 30020Date: 2016Beyoncé's sixth studio album and her second visual album, features 12 new songs and a corresponding short film. It is a conceptual project based on every woman's journey of self knowledge and healing.
Selected by Matthew Vest, UCLA Music Library.
Los Angeles by Call Number: CDA 33498Date: 2001 (Creation date: 1980)2001 expansion of legendary 1980 punk album, a key record in establishing the LA punk sound.
Selected by Megan Rosenbloom, LSC Punk Collective.
The Masque (live) forming by Call Number: CDA 27576Date: 1996 (Creation date: 1978)Recorded live in 1978 at Brendan Mullen's underground club, The Masque, this album features LA first wave punk bands - The Weirdos, The Bags, Germs, and The Skulls.
Selected by Kelly Besser, LSC Punk Collective.
No thanks! the '70s punk rebellionCall Number: CDA 17582Date: 2003 (Creation date: 1973)Over 100 tracks that smashed through the bloated excesses of arena rock and disco in the late '70s, cross-licensed from everywhere. Blitzkrieg Bop Ramones; White Riot Clash; Personality Crisis New York Dolls; Neat Neat Neat Damned; See No Evil Television; Free Money Patti Smith; Sonic Reducer Dead Boys; In the City Jam; Pablo Picasso Modern Lovers; Boredom Buzzcocks; Mongoloid Devo; Wasted Black Flag by far the most complete punk collection ever assembled. A 116-page book contains essays, track-by-track commentary and personal recollections!
Selected by Caroline Cubé, LSC Punk Collective
The Ralph J. Bunche Suite by Call Number: CDA 21337Date: 2006UCLA composer Kenny Burrell's suite was written as a musical letter of gratitude to the prominent humanitarian and statesman Ralph J. Bunche.
Selected by Matthew Vest, UCLA Music Library.
Renegades by Call Number: CDA 13513Date: 2000Rage-ified cover songs.
Selected by Gabrielle Mittelbach, Digital Initiatives and Information Technology.
Repo manCall Number: CDA 27473Date: 1984Classic punk from the 1984 film, Repo Man.
Selected by Annie Watanabe-Rocco, LSC Punk Collective.
Sounds Fair to Me! The Copyright Game ShowDate: 2021Sounds Fair to Me! was recorded in front of a live studio audience in February 2020. Copyright Experts: Judith Finell, Music Industry Professor, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Robert Fisk, Music Industry Program Chair, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, David Nimmer, UCLA Law Professor and author of Nimmer on Copyright. Your Host, Martin J. Brennan. UCLA Library.
Selected By Martin Brennan, Scholarly Communications.
To pimp a butterfly by Call Number: CDA 28752Date: 2015Three years after the release of Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, Kendrick Lamar released his highly anticipated third album.
Selected by Matthew Vest, UCLA Music Library.
Victory lap by Call Number: CDA 30387Date: 2018In the works since 2013, Nipsey Hussle released this highly anticipated debut album in 2018.
Selected by Callie Holmes, UCLA Music Library.