August 31, 2013

So since I started collecting records I’ve heard nothing other than, “check the resale shops and thrift shops there are records galore there!”. Well that’s true there is a ton of vinyl in the resale shops, but most of it’s not really  all that awesome.  Today, I had the opportunity to check three thrift shops, one resale shop, and the record store for selections.

It was a little before 10 AM when I pulled up to the record store, but they where closed and didn’t have hours listed. I called their number and didn’t even get a answering machine. I know they are open on Saturdays, so I would have to come back later.

Next stop Goodwill, which is next to the Hobby Lobby and I had to go to for ideas on my man cave/record rec room. My sons and I scoured Goodwill finally finding the records hidden in the book section. The pile there was small and manageable and didn’t look as if it was bothered often. All records here are a $1 and I found four records worth buying, well three out of four at least.

The Original Broadway Cast: Flower Drum Song  and Linda Rondstadt’s Lush Life. Both phenomenal records, not what I set out to look for but both good selections.

Carly Simon’s Hotcakes, I bought this for my wife, a huge Carly Simon fan, especially the song Mockingbird, with James Taylor. This is one of the songs on the album.

The soundtrack from Cocktail, OK, for this one I’m glad I’m ONLY out a $1 on it. Looking at it in the store it looked like it had a few good songs on it, but many of them are remakes. Plus there’s all that 80’s movie soundtrack stuff on there, yuk. After the third song I was done, perhaps I’ll be in an 80’s mood one day a listen to it all the way through and not stop at the third song in.

After Goodwill we ended up at a resale shop (antique store), they had 8-tracks, cassettes, reel to reel, and a ton of unorganized records all overpriced. Some records priced at $15, I saw at Goodwill 10 minutes earlier for $1, one of which was Lush Life.

I skipped one thrift shop in town today since I had to go elsewhere, I’ll have to hit them some other day.

The next place I ended up was a national chain thrift shop new to the area named “Savers”, it was in the next town over where we had to go anyway for a few special groceries. They had a minor record selection, but it was  mostly garbage.

So back to the record store in my home town. It was now almost 4 PM and I had less then a half hour in the store before they closed. Today’s big target was the Eagles Hotel California, but I had no luck with that, they had sold the last copy an hour before I got there. But I did find their iconic Greatest Hits album which would satisfy my need to listen to the Eagles on LP, until I could get a copy of Hotel California. I also found a great Beach Boys album, which had some of the songs I set out to look for a few weeks earlier, its not Pet Sounds, but its way better then the In Concert album I picked up a few weeks earlier.