A Very Vinyl Christmas

I was going to write a blog about Christmas memories with regards to getting records but what I got for Christmas this year really change my mind about doing that. I have to say that I had a very vinyl Christmas.

We will start off with the items in the picture above. This is $110 worth of gift certificates to a local record store which I have mentioned in this blog once before. The last time I spent $25 there alone I came home with a small stack of records so I would hate to imagine how many records I could pick up $110. Upon discussion of what to do with $110 with my wife seems to be eyeing up some rare Beatles albums with it. But we'll see how that all works out once we hit the record store this weekend I'm hoping to come home with a stack full of records including some real prime ones.

Of course the next gift that I need to mention is the brand-new record player, this is a Pyle belt driven record player that plays 45's, 33's, and 78's and is portable on top of that. It also has a AM/FM radio built into it, and of course speakers. This allows me to expand my collection a little bit since my current Sony record player only plays 45's and 33's. I hope to open it this weekend and maybe to take it somewhere else in the house where we can listen to it and have some fun. Overall I'm very excited just to have these two gifts alone and I will obviously be putting both of them to some very good use.

Okay, as you can see in the photo above I also got two records that I wanted to get for very long time. The first one is Babel by Mumford & Sons. This is a phenomenal album and I'd really suggest adding it to your vinyl collection if you don't have it already. This band is excellent to hear on the radio or on satellite radio or even on CD but on vinyl they are perfection. The album itself is a great one to have no matter what and I believe it won a couple of Grammies,  that just goes to show you how good music is to begin with. One of my favorite songs on the albums B-side and is called Lovers Eyes. 

The next album is another one I have been dying to get on vinyl for a very long time. Norah Jones Broken Little Hearts was an album I had originally bought on CD after it first came out in 2012. When I began my adventures in vinyl record collecting this was one the albums that went to the top of my list to get. The 12 songs of the album are broken up into two separate records each one containing three songs per side. Not only that but adding to this albums uniqueness, the records are made of white vinyl and the album also comes with a poster of the album cover which also makes the album unique by giving it the classical feel of an album from the 70s or 80s that also would feature a poster. Like the Mumford & Sons album this one also has some phenomenal sound especially in comparison to the CD which I also own. And let's be honest Norah Jones looks pretty goddamn good on the cover as well. 

I know some of you reading this blog are probably vinyl traditionalists and perhaps having Mumford & Sons and Norah Jones in your collection doesn't appeal to you. But I think having a nice mix of modern artists in with a collection of vinyl helps to keep one's collection relevant by readily embracing new music as well as that of old music. I also need to mention that these new albums are fantastically well built the 180 gram vinyl weight makes these records very strong and you really feel like you're holding something substantial when you touch one of these things.

Overall that's my very vinyl Christmas. I hope that you guys where able to expand your vinyl collections a little bit over Christmas as well and that you got some great gifts to help you expand your collection. If you want to comment to this blog and let us know about what you got for Christmas that you think is a phenomenal addition your collection go ahead and do so, we would be happy to hear from you. So with that said a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Searching High and Low

August 31, 2013

So since I started collecting records I have heard nothing other than "check the resale shops and thrift shops there are records galore there!". Well that is true there is a ton of vinyl in the resale shops, but not much of it is the really awesome stuff.  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 Hobby Lobby and I had to go to the later anyway 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. 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 even saw in Goodwill for 10 minutes earlier, one of which was Lush Life. 

I skipped one thrift shop in town today had to go elsewhere today, 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. But they had a minor record selection, 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. 

Pre-Recorded Memories

July 31st, 2013

I had the urge to build my record collection and had been giving it a lot of thought since I found the record player on Sunday. I can find new albums and remakes on Amazon, but those are $15 or $20 a piece, I'm ok with that for something new like Norah Jones Broken Little Hearts, or Babel by Munford & Sons, but I think I can get older albums a lot cheaper. I checked E-bay next, still prices a little high. That and between shipping and often vague comments on record conditions E-bay may not be a direction to go either. 

I wanted to check the record store in town and maybe hit some of the thrift stores too, but their hours and my work hours don't align. So I wasn't going to be looking that night. But I had this nagging feeling like there was something I was forgetting. Then it hit me, I had a set of 45's. 

In my bedroom closet inside a box of various old items, was what remained of my Grandmothers extensive record collection. It was a small box set of Glen Miller 45's, that I saved as a memory of my grandparents old house, their record collection, and as a lifelong fan of Glen Miller. 

The box is either made out of cardboard or possibly a wood bulsa like, whatever it is they don't use packaging like that anymore. Inside are five records and I took the first one out with Stardust, and Pennsylvania 6-5000 on it, and figured out the settings for 45's on the record player. I put the spacer on, then the record, keep in mind that I still don't have the RCA cable adaptors yet, so I can only hear it by putting my ear close. Stardust sounded great, and so did Pennsylvania 6-5000.

Now my resolve was even stronger to get the RCA adaptors, and more records. But I guess that would all have to wait till the weekend.