Re: Bargain prizes

New thread ... What's the most satisfying, exciting bargain you've found in the used/remaindered music bins?

Credit to Randysan for the iPod thread, and to Glauner and Mats for their posts to same.

Finding a great music bargain is a great thing, but the bargains that got away can be just as memorable (if infinitely more frustrating).

Like when you find that ultra-rare japanese Boredoms import at your local Disc-Go-Round only to open it up and find a copy of the second Hootie album inside.

A House's "I Am the Greatest"
The Pursuit of Happiness' "Love Junk"
Molly Half Head's "Sulk"
Hunk's self-titled debut
...among many others

best finds, all on cd, all used, all under $10

1.please panic/vulgar boatmen for 18 german marks (at the time about $8)
2.twice removed/sloan
3.night of the corn people/bags
4.epicure/eat (or is that eat/epicure) either way, an ace find
5.(!)Mavericks/Holsapple-Stamey
6.Babe Rainbow/House of Love
7.Dead Dog's Eyeball/Kathy McCarthy
8.The Men Who Loved Music/YFF
....there are more but these came to mind easily

never did find that dictators go girl crazy....

I found (at the same record store, tho on different days) an original vinyl pressing of Can's "Ege Bamyasi" for $5, and the Strangler's "Raven" on vinyl with the 3-D cover for $8, I think.

I think we all have one moment in record store searching that stands out as something you'll never forget. For me, it was finding the first three Effigies records all together for $4 each. Still leaves me in disbelief.

A close second was when I walked into a store and the Butthole Surfers' unreleased "After the Astronaut" was playing over the PA. That was a good day.

original copy of Birth of the Cool - $5
Rubber City Rebels Capitol LP - $3
Surfer Rosa and Come on Pilgrim vinyl - $5 each, same day, same store
Valentinos Chess 45 "Sweeter Than the Day Before/Let's Get Together" 45 - 33 1/3 cents
Soul Sisters Sue 45 "Think About the Good Times" - 33 1/3 cents
Only Ones Special View LP - 25 cents (I kid you not)
V3 Photograph Burns CD - $2
Time Zone World Destruction 12" - 50 cents

There are many more. The 45s were procured at a Lakewood, Ohio junk store that sold three-for-a-dollar singles. I got nearly every Dyke and the Blazers single there, as well as loads of Motown and Atlantic soul singles, all in good shape. At the time (early '90s), Cleveland was an oasis of cheap record stores. I remember moving to town and immediately looking up the location of all the record stores in the phone book. The name of one was simply "Records," which I assumed was a misprint until I arrived at the address, in the middle of a horrible neighborhood, and a large, crude, hand-painted sign over a ramshackle store said "RECORDS." A guy in his '70s or '80s sat in the back, smoking a cigar and often drinking whiskey. The 45s were five for a dollar (thanks for all the Buck Owens & George Jones!) and the LPs were all cheap. It took digging to find something in good shape, especially since nothing was organized, but who cares?

bangs - brazos - five cents

Lolita Nation by Game Theory, double-disc vinyl, for $4
Lolita Nation by Game Theory, CD, for $8 plus shipping

Those were two highlights

I've gotten alot of steals for used cd's/vinyl, but for new (shrinkwrapped) cd's one of my better pickups lately was the first two Ike Reilly albums (Salesmen & Racists/Sparkle in the Finish) for $5 total. Which reminds me.......Ira, how 'bout an Ike Reilly entry?

ASHTRAY BOY - The Honeymoon Suite - $3 a personal favorite
BROTHERHOOD OF LIZARDS - Lizardland - vinyl $4
CLASH - Capitol Radio EP - $5 (not that long ago)
CRYSTALIZED MOVEMENTS - Revelations from Pandemonium, vinyl
DAMNED - Original black album 2x - $6
PALE SAINTS - The Comforts of Madness, vinyl
RAPEMAN - Two Nuns and a Pack Mule, vinyl
REPLACEMENTS - This Shit hits the Fans (cassette) - $1
YOUNG GODS - L'eau Rouge, vinyl
X - Positively 4th Street 45rpm
CHRIS KNOX - Seizure (along with some other Flying Nun vinyl in same bin)
Entire COCTEAU TWINS vinyl set - $3 each
Fast n Bulbous vinyl - $1
Pixies Giagntic 12" - $2

One lawn sale yielded these $1 vinyl gems:
DIED PRETTY - Free Dirt
assorted SMITHS 12"ers
FEELIES - No One Knows EP

David Johansen Band Live - Picture disc perfect condition - $19.

The (British) Beat - Tears of A Clown 7 inch (on 2 Tone) - $3.

The Someloves (Dom Mariani's project after The Stems) very very rare debut album - $10, have since seen it second hand for shitloads.

Some of my favorite bargin bin finds include Martin Newell's The Greatest Living Englishman, a Kaliedoscope (U.K.) compilation called Dive Into Yesterday (the first was found in a Borders, the second @ a mall store), the Long Ryders anthology and various volumes of the Rhino D.I.Y. series from the early 90s. I also picked up Emitt Rhodes' first (Dunhill) album for 50 cents @ a record store in Lynn, MA. Last, but not least, although I doubt Trouser Press will do an article on them, I did find a Bob & Ray 3-CD set @ the same place I found the Kaiedoscope CD for $6.99.

Just yesterday! Bowie's *Heroes* and The Who's *Sell Out* ... two very fine reissues, each with bonus tracks, each in very presentable condition ... each $4.

An import cd of NEU! 75 for $1.99, a couple of years before the recent US reissues.

The Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips disc just sitting on a stack of freebie stuff two months before it was officially released.

raunch hands vinyl :$2.00
skafish 1st album :$2.00
Dictators "Fuck'em if they can't take a joke" cassette: $1.50
Feelies "Only Life" cd: $1.50
Suicide Commandos "Make a Record" vinly : slipped it under my coat when the clerk stopped insulting me.
Electric Dread vs Steel Leg EP :$2.50
Fripp and Byrne "Under Heavy Manners" :gave it to me to get me out of the store.
Boredom's cd: switched the disc with the 2nd Hootie and the Blowfish CD I paid $1.00.
Radio Birdman "Radios Appear":$2.00

speaking of shoplifting

the only time i got caught (i had a VERY limited HS run) the burly owner tried to strangle me, shouting and spitting at me:

You're takin' food out of my kids' mouths!

i answered:

You feed them Rolling Stones records?

I can see it.
The Stones had a nutritional run from 66-72.
Poor kids, though. Rather high in cholestrol.

Not to mention that too much Brown Sugar can rot the teeth. I am embarrassed for posting that and yet I couldn't stop myself.

best record shoplifted:

jon spencer blues explosion - crypt style

errr, guess that tells you how much/little i stole...

but i still say that fcc'ing trehus was asking for it when he refused to exchange my defective bevis frond new river head lp!!!

I never shoplift - I just borrow discs from friends and keep them so long that they forget where the disc is and assume they've lost it and buy themselves a replacement copy. I just got the newest Drive-By Truckers that way.

At my advanced age I believe I can top you all in the "thrill of finding something cool for cheap" or (even better) "thrill of finding something cheap that turns out to be way cool" sweepstakes ... and Ira and Dave can probably equal or top me ...

$2.25 - Nazz Nazz on transparent red vinyl
$1.49 - Velvets 1st LP, mono, peelable banana
$1.49 - Velvets 2nd LP, mono, black on black cover
$1.49 - John Hammond, So Many Roads, mono (w/members of The Band)
$1.49 - John Hammond, I Can Tell, mono (w/members of The Band)
$1 or less - Make It Happen - Smokey Robinson & Miracles (w-Tears of a Clown & other nifty tunes
$1 or less - Stooges - first album, Merry Go Round LP
50 cents - promo only 12" live Blue Oyster Cult EP (they were never this good on any official live album), 2nd Emitt Rhodes LP
25 cents - first two Big Star albums & first Sparks album (which was originally Halfnelson, which cost me a whopping $1.99), 1st Emitt Rhodes LP

And there's more ...

hey, that velvets black on black sounds familiar... was there a name on it?

it's funny about that list of goodies

i'll never back down from my love/respect for big star/velvets/stooges but in the last 6 months i have listened to nazz/e rhodes/MG Round 43 times more often than that first unholy trinity.


but i will never never never "get" BOC!

NP
monkees
theme from "Head"

Secret Treaties by BOC is a great, great album. I still swear that the Ramones swiped the riff for "We're a Happy Family" from "Dominance and Submission."

Speaking of Big Star, I picked up Big Star Live for 3 bucks on cd this weekend which replaces my burned CD-R. I love this record, I actually prefer it much more than first 2 studio records although I know that's some sort of blasphemy. It just has that really creepy, fascinating undercurrent to it, especially during "Motel Blues" and all the Chilton acoustic numbers.

re boc

ok ok ok ok

i'll try secret treaties

but i have listened to the first two lately and even the fairly interesting stalk forest (or whatever their name was) precursor

Metal head!

>
> i'll never back down from my love/respect for big
> star/velvets/stooges but in the last 6 months i have listened
> to nazz/e rhodes/MG Round 43 times more often than that first
> unholy trinity.
>


i'll take "she's as beautiful as a foot" and the sid presley experience/godfathers/unholy trinity over most anything nazz...

but i still love/respect that geeky runt!

"I'm On the Lamb, but I Ain't No Sheep"..............................the Minutemen covered "The Red and Black",
hell Patti Smith even wrote lyrics for them and check that bass groove out in "Burning For You" not to mention that Handsome Dick name checked 'em on "Two Tub Man"........

A) One of my great scores of all time: DK's Too Drunk To Fuck CD single used for like 2 bucks. This has made it on to many, many mix tapes.

When I was 19 and didn't know too much about the Rolling Stones beyond the greatest hits, I found a really beat up and scratchy copy of Exile on Main Street in a bargain bin for a buck. I played it for some college pals that night while we were drinking beer and we all loved it instantly in all its scratch and pop glory. The only song we had heard before was Tumbling Dice. Here's the best part: There was only one LP in the sleeve, and I thought that was it. It wasn't until a few months later that I decided I needed a pristine copy of my new favorite record that I realized it was actually a double LP. Rock and Roll nirvana all over again.



Post Edited (11-15-05 17:20)

I really can't beat that last story, but I did find a copy of Paul Weller's Heavy Soul CD for $3.99 at a fye store in my local mall this past weekend. The funny part was that I was listening to his latest CD, As Is Now in my car.