Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7231 Points Moderator
We had no RSD in my hometown of Hull (the last participating dealer has closed his doors to concentrate on gig promotion and Hull Record Fair) but thanks to my local record dealer - a pop-up record shop called Bird's Nest Records (he does the local markets, festivals and so on) I took delivery today of the RSD release by The Pogues And Joe Strummer - double live album, red vinyl... and rather expensive but worth every penny! He was kind enough to take "Wants" from several regular customers and my copy I believe came from a record shop in Louth (with no additional mark-up). Happy I am.
Also grabbed a few more interesting things today from Bird's Nest, not yet on the site, but watch this space...
Was after one as an upgrade as my copy has as torn label, but ended up getting a new addition to my collection (and new images to the site) with this dutch copy for only £3
and a new entry to the site the other day
a late '80's reissue that i didnt have
Caddacack oh da ca-caddacack, shy shy skagellack Member since Jun 2010 4168 Points
A bunch of 78s (operatic arias - mostly red HMVs and most of them were Giglis) at Oxfam the other day! 99p for three! I bought 18 and had change for a burger (if I ate burgers)!
Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7231 Points Moderator
20 LPs/12" singles from a car boot on Sunday, all decent stuff. (Not to mention 20-odd pretty good 45s as well).
Also picked up a 78 (now added to the site) for a couple of quid - I now note that a copy of it sold on Ebay for £18 last year - we just paid £2 for it... however ours has a crack in it so a moot point really! (And we probably wouldn't have sold it anyway).
This be it -
Picked up some folk CDs from Beverley Folk Festival on the weekend - this being one of them -
Also a melodeon compilation and a double CD on Proper of "up and coming" artists - those two still to come to 45Worlds.
A few bits yesterday from charity shops (including a nice little book about classical music with a free CD included, also "to be added") and all-in-all a busy few days! Oh and another 78 yesterday as well, though I've forgotten what it is... need to add I think...
Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7231 Points Moderator
Bagged a job lot yesterday - mainly 80s and 90s alternative stuff - so have quite a few bits n bobs to add to the Worlds.
Got hold of approx 100 LPs, a handful of 12" singles and about 150 45s.
Still sorting through them but have already added some 12"s, some of which will be heading to the charity shop once I've got them on here :-)
Delighted with some of the LPs, there's a nice condition "Hatful Of Hollow", a Cure compilation, a minty "Fisherman's Blues" and a fair few other nice things to boot.
Obviously there are also the mandatory copies of No Parlez and Leo Sayer's Greatest Hits but as we all know, it is the law of the universe that these two pieces of redundant plastic will be in EVERY job lot you ever buy.
If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3760 Points Moderator
Pre-ordered a new release: Blues Pills, by Blues Pills, Limited edition gatefold picture disc.
Perhaps not in keeping with the vintage nature of this thread, but it has been an age since I have been inspired to buy a release by a new band (I still consider Radiohead and Boards of Canada my most modern favourite artists!).
It is perhaps deeply shallow of me, and superficial, but it was the album artwork that led me to investigate Blues Pills (Best cover art I've seen probably since Dark Side Of the Moon!)... saw three videos of them on youtube, and bought it immediately!!!!!!
I have not been this genuinely excited about a band for years, there have been many false dawns and empty promises, lots of hype about some new bands who just don't deliver, but my god... ROCK LIVES!
If you are not already aware of them, I urge you to check them out...like Led Zeppelin fronted by Janis Joplin!
If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3760 Points Moderator
looks a little like it!
...Just got my copy of Blues Pills delivered today... Yippieeeee!!!!!
'tis lovely. Careful slit down side of shrink wrap, shuffled album out, spent twenty glorious minutes handling it and examining (not many sleeve notes!), now determined to but record player!!!
... Which brings me to my next point... advice required:
Finally went in the charity shop located only two streets away from me, and after buying up some lovely cheap digipak CDs, and seeing no good vinyl (Charity shops have been picked clean of all good stuff since I last frequented them some twenty years ago (everyone cottoned on I suppose, that if anything by the Beatles, Stones, Floyd etc. walks in the door, it goes immediately on ebay... ah well, good luck to them!), I took a gamble and asked if anyone had brought a record player in recently...
... The very helpful woman there said she thought so, to my delight, and I promptly zoomed over to it's location like some kind of cartoon character (Peeyow! -gun shot noise).
I wasn't expecting much to be honest, thought it would likely be one of those old music stations with a cassette deck, that used to sit on my gran's side table...
but it was an Acoustic Solutions DR 130, belt drive, fully automatic.
...It has been there for a while apparently, and while it's not anything to to make you pee your pants about, if it's cheap, and I can hook it up to my Sony CD recorder, it could unlock all that delightful music I still have on vinyl (thence transferred to Hard-drive). I tested the buttons, and gave it a quick scan over, but wondered what the feeling was about buying such kit from charity shops:
Should I ask them to plug it in and spin it?
Check fuse in plug?
I just want to know if it's a sound bet, and what the protocols are with buying a deck from charity shops before I let it loose on some of my precious (and in some cases valuable (as it turns out, to my surprise and pleasure) in some instances, vinyl)
Should I trust the stylus straight off, or buy a new one before even attempting to play?
... Or is it a total turkey, to be left in the shop?
Thanks.
(Oh... and did shuffle album back in shrink wrap successfully... the work of many moments!)
Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7231 Points Moderator
How much is it, is the golden question?
If it's cheap enough you could take a gamble on it regardless. The stylus you can test on some old junk record, buy yourself a Perry Como from the shop or something and then lob it/return it whither it came when you're done.
New stylus would cost you £8-£12 ish depending on where you go online.
Not sure about connecting to a CD Recorder (as I've never owned such a thing) but if it has a built in phono stage (which I would suspect it has, but does anyone know?) then you should be reet.
I'd definitely want them to plug it in, even though you can't test the sound you can at least see if it appears to be working from a mechanical viewpoint.
If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3760 Points Moderator
Oddly enough... or perhaps not, Perry Como albums were at both ends of the crate of vinyl they had. Either end of a fat wedge of acker bilk, frank sinatra and the ever present al martino... he's not even considered worthy enough to be amongst that lot!
...being used as what are effectively bookends.
I didn't actually ask the price at the time, I'm getting back into practicing my record store/bootfair/charity shop poker face, and I've already found with some Charity shops (Oxfam just ain't the same anymore... don't go in there now, as they price like a rare vinyl store, undermining the whole allure of charity shops!) that you now only have to pick up an item for the shop person to register this as interest, and therefore licence to jack the price up... When I said I shot over to the record player... I did so inside, but tried to walk languidly over, in a disinterested way!
It was on a microwave, under an umbrella with a car stereo (cassette) on top, it had a lot of dust on it, but seems in one piece, and cosmetically undamaged at least, so I'm going to try to buy it for a fiver, maybe ten.
... Iknow waht everyone's thinking right now too... What kind of a scumbag quibbles over a couple of quid from a CHARITY SHOP?
I can only say that it is the oddest thing, that I don't mind giving them money for free, as a donation, whenever the opportunity presents (and I do), it's just the value-for-money consumer bargain hunter in me that kicks in when buying anything from them.
I suppose if I can get it for this kind of price, it shouldn't really matter if it's tip-top or not, but still, I don't want to be lumbered with a lemon at any price, or something I'd have to spend a fortune on fixing up, when I can get a new one (with a USB hole) for around 50 pounds on amazon. But even here I wondered about comparative quality between a new 50 pound deck, and an old one from a charity shop that's a better brand, and possibly a better product for less(if that last point proceeds from the other).
If it were a technics sl 1200 mkII, rest assured I would be asking your advice, but sitting with my new deck right now.
Got it because it is a) not only a re-recording of the London (Decca UK) version for Decca USA, but b) because it a reissue oldies' series label -- Coral Silver Series (which was also known as Coral Silver Star Series at least in 45 in the USA)
I have thing about unique and odd labels and this one was right up my alley! There aren't many labels of this type in the 78 world -- Columbia Hall of Fame, Brunswick Collectors Series, and RCA Victor Collectors Issue.
Wanna capture my heart -- woo me with an odd label! (My partner Sparky does that daily)
A kinda weirdie record. He was a TV horror movie show host in the USA, and when he first just this record, it was deemed too gory. So, an alternate was cut. And released along side the regular version
Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7231 Points Moderator
Magic Marmalade wrote:
Oddly enough... or perhaps not, Perry Como albums were at both ends of the crate of vinyl they had. Either end of a fat wedge of acker bilk, frank sinatra and the ever present al martino... he's not even considered worthy enough to be amongst that lot!
...being used as what are effectively bookends.
I didn't actually ask the price at the time, I'm getting back into practicing my record store/bootfair/charity shop poker face, and I've already found with some Charity shops (Oxfam just ain't the same anymore... don't go in there now, as they price like a rare vinyl store, undermining the whole allure of charity shops!) that you now only have to pick up an item for the shop person to register this as interest, and therefore licence to jack the price up... When I said I shot over to the record player... I did so inside, but tried to walk languidly over, in a disinterested way!
It was on a microwave, under an umbrella with a car stereo (cassette) on top, it had a lot of dust on it, but seems in one piece, and cosmetically undamaged at least, so I'm going to try to buy it for a fiver, maybe ten.
... Iknow waht everyone's thinking right now too... What kind of a scumbag quibbles over a couple of quid from a CHARITY SHOP?
I can only say that it is the oddest thing, that I don't mind giving them money for free, as a donation, whenever the opportunity presents (and I do), it's just the value-for-money consumer bargain hunter in me that kicks in when buying anything from them.
I suppose if I can get it for this kind of price, it shouldn't really matter if it's tip-top or not, but still, I don't want to be lumbered with a lemon at any price, or something I'd have to spend a fortune on fixing up, when I can get a new one (with a USB hole) for around 50 pounds on amazon. But even here I wondered about comparative quality between a new 50 pound deck, and an old one from a charity shop that's a better brand, and possibly a better product for less(if that last point proceeds from the other).
If it were a technics sl 1200 mkII, rest assured I would be asking your advice, but sitting with my new deck right now.
If you can get it for a fiver it's a no-brainer, really.
Most chazzas don't sell electrical items so you may have struck doubly lucky...
Got it because it is a) not only a re-recording of the London (Decca UK) version for Decca USA, but b) because it a reissue oldies' series label -- Coral Silver Series (which was also known as Coral Silver Star Series at least in 45 in the USA)
I have thing about unique and odd labels and this one was right up my alley! There aren't many labels of this type in the 78 world -- Columbia Hall of Fame, Brunswick Collectors Series, and RCA Victor Collectors Issue.
Wanna capture my heart -- woo me with an odd label! (My partner Sparky does that daily)
A kinda weirdie record. He was a TV horror movie show host in the USA, and when he first just this record, it was deemed too gory. So, an alternate was cut. And released along side the regular version
If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3760 Points Moderator
Dear reader....
....I bought it!
£4.
A little buffeted on the front, with only a little marking imperceptible unless your close up, and the mat has a slight tear about 2cm long near the spindle, but the good people in the charity shop plugged it in for me, and let me spin an LP and a 45,to see that the automatic return worked...
...it dropped right on the edge of each perfectly and returned when the stop button was pressed, and, importantly it went round at the correct speeds.
once I've cleaned off all the grime and dust, I'll begin inspecting the stylus by testing it on some old Cliff Richard 45s I got from a boot fair box buy some years back.
could be the best 4 pounds I've spent this year... and could save me hundreds of quid in downloads by giving me access to all those albums, and long forgotten B sides on singles. Maybe the best 4 pounds I've ever spent!!!!!!!
If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3760 Points Moderator
I'm SOOOOooooooooooooooooo Happy!
...Honestly, I feel almost, well... stoned.
The last few hours have been like some beautiful dream... or wait, no, the past twenty years have been the dream, and it feels like I've just woken up again.
Today I heard music for the first time in a very long while, despite having listened to it throughout that time...
After cleaning up my new record player, and messing around with the connection configuration on the back of my other kit for an hour or so, I ventured toward the vinyl. I kept telling myself it was only going to be a let down, and a combination of my rose tinted recollections of vinyl, and all the hype of the current resurgence of interest which had conspired to pull a fast one on me.
Would the stylus be OK?... What if something else was wrong inside it?
I grabbed a fistful of 45s, and cleaned em up, ready for playing... I chose a couple of dodgy copies of good songs, which looked like they'd give me all kinds of jip to play, and the Honour of first play went to Ray Charles: You Don't Know Me.
At the risk of sounding like a hyperbolic teenager (If I don't already!)... OH MY FECKIN' GOD!!!
After a fondly remembered crackle, hiss, and pop, it settled down to a gentle background hiss... then the song began...
The room swelled with ripples of joy and blooms of warm and hazy happiness as Ray Charles' voice rose out of, what I could not believe, was my stereo. The stylus moved lightly over the record, without one disturbance, even though to look at, I'd thought I was in for the Remix!
Still grinning at the arm as it glided back to base, I played Ella Fitzgerald with the same result.
I then tried The Beatles' From Me To You, See Emily Play (both only slightly less dubious looking copies than those that preceded them, and it just got better and better... The Stylus is absolutely fine!
After a couple more Hendrix, and Fleetwood Mac's Man Of the World, Trust had been established between me and the unit, so I decided to give Baker Street a go ( My Favourite), a mint copy, and it was just magic! (I bloody knew they'd buggered about with the production on CD versions of this... not just my hazy memory... Baker Street is recorded at a Faster Tempo on the original vinyl single, has more percussion, the vocal, sax, and guitar solo are all more “In-the-Mic”, and not washed away into the backing track).
It was then I Eyed My Albums like some kind of Bond Villain rubbing his hands and chuckling.
I am pleased to report that I gave the neighbours a full dose of The Drifters (Hot summer day... Under The Boardwalk... Sooper!), The Beatles Blue Album, and then.... and then......
….I spied a familiar twelve inch square of blackness among my collection, struck through with a single line of white, refracting through a prism to be dispersed in rainbow.
Dark Side Of The Moon.
I have a pristine 1979 copy of this on vinyl (OK, not a first issue, but a nice thick lump of shiny vinyl, none the less)... I have been listening to this fairly regularly for the last few years on an assortment of copies of different versions on CD...
If you don't believe the difference vinyl makes, you have to try this Album... the daddy of vinyl albums.
Suddenly all the CD versions of this seem anal, precise, and uptight somehow... It was like someone opened a window in this album, and let some air into it... It has real presence, even in the quiet moments (the heartbeat), weight, punch and the genuine effortless power I remembered.
The Drums at the beginning of Time (ha ha), just after the clock alarms are worth the price of admission by themselves, but after Great Gig In The Sky, I was knocked flat!
At the end of side two I tried Wish You Were Here, before giving the neighbours a rest.
I haven't stopped grinning all day.
… If I'd have known such happiness could be bought for just 4 Pounds, I wouldn't have done all those drugs over the years!
(From the outset, I'd intended to copy all my vinyl, then sell most of it... but now I See they are my precioussssssss, looks like I'm hooked again......... Bugger.)