[Jeff Guidry]

Those of us with vinyl rigs will often trot out to the local thrift store to find the odd diamond in the rough, a nice classical music recording or perhaps overlooked rock record in good shape amidst the tons of water damaged Christmas albums.

But sometimes you run across a strange item that just doesn't belong anywhere, a strange mathom that floats in front of you and intrigues you with its oddness.

Just today I found a very odd bird at my local Salvation Army, one of those old flexi discs in blue that said "The Jesse Helms Race 1984". It appears to be a collection of :30 and 1:00 radio commericals for his race for Senate in 1984 against then North Carolina governor Hunt. Included are snippets of President Regan praising Helms and bits of Helms attacking Hunts record, as well as a commercial with two actors upset about high gas prices.

Also, at the Goodwill I picked up what is apparently a landmark electronic music recording Switched-On Bach, a set of Bach pieces performed entirely on Moog synthesizer, which was a new thing in 1968 when this was recorded. The record and jacket were in superb condition, surprisingly.

What are your latest offbeat finds? Not interested in hearing about BAD music that you found, just strange and compelling, if not good.

 

[steviebee]

Switched On Bach was quite a find. Congrats! Sadly, all I ever find in charity shops is old MOR & budget label wallpaper & worse, Queen, Sailing & later-era Rod Stewart or Judas Priest et al. But my best-ever find was an old country thing called That Old Dobro Sound is Goin' Around or similar...that was cool.

 

[Cold Brains]

Unfortunately, I'm not seeing much vinyl in the thrift stores these days. A few years back, I used to pick up tons of 1980s stuff: the Cars, Talking Heads, Police, etc. Quality stock is way, way down. Now, all I see are Barbara Streisand and Herb Alpert records... which I'm certainly not interested in. I have started grabbing classical records in good condition though.

Unusual finds? The best I found was (back a few years) "Moog: the Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman" from 1969 or so. It features lounge styled songs w/ the "all-new Moog synthesizer". Oddly, the album sat alone in the back of the Salvation Army store on top of dresser (and not near the other records). I bought the album because it looked intriguing and also featured the song "Moog and Me," which Beck sampled for the beginning of the song "Sissyneck" from the Odelay album (I used to be a big fan). "Mogg and me" itself is a great song. It features a cool Moog track along with Dick Hyman whistling a tune (apparently he was a former competitive whistler). Truly, a great song. The rest of the album is interesting enough, but nothing too exciting. All in all, a cool find.

 

[Uncle Erik]

An LP from Adi the Yodelling Woodcarver.

 

[Spareribs]

I bought a couple of Jimmy Swaggart records. Not great but not too bad. Interesting though.

My best find was a pair of vintage Marantz bookshelf speakers in excellent condition for only $7.98!

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cold Brains /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unfortunately, I'm not seeing much vinyl in the thrift stores these days. A few years back, I used to pick up tons of 1980s stuff: the Cars, Talking Heads, Police, etc. Quality stock is way, way down. Now, all I see are Barbara Streisand and Herb Alpert records... which I'm certainly not interested in. I have started grabbing classical records in good condition though.

Funny you mention that...I theorize that since CD has so thoroughly replaced vinyl as the medium of choice for music listening for so long, desirable vintage vinyl will now only come in as a trickle to thrift stores.

But I further theorize that in about 10 years when the baby boomers begin dying en masse, there will be a MASSIVE influx of vinyl to the used market. Think about it...the baby boomers probably hold tens of millions, maybe HUNDREDS of millions of vinyl recordings right now, and many of them will be dumped quickly by their heirs to make space or to get a tax donation. Of course, some of the heirs will carefully scrounge the collection and weed out the valuable pieces and sell them for market value, but I am not interested in a pristine Beatles butcher cover.

I am interested in collecting more stuff like that Switched-On Bach recording, little sleepers and odd birds that make the joy of collecting to listen, rather than collecting to collect, worthwhile.

I think that in 10 years, and for another 20 years after that, vintage vinyl will become a BIG business. I am making plans now to get a sense of the market and how to acquire large collections...the days of the record store may NOT be over just yet if I have anything to say about it...

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Quite a lot of vinyl in the thrift stores over here.
I just bought a vintage turntable + Oxygene LP (Jarre) today at the second hand store to use with the vintage amp I bought last week (same store). It's not fantastic quality. but it was cheap.

 

[Audirephilos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spareribs /img/forum/go_quote.gif I bought a couple of Jimmy Swaggart records. Not great but not too bad. Interesting though.

Oh wow....I didn't know he had any records out.

I can just imagine the commercials on T.V.

Come and listen to Jimmy Swaggart's angelical voice, Some of the songs include the Hits:

'The Weeper'

'Give me the cash, and God will bless'

and the all out Smash hit single!:

'In the name of the Lord, come to me, you whore'

 

[falis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Guidry /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... But I further theorize that in about 10 years when the baby boomers begin dying en masse, there will be a MASSIVE influx of vinyl to the used market. Think about it...the baby boomers probably hold tens of millions, maybe HUNDREDS of millions of vinyl recordings right now, and many of them will be dumped quickly by their heirs to make space or to get a tax donation. Of course, some of the heirs will carefully scrounge the collection and weed out the valuable pieces and sell them for market value, but I am not interested in a pristine Beatles butcher cover...

Man, you're a real bottom-feeder, eh? Not that you're wrong, but Jeez, good taste is timeless and you haven't got it.

My daughter plans to keep mine.

- Ed

 

[falis]

Hey Jeff,

Sorry. I overreacted and popped off like a jerk. Happy vinyl hunting!

- Ed

 

[boomana]

Although 20+ years ago, and sadly no longer in my possession, I once found an album in a thrift store in Flint, Michigan of a kazoo band doing Led Zeppelin covers. They were really quite good

 

[fatcat28037]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomana /img/forum/go_quote.gif Although 20+ years ago, and sadly no longer in my possession, I once found an album in a thrift store in Flint, Michigan of a kazoo band doing Led Zeppelin covers. They were really quite good

OK, what happened to it?

 

[boomana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatcat28037 /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK, what happened to it?

I have no idea. Recalculating the years, it was more like 32 (eeek), and through countless moves and random stuff shuffling, it, like so many things, it is long gone.

 

[kanamin]

Not from a thrift store, but strange used vinyl nonetheless.

I almost bought it.

Censored because I'm guessing this is supposed to be worksafe.

 

[Moontan13]

Not from a thrift store, but a yard sale.
I began looking through some milk boxes of records when I realized every disc was in perfect condition, and 50 cents each. Then I thought to ask about the turntable. A Sota for $100. My 2nd best find was a Kenwood KR 9700 and a Garrard D70 for $10 each.