I often go to Half Price Books, Savers, and sometimes Goodwill to see what vinyl I might find. Savers and Goodwill almost never have anything good, but Half Price Books has yielded a few gems. Tonight I found a copy of James Taylor's Greatest Hits in near mint condition for $2.99 and Tony Joe White's Homemade Ice Cream in good condition also for $2.99. Surprisingly good clean quiet vinyl for almost nothing. I have also found many of the Vinyl Lovers record label pressings still sealed at HPB for not much money. This label, in case you don't know, does an impeccable job with their pressings. Just about everything I have on this label is amongst the best vinyl I have ever owned. Just amazing. What are your sweet bargain finds?
Recently found thrifty gems: Brubeck red hot and cool mono Bill Evans waltz for Debby. Zappa live at the Roxy Lots of Leon Russell Steve cropper All in need of serious Spinclean treatment ... Now the bad news. My local goodwill recently cranked up vinyl prices to 3.99, 5.99, and 7.99. Go figure.
Half Price Books seems to be catching on to pricing and rarely under price anything by much very often. Occasionally they miss one though. Off hand, I remember finding a NM Colgems Casino Royale for $2.98. I also found a nice copy of Highway 61 Revisited for $16 which I recognized to be the rare version with the alternate take of From a Buick 6. This version's probably worth anywhere from $100-$300.
Salvation Army, I found Cheech & Chong's Big Bambi in mint condition with the rolling paper. Nice to the rolling paper back after using it in the 70's.
I have one charitable shop i stop in on once a month that has yeilded me some bargins. For twelve dollars picked up a box record set of Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf (original cast) mint which lists @ over 1500 @ Amazon. One time I found 6 original recordings of Everest classical in Mint shape both jacket and vinyl recorded on 35 mm tape. Found out two of the recordings were re done by one of the Audiophile labels and sell for 45.00. I paid 2 dollars a piece. I have fleshed out my collection of Gordon Lightfoot,Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,Joan Baez (Vangaurd Stereolabs)there on Vinyl. I have only told one person where it is other than my Mom. My lips are sealed.
I have better luck at antique stores where I find many still sealed vintage lp's. Last week I found 6 or 7 for 30 bucks. Only looking for sealed now, unless it's rare.
Found a first pressing of Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers" for $.99 at Goodwill a couple of years ago. Not a scratch on it. Cover in very good condition, with working zipper and inserts. After that I went home and poured myself a scotch.
Bought Morcheeba's "Charango" for a couple of bucks at a Madison record store. Lovely condition. They knew instantly they'd tagged it wrong when I brought it to the check out.
I dumped my 20 or so albums 25 years ago. Then one day, a few years ago a new neighbor had a tag sale so I figured I'd use that as an excuse to stop by and introduce myself. We'll, I shelled out $20 and came home with 450 albums. About 1/2 were Dina Shore, Mike Douglas....... Christmas specials.... But in the 1/2 I kept were numerous promo copies - Sarah Vaughn..........
I now have about 650 albums with numerous acquisitions from Goodwill. However, wifey is not so happy. :)
My co-workers know about my audio obsessions. One day a lady brought in a bag with albums she was willing to sell for $1 each. I jumped at the mint Moody Blues - Days Future Past - 1/2 speed master from Mobile Fidelity. Not bad for $1.
I like the challenge of finding that gem for $1. Even if 1/2 of what I buy is not acceptable it's still a bargain.
Many years ago when I lived in Japan and vinyl was dead I was at a flea market and found a Japanese pressing of Elvis Costello Get Happy! and The Jam Snap! both with obi for 100 yen each (about a buck each), both in brand new condition. I still own them.
I just hit my local S.Army....and scored almost the entire Talking Heads output along with blondie, b52s, cheap trick, and a fewe others in MN shape...even a dogs ass gets some sunshine once in awhile!
Actually, the biggest deal I ever got was in a very well known and highly regarded used cd/record store a couple of years ago. I was thumbing thru their audiophile records and I came across the long out of print Emkay Bill Berry Ellington record jacket. They kept their audiophile jackets on the shelves and the record behind the front counter by the cash register. The jacket had a $25.00 tag on it and I could not believe the low price. I figured that once I saw the record itself it would be damaged or warn out. Certainly in this store full of knowlegable workers someone would recognize the incorrectly marked price and say it was actually $125.00. Well I asked for the record and it was in mint condition! No one questioned the price! I got it for the cheap price of $25.00! That is the stand out bargain of my record collecting life.
I found a new doctor. On my 1st visit he did not make it back from lunch, ran over something in the road and caused 2 flat tires so he refunded my $85 vistit fee. Then they done my blood test work for $18 since I did not have insurance, like large corporations I am self insured.
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