And if I must face the gun squad again, then let me get shot
So, prompted by Matt's vinyl hunting post, I decided to go on a little hunt of my own today. See, a couple weekends ago, Carmen and I visited one of my favorite places to get vinyl, Uncle Sam's in Lauderhill. They just recently moved to a new location in the same plaza and I wanted to check it out. It was heartbreaking. The new space is tiny and they have maybe one tenth of the overall merchandise they used to have and their (already dwindling) vinyl section was paltry couple of shelves. While I did manage to score an unopened copy of Rock A Little, it was still sad to find one of my favorite local music stores slowly dying.
Carmen mentioned a new place she'd heard of up in Delray called Backbone Records, so we decided to check that out. The place is not huge, carries CDs as well as vinyl, and what's on the shelves is only the tip of the iceberg. There are boxes galore under the tables that, if you're in the mood to dig, can yield some pretty sweet finds for some excellent prices. But you have to have the patience and since we had some other stops planned, we didn't explore fully. Aside from a "bargain bin" Fall Out Boy/Project Rocket split CD EP I picked up, I got:
Buckingham/Nicks: Buckingham/Nicks
Stevie Nicks: Bella Donna
Fleetwood Mac: Tusk
Fleetwood Mac: Mirage
Janet Jackson: "That's The Way Love Goes" 45 jukebox single on red vinyl
Janet Jackson: "Again" 45 jukebox single on yellow vinyl
I was shocked to find a copy of Buckingham/Nicks there. I figured, what next, a copy of Y Kant Tori Read? Alas. The rest of the Stevie/Mac vinyl were cheap and in good condition (Tusk came from one of the bins and was $2, Mirage was sealed), and the Janet singles I got merely because they were on colored vinyl. There was a numbered copy of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in the display case by the register whose price I didn't dare ask (seeing as how they had a copy of Year Zero on the wall for $46) as well as a copy of Ænima that I avoided for similar reasons. We moved onto Radioactive Records, a shop I've been in once that has a decent used CD section up front, but a vast used and new vinyl section in the back. This is where things got a little crazy. They had these awesome single boxes for Björk's "Earth Intruders," "Innocence" and "Declare Independence" singles that had all formats of the singles in them, which I kinda wanted but they were $30 a pop and I wasn't willing to spend that much. Besides, if I got one, I'd have to get them all and I was kind of on a bargain vinyl hunt. Turns out, I pretty much bought out their Janet vinyl. I got:
Janet Jackson: "Come Give Your Love To Me"
Janet Jackson: Control
Janet Jackson: "What Have You Done For Me Lately"
Janet Jackson: "Nasty"
Janet Jackson: "When I Think Of You"
Janet Jackson: "Miss You Much" promo
Janet Jackson: "Rhythm Nation"
Janet Jackson: "if." import
Janet Jackson: "All For You" 2 disc promo remixes
Pet Shop Boys: Disco
Pet Shop Boys: "Can You Forgive Her" remixes import
Portishead: "The Rip" with etching
Coldplay: "Violet Hill" exclusive with NME
Yeah, I went a little nuts, but everything was ridiculously cheap and pretty much all out of print. Control was sealed and has a sticker on it that says it contains the #1 hits "Nasty" and "What Have You Done For Me Lately" plus "Control," "When I Think Of You" and "Funny How Time Flies." That it mentions the latter and not "The Pleasure Principle" or "Let's Wait Awhile" is a testament to how old that sticker is. Also the "Miss You Much" sleeve has a sticker indicating all these remixes, but the record itself has different remixes entirely and "You Need Me." Whatever, it was $1, so what if it was in the wrong sleeve. The Portishead single I got just because it was beautiful. I also picked up a CD copy of Ash's 1977, because I kind of let Intergalactic Sonic 7"s handle everything prior to Free All Angels, which is dumb.
So...yeah. For the past few years I've been allowing myself a good splurge around my birthday as a little gift to myself, and this was my gift this year. We now return to our regularly scheduled cheapdom.
Carmen mentioned a new place she'd heard of up in Delray called Backbone Records, so we decided to check that out. The place is not huge, carries CDs as well as vinyl, and what's on the shelves is only the tip of the iceberg. There are boxes galore under the tables that, if you're in the mood to dig, can yield some pretty sweet finds for some excellent prices. But you have to have the patience and since we had some other stops planned, we didn't explore fully. Aside from a "bargain bin" Fall Out Boy/Project Rocket split CD EP I picked up, I got:
Buckingham/Nicks: Buckingham/Nicks
Stevie Nicks: Bella Donna
Fleetwood Mac: Tusk
Fleetwood Mac: Mirage
Janet Jackson: "That's The Way Love Goes" 45 jukebox single on red vinyl
Janet Jackson: "Again" 45 jukebox single on yellow vinyl
I was shocked to find a copy of Buckingham/Nicks there. I figured, what next, a copy of Y Kant Tori Read? Alas. The rest of the Stevie/Mac vinyl were cheap and in good condition (Tusk came from one of the bins and was $2, Mirage was sealed), and the Janet singles I got merely because they were on colored vinyl. There was a numbered copy of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in the display case by the register whose price I didn't dare ask (seeing as how they had a copy of Year Zero on the wall for $46) as well as a copy of Ænima that I avoided for similar reasons. We moved onto Radioactive Records, a shop I've been in once that has a decent used CD section up front, but a vast used and new vinyl section in the back. This is where things got a little crazy. They had these awesome single boxes for Björk's "Earth Intruders," "Innocence" and "Declare Independence" singles that had all formats of the singles in them, which I kinda wanted but they were $30 a pop and I wasn't willing to spend that much. Besides, if I got one, I'd have to get them all and I was kind of on a bargain vinyl hunt. Turns out, I pretty much bought out their Janet vinyl. I got:
Janet Jackson: "Come Give Your Love To Me"
Janet Jackson: Control
Janet Jackson: "What Have You Done For Me Lately"
Janet Jackson: "Nasty"
Janet Jackson: "When I Think Of You"
Janet Jackson: "Miss You Much" promo
Janet Jackson: "Rhythm Nation"
Janet Jackson: "if." import
Janet Jackson: "All For You" 2 disc promo remixes
Pet Shop Boys: Disco
Pet Shop Boys: "Can You Forgive Her" remixes import
Portishead: "The Rip" with etching
Coldplay: "Violet Hill" exclusive with NME
Yeah, I went a little nuts, but everything was ridiculously cheap and pretty much all out of print. Control was sealed and has a sticker on it that says it contains the #1 hits "Nasty" and "What Have You Done For Me Lately" plus "Control," "When I Think Of You" and "Funny How Time Flies." That it mentions the latter and not "The Pleasure Principle" or "Let's Wait Awhile" is a testament to how old that sticker is. Also the "Miss You Much" sleeve has a sticker indicating all these remixes, but the record itself has different remixes entirely and "You Need Me." Whatever, it was $1, so what if it was in the wrong sleeve. The Portishead single I got just because it was beautiful. I also picked up a CD copy of Ash's 1977, because I kind of let Intergalactic Sonic 7"s handle everything prior to Free All Angels, which is dumb.
So...yeah. For the past few years I've been allowing myself a good splurge around my birthday as a little gift to myself, and this was my gift this year. We now return to our regularly scheduled cheapdom.