The charity shop is open - donations needed!
Posted by Larry Heliotrope on 21 July 2008 - 3:15pm.
As an incurable habitué of charity shops, especially those that still stock vinyl, there are certain records that haunt me by their almost inevitable appearance in any pile of chucked-out LPs.
Here are just a few - but I'm sure those with a similar affliction will have their own…
Bookmark/Search this post with:
- More from Larry Heliotrope.
- Login or register to post comments
I am assuming Larry
that these are not discarded trash but that people bought these in bucket loads originally in vinyl and have simply upgraded their purchase of the said same albums in glossy CD or Mp3 formats? No?
Also, I have always been curious whether charity shops contain real LP gems or are the collectable albums screened and traded by someone 'in the know' without hitting the shelves? Any knowledge of how it works out there amongst the Massive?
But they miss the good stuff!
Even when 'experts' are brought in to price the records, they tend to focus on well-known fare; thus they'll slap £10 on something like an early 70s Elton John album, but that obscure late-60s Polish psychedelic Christian concept album might go for next to nothing.
I'd like to present...
England Dan and John Ford Coley
Sorry am unable to upload the cover itself but here's the link:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Englanddan4.jpg
Well...
...I started collecting records at a young age (they were simply cheaper than CDs, what can I say, but since gave up) and yes, from what I gathered charity shops had so-called 'experts' coming in to value records. I was in an Oxfam recently and there was one going in the back room to 'value' their records; over-value them seems more accurate, to be frank.
Record-wise, those listed above are indeed regulars- it should be noted we have a minor authority on Millican and Nesbitt on this site!
Also, you'll see a hell of a lot of unwanted Mantovani/James Last records. I remember reading and chuckling at the fact that one Oxfam refuses to take any Max Bygraves records. As for 'Face Value', I'd say 'No Jacket Required' is an even more regular sighting.
CD-wise, I get sick to death of seeing copies of James Blunt's 'Back To Bedlam', Oasis' 'Be Here Now' and the usual boy-band/Spice Girls-type fodder.
CDs - that way lies madness
I agree – I've seldom got the heart to trawl through CDs in charity shops - too many magazine giveaways (ahem…) 'Glamour Hits' etc. Although I did find Tago Mago by Can for £2 in Balham's Cancer Research shop a couple of weeks back, so it can pay off...
Tago Mago...
...good one (though I can't make head nor tail of 'Aumgn' or 'Peking O'!). I've found some top stuff too- recently got an Os Mutantes best-of for £1.25. So credit where due, yes.
I think it's
good that charity shops get the most value out of their stock. My vinyl addict side curses a little but in a specialist book and record oxfam shop the other day we all got some thing interesting for the price of 1 main stream cd.
When I was younger and poorer I did get a number of REM cd's for pennies which had be marked up as cd singles, I should have said something but snuck out with my booty.
In every charity shop in the land
When I owned
and ran a record shop, not too long ago, I, in a rare mood of generosity, took a bag of cd's into a charity shop. OK, some were rubbish but there was some ok stuff too.
Anyway, the guy behind the counter separated them into two piles. No, not rubbish for the pound box and ok stuff for the shelves as you would have thought, but stuff I don't like for the shop and stuff I do like for me.
Did he pay the going rate? I'll never know. I never went back with more.
I've managed to get most of Herb Alpert's 60s albums
via car boot sales and the like. Whole lot cost about £4
CRIPES
You were done!
Robbed!
You should've stood firm and demanded at least a tenner to take them. And if "Tijuana Plays Motown" was among them (See 'Just plain wrongness ' blog), you'd've been justified in holding out for at least five hundred.... with psychotherapy fees on top.
Nah mate
Tijuana brass is an underrated genre. Take my word for it. Next year it will be out with the Afrobeat influences and IN with the happy brass sound of Herb and his herberts. Tijuana Christmas is also completely amazing.
Break-Through
Anyone got a mint copy? I've been looking for ages.
Yes, of both issues
And most of the first hundred Studio Two Stereo albums. There's some amazing music in there. Hooray for charity shops, without which, etc.
A couple more...
As an aside, I bought Out of
As an aside, I bought Out of the Blue (brand new and not from a charity shop) because I loved the cover. That probably makes me A Bad Person, but in my defence, at the time I was a 12 year old Sci-Fi fan and never learned to love the record.
Yep...
...see also 'Frampton Comes Alive', Now! compilations and manifold Abba albums.
I guess…
… many of the usual suspects are those albums that a) sold in their millions but soon went out of favour or b) were extremely cheap to buy when new (although I don't recall coming across The Faust Tapes anywhere)
Support your local charity shop
Why spend good money on The Mail On Sunday for their free CDs when you can get them for 5p in your local charity shop.
Got this CD recently for 50p with free CD single in a slipcase
It's going back to the charity shop too.
STOP PRESS: somebody just paid £11.56 on Ebay for this weekend's Mail On Sunday with McFly CD. I take it all back.
Wow...
...from what I've seen in the other threads I really thought Millican and Nesbitt were legendary, made up, fictional, the product of deranged minds!
Good stuff!
Rich
Deranged
That's a synonym for "creatively gifted" is it?
(Tsk. These kids. . . .)
`Whipped Cream ...'
... is actually a hugely enjoyable half-hour, especially on a summer's afternoon when drink has been taken.
The lady on the front was named Dolores Erickson; just thought I'd mention it.
Charity shop
All charity shops have carry at least one copy of these - it's the law.
http://planetmondo.blogspot.com/2008/01/charity-shop-classics-pt-1-impac...
http://channelmondo.blogspot.com/2008/07/where-have-all-good-themes-gone...
Record And Tape Exchange, Camden Town, mid-1980s...
you would have found these "nailed to the shelves" to borrow Mark Ellen's oft-used phrase...
Question
Is that what ELP look like our copy of pictures of exhibition never any bands shots where really Luke duke look alikes from the Dukes of hazard?
It was the Bee Gees' ultimately flawed incursion into prog
Shortly after that shot was taken they were savaged by a feral armadillo on caterpillar tracks and forced to beat a hasty retreat to the safe haven of their close-harmony repertoire.
Three of those...
...Allman Brothers, Genesis and Fleetwood Mac- are classics to me. 'Love Beach' is a turkey of the lowest order (even the sleeve is crap!), and 'Tormato' isn't far behind (don't mind Future Times/Rejoice, On The Silent Wings Of Freedom and Onward though...)!
And yeah, that 'Impact' thing and the Geoff Love compilations are yet more regular sightings. I also get sick of seeing Mantovani box-sets!
Pfft!
Never had a copy of Trilogy? Handsome brutes. Eh?
Although I've recently moved
Although I've recently moved abroad, I found the charity shop boxes increasingly populated by eighties stuff, namely:
Holst's The Planet Suite was always ubiquitous, as was James Last; however, according to my mate, he did manage to produce one decent LP – Voodoo Party – which is the only one you never see. Also Further Flight by Leo Sayer.
Voodoo Party is fab
Especially the genuinely bonkers track Giant Man. But yeah, never seen this in a charity shop in all my years of rifling.
As an aside, a friend who's played in classical orchestras says that playing in james Last's orchestra was just about the best gig you could get - at least in terms of pay and generally good treatment if not musical fulfilment.
Not been into a charity shop for ages
Do they still have this kind of thing (we had this actual album in our house in the seventies, tapes were made for parties from this one and others as I recall - by my parents I should add)?
Reissued on CD
and available in all good Asdas, for at least £2. Worth it just for attempting to have a go at Wuthering Heights.
Who is Boz Scaggs?
Always in charity shops, never heard anything by him, not at all curious unless anyone here can enlighten me.
Supertramp seem to turn up a lot as well, and No Jacket Required by Phil Collins is a regular.
No idea how to post cover art folks, apologies for the dullness of the post as a result...
Boz wasn't bad, but...
...he suffered the charity shop fate because the rest of the material on the album was nothing like the hit singles that had led to the original purchase.
I bought a Boz album in a charity shop, for the same reason, with the same results.
To enlighten you, Gangle
Boz had a bit of a hot streak mid-70s with his radio-friendly white soul; he had hits with Lowdown, What Can I Say?, Lido Shuffle & We're All Alone. He hasn't bothered the chart compilers since but is still going, & the royalties must still be coming in judging by the huge band he carts around with him. If you've got 79p burning a hole in your pocket, get over to iTunes & download Vanishing Point from 2004's Dig. A wonderful cool, melancholy, jazzy, funky thing I never tire of.
Will do!
Once I have fled the office for today I shall download and find out, thanks for the tip.
While we're on a charity shop trip here all my JJ Cale came from charity shops and it may well have been the best £3 I've ever spent. Not sure he turns up so often these days but certainly in the early 90's he seemed to be a regular.
And as for all those old Now albums...
Now then
All the first releases of Now! That's What I Call Poptastic on CD go for silly prices on Ebay.
the Whipped Cream lady...
Re the ever-popular "Whipped Cream and other delights" (q.v.). On a trip to Portland OR last year I found myself in one of that city's splendid vinyl emporia (great town for digging!) and there, behind the counter, was a BOX of copies the aforementioned classic LP. The shop owner explained that when punters brought in copies of the LP to trade/sell, he put them aside as a favour to the Whipped Cream Lady herself, who would then collect them and apparently sign them and sell them on to gullible punters via the web.
et la!
http://www.vinyltimes.com/DoloresErickson.htm
Great story
I should sell the idea to Jeff Wayne, who can be found at various memorabilia shows around the UK, desperately trying to flog signed copies of War Of The World boxed sets. Never seen any takers though. Shame.
It's not all crap.
I recently bought at a charity shop in Burnham on Crouch:
Carole King - Tapestry
Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Bjork - Debut
Joy Division - Closer
all for the very reasonable price of 20 pence each.
If you seek, you shall find.
a nice bit of posh, from Burnham on Crouch?
Yes it's always worth a quick rummage in the chazzer. My local Sally Army shop has a few of ye olde 78rpm recordes from time to time, and I've found some gems in there for approx 10p a pop - more for curiosity value than repeated playability - although "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jelly Roll" does get a spin from time to time on the homestead Victrola.
Beany - You mean Jeff Wayne him out of ELO, they of illuminated cellos and the mighty "Sweet talking woman", which appears on an album pictured earlier in this very thread? Say it aint so!!
Nay lad
That's Lynne Wayne, her of the whiskery chops. I mean Jeff, famous for producing David Essex's Rock On and "expertly" waving a baton on the recent War Of The Worlds tour of those stately arenas.
No 1 charity shop artist is...
...Mantovani. Hugely popular in his day but pretty dire in retrospect.