Valentine's Day Record Massacre
I've been holding back on this post as it references a present I just gave a loved one this morning. As she is my most loyal reader, I didn't want to blow the surprise.
Not only do we crave sunshine here in the middile of this Brooklyn winter, but we miss those balmy afternoons roaming from street to street, one stoop sale to the next, looking for that next record score. eBay is an impersonal (not to mention expensive) substitute, while GEMM seems to be a Tower of Babel of pricing and grading. As long as it's still cold we're stuck with keeping an eye on Craigslist, and in this case, responding to an ad from a very nice French woman who at one time moonlighted as a "downtempo DJ" (her words). She was moving back to Paris, so her loss is our gain.. wasn't even the first person there and still made out pretty well, considering I only had about twenty minutes to chew through her piles. Here's the loot I came back with:
The Best of Marlene Dietrich - $2
My dubious justification for going, I wanted to get this record for my Valentine, as she loves Dietrich's singing voice. But while I'm here I might just look around a little..
Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight - $1
Admittedly, copies of Rapper's Delight are about as common as potholes in NYC, but one can't have everything. You already know this song inside and out, so bend an ear for this great dub versioning of it:
General Echo - Rappin Dub Style
**Pre-Order Big Apple Rappin' from Boomkat**
Quite possibly catchier than Xanadu and Sweet Lady's take, also reissued by the folks at Soul Jazz.
The Todd Terry Project - Bango / Back To The Beat 12'' ($1)
When I saw Todd Terry nestled among the stacks of lounge exotica, I knew it would be worth sticking around. Have always loved this, pretty unscathed copy too.
The Todd Terry Project - Bango (To The Batmobile) (Club Bang)
Dance Reaction - Disco Train ($3)
From Environ Record's wonderful Unclassics series. I had to root around a little, but I was certain we've posted an Unclassic before. She said she had just bought this two weeks ago for $8, so I wasn't about to haggle with her on the price.
Bonzo Goes to Washington - 5 Minutes 12'' (50 cents)
My first Sleeping Bag Records score, koala on the label and all. I remember reading about this long ago, it's Bootsy Collins and Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads goofing around with an unfortunate Ronald Reagan sample.
Bonzo Goes to Washington - B-B-B-Bo Bombing In 5 Minutes
**Buy it on GEMM**
Prince - Dirty Mind ($1)
I would have bought out the rest of her cache of Prince records had I been able to recall where they were in all the rubble and had I not been in such a rush to get out of there.
Pepe Braddock - 6 Millions Pintades EP ($3)
Still looking for a clean copy of Deep Burnt, but this will do for the meantime. I think she kept the price firm out of nationalistic pride. Woebot published an excellent piece on Pepe Braddock a few weeks ago, worth checking out.
Iasos - Inter-Dimensional Music through Iasos (50 cents)
I had to take this as I love private press religous records. In all actuality this turned out to be a quite competent New Age healing record from 1978, sounding more like Brainticket than Yanni. Surprised to see this come up on Popsike, although I guess it is kind of a late night burner. Iasos is still at it, just found his website -- only proceed if sober. He has some wonderful advice on the back of the album:
Finger-Listening: While playing the record, rest your fingers lightly on top of the grill of your speakers (not actually on the paper cone). You can thereby absorb these musical vibrations through your fingertips as well as through your ears. This can be useful for both charging and sensitizing your hands.
I've got a lot of finger listening to get done.
I've been holding back on this post as it references a present I just gave a loved one this morning. As she is my most loyal reader, I didn't want to blow the surprise.
Not only do we crave sunshine here in the middile of this Brooklyn winter, but we miss those balmy afternoons roaming from street to street, one stoop sale to the next, looking for that next record score. eBay is an impersonal (not to mention expensive) substitute, while GEMM seems to be a Tower of Babel of pricing and grading. As long as it's still cold we're stuck with keeping an eye on Craigslist, and in this case, responding to an ad from a very nice French woman who at one time moonlighted as a "downtempo DJ" (her words). She was moving back to Paris, so her loss is our gain.. wasn't even the first person there and still made out pretty well, considering I only had about twenty minutes to chew through her piles. Here's the loot I came back with:
The Best of Marlene Dietrich - $2
My dubious justification for going, I wanted to get this record for my Valentine, as she loves Dietrich's singing voice. But while I'm here I might just look around a little..
Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight - $1
Admittedly, copies of Rapper's Delight are about as common as potholes in NYC, but one can't have everything. You already know this song inside and out, so bend an ear for this great dub versioning of it:
General Echo - Rappin Dub Style
**Pre-Order Big Apple Rappin' from Boomkat**
Quite possibly catchier than Xanadu and Sweet Lady's take, also reissued by the folks at Soul Jazz.
The Todd Terry Project - Bango / Back To The Beat 12'' ($1)
When I saw Todd Terry nestled among the stacks of lounge exotica, I knew it would be worth sticking around. Have always loved this, pretty unscathed copy too.
The Todd Terry Project - Bango (To The Batmobile) (Club Bang)
Dance Reaction - Disco Train ($3)
From Environ Record's wonderful Unclassics series. I had to root around a little, but I was certain we've posted an Unclassic before. She said she had just bought this two weeks ago for $8, so I wasn't about to haggle with her on the price.
Bonzo Goes to Washington - 5 Minutes 12'' (50 cents)
My first Sleeping Bag Records score, koala on the label and all. I remember reading about this long ago, it's Bootsy Collins and Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads goofing around with an unfortunate Ronald Reagan sample.
Bonzo Goes to Washington - B-B-B-Bo Bombing In 5 Minutes
**Buy it on GEMM**
Prince - Dirty Mind ($1)
I would have bought out the rest of her cache of Prince records had I been able to recall where they were in all the rubble and had I not been in such a rush to get out of there.
Pepe Braddock - 6 Millions Pintades EP ($3)
Still looking for a clean copy of Deep Burnt, but this will do for the meantime. I think she kept the price firm out of nationalistic pride. Woebot published an excellent piece on Pepe Braddock a few weeks ago, worth checking out.
Iasos - Inter-Dimensional Music through Iasos (50 cents)
I had to take this as I love private press religous records. In all actuality this turned out to be a quite competent New Age healing record from 1978, sounding more like Brainticket than Yanni. Surprised to see this come up on Popsike, although I guess it is kind of a late night burner. Iasos is still at it, just found his website -- only proceed if sober. He has some wonderful advice on the back of the album:
Finger-Listening: While playing the record, rest your fingers lightly on top of the grill of your speakers (not actually on the paper cone). You can thereby absorb these musical vibrations through your fingertips as well as through your ears. This can be useful for both charging and sensitizing your hands.
I've got a lot of finger listening to get done.
posted by Miguel
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