Back to Back to Vinyl

Incredible to see I've gone almost ten months without posting. There are a few reasons for this.

For one, the odds seem far more stacked against any good finds these days. Vinyl has become a 'thing' again and demand is high - even if some people never listen to what they buy. And when The Works start selling a turntable that your records really won't thank you for being played on (as part of their 'Making Music Cool' tie-in with Intempo) it's clear that it's gone beyond the mainstream and into a completely different commercial zone.

There are now three independent record shops in Cambridge, all of which stock second-hand vinyl. So supply is arguably up but two are based near the primary locations of the city's charity shops - could well be that collections that would have been given away are being sold instead. I've also noted before (and I'm not alone in this) that some charity shops are adopting crazy prices for vinyl. In some of the national charity shops vinyl seems to have vanished altogether locally which makes me think it's being sent to a central location to evaluate. CDs on the other hand are turning up in bigger numbers and smaller prices.

But although my gut, and the lack of entries here, says I'm having much less success, a quick look back at some of what I've picked up this year suggests otherwise. Only I've posted them on Twitter instead - it's a quick fix, and at weekends my timeline is awash with impressive finds from other users around the country. And a lot of pictures of No Parlez, but that's another story.

So it's still possible to pick up some genuine bargains with a fair bit of persistence and rather more luck. Here are some of my favourites from 2016.

Prince's death in April drove me to do something that I've never been compelled to do before - I immediately bought a couple of his LPs that I was missing. I was also reminded of the Hindu Love Gods album with its cover of Raspberry Beret - which I picked up a month later during a rare car boot visit (I'm not really a Sunday morning person) for £2.50, part of a four-for-£10 deal along with New Order's Technique, The Beach Boys Love You and a budget Otis Redding compilation.

No, it doesn't have a plum Atlantic label. Misty Mountain Hop is correct on the label. Indeed, it's definitely a relatively late pressing but I think no later than early 80s as there's no barcode (assuming one was placed on copies from the mid-80s onwards).

But I'm absolutely certain that this is the only time I've ever seen a Led Zeppelin LP in a charity shop. And it was very prominent, catching my eye immediately. A mere £1.

This wasn't a sleeve I was familiar with but it looked interesting enough in amongst a pretty uninspiring batch of LPs in a charity shop that very rarely put any out. I'm glad I flipped it over, revealing it to be Anymore For Anymore by Ronnie Lane. I didn't mind running to a whopping £3.99 for this.

It's not always charity shops and car boot sales that throw up decent finds. I had the good fortune to pass a house on my street where the owner had been putting various things outside in advance of moving out - and one Saturday morning there was a batch of records. Curiously they owned 3 copies of Rumours (the sleeve on mine was a bit damaged so I took one) but even more curiously they were discarding a recent re-issue of Big Star's 3rd LP. I can't really mock them for having three copies of Rumours though - my wife went down to have a look at what else they were giving away and brought back the other two copies, so we now have four ...

There are only two charity shops remotely close to where I work. One of them is often piled high with bags of donations they've been unable to sort. They were using what passes as a changing room to store several of these bags, and underneath them was a plastic box full of records. Mostly junk of course. Until I reached a Moody Blues LP, with a gatefold sleeve. So far, so whatever. But there was another LP in the gatefold - and it was only a first pressing (I think) of Pink Floyd's second LP. In rather good nick too. And for £2 I rather did nick it.

I felt almost guilty over this one. It was in the window of a local charity bookshop that rarely has any records so I don't tend to go in. Presumably they'd had a large collection donated and put them out at 50p each or 3 for £1. As I went to to remove this from the window someone else came in right behind me; they were going to do the same. Knowing that I, umm, already owned this (albeit a copy with a lot of sticky residue that I've yet to remove) I did offer them first look through everything else, which they declined (and rightly so - it was all tat).

Other honourable mentions for Self Destruction Blues and Two Steps From The Move (with comic) by Hanoi Rocks at £2 each; a battered but still playable With The Beatles in the same box as the Floyd LP, also £2; assorted new wave singles bought for an appropriate 45p each on Record Store Day (and I didn't have to queue overnight); Soft Boys & Robyn Hitchcock LPs for a pound each; and Lou Reed's Perfect Day / Walk On The Wild Side single for 50p - an A- and B-side combination that's hard to top.