Right on!

I haven't had my input selector off "phono" all weekend, and it feels great!

Hi, I'm Erik, and I'm addicted to vinyl.

I've been having exceptional luck with the dollar bins at my favorite store (For anyone in the greater Ann Arbor area, "PJ's" - above the Subway on Packard, just West of State - is a cool spot). I recently picked up several albums:

~Toto IV - Toto
~Bookends - Simon and Garfunkel (first edition,"360 stereo")
~CSN - Crosby, Stills, and Nash
~The Nightfly - Donald Fagen
-->These four in particular are in incredible condition. (Well, Toto IV is more warped than Stanley Kubrick, but the RB300/Sumiko Black Pearl just track the heck out of it - very impressive. It slaughtered the SACD version, which I also own.)

~Christopher Cross - Christopher Cross
~The Best of (Vol 1) - Earth, Wind, and Fire
~First Place - J.J. Johnson (first edition)*This one was $18

I got these elsewhere:

~Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson (new)
~Beethoven's 5th - Carlos Kleiber/Wiener Philharmoniker
~Early Bones - J.J. Johnson/Kai Winding/Bennie Green

I especially like the stuff I pick up for a dollar. If it's in great condition, it's a steal; If it's just dirty, I can take it down to my dealer, where they'll give it a spin on the VPI Typhoon and slap a new sleeve on it for $1.50; If it's no good at all, I'm out $1, $2.50 on the outside.

I haven't broken in the Black Pearl yet, but it sounds very promising so far. The Planar 3 is every bit as good as a new one, with the occasional exception of speed stability. I can always do a motor swap later, although not to the 24V version on the newest models.

P.S.
It's good to see that someone else can't keep from buying records before he has a turntable. I like the "starting a collection in anticipation of the front end" justification.
I think you just love vinyl hunting.

Quote:
Chopin Ballades (Mercury) - Arthur Rubinstein

Are you sure? I didn't know of any Rubinsteins on Mercury.

Kal

Kal, you're right, I was trippin. It's RCA: I confused their "Living Stereo" insignia with Mercury's "Living Presence"!

Bought more records. There's a street vendor near Columbia & he had some tasty classical records. Couldn't resist -

1. Bruno Walter conducting the Brahms 4 (Columbia)
2. Guarneri Quartet playing the last 5 Beethoven Quartets (RCA) (4 LPs)
3. Wanda Landowska playing Bach's Goldberg Variations on harpsichord (RCA)
4. Heifetz playing Brahms Violin Con in D (Fritz Reiner cond.)
5. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf singing Strauss's 4 Last Songs with Ackerman conducting, not the better known Karajan one... I prefer the Ackerman version, have both on CD.

All records are in immaculate shape, no scratches, although the cover for Schwarzkopf/Ackerman Strauss is not doing so well... but I'm buying these not as a collector, but as a listener, so the music is what counts.

The total damage? $11!!!

You guys get some pretty good deals, and excellent taste. I am still looking for the best value spot here in Toronto. I was at a shop near work and picked up the following:

The Koln Concert - Keith Jarrett (this is one of my desert island albums I nearly passed out when I saw it)
Deja Vu - CSNY
Greatest Hits - Thelonious Monk

$35 including taxes

The Jarrett album sounded a bit gritty in the store but I am hoping my Milty brush can clean it up a bit or find a spot that will clean it for me.

I can't wait to get my turntable.

I still need to check out Vortex and some of the other spots on Queen but if any TO folks out there have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I need to build my collection before vinyl really catches on.

Awesome, greener! Well, I keep stocking up on the LPs for that one day that I get the TT in my system. On Sunday I picked up
a couple of records from the street fair on Broadway, UWS, from my favorite vendor.

The Band - Music from Big Pink
The Band - the brown album

1st pressing, both of them... for $8 each! Sweetness.

From Academy Records, I got these LPs for around $25.

Sibelius 5th, etc (Koussevitzky cond.)
Brahms F-min Sonata, etc. (Radu Lupu)
Voice of the Century box set (Joan Sutherland)
Liszt & Shostakovich Sonatas (Emil Gilels)
Holst Planets (Haitink)
... and the most interesting LP I got is a record of compositions by Isang Yun, a Korean avant-garde composer who seems to have been related to the Darmstadt school, i.e. Stockhausen, Xenakis, etc. It seems that he'd visited N. Korea to pursue a joint concert featuring musicians from both S & N Koreas. Which led the oppressive regime of S. Korea to imprison him for life. Then Stravinsky and Karajan started a petition for him, which Ligeti, Stockhausen, Keilberth, et al. signed as well. He was released but was banished from the country for life, and settled in Berlin. Such a compelling story! But I can't listen to the LP yet!

And after this post, I'm going to put in an order for the new Portishead LP, the special edition one w/ a 12" and the USB which comes with the songs... at least I can listen to the damn thing while I wait for my TT set-up!

There is a chain of stores here in the DFW area called Half Price Books Records and Tapes. I have had great luck hunting thru the records they get. One rainy saturday I spent most of the day going to different stores. Nirvana!!!

BTW I am NOT affiliated with the above mentioned folks.

Two Band albums that is awesome. I love the band, but I haven't been able to find any (yet). A couple years ago for Christmas I got The Band A musical History Box Set and I love it. I picked up some more vinyl on Saturday. The weather wasn't very nice so it was perfect for browsing.

I picked up:
Billy Joel - Glass Houses
Steven Stills - Illegal Stills
Eric Clapton - Backless
Paul McCartney - Chopa B CCCP (the cover album originally released in Russia)
The Who - Who's Next
and
Brantford Marsalis - Scenes in the City.

Total cost - $45
The day I finally get my turntable...priceless.

I got Led Zeppelin import Out Through the In Door for free off the curb in good condition.

I find stuff in my own collection I've never seen before.

Today...

Like Reiner/Chicago- Mahler-'The Song of The Earth', on RCA living stereo-Red Seal/Shaded Dog/MINT!/unplayed original boxed set. And another Red Seal/Shaded Dog/stereo boxed set/Mint, Verdi's 'force of destiny', recorded out of Italy (Rome).

Where'd that come from?

Of course, there are two things in music I don't like, and that's punk rock..and Opera. Maybe that's why I've never seen them before. They were buried.

Just checked Ebay,the Mahler f goes for $90. One guy has it for the $90, and it's car city records, in Detroit. One of my favorite record shops. They'd actually be in a position to know what it is worth.

Another guy's got it for $2., same shape. If I wanted it..I think it'd opt for the $2. I seem to have bought it for..uh..the tag says.. $1.00

Oh..the $2 auction is for the mono. There yah go, them audiophiles, pushing up the prices.

Quote:
Two Band albums that is awesome. I love the band, but I haven't been able to find any (yet). A couple years ago for Christmas I got The Band A musical History Box Set and I love it. I picked up some more vinyl on Saturday. The weather wasn't very nice so it was perfect for browsing.

I picked up:
Billy Joel - Glass Houses
Steven Stills - Illegal Stills
Eric Clapton - Backless
Paul McCartney - Chopa B CCCP (the cover album originally released in Russia)
The Who - Who's Next
and
Brantford Marsalis - Scenes in the City.

Total cost - $45
The day I finally get my turntable...priceless.

That McCartney album is a fun, off of the cuff, rocking album. Enjoy.

Very nice pickin's everyone. More LPs bought from my favorite seller at one of those NYC street fairs:

Mahler Symphony 1 (Kubelik/Bavarian)
R Strauss - Also Sprach Z, etc. (Solti/Chicago)
How Long Has This been... (Sarah Vaughan, O Peterson, Joe Pass, Ray Brown, etc.)
Art Tatum solo piano, Capitol Jazz Classics v. 3
Debussy's La Mer, Ravel's Daphnis, etc (Karajan/Berlin)
The Band - Last Waltz (1st pressing)
The Band - Stage Fright (1st pressing)

The damage was $35.