Easter Eggs And Vinyl Crates

My Easter Sunday was surprisingly good. The Mercy Town church service was impactful and the potluck lunch afterwards was crazy good with Ham, Brisket, Crunchy Cole Slaw and a few other treats.

The kids had their Easter Egg Hunt and I decided to check out a friend's store in downtown Los Angeles.

I try to avoid going into Los Angeles because I'm not a fan of traffic or the town, in general. I'm more of an outskirts/suburb guy and Pasadena is just the right size.

Anyway, my friend Josh is the owner of this place called The Last Bookstore. He had mentioned that there was a vinyl section and they had many $0.99 items, so I thought I'd give it a try. After 15 minutes of digging, I found a copy of a really obscure album that I had been looking for either in Vinyl or Compact Disc for 15 years. Finding this album right off the bat, made the rest of my excursion all the better.

Here's the list of what I grabbed :

Phil Seymour / Phil Seymour ($0.99) - Phil was an Oklahoma guy. He was in the Dwight Twilley Band and part of the Tulsa "Sound".

A nice footnote is the fact that Tom Petty used to play with DTB before his solo career took off. Way too young, cancer took Phil from us in 1993.

The harmonies that he and Dwight Twilley had were excellent and the pop songs they created were stellar.

When talking about obscure pop or criminally underrated musicians, look no further than Phil Seymour. His music is amazing and "Precious To Me" was every bit as stellar now, as it was then. I'm so glad I found this.

J. Geils Band / Love Stinks ($0.99) - All of the bandwagon jumpers from the 80s gravitated to "Freeze Frame" like stink on a junebug, but for me, this was the quintessential record. "Love Stinks" was the most popular single from this record, but my favorite was "Come Back" because of the wicked guitar riff. Their next album proved to be their last decent outing, as Peter Wolf (singer) and the band parted ways, right after "Freeze Frame" ran its course. Doesn't it always work out that way?

B.J. Thomas / Very Best Of ($0.99) - My dad seemed to always have a pool table and a jukebox in his game room. The music that he would play would start during the Elvis Presley-Chuck Berry era and move on to cover Motown, Dr. Hook and The Spinners. B.J. Thomas is an Oklahoma guy and my dad really likes his music. I got interested in his music, when I heard "Hooked On A Feeling". The electric sitar is such a unique sound and to think this was released in 1968 is amazing to me. "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" is the biggest single on this record, but I feel I got some value with both tracks. Everything else is gravy at that point.

Lionel Richie / Can't Slow Down ($0.99) - One might think that my Easter haul was a bit on the sappy side, but I kept an open mind and went after good value picks for this round.

Lionel Richie is not my favorite 80s pop guy, but I really enjoyed The Commodores and when I looked at the number of hits that this record had, picking it up for a buck was a no brainer.

If you are an 80s kid, "All Night Long", "Penny Lover", "Stuck On You", "Running With The Night" and "Hello" are going to jog your memory. 5 big hits for a $1? Really? Yes, please.

Everly Brothers / Original Greatest Hits (2 LP) ($0.99) - At a whopping $1 bargain, I had to snatch this double LP up! "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Bye, Bye Love" were the obvious major hits, but I'm interested in hearing their version of "Be-Bop-A-Lula". Because of my love for "album" tracks, I'm sure that I will find a few other choice cuts on all 4 sides. Score!

Christopher Cross / Christopher Cross ($0.99) - They say that memories are attached to certain songs. Two memories are attached to this album. The first memory was riding in the car to go see my dad.

"Sailing" would be playing on the radio. I guess it was in major rotation at the time. "Ride Like The Wind" was the theme song for the TU Golden Hurricane football team, the year it came out. I'm a fan of Yacht Rock and Christopher Cross is definitely in the mix, when I make playlists for that.

I need to find more cheap vinyl that is rock guitar infused to counteract the seeming sap that some of my selections have. Value is value. There is no shame in digging his record!

Barry Manilow / Greatest Hits (2 LP) ($0.99) - I know what you are thinking. "What's with these sappy artists, Joe?" The number of hits on this release are staggering! "Mandy", "Looks Like We Made It", "Can't Smile Without You", "Even Now", "Copacobana" and "I Write The Songs" and that's just off of a first glance. I'm sure I'll listen to this and hear several others that I remember from back in the day. I'm a value crate digger and this was definitely one of the better values. I'd say this release and the Lionel Richie album were my added bonuses (besides Phil Seymour).

Don Henley / Building The Perfect Beast ($0.99) - This record trip was all about solo songwriters. I was pleasantly surprised to find this in the clearance rack, mainly because this album spawned 4 solid hits, but also because it was easily worth 5x the price.

I appreciate what the Eagles have contributed to music, but I'm more of a fan of their solo work. Same thing for The Beatles. Anyway, this album featured "The Boys Of Summer", "Not Enough Love In The World", "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" and "Sunset Grill". Huge score!

Various Artists / Burt Bacharach & Friends ($0.99) - I can now officially say I have some swanky music in my collection. Bacharach is a legend and seeing Wes Montgomery as one of the featured artists for this sealed the deal. Herb Alpert, Sergio Mendes and The Carpenters were the icing on the proverbial cake.

Record Store Day

For me, Record Store Day is like a bonus version of Christmas morning and while not everyone puts stock into event, there's a few of us out here that have embraced it and support our favorite vinyl shops. RSD shoppers typically fall into 3 categories : eBay flippers, colored vinyl collectors and tire kickers.

The eBay flippers are usually the first people in line before the shop opens up. They walk in and immediately try to buy up 1-2 copies of every title. Their goal is to get it up on eBay and mark it up to ridiculous prices. They tend to take all of the fun out of Record Store Day because they have zero clue what they are buying, don't care or don't support the band/store. These clowns deprive true music fans of enjoying the limited release.

Colored Vinyl Collectors are usually hipsters that enjoy music, for the most part, but think that the color of the vinyl is cooler than the tunes. They don't collect records to listen in their home, they collect them to hang on their walls. I used to be in this category because I'm such a "mark" for the packaging and different promotions the bands and labels develop. This is why I adore Third Man Records in Nashville. There's nothing wrong with CVC's, necessarily. They have noble intentions of supporting bands that they might not like to listen to, but enjoyed their packaging or aesthetic.

Casual Tire Kickers are what I consider myself to be. I never truly know what I am looking for and want to touch every piece of vinyl in the building, looking for sweet deals. Sometimes I will spend some money, other days I'll leave empty-handed. Most people fall into this category, in my opinion.

I guess it's just the nature of consumerism and everyone out to make a buck, but Record Store Day means a lot more to me than just a convenient flip. Back in my CD Warehouse days (late 90s), my fascination with vinyl and its refusal to die was born.

Fast forward 15 years and I'm now at a point in my life where vinyl makes sense. It's relaxing for me to play a record and sip on some Rye or Scotch to unwind after a few hours in traffic or a long day. There's something more tangible, for me, listening to vinyl than any other format and it's a great way to wind down my day.

RSD is the one day a year that I can truly show my appreciation to the small business owners and plunk down my hard-earned duckets in support of their business. Running a record store in this day and age is extremely difficult, as the digital age continues to scorch the earth behind it as it marches onward and even though I don't have much to drop, the support is what matters most.

I had numerous errands to run during RSD, but still managed to visit Poobah Records (Pasadena), Canterbury Records (Pasadena) and Rockaway Records (Silverlake). As much as I would like to hit Amoeba on RSD, I'm not much into giant lines, big crowds and all the trappings that go with that.

There were only 2 LPs on my radar this year :

* Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey / Millions : Live In Denver
* Phosphorescent / Song For Zula

It looks like I struck out at all 3 shops. None of the clerks had heard of either title and weren't sure if they had either sold out of their quantity or they never got it in stock. Either way, I was a bit bummed.
Initially, my goal was to try and pick up something from each establishment. It didn't pan out that way, as I'm on a budget and I wasn't able to find decent value items at Canterbury or Rockaway.

Poobah, on the other hand, had a $0.99 section and a $0.50 section, which were right up my alley.

I was able to find 7 LPs for $6.50 plus tax. I've only got less than a dozen LPs and a few colored vinyl albums from bands I wanted to help. I'm inspired by the Crate Diggers series on Fuse and wanted to chronicle my vinyl escapades here.

Here's a breakdown of the records I picked up :

Gordon Lightfoot / Sundown ($0.99) - Gordon is a mixed bag. Some say that's "old people's" music, others only dig his big hits.

Believe it or not, I bought this album not only because of the title track, but because it also had "Circle Of Steel", which is one of my Top 3 from Gordo. I prefer listening to his music, when I'm in a reflective mood or soul searching a bit.

The cover is a bit worn with circular marks, but there didn't seem to be any marks or scratches on either side. For a buck, I thought it was worth a try.

Go West / Go West ($0.99) - Considered to be an obscure 80s band, their biggest single was "King Of Wishful Thinking". This seems to be the track that everyone knows, but a deeper cut that I like even more is the single, "We Close Our Eyes", which was featured on this album. I'm looking forward to hearing the other album tracks and rediscovering this band all over again.

Howard Jones / One To One ($0.99) - The late 80s and early 90s were some of my most interesting musical endeavors. I was marching Drum Corps and there were a handful of tapes that I took on tour with me. Howard Jones, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and a few mix tapes were my main companions during our down time.

Long bus trips were spent thinking about life, as the highway miles were logged and as odd as these 2 bands are, when combined, they got me through some exhausting excursions. "You Know I Love You, Don't You?"and "All I Want" were the two singles from this record, but my favorite was "Don't Want To Fight Anymore".

Saga / Worlds Apart ($0.99) - Winter of 1985/Spring 1986, this album was in rotation on MTV. "On The Loose" is the single everyone remembers, but I really enjoyed "Wind Him Up", "Amnesia" and "Time's Up". Even though Poobah bogarted this album cover with their neon green sticker, I still had to pick this one up. I didn't see marks on the disc and I'm not sure how many of these are floating around in the used bins. Maybe it's sentimental or an impulse buy, but I had to have this in my collection because it brings back a flood of high school memories.

The Motels / All Four One ($0.99) - If you want to talk about criminally underrated bands from the 80s, I'd put The Motels up there against anyone.

"Only The Lonely" is the single that gets the most love on airwaves and placements. The beauty in this record, however, is the secret weapon track "Take The L".

Martha Davis' vocals are so brilliant on this record and I enjoy listening to them now, every bit as much as I did, back in the day.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass / Whipped Cream & Other Delights ($0.50) - Back in the day when this record was released, America went bonkers. I've heard several songs over the years and saw this in the 50 cent clearance rack.

I'm looking forward to checking out some of these meaty trumpet licks. Herb is the "A" behind A&M Records, for those that didn't know. Dude's a serious genius in music / business.

The Statler Brothers / Very Best Of ($0.50) - I know that this is definitely an acquired taste for most people, but "Flowers On The Wall" and "I'll Go To My Grave Loving You" are classics.

I got a "wild hair" and decided to give it a shot. More enjoyment for me than a video game, so why not?

I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant to buy it because of the major wear and tear on the album cover, but when I looked at the platter, there wasn't a mark on either side, so I plunked down some silver for it.