By Dayo (81.136.164.4) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 04:09 am:

It don't happen these days .... or does it?

Anyway, back around 1973 I found a pristine, shiny Stateside Demo of I'm Standing, Rufus Lumley for 10p in a Birmingham England junk shop. There were thousands of discs in the rack and I must have gone through them all in hope of other gems. But nothing else of note there!

So what's your SINGLE biggest bargain find? I don't mean the time you bought 10 squillion discs at 2 cents each from a warehouse in Chicago. I'm talking about those odd gems that turn up in the most unexpected places....

Hope this one is not a chestnut (I'm still a newbie!)

By roger (217.35.87.17) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 07:17 am:

Hello Dayo.

Here are some of mine ...

The first relates to those Cut-Price Tamla-Motown L.P.s that got mentioned on the "Least Favourite Motown Groups" thread.

In 1972 I was in Bangor, North Wales and in the Woolworths in the town centre there were still a handful of those cut price Motown L.Ps. I got "Green Grow The Lilacs" by THE ORIGINALS and "Greetings" by THE MONITORS for about 30-50p each. I still have THE ORIGINALS L.P. but THE MONITORS went walkabouts some years back .. VERY annoying as it is very rare (not to mention valuable).. nowadays I have to "make do" with a C.D. Belgian "Bootleg" of it.

Number two would be a still shrink wrapped copy of THE INTRUDERS "Save the Children" L.P. on Gamble that I picked up for 25p at a car boot sale outside Chesterfield in 1987. I picked up a few other mint condition import L.Ps for 25p in the '70s and 80's, but that is the one that sticks in my mind as I always thought THE INTRUDERS were wonderful!!

Number three could be "The Big One" .. or could it be a bootleg??

I regularly visit Leicester at weekends ... something to do with watching 11 men kick around an inflated pigs bladder!! In the late 80's/Early 90s there was a used record shop on London Road (just up the road from the station) called "World Records", so I regularly used to call in there.

At ground level there was the stuff they thought they could sell .. 45s at 75p, £1, £1.50 etc. Downstairs was the bargain basement .. 45s at 10p, 5p. L.Ps at 25p, 50p, etc. Invariably I would head straight downstairs .. it was a complete treasure trove and I picked up loads of bargains. Also, me being me, I would buy things completely "blind" if recognised a label, producer, arranger etc.

So when I saw a white label demo 7" single on the Sussex label written and produced by VAN McCOY, by someone called BILLY WOODS, of course I got it.

Now, from the late '70s to the mid '90s I didn't really follow the "Northern" soul scene, so to me it was just a pleasant mid '70s obscurity, so I was a bit surprised when the uptempo "B" side "Let Me Make You Happy", appeared on a Goldmine "Wigan Casino" C.D that I purchased four or five years back. I was even more surprised when I read in the C.D. notes that it was "probably the rarest '70s record". And totally flabbergasted when I read in a RICHARD SEARLING column in Blues & Soul that it could be worth thousands of pounds!!

Anyway, there is a label scan of the record in KEV ROBERT's "Northern Soul 500" book, but although it's a demo it doesn't look like mine. The one in the book is coloured the same as "normal" releases on Sussex, whilst mine is white, with the "Sussex" logo just an outline. So it is possible that it is a "Bootleg". If it is the genuine article then I can start planning my retirement, if it isn't it doesn't matter too much as it only cost me 10p to begin with!!

Roger

By Dayo (81.136.164.4) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 07:31 am:

Nice stories - thanks Roger. I was trying to remember the other Tamla albums that were in Woolies around that time. I still have my copy of "Merry Christmas from Motown" but Edwin Starrs "Soul Master" got nicked some years ago! Chris Clarks album was there in abundance as was the Originals and loads of the "Big 16" compilations. Now if I can just invent a time machine!

As for the Billy Woods record, I'm sure that if you put a scan up here, then someone will tell you in an instant if its an original.

My brother in law and I found a record shop in Bristol around 1970. Think the address was "Christmas Steps". It was like Christmas!

The shop was musty and run by an old lady. She wouldn't let you browse, but behind the counter she had lots of brown boxes full of 45's sorted by label. You simply had to ask for the label you wanted and she would pull out her selection.

I was a bit green at the time and Bro in Law got all the best goodies, but I picked up some nice Cameo Parkway and Oriole Motown stuff - all mint. In fact I still have my copy of Dee Dee Sharpes "Do the Bird" from that day. The London and Tamla boxes must have been raided though, as I don't recall any pickings from them. Rock and Rollers probably got there first!

My best "raid" is a whole other story though and certainly one for another thread!

PS Hope Leicester stay up. In fact as long as Wolves make the drop, then, as a Baggies nut, I'm happy!

Dayo

By roger (217.35.87.17) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 08:29 am:

Dayo.

You've jogged my memory a bit .. my Elder sister has "Soul Master" by EDWIN STARR and "Motown Memories" .. ( "Bird in the Hand", "Function at the Junction", "Together till the End of Time" etc. ) I think she got these from the fabled "Woolworths Sale".

I've another interesting collecting story from 1971/2.

At the top of The Moor (major shopping street)in Sheffield is Debenhams department store. Back in 1971/2 I think it was still called "Pauldens", and they had a record department in the basement selling mainly easy listening stuff (Music For Pleasure L.Ps etc), but one day, whilst leafing through the bargain racks there I saw they had half a dozen copies of "Backtrack 6" .. the Track records Soul compilation L.P. .. at about 50p each.

I was a bit new to rare soul then and the only track I recognised on it was "You've Got To Pay The Price" by AL KENT, and I only knew that title as it was regularly advertised for sale in the Record Shop Ads in Record Mirror.

Anyway, I passed on buying a copy. The next time I went in the shop they were still there, and literally MONTHS went by and there they remained.

Then a new work-mate started at work who was very into "Rare Soul". I was a big Motown fan, so we used to talk music a lot, and he started educating me on Ric-Tic/Golden World etc. One day he happened to mention that a compilation had come out a couple of years before called "Backtrack 6" that contained some of this material .. I think it was "Headache In My Heart" by THE DEBONNAIRES that he was raving about ... and that this L.P. was "really rare" and top of his wants list.

So I cooly mentioned the basement in "Pauldens" and that they had copies in stock there.

Naturally he didn't believe me, so to prove a point, that lunchtime we both headed to the store. The L.Ps were still there and he bought one. I was a bit short on cash so I passed thinking that I could get one at the weekend after pay-day.

Of course, the word was now out and by the time the weekend came they had all gone!!

There is a happy ending (for me) though, as a few months later this work-mate decided to raise some cash by selling some of his records and gave me first refusal on "Backtrack 6". I still have it.

Roger

By David Meikle (81.130.211.124) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 08:48 am:

BackTrack 6 is still a fave of mine after all these years.

Two of my best finds were the Minit albums. They finally reached the deletions rack after about 6 months. The cover designs had me worried but the music turned out to be FANTASTIC.

The Trensations "Soulin and a rollin". Now who the hell were they?

David
"No explanation needed"

By CORNBREAD (66.185.84.74) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 08:55 am:

I found a Moorecroft vase (Pomegranate style) about six inches tall a couple of years ago.

By John Lester (62.49.61.57) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 09:49 am:

I remember this shop in Roman Road East London. I casually went in there and saw a list of stuff for sale. It was old stuff and I spied Sandy Wynns "The Touch Of Venus" on UK Fontana for £1.75. I bought it and saw that it was absolutely uncirculated and I could even smell the crispness of that Fontana sleeve.

When I was telling John Manship about it the following week, John went apesh*t cos he had just won that record in an auction but the seller had just told him that he couldn't send it cos he had mislaid it...and probably sold it to someone else in error!

I am led to believe that Manship has a picture of me in his shop and throws darts at it! LOL

By dvdmike (65.208.234.61) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 10:00 am:

I once found a sealed copy of Barbara Mason's "Yes, I'm Ready" LP in a retail store. I paid 5 bucks for it. A buddy of mine found sealed copies of Mary Wells' "The One Who Really Loves You" and The Marvelettes' "Playboy" LPs in a junk shop and paid a buck each for them.

By Wonder B (81.49.139.50) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 11:06 am:

At Rasputin's in Berkeley (CA), I once found in the junk racks, a mint copy of Don Blackman's LP for 50ç, and the next day (I think Mars, Saturn, Pluton and God knows what other planet must have been aligned during those two days LOL, cos' I never was that lucky again in my life) while browsing in another record shop which was selling nothing but hard rock and stuff like that (to tell you the truth I was going through the racks 10 by 10 records and wouldn't even have gone through two more racks) and as that one pile of records I was going through fell over, I spotted a black cover with little photos... went back... it was Maceo Parler's album on House of Fox, sealed for a buck and a half! Not a bad find really..
Also while on a trip to Bangkok, I got stuck in the 'Central' Department Store as my wife was going through some piles of garments (I never bothered her again about that after that day LOL), so I went to the store's record section where in fact they were selling mostly tapes, but a few albums where sitting in one corner... went there and found all the RCA albums by Weldon Irvine (Cosmic Vortex, Spirit Man, Sinbad'...) all at about $2 each...

Wonder B

By R&B (138.238.41.118) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 03:10 pm:

AHHH,DAYO,NOW YOU'RE TALKIN ABOUT A SUBJECT CLOSE TO MY HEART,AS A COLLECTOR I LOOOOOOOOVE GOING TO THE THRIFT STORES[ALOT OF THOSE RECORDS ARE IN MINT CONDITION AND FOR A DOLLAR]LIKE THE FOUR RECORD DOO-WOO SET I FOUND SOME YEARS AGO,AN EARLY JAMES BROWN ALBUM,SOME GREAT BOB JAMES JAZZ ALBUMS,SOME CLASSIC ARETHA,AND DON'T FORGET THE 45'S,MORE THAN ONCE I'VE BEEN BROSING AND CAME UPON A GEM OR TWO[REAL HUMDINDER,SHE'S NOT JUST ANOTHER WOMAN,THAT'S ENOUGH,ONLY A FOOL]YES MY FRIEND IF YOU LOVE VINYL AND DON'T WANT[OR HAVE]ALOT OF MONEY TO SPEND HEAD FOR THE THRIFT SHOPS[MANY PEOPLE DONATE RECORDS]AND I'M ETERNALLY GREATFUL TO THEM ALL!

By Reese (12.15.168.217) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 03:45 pm:

I found a very good original copy of Mary Wells' BYE BYE BABY album, MOTOWN LP 600. It only cost me $1.99.

I was very surprised because I bought it at a used record store. I figured those guys would have had knowledge of the record's potential value.
After all, it was the first album pressed under the Motown banner, and the vinyl and cover were in good shape. If nothing else, I figured the record's label would have raised a red flag. Because it wasn't the famous map design. Nor was it the pink label with the stripes. It was a rather plain white label with blue lettering, with Motwon spelled out in a weird font.

By boynextdoor (67.24.159.126) on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 11:27 am:

I found a sealed 2 cd set of the Supremes last live performance in Vegas at Borders Outlet Store for $5.95. I then saw it going on eBay for about $75! It's discontinued. Glad I grabbed it.

By Robb_K (66.81.202.144) on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 02:04 pm:

I found much of my collection in thrift and junk stores, so even trying to remember what the "Biggest Bargain" was would be impossible, as there were 1000s. What comes to mind was a mint 45 by The Royals on Okeh from 1951 ("Dreams of You". That was before they moved to Federal. Also, I found the Album "The Five Keys" on Aladdin for $0.50 US, back in the early '60s. Mint "Only You" by Platters on Federal (original version). "I Really Don't Want To Know"-Flamingos Parrott 811. Fred Bridges on Versatile. Lots of Detroit and Chicago records. Lots of R&B and early soul records on Canadian labels.

By MEL&THEN SOME (217.42.211.247) on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 03:59 pm:

Roger
my mate has an authentic original of the billy woods on sussex
the demos are good but you can tell.

by the way
an absolute gem record.

mel

By ErikT.O. (64.228.114.156) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 06:45 pm:

I hit a couple of thrift joints in Detroit on Saturday but came up empty this time... got a few neat things last time a couple of years ago
(already). My best vinyl find off hand was taking a chance on a 50cent lp this old Hungarian guy was selling along with a bunch of other things on the street last summer, Billy Matin's 'Strawberry Soul' which I'd never heard of & traded for 200$ of lp's... I've seen my Maceo lp going for almost 400$, I'm pretty sure mine's not a boot. I also have that Monitors lp mentioned earlier, got that one knowing nothing about the Monitors but the cover looked promising and it something like 5 bucks at L'Echange in Montreal when I lived there...

By roger (217.35.87.17) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 05:38 am:

Hi there Mel.

I've just returned from a long weekend away, so I've only just seen your post from Saturday.

It seems like I can forget retiring for a few years then.

Oh well .. back to the lottery tickets!!

Roger

By CORNBREAD (66.185.84.74) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 08:35 am:

You know what bugs me: people who toss vinyl records into the garbage. wish they would donate them to thrift stores or drop them off at my door.

I've come across more than a few folks who tossed them after they had been "born again". They refer to it as the devil's music.

Sounds familiar ?

By LadyMystique (216.37.228.72) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 10:42 pm:

To me, the LIFE magazine with the Jackson 5 and family on the front (I think it is the 9/1971 issue) I bought for 25 cents at a yard sale! I just wanted the cover!

By Lucky man (62.254.0.32) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 07:35 pm:

I sold a real Billy Woods promo a couple of years ago, and the promos are coloured, sadly the white copies are bootlegs - but hey, it's what's in the grooves that counts (now where have I heard that?)I do know a funy story about Billy Woods though, I know a dealer who was offered every record on Sussex, on promo, something like $20 dollars for them all, or individual singles for 50c. Now wouldn't the whole lot have looked nice? but no, he just bought the Billy Woods! Obviously the $19.50 was just a bit more than he wanted to spend! I would have been pleased to get the Billy Woods for $20, let alone everything on the label.

By Robb_K (66.81.192.196) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 09:41 pm:

I forgot to mention (as this is a Detroit forum) getting an original striped Tamla 54027 issue of "Money" by Barrett Strong at a Goodwill Store in Detroit, for 5 cents, in 1964. I used to drive from Chicago to Detroit one Saturday a month to look for records.

By Mark Speck (205.185.121.4) on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 10:24 pm:

Album-wise, I found a nice copy of one of Gene Vincent's Capitol LPs, "Sounds Like Gene Vincent" for 50 cents in a Goodwill store. I think it's worth over $100--I might put it on Ebay as I'm considering putting a good chunk of my albums for sale.

In terms of 45s, I found a nice WLP of Brice Coefield's "Ain't That Right" on Omen in another thrift store. Unfortunately, it's not one of my favorite Northern records--I offered to trade it to one of the Australian Northern soulers, but it's been a couple of years and we STILL haven't worked out the details for a trade...LOL!

Best,

Mark