I'm wondering what kind of luck people have had scouting out records at thrift stores, yard sales, flea markets, etc. 78s, 33s, 45s... hell, even CDs. I'm not really talking about record collector conventions or used record stores, but finding good stuff (striking gold!) where you ordinarily wouldn't (like when i found a small treasure trove of records tucked away in the back of a hundred-year-old bookstore once). Any stories?

I've never found anything people would normally consider a "gem", but I've found tons of WEIRD regional records and self released stuff. Most of it is kooky religious stuff, talent shows, spoken word etc.. I can't get enough of that kind of garbage though.

I always find something. I just bought the "Crying Demons" (demonic possession) LP on purple vinyl for .99 cents. I also got a stack of late 60s/70s funk and reggae singles that were all pressed in Jamaica, Belize, and the Barbados. They are in stunning shape and got 57 of them for .50 cents each. I checked them on Collectors Frenzy and they are all $20 to $100 records so I'm listening to them and deciding whether to keep or eBay them. Still cool stuff out there, but you gotta get there first. Too many record hounds these days.

Robert , Nice. .   Man , how cool ARE Paul Revere and The Raiders , anyway ? OK , we'll probably never see The Seeds , The Sonics , ? and The Mysterians or The 13th Floor Elevators in the so - called Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame , but , The Raiders ' induction should be ancient history , by now. They only had a zillion monster hit records , two , count 'em , TWO TV shows , and were plastered all over every Teen mag in the country (And probably , to a lesser extent , in Western Europe.)
...AND THEY ROCK LIKE FUCK !!!! The commitee should stop waiting for MORE band members to die (Funny how The Dave Clark Five , The Ramones and The Clash were'nt honored until their frontmen kicked the bucket.) , and just get on with it.
robert mendoza said:

John,

it is the poster. there is a sticker on the front too that ID's the poster inside.

yeah, i like girls and stuff too :)

John Battles said:

Robert , Did yours come with a poster , or a color photo booklet ? If you answered "Poster" , I THINK YOU'VE GOT A REAL RARITY , THERE..... Just wondering. I still go out with girls and stuff. 

robert mendoza said:

how funny! i just found a copy of P. Revere and the Raiders "Greatest Hits" in mono, on Columbia, with the poster inside...in near mint condition: it cost me all of $3.00!

John Battles said:

..I recently found Paul Revere and The Raiders' first single "Orbit - The Spy" , a killer surf instrumental that had taken me years to find a copy of , even on a compilation. The "A" side was "Beatnik Sticks" , similar to the Hit follow - up , "Like , Long Hair" , but , arguably the better of the two. This was at an antique store that had'nt got anything "New" in for years. I also just found a Joe Maphis 78 in a thrift store , both sides rockin' Instrumentals. Have'nt found any "Garage" 45s , lately.They turn up , sometimes , if you're patient enough to watch paint peel. 

John,

it is the poster. there is a sticker on the front too that ID's the poster inside.

yeah, i like girls and stuff too :)

John Battles said:

Robert , Did yours come with a poster , or a color photo booklet ? If you answered "Poster" , I THINK YOU'VE GOT A REAL RARITY , THERE..... Just wondering. I still go out with girls and stuff. 

robert mendoza said:

how funny! i just found a copy of P. Revere and the Raiders "Greatest Hits" in mono, on Columbia, with the poster inside...in near mint condition: it cost me all of $3.00!

John Battles said:

..I recently found Paul Revere and The Raiders' first single "Orbit - The Spy" , a killer surf instrumental that had taken me years to find a copy of , even on a compilation. The "A" side was "Beatnik Sticks" , similar to the Hit follow - up , "Like , Long Hair" , but , arguably the better of the two. This was at an antique store that had'nt got anything "New" in for years. I also just found a Joe Maphis 78 in a thrift store , both sides rockin' Instrumentals. Have'nt found any "Garage" 45s , lately.They turn up , sometimes , if you're patient enough to watch paint peel. 

Cool. I was on a roll for a while (Not like THAT.), but , I start to forget what some of the REAL finds were. I've got one Sun 78 , "Feelin' Good" by Little Junior Parker. I've seen the El Dorados a couple of times , just doing guest appearances on "Chic - A - gO gO" and  once , at The Blues Fest , about 23 years ago. If they're still performing , there's no original members , because they're all deceased. They had one member from the second line up , and the SON of an original member. Hey , they sounded great. 

Mike said:

Never really had much sucess finding good 60's stuff.  Mainly 50's.

At a garage sale I found Johnny Cash "I Walk The Line" 4 song EP on Sun with the picture sleeve mixed in with a bunch of mostly 50's pop records.

At a thrift: Eddie Cash "Doing All Right" 7" on Peak http://youtu.be/QCi3auOuWOE

At an antique mall type place, a box of 78's all in close to near mint condition which is rare enough for about 50 cents each:

Carl Perkins "Blue Suede Shoes" on Sun

Warren Smith " Ubangi Rock" on Sun

Little Richard "Slippin & Slidin" on Specialty

and dozen or two of Doo Woppers, from the El Dorados, Flamingos, Cadillacs, Spiders etc etc.

 

 

The true 'scores' are getting fewer and farther between. The most recent one I had was finding Canadian guitarist Bob Regan's instrumental 45 'Tarantula/Highland Lassie' at the local thrift for 25 cents.

Never really had much sucess finding good 60's stuff.  Mainly 50's.

At a garage sale I found Johnny Cash "I Walk The Line" 4 song EP on Sun with the picture sleeve mixed in with a bunch of mostly 50's pop records.

At a thrift: Eddie Cash "Doing All Right" 7" on Peak http://youtu.be/QCi3auOuWOE

At an antique mall type place, a box of 78's all in close to near mint condition which is rare enough for about 50 cents each:

Carl Perkins "Blue Suede Shoes" on Sun

Warren Smith " Ubangi Rock" on Sun

Little Richard "Slippin & Slidin" on Specialty

and dozen or two of Doo Woppers, from the El Dorados, Flamingos, Cadillacs, Spiders etc etc.

 

 

Robert , Did yours come with a poster , or a color photo booklet ? If you answered "Poster" , I THINK YOU'VE GOT A REAL RARITY , THERE..... Just wondering. I still go out with girls and stuff. 

robert mendoza said:

how funny! i just found a copy of P. Revere and the Raiders "Greatest Hits" in mono, on Columbia, with the poster inside...in near mint condition: it cost me all of $3.00!

John Battles said:

..I recently found Paul Revere and The Raiders' first single "Orbit - The Spy" , a killer surf instrumental that had taken me years to find a copy of , even on a compilation. The "A" side was "Beatnik Sticks" , similar to the Hit follow - up , "Like , Long Hair" , but , arguably the better of the two. This was at an antique store that had'nt got anything "New" in for years. I also just found a Joe Maphis 78 in a thrift store , both sides rockin' Instrumentals. Have'nt found any "Garage" 45s , lately.They turn up , sometimes , if you're patient enough to watch paint peel. 

how cool is that! :)

Si Si Si said:

my dad gave me a box of the nastiest water damaged records and asked me if i wanted them. I didn't really but i thought i'd look through them anyways and i found a mint condition Merry Christmas from the Sonics, The Wailers, and the Galaxies, which i then proceeded to get autographed by all the original members in all three bands who are still alive. it was crazy. That was the only record without damage. It looked like it had been played maybe once or twice.

how funny! i just found a copy of P. Revere and the Raiders "Greatest Hits" in mono, on Columbia, with the poster inside...in near mint condition: it cost me all of $3.00!

John Battles said:

..I recently found Paul Revere and The Raiders' first single "Orbit - The Spy" , a killer surf instrumental that had taken me years to find a copy of , even on a compilation. The "A" side was "Beatnik Sticks" , similar to the Hit follow - up , "Like , Long Hair" , but , arguably the better of the two. This was at an antique store that had'nt got anything "New" in for years. I also just found a Joe Maphis 78 in a thrift store , both sides rockin' Instrumentals. Have'nt found any "Garage" 45s , lately.They turn up , sometimes , if you're patient enough to watch paint peel. 

Thrift stores have started fishing records on on-line auction sites before sticking them out, so the good stuff is farther and fewer between now than it was even 10 or so years ago.  I used to find cool stuff all the time, particularly if I was willing to get dirty and flip through the 45s, but now the time to ratio is pretty slim.

Wow, I don't think I've ever found any records of value at any thrift stores. I don't hit enough garage/yard sales or flea markets. When I do, it's usually because I'm after a particular item (like baby/kids stuff!). I only remember seeing 8-tracks and cassette tapes at thrift stores... maybe a few records, but nothing of value. I guess I should start looking again!

my dad gave me a box of the nastiest water damaged records and asked me if i wanted them. I didn't really but i thought i'd look through them anyways and i found a mint condition Merry Christmas from the Sonics, The Wailers, and the Galaxies, which i then proceeded to get autographed by all the original members in all three bands who are still alive. it was crazy. That was the only record without damage. It looked like it had been played maybe once or twice.

..I recently found Paul Revere and The Raiders' first single "Orbit - The Spy" , a killer surf instrumental that had taken me years to find a copy of , even on a compilation. The "A" side was "Beatnik Sticks" , similar to the Hit follow - up , "Like , Long Hair" , but , arguably the better of the two. This was at an antique store that had'nt got anything "New" in for years. I also just found a Joe Maphis 78 in a thrift store , both sides rockin' Instrumentals. Have'nt found any "Garage" 45s , lately.They turn up , sometimes , if you're patient enough to watch paint peel. 

back in the 7t's and 8t's i would find tons of singles on obscure labels in thrift shops.the price was always right, so i could always "take a chance" on what i was purchasing. little did i know that what i was purchasing would comprise the bulk of my garage singles collection. i'm finding now, at least in my area (Central Coast Cali), that people are dumping their vinyl (is this due to downloading?), it's hard to say. but, like they say, one man's junk....