Vintage Vinyl Vault

Did you know you can have an extensive music collection relatively cheaply?  You don't have to buy your music from iTunes, Best Buy or Walmart at their full prices.  If you take the time to travel to a brick and mortar building that sells used records and CD's it's easy to do.  However, at the same time, you can get into some serious money if you wanna play with the big boys.  For example, a Beatles "Yesterday...And Today" butcher cover on Capitol Records released in 1966 in mint condition, first pressing, can fetch up to $47,000.  Another example:  Bob Dylan's "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" released in 1963, stereo, first pressing on CBS Records can run you $35,000, simply because it contains 4 tracks deleted from subsequent releases.  We're not talkin' about that kind of collecting.  You probably won't lay eyes on those much less your hands.  We're talkin' about just thumbing through the bins and looking at all your old favorites and titles and artist you've never heard of.  If you're a serious music listener this can be an extremely fun endeavour, AND frustrating at the same time if you're as broke as most folks.  Here are four suggestions that you might consider picking up on your next journey...that is, if you don't already own them. 

FOREIGNER...Double Vision (1978)  A "Hot Blooded" record indeed.  Contains the title track, plus "Hot Blooded", "Blue Morning, Blue Day" and "Tramontane".  The band is on fire on this their second album.  Highly recommended for those who really like 70's rock.

ZZ TOP...Fandango  (1975)  Half of this album is new studio tracks, while the other half is the band live.  This is ZZ in top form, bluesy, rockin', jammin'...just an excellent record from those Texans.  Contains perhaps their most widely known track "Tush", along with "Blue Jean Blues" and "Heard It On The X".  It also contains the worst ZZ Top song ever "Mexican Blackbird".  What a freakin' waste of 3 minutes in your life, otherwise this record is highly recommended.

BLUE ÖYSTER CULT...Agents Of Fortune  (1976)  Easily their most popular of all their albums, simply because of the hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", which is by far the best track on the record.  Another highlight is "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)"  The rest of the album is good but not near as noteworthy as these two tracks.  Recommended, but you might check out other less known BOC albums, you might find something you like even better

STEPPENWOLF...16 Greatest Hits  (1973)  Steppenwolf had a long and illustrious career by singing these songs for an eternity.  Not a bad job, tho.  I wouldn't complain.  Steppenwolf is one of those bands who had a handful of songs that were fantastic but then the rest were just album fillers.  This record gathered 16 of the good ones, including the biggies "Born To Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride" and "The Pusher"  (even tho the lyrics to this are awful it has a very cool melody and groove to it).  Recommended for us aging 70's kids.

Check 'em out!!