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Marmi's avatar

Excellent haul Kev! Can't argue with anything other than Black is a great song. I feel there must be some back story there...

Went to the thrift store this weekend and they had a Neil Diamond record from 1978 that had 2 songs I know. Grabbed it cuz it was only $2 :)

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

There most assuredly is a backstory there. :)

Nothing particularly dramatic; just reminds of a lot of bad decisions.

...and $2 is a steal!

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Kristin DeMarr's avatar

Awesome finds!! I had no idea that was Daryl Hall singing backup on Original Sin!

Alive and Kicking and All the Things She Said are my favorite Simple Minds songs - great album!!

Rearview Mirror had a permanent two spaces in the 5 disc changer in the car and was the soundtrack for most of my road-trips from like 2005-2014.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Rearview Mirror is sitting in my console as I type this. It's only gonna push 75 here today, so it should still be safe. lol.

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Dave The Scholarship Coach's avatar

WOW! That is an amazing haul. Some of my favorite records from some of my favorite bands all in one post!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thanks! I was pretty happy with what I came home with.

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Terry Barr's avatar

What great finds--The Pretenders would be worth it all, but REM and the Police. the 80's are alive and well for sure. BTW, what do you think of Lush?

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'm a huge fan of Lush!

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Yesterday, I picked up a clean original (1974) copy of Fred & The New JB's 'Breakin' Bread' LP for $7. Beautiful weather, I was on my bike riding home from work and made a detour to a local shop that always has some decent finds. I found others, but I was good and kept it to just this one.

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Rich Headland's avatar

That sounds like my kind of local, Michael - great find! Always think the JBs sound so much better on vinyl too…

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Great find! Probably for the best that you were on your bike. Hard to carry a bunch of records, even if you have a basket. lol.

Besides; now you have good reason to go back next week.

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Travis DeVore's avatar

“I’ve also decided that I’m going to do it as I come across them. Sorry Discogs!” Haha. Oh how I’ve told myself this many times. I’m recommitted. Thanks for sharing.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Of course! I have to remind myself quite a bit.

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Dusty Wright's avatar

Nice additions, indeed. I picked up Captain Beefheart's The Spotlight Kid (expanded/remastered for RSD). For those of you intimidated by Don's "sound," I would suggest starting with this album and Clear Spot. I also added the remastered Cahoots by The Band.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Oh nice! I'm that person that could use a smoother on ramp to the band's sound.

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Graham Strong's avatar

Congrats on the haul!

"Decade" is what finally drew me into Duran Duran, after stubbornly resisting the obviously-selling-out band throughout my tweens and teens... lol

I don't think I have a "favourite" Police album though (another band I resisted due to hearing "Every Breath You Take" every hour of every day for an entire summer). Each album has some great songs, and each has some stinkers. "Outlandos" is up there though.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Ha! Even now, I try and skip 'Every Breath You Take. ' There's plenty of other great stuff on Synchronicity to enjoy.

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Graham Strong's avatar

lol - yeah, like almost all of the other songs...

Glad to hear I'm not the only one!

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miter's avatar

Nice additions! Learning to Crawl is the only Pretenders I have in my vinyl collection (which i should remedy) but it gets regular spins, so great. Also- it has the #1 best Christmas song of all time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEyGZlBdkaA

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

YES! Great point. I totally spaced that about 2000 miles.

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David W. Friedman's avatar

Nice haul!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you!

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Dan Pal's avatar

Wow! Great finds! Where/how do you store them?

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you! They are currently taking over our living room like some sort of vinyl kudzu. Most of them are in outer sleeves, but I need to get some for the rest.

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Binnie Klein's avatar

I'm likin' that you mentioned TV on the Radio...I was super excited about them initially, and then something....sort of changed with them, but.....And always glad to see someone write about REM - I think I'm supposed to dislike Michael Stipe "as a person" due to bad press (he didn't tip at a fancy restaurant and was a pain in the ass) BUT! REM rides through the waves of my mind and through the years, and I'm liking his solo stuff, too. In a recent article, Stipe said it was taking him a while to get that stuff out there; I can understand that!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Out of curiosity, what about them changed for you?

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Rich Headland's avatar

Great read, Kevin - it sounds like you did well there! I think my favourite secondhand finds lately were a couple of Funkadelic 7s - One Nation Under a Groove and Cholly. £2 each from Olaf’s (shameless plug for https://recordshopstories.substack.com/p/record-shop-story-4-olafs-records) - was super pleased with those little beauts.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Great finds! The entry to Olaf's might be my favorite place you;ve visited so far, but I really want to go to Plant & Decks (and yes thank you for explaining the reference!).

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Rich Headland's avatar

Thanks, Kevin. Yeah, I loved chatting with Olaf! Terrific shop too

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jasonelambeth's avatar

Dang it!! I knew I should have made it a priority to get out to those sales! I was too busy working on stuff to get out there though. And then I had yesterday off and planned to go to MadCity. But, they were closed when I was in the neighborhood. This time the early bird did not get the worm.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Next time! FWIW, one of the cookie dealers was (sorta) across the street from you.

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jasonelambeth's avatar

Oh trust me, I’ve given enough of my cold hard cash to that Girl Scout!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Lol.

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Norman's avatar

Some solid picks there, Kevin. I'm looking forward to garage sale season and, hopefully; a few gems.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I hope you find some!

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JoaquinDinero's avatar

Good stuff. I'm also a proponent of 1) having certain bands that you actively collect everything on vinyl and 2) not simply going online and getting it all at once because that takes all the fun out of it.

I'm not sure I'm seeing the problem with having too many beer steins ? ;)

I'm overdue for another trip out to my local joint (and I use 'trip' loosely -- it's like a 1/2 mile away. I can see the building from my rooftop)

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Lol. These steins are evvvvvverywhere.

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