The Nice Price: Groove Is In The Heart & More

As hobbies go, vinyl collecting has been gaining tremendous momentum. 

This increased interest has meant more & more new stuff is being released on wax but it also has made it harder to find a bargain when it comes to the dusties.  

Suddenly everyone has an opinion on a record's value.  The prevailing sentiment used to be one of "please take these ridiculously heavy piles of plastic off my hands!"  

I truly got into record collecting just before it took off as a way to stretch my music buying budget.  More sales of records means more speculators, more flippers, more deluxe reissues, special editions and generally more headaches.  
Perhaps the cheap scores for the Junk Drawer have become all the more sweet as a result.  I rarely walk into a record store with a predetermined idea of what I am going to leave with under my arm. 


It is all about The Find and if the sticker lists a price $5 or less then I am definitely going to be a little more adventurous.  

SO, without further ado - here is the first installment of the The Nice Price!

Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart  12” – scored for $5 at Logan Hardware

The easy rationale is you don’t have to own another Deee-Lite song, but the power of this one is undeniable.  My kids LOVE this song, although much to the chagrin of my wife they persist in misinterpreting one of the refrains as “No, I don’t miss my mother!” 

I also love the shades of Hanna Barbera cover especially considering that you don’t expect much in the way of artwork for 12” singles. This record is in mint condition too.  

There is a cute story about this score too:

My son is a fan of Logan Hardware thanks to their videogame room.  We bought this together (I think he was the one that found it even) and then we spent a solid hour playing Teenage Mutant Turtles to completion. 

Later when we were showing off our spoils, D spotted this one and asked me, "Don't you already own this?"
To which Adam defended, "Yeah, but now he has it on a record, mom."

This also gives me an excuse to share this nice remix from my friend that has a project called Altered Tapes. 

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Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar 12" - scored at Reckless for $2.



Some delicious mid 90s Trip Hop ear candy for a price that is more than fair. Heck, I pay more for actual candy.  Lately a king sized Fast Break has become a habitual sugar balm on my post work commute and that sets me back a Thomas Jefferson and some change.

This would sugar would have been all the sweeter if any of the remixes were worth a damn.  Sorry Armand Van Helden, maybe you shouldn't have partied so hard the night before this assignment was due. 

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Mogwai - Fear Satan Remixes 12" - scored at Gramaphone for $4. 



Thanks to G$ I learned about a 50% off sale at Gramaphone last year - a store I rarely venture into because it is off my beaten path and it intimidates the hell out of me.  But as I said before, if the price is right, the Junk Drawer will definitely gamble. 

Not that this particular score was a gamble.  Not with Kevin Shields doing a 15 minute rework of a track with SATAN in the title. Mu-Ziq & Surgeon also take a stab at it on side B.  

I tried to give this to Barsky last time I saw him - I figured it was about the price of a greeting card and he would appreciate it.  He left without it so now it is on me to remember to give it to him again next time around.    

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Human Sexual Response – Fig. 14 – scored for $3 shipped on eBay.

First off, the cover.  

Second, this band just played songs about whatever the fuck they were interested in, like this one below that was inspired by a visit to the Anne Frank house.  This is steeped in some 80s angst.

How does it feel to be invisible?

To know the future and not be miserable?

The main songwriter, Larry Bangor, went on to form The Zulus – a Junk Drawer favorite that never broke out of regional success in the Boston area despite a legendary reputation for their explosive live performances.  

This is actually a duplicate score for me, at this price I just nabbed it so I could gift it to someone and I am giving it to G$ because that guy has a paltry collection of rekkids and rarely gets a chance to shop for vinyl. 

That's all for now readers.  What do you think of this of The Nice Price as a semi-regular feature?

I Gotsta Get Paid

Welcome to 2014!  

Big plans are brewing for the Junk Drawer this year but for now I just wanted to share this with you in case you are like me and sometimes worry that the state of music is changing too much and too fast...

Apparently ZZ Top are still making music videos with hot rods and babes. It may seem a bit anachronistic but I personally take comfort in this.  

Now I realize that this video was released in 2012 but tonight was the first time I laid eyes and ears on it.  

You gotsta check it out:


Man, I had such a thing for one of the original ZZ Top Muses, Jeana Tomasina, that well... I still know her name to this day!