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?

Logan Hardware - 2/25/12

Attempting to make good on my promise in my last post. Here is the haul from an unexpected Saturday afternoon jaunt to Logan Hardware.

For some inexplicable reason G$ sent me a text mid-morning to see if I could go record shopping. Even more bizarre, I found a way to make it happen when the kids both went down for a nap.

This was the haul:

Bruce Haack - The Electronic Record For Children - $13

Cut Chemist & Nu-Mark - Live at the Variety Arts Center - $9

Cypress Hill - 12" Phuncky Feel One b/w How I Could Just Kill A Man - $7

Rawkus Presents Soundbombing II - 12" Eminem's "Any Man" b/w Pharoah Monche's "WWIII" $4

Quannum feat. Lyrics Born & The Poets of Rhythym - 12" I Changed My Mind - $4

This is how I feel about my scores a few weeks later:

Bruce Haack might be a techno pioneer but I definitely feel burned on this one. I was hoping to add to my canon of quirky music that is also accessible to the kids but this is just a murky mess. It promises to increase awareness but really it just promotes nausea. I don't like it at all and I won't be inflicting it on my kids. I will be looking to sell this one back somewhere - too bad I didn't get the Japanese import version on cd.

In 2006, Cut Chemist sampled a Bruce Haack track on his debut solo album.

That is what passes for a transition here in The Junk Drawer... This live DJ set from 1997 is the standout purchase. My son will LOVE the superhero intro and it is great to hear this hip-hop from 15 years ago mixed in with funk and soul. This is before Serrato, before laptops; just two djs and their turntable antics LIVE. With the Three Little Pigs singing "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" and Bill Cosby as Fat Albert talking about Halloween back in the day as part of the sonic tableau, this one has a greater chance of getting played for the kids than Bruce Haack that is for damn sure.

The Cypress Hill 12" was a little pricey but it scratched an itch that had been building in me ever since a few months ago. There was talk of a tour emerging featuring a double bill of Public Enemy and Cypress Hill but it fizzled out. But before it was clear it wasn't going to come together I had started researching the feasibility of making them an offer for the annual benefit concert I am responsible for.

What do you think? Would that have been a cool show for a homeless advocacy group? Since it is now merely an academic discussion, how much would you have paid to see that show?

This is what is known as a Double A-Side single cause both tracks are deserving of top billing. For my money though, this is the stronger track:

The Soundbombing 12" represents how deep I had to dig at Logan that day. G$ and I found ourselves in a neglected corner of the room where they had their techno and 12"s. This store has numerous charms but their stock of techno and hip hop records are not chief among them.

Don't misunderstand me though, I am glad to have this record for this price. I am especially happy to own both the instrumental and the street acapella of the Eminem track. It feeds my "latent DJ" that will one day burst forth.

This was back when Eminem was still having fun just being a miscreant.

"Cause any man who would jump in front of a minivan

for twenty grand and a bottle of pain pills and a minithin

is fucking crazy! You hear me?"

You just can't argue with that logic. It is airtight.

Staring at the Quannum 12" right now make me realize I should probably institute a rule of no more than two 12" singles per shopping expedition.

Now I would be the first in line to purchase a Lyrics Born bobblehead, and I once memorized the lyrics to "8 point agenda" but do I really need a Stereo MCs and a DJ Spinna remix of this song? Sure it was only $4 in the store but now it just feels like freight in my collection.

All in all, more winners than losers. Plus Joust was set to infinite lives so I was able to get up to Wave 39(!) before my hand cramped up and I had to take a break.