Buffalo Record Round-Up

Unlike Fayetteville, NC there are still places to score cheap LPs in Buffalo, NY.

I had two opportunities to do so during my recent trip, and since I haven't blogged about my vinyl fixation in a while...

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Stop #1 - THE GOODWILL

My unmentionable pal, Mr. X, guided me to a decent Goodwill store and we hit the record bins. At fifty cents, each, I picked up:

The New Yorkers: "Hello, Dolly Polka (And 11 Other Favorites Sung Polka Style)" This is a vintage 1964 polka LP by Buffalo's own "The New Yorkers." I've really grown to have an appreciation for this kind of music, thanks to my sound engineering buddy, Mike Brydalski. The big deal, here, is that the guys from the "Johnny & Jimmy Duo" were the accordionist and drummer, respectively, for Channel 7s "Dialing For Dollars" show.

Various Artists: "For A Musical Merry Christmas" Volumes 3 & 4. These are Christmas samplers that were sold at B. F. Goodrich stores in 1966 & 1967. Volume 3 has long been a touchstone for my wife's family and the discovery of volume 4 is a welcome addition to our Christmas music library.

The Three Suns: "The Sounds Of Christmas With..." We're big Three Suns fans here at Davison Manor.

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Stop #2 - The Clarence Flea Market.

Ah, the Budget Bin beckoned, and I answered!

Various Artists: "Out Of Sight!" & "Where The Action Is!" These are two throw-aways that were issued by the Design Records label. The conceit was to gather ten tracks, re-channel them to ear-ache-inducing pseudo-stereo and plop them into the eighty-eight cent bin. Seems these folks would snap up early, pre-hit recording of popular artists and then try to pretend that they were current "happening hits!" For me, the big deal was finally getting an original pressing of the non-hit "Cycle Annie" by a non-group called The Beachnuts. This was a song written and sung by Lou Reed in his pre-Velvet Underground days. I transferred these tracks to CD-R and restored all but one track to mono. (The Lou Christie track actually was in "real" stereo!)

Various Artists: "No Title?" The Modern Sound label would collect older sound-a-like tracks from their "Hit Records" 45s and put them into albums. This particular LP is #MS-1028 and contains 10 tracks like A Sign Of The Times, Secret Agent Man, Time Won't Let Me & Love Potion Number Nine. The version here of Ain't That A Shame is a cover of the Four Seasons' cover of the Fats Domino song. Dude!

Tony Vincent And His Orchestra: "Greatest Instrumental Hits" The lure of this Diplomat Records knock-off was that I wanted to hear their versions of Walk, Don't Run and Raunchy. Not bad, but WDR seemed to be missing a few bars here and there.

Maynard Ferguson: "Boy With Brass" & "Two's Company" These are a couple of MF albums that weren't in my Dad's collection. The price was right, so I grabbed them with an eye toward make CD-Rs for my Pappy.

I also picked up what looked liked bootleg LPs of The California Ramblers and Ben Selvin & His Orchestra. These appear to contain tracks taken from old 78s. Good stuff! (I have ripped them to CD-R and have been using them as soundtracks for some old silent cartoons.) Bonus point for these LPs having been pressed on green vinyl!