Recent charity shop buys

Redlester · April 2023

Hello everyone. Hope you're all well. I haven't posted for a while.

Just thought I'd share some recent charity shop finds.

Live Cream vol 1.
If you want blood you've got it- AC/DC
Your Arsenal- Morrissey.

Stuff I had on cassette years ago. Still a bit of an eclectic choice, I suppose.

I am still in the habit of buying CDs second hand and find it rather relaxing to browse and listen to what I've bought.

Any else still got the bug?

darthed1981 · April 2023

I'm sort of re-acquiring it, though very much a fan of streaming as well.

As you say, makes a day in town more bearable now all the old media shops have gone!

In Northampton it used to be HMV, Virgin Megastore, Our Price and Spinadisc, now we only have a couple of little indies left (shout out to Spun Out)....

... but lots of charity shops!

Redlester · April 2023

@darthed1981 I don't know Northampton at all, but even in my neck of the woods (London) the same is true. When once we took HMV etc for granted, there's hardly anything now unless you go into central London or live near a record shop. There are a couple of vinyl shops I know quite near me, but I am not of the vinyl generation! CDs were the thing for me.

A sign of the times! Music- or at least the habits and behaviours around the physical acquisition of it- is no longer so central to people's lives, clearly. I don't think it's a good or a bad thing. It's just a sign of cultural and societal change.

I have Spotify which I got for my kids, and I dip into that a hell of a lot. But I still like to have CDs. Old personal habits die hard!

darthed1981 · April 2023

I know both @TTony ; and @ICBM amongst others are still enthusiastic collectors.

Philly_Q · April 2023

I've bought some CDs this week, but all new stuff. I've got a bit of a phobia of charity shops, I imagine them all being staffed by annoyingly chatty old ladies.

TheMarlin · April 2023

I got a load of 70’s funk and sound albums (and a Captain Sensible 12”) from a charity shop in Worthing, when I picked up my Eastwood Delta 6.

Quite pleased with that haul. Vinyl is well and truly picked over in all charity shops in my area. Rare to find anything good now.

Funkfingers · April 2023

I still like to buy physical objects for music replay purposes. The main problem finding new releases worth acquiring.

TTony · April 2023

Redlester said:

unless you go into central London or live near a record shop.

I was in central London last week - thought it'd be a great opportunity to find some interesting stuff, but most of the small independent shops that I looked into (Soho area) seemed to be selling vinyl more than CDs.

Music Magpie is a great source of used CDs for not much ££s. Delivery is quick and I've never had a problem with anything I've bought from them.

Philly_Q said:

I've got a bit of a phobia of charity shops, I imagine them all being staffed by annoyingly chatty old ladies.

You never know your luck

darthed1981 said:

I know both @TTony ; and @ICBM amongst others are still enthusiastic collectors.

I've got a load of stuff, new releases & reissues on my birthday list at the moment, as well as a couple of the SDE BluRay reissue things pending (like this).

DefaultM · April 2023

I got Blue Train by John Coltrane for 50p last week, I was pleased with that.

jonnyburgo · April 2023

Chazzer shops have got hip to pricing nowadays it seems, good vinyl finds are a rarity unless you are into German Oompa music or Richard bloody Clayderman

DefaultM · April 2023

DefaultM said:

I got Blue Train by John Coltrane for 50p last week, I was pleased with that.

Put it on in the car on the way to taking my 6 year old to Rainbows. I thought she seemed to have enjoyed it so I put it back on when I picked her up.
“Errr Dad, can we turn the jazz off? I want to listen to a song”.

jonnyburgo · April 2023

DefaultM said:

DefaultM said:

I got Blue Train by John Coltrane for 50p last week, I was pleased with that.

Put it on in the car on the way to taking my 6 year old to Rainbows. I thought she seemed to have enjoyed it so I put it back on when I picked her up.
“Errr Dad, can we turn the jazz off? I want to listen to a song”.

That sounds familiar, when my kids were little I always used to play Zappa, Miles, Beefheart, Stooges et al convinced that I was imbibing some musical wisdom that they would look back on in years to come and think, "hey, dad was pretty cool". Naah. "Dad, its just noise" bloody philistine halfwits.

Supportact · April 2023

Yes i still like to look in charity shops, mainly for books and cds. My car still has a cd player so it's fun to get them. Even if I don't like them I've only spent a few quid at most.

LastMantra · April 2023

There's loads of charity shops around here with records and cds, but they're usually not my kind of music.

Got a pair of ray-bans the other day though for a tenner.

DefaultM · April 2023

jonnyburgo said:

DefaultM said:

DefaultM said:

I got Blue Train by John Coltrane for 50p last week, I was pleased with that.

Put it on in the car on the way to taking my 6 year old to Rainbows. I thought she seemed to have enjoyed it so I put it back on when I picked her up.
“Errr Dad, can we turn the jazz off? I want to listen to a song”.

That sounds familiar, when my kids were little I always used to play Zappa, Miles, Beefheart, Stooges et al convinced that I was imbibing some musical wisdom that they would look back on in years to come and think, "hey, dad was pretty cool". Naah. "Dad, its just noise" bloody philistine halfwits.

Haha same so I put some Cannibal Corpse on as a joke, but she said she liked it and asked me to put it on her Bjork/Kate Bush/Taylor Swift playlist. I think she’s constantly trolling me.

axisus · April 2023

I'm always dashing into charidy shops to check CDs. Man you have to wade through a lot of dross!

My problem is that I sometimes buy stuff I don't really want and won't listen to, but ... it was 30p!

I have had one good haul in my life, 5 post-Fish Marillion albums and 4 Porcupine Tree, and they were doing 4 albums for a quid!

Good finds for me - I have all Whitney Houston albums (Love a bit of Whitney!), all bought dirt cheap, also last year I picked up 3 Gregory Porter albums, nice stuff.

ICBM · April 2023

I usually buy at least one or two CDs from charity shops every week - sometimes more. I have about 2500 CDs, of which about 1500 came from charity shops, plus I’d guess about another 500 or probably more which have gone back!

I’ve discovered quite a lot of great new music by buying anything that looks interesting, as well as a large number of old favourites and things I needed for completeist reasons

.

roberty · April 2023

DefaultM said:

jonnyburgo said:

DefaultM said:

DefaultM said:

I got Blue Train by John Coltrane for 50p last week, I was pleased with that.

Put it on in the car on the way to taking my 6 year old to Rainbows. I thought she seemed to have enjoyed it so I put it back on when I picked her up.
“Errr Dad, can we turn the jazz off? I want to listen to a song”.

That sounds familiar, when my kids were little I always used to play Zappa, Miles, Beefheart, Stooges et al convinced that I was imbibing some musical wisdom that they would look back on in years to come and think, "hey, dad was pretty cool". Naah. "Dad, its just noise" bloody philistine halfwits.

Haha same so I put some Cannibal Corpse on as a joke, but she said she liked it and asked me to put it on her Bjork/Kate Bush/Taylor Swift playlist. I think she’s constantly trolling me.

Cannibal Corpse are groovy. Not my thing but I really like them. They have crossover appeal lol

Redlester · April 2023

jonny urge said:

Chazzer shops have got hip to pricing nowadays it seems, good vinyl finds are a rarity unless you are into German Oompa music or Richard bloody Clayderman

This is largely true! Sometimes they are way too high with pricing for items, but as far as I can tell, the shops who can count on a lot of volunteers (especially young people doing Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award, for whom working in a charity shop is pretty much the default choice) they have people in the back room- sorting items and pricing them up. And for pricing them up the volunteers check the price new vs ebay vs other sites.

I don't mind paying a bit extra, but I do think also that a) the gear is second hand and b) the need to price to sell- otherwise they end up with too much gear.

Anything between £1 and £3 seems fair to me- with obviously better quality or rarer stuff prcied individually.

DefaultM said:

I got Blue Train by John Coltrane for 50p last week, I was pleased with that.

Bargain. Probably his first great album.

Redlester · April 2023

Not a CD bought yesterday, but imagine my happiness when- with a few minutes to kill before an appointment- I popped into Oxfam and found a book for £2:99 which I was going to buy new elsewhere for £10:99.

Interestingly, the older lad who served me on the till was in his school uniform, probably doing some volunteering after school. I know that not all charity shops have the under-18 volunteers on the tills, for all sorts of reasons.

Redlester · June 2023

Black Crows, "Shake Your Money Maker"- replaces the old cassette copy I had when it first came out.

GJK1959 · June 2023

I bought a Yamaha FG acoustic for £30 in a Charity Shop - just needed some screws for the tuners. Haven’t played it much admittedly

boogieman · June 2023

Philly_Q said:

I've bought some CDs this week, but all new stuff. I've got a bit of a phobia of charity shops, I imagine them all being staffed by annoyingly chatty old ladies.

Oi, I used to work in a charity shop. And I’m a miserable, non communicative bloke.

In fact there were several blokes who volunteered in there. (I do take you point though).

One of the things I miss about the place is getting first dibs on donated cd’s. Although I’d have to wade through hundreds of naff ones to find the few occasional gems. If I never see another Robbie bloody Williams or Westlife CD it will still be too soon.

english_bob · June 2023

boogieman said:

Philly_Q said:

I've bought some CDs this week, but all new stuff. I've got a bit of a phobia of charity shops, I imagine them all being staffed by annoyingly chatty old ladies.

Oi, I used to work in a charity shop. And I’m a miserable, non communicative bloke. In fact there were several blokes who volunteered in there. (I do take you point though).

One of the things I miss about the place is getting first dibs on donated cd’s. Although I’d have to wade through hundreds of naff ones to find the few occasional gems. If I never see another Robbie bloody Williams or Westlife CD it will still be too soon.

I haven't been on a charity shop trawl for a while, but when I did it more regularly it was Mel C's album that seemed to be a fixture of every single charity shop ever.

I've seen rather a lot of Lostprophets albums in charity shops over the last few years. I always feel like I should take them to the counter and explain why they're never going to shift them, but nobody needs to know about Ian Watkins who doesn't already.

boogieman · June 2023

english_bob said:

boogieman said:

Philly_Q said:

I've bought some CDs this week, but all new stuff. I've got a bit of a phobia of charity shops, I imagine them all being staffed by annoyingly chatty old ladies.

Oi, I used to work in a charity shop. And I’m a miserable, non communicative bloke. In fact there were several blokes who volunteered in there. (I do take you point though).

One of the things I miss about the place is getting first dibs on donated cd’s. Although I’d have to wade through hundreds of naff ones to find the few occasional gems. If I never see another Robbie bloody Williams or Westlife CD it will still be too soon.

I haven't been on a charity shop trawl for a while, but when I did it more regularly it was Mel C's album that seemed to be a fixture of every single charity shop ever.

I've seen rather a lot of Lostprophets albums in charity shops over the last few years. I always feel like I should take them to the counter and explain why they're never going to shift them, but nobody needs to know about Ian Watkins who doesn't already.

I honestly can’t remember seeing many Lost Prophets albums in all the time I volunteered. Maybe the people who owned them knew the score and just binned them? We did get a big influx of Michael Jackson stuff when all the Jordi Wossisname court case was going on.

THE most donated thing was the 50 Shades books. There was a rumour, not sure if it was an urban myth, that the third book was made of non recyclable paper and literally tonnes of them ended up in landfill instead of being pulped.

ICBM · June 2023

If it’s a shop that’s doing 2 or 3 for a quid and the jewel cases are OK, I’d buy LostProphets CDs for the cases and bin the contents… I’m always replacing broken cases.

This week’s finds included Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds, which I never actually owned back in the day - just had a dodgy cassette copy from one of my mates. Good to hear it again, although to be honest it’s a bit patchy - some great bits and a fair amount of weaker stuff (side 3 especially).

hollywoodrox · June 2023

ICBM said:

If it’s a shop that’s doing 2 or 3 for a quid and the jewel cases are OK, I’d buy LostProphets CDs for the cases and bin the contents… I’m always replacing broken cases.

This week’s finds included Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds, which I never actually owned back in the day - just had a dodgy cassette copy from one of my mates. Good to hear it again, although to be honest it’s a bit patchy - some great bits and a fair amount of weaker stuff (side 3 especially).

Gosh darn it , I never thought of buying Cd’s for the cases , that’s a brilliant idea as I’ve got some that have got cracked or the middle bit has come out. Excellent tip

Redlester · June 2023

Another gem of a find- I got hold of "Straight Life", the (often very harrowing) autobiography of jazz saxophonist Art Pepper.

£2, and very compelling stuff.

At one point this book was out of print and going for anything between £20- £40.

And the best bit is that it's got me listening to his music again, which makes it all the more amazing how such a dysfunctional bloke could play so incredibly well.

darthed1981 · June 2023

boogieman said:
THE most donated thing was the 50 Shades books. There was a rumour, not sure if it was an urban myth, that the third book was made of non recyclable paper and literally tonnes of them ended up in landfill instead of being pulped.

As my past posts hopefully reflect, I'm a strong believer that if something makes you happy, it can't inherently be bad - the histrionics whenever Coldplay come up on here etc etc.

However the 50 Shades books, I read a few excerpts, and they are the worst written pieces of crap you can possibly imagine. Really it's like a GCSE English short story by someone who is going to get a D.

I remember pointing out to groups of women going to see the films that pornography is free and plentiful online, you don't need to go watch a terrible film for five minutes of stuff you can remember later, no matter how cute Jamie Dornan is.

Well it's women who got off to it and Lewis Capaldi, apparently...

Jfingers · June 2023

My most recent charity shop buy was pre covid on a weekend away. Both John Lydon and Steve Jones autobiographies and a Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers T shirt.

Five quid all in, I was very pleased with all of the items.

Philly_Q · June 2023

darthed1981 said:
I remember pointing out to groups of women going to see the films that pornography is free and plentiful online, you don't need to go watch a terrible film for five minutes of stuff you can remember later, no matter how cute Jamie Dornan is.

Did you hang around outside cinemas with a placard, trying to turn them away at the door?

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