my old vinyl - a partly cautionary tale

At the weekend I decided to empty a good part of the garage to get at all my old vinyl, which date from the late 70s to the late 80s. I was especially looking forweard to my Springsteen records and my copy of 'London Calling' only to find that ... they were missing ... and then I remembered that I had sold a whole lot of vinyl in the late 80s to buy the same albums on CD (that was the only way to get the money). Clearly, I was more interested in the music, than in the LPs themselves, though now I wish I had held onto them for their sentimental value. However, I clearly loved these albums and lived with them, as I would not have treated them as collectibles then. I put my name stickers on them cut bits out of the sleeves, repaired sleeves with sticky tape, put pins through poster insets, etc. (like the 'Live at Leeds' material, to which I added stuff, though the Marquee poster is missing).
However, I do have all my Who records, as well as some Springsteen 12'' singles, and a lot of other stuff that means a lot to me, but there really are big chunks missing. I don't actually think anything is worth much, but I may have to sell the odd one, so I can buy a new turntable (one of those USB ones). Also, a lot of them (from one box) were sticking together and could only be prised apart by damaging the covers (aaargh!). Anyway, about 150 LPS are now in my study, another 100 or so have gone back in a box.

I know it won't be the same as having your record back, but older LPs are easily replaceable.

PFREEZY wrote:

I know it won't be the same as having your record back, but older LPs are easily replaceable.

I've now ordered 'The River' on ebay for starters and toured our local charity shops today. No luck with what I wanted, but, oh boy, I think I've seen enough Sinatra and Streisand LPs for a while.

I just keep thinking of all the LPs I've seen in those shops over the last few years, me saying "I've got one of those in the garage", and now I find I don't.

When I was in high school (back in the day) I was trying to get enough money to go to the Warp Tour, buy atleast 2 band t-shirts and have enough money for food through out the day... all in all, I figured that I needed $150.00 I checked my wallet and saw that I was FLAT BROKE!

I tried to figure out a way to get enough money and came down to a two choices:

1. Spend the next few weekends cutting grass non-stop
2. Sell a bunch of my CDs (keep in mind this is prior to mp3s being around)

My dad told me "never sell your music, some day later in life you are going to want to hear a specific song and when you don't have it, that will be the moment that you realize that the 5 bucks you sold that CD for weren't worth it"

Being a teenager I did what teenagers do... I took the easy way out. I went to my used CD store (The CD Cellar), and sold off about 75 CDs. I still regret that decision to this day. I had lots of local band stuff that I will never be able to get back.

wow, all I can say is thanks for the advice you guys

e7c wrote:

My dad told me "never sell your music, some day later in life you are going to want to hear a specific song and when you don't have it, that will be the moment that you realize that the 5 bucks you sold that CD for weren't worth it"

Being a teenager I did what teenagers do... I took the easy way out. I went to my used CD store (The CD Cellar), and sold off about 75 CDs. I still regret that decision to this day. I had lots of local band stuff that I will never be able to get back.

Good advice from your dad there. In my case, I luckily only sold popular stuff that I was bought on CD anyway, so I still have the more unusual items on vinyl.

Anyway, my brand new USB turntable is arriving tomorrow.