Record stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island & Connecticut!!

Furniture stores had records once. One in Glendale California had amazing stuff. Acetates. I know somebody who got the final unreleased Raiders album from '73 there on Columbia acetate decades ago. The guy said they got drawers on stuff from furniture bought.

 

New place just opened in Amesbury. I've heard good things but have not been able to get over there, yet.

 

Cheapos in Cambridge, MA, The Record Exchange in Salem, MA and Mystery Train Records in Gloucester, MA. I've been going to all three for years.

 

I might be in Rochester NH this weekend. Is Skeletone still worth a visit?

 

Skeletone is worth it. Some of their prices are high on items (Rare? Collectible?), but they also had items that were very reasonably priced. It's been a while since I've been there, though.

 

Skeletone was not worth the trip the last time I went in there. Lots of overpriced common LPs in pretty rough shape. That was a while ago though, so maybe it's time to go back. After, Skeletone is where I found my RL LP of Zep II.

 

What's the name of the place? I will have to check it out.

 

Just a "heads up" if you're heading to Bull Moose Music in Portsmouth. They are no longer downtown. They moved out near the big box stores on the other side of Route 95. They took over a former furniture store's space. Easier to get to and free parking too. It's a real win/win for the customers.

 

Lol. I have no idea! My best friend just told me about it but didn’t mention the name. In the millyard I believe.

Update: just asked him. Mel’s Records

 

Kinda sucks for me, actually. I know the part of town you're talking about, but I'm just never likely to go over there. Downtown is the only part of town we ever stop in. Hope it does well for them.

 

I’ll let you know the latest if I get there.

 

I went in there a couple weeks back. Still getting the space organized and I’m surprised they didn’t put in some industrial carpet. The floor is painted cement. Bring your skates in the winter!

On the positive side, they have some room to grow and bring the selection level up to that of Scarborough and South Portland. I liked the vibe of the downtown location but they were space constrained on their inventory.

 

Stopped into Mel's today. Not the biggest place but they are just getting up and going. Hopefully they tough it out and grow. Some decent stuff and the prices are reasonable. It's not in the Millyard. It's across the circle at 4 Water St.

 

Wow. Looking through some of the stuff I picked up at Mel's. They apparently got a huge jazz lot in and it's all $3, $5, $8 or $10. But he just said $5 each when I set them down. I got some killer stuff. And the records are all immaculate. I'm not a super jazzbo or anything but these are what jumped out at me, for whatever reason. I dig Donald Byrd. Any type of guitar on Starday has to be at least interesting. I noticed Coltrane's pic on the back of the Johnny Hodges album. And the Shirley Horn just looked like a winner. I'm sure I left plenty behind.

Also got a fistful of early pressing "rock and roll" (read: boogie-woogie/jump blues, early soul) compilations out of the free crates out front.

All $5 each

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Gigi Gryce / Donald Byrd – Jazz Lab

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Shirley Horn – Travelin' Light

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Johnny Hodges And His Orchestra – More Of Johnny Hodges And His Orchestra


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Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith
* – Blue Guitar

and $15

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Wilbur Harden, John Coltrane, Tommy Flanagan, Doug Watkins, Louis Hayes – Mainstream 1958

 

I appreciate the heads up. I have a vacation in a couple weeks and I'm spending at least one night in Portsmouth.

 

I found the prices to be on the high side as well, more in line with what I’d expect in a city shop rather than one in a small town needing a rehab job on its Main Street. Too bad, because the owner seems like a nice guy and I’d do some business if the prices were more reasonable.

 

Nice find. Was this a Van Gelder cut or a later reissue? I've found that those Van Gelder cut Savoys sound pretty good.

 

As high as they were, they were probably still lower than the prices at Dyno Records in downtown Newburyport. I used to find some decent deals in their new arrival section but the last time I went in about 2 months back, that was no longer the case. Vinyl is hot right now, so these stores can get what they can get. I will say this, that last time I was Dyno Records, there must've been 20 people in there. It was crazy. In all the years I've been going there, I bet the most I saw was 4 people perusing the racks. With the latest Covid variant still out there, it was a bit uncomfortable standing so close together in that tiny shop. Good thing I'm a Jazz guy - not many people going through that bin.

 

I went to Skele-tone for the first time in Rochester on Monday and then took a trip to the new Bull Moose in Portsmouth. Skele-tone had some great records and the store is laid out really well. As others have mentioned, they have a lot of overpriced common items. I remember seeing stickers like "rare CRC version" and charging a premium, but I always thought record club pressings were the kiss of death? Anyway, I walked away with only a couple albums, a really nice UK first press of Procol Harum Live at Edmonton which was $30 and a Rush Caress of Steel for $35.00. Unfortunately, I should have inspected the Rush record a bit closer. It's noisy as hell and even though it's stamped Masterdisk on one side, the sound quality is really muffled. If I didn't live nearly 2 hours from the store, I'd probably return it as I'll likely never play it again. Oh well. There were two young college age girls working there that were very nice and talkative at the counter. I guess that's life in collecting vinyl records.

I didn't see much I wanted at all at the Bull Moose in Portsmouth and I was in and out in about 30 minutes. It had been several years since I went to their original location on Congress Street but I recall that they had a really nice used vinyl section and I had bought several records from then in the past. They had a good amount of new vinyl and reissues though. I stayed over in Portsmouth and the next day went to Record Connection in Manchester. I had really good luck there. They have a wall of collectible used records and they were offering a double sided RL stamped Led Zeppelin II for only $800.00 (!) I bought a handful of records and don't think I spent more than $15 for any of them. Again, lots of new vinyl and reissues and it's well worth spending an hour or two digging through the bins. For some reason, they like to randomly put pieces of hardware on top of the bins so you might have to move an old receiver or tuner over to get to the section you want to browse. I usually find something I want there.

 

You didn't see anything at Bull Moose because I cleaned them out last time I was up there! It was back in May and I spent waaaaaaayy more than I expected I was going to. They had just gotten in a bunch of nice boots (Stones, Bruce, Faces) and some good blues and Soul. But the general state of the rest of the used bins looked a little thin. The good thing about spending that much though, it gave me a ton of points and when I bought a bunch at the Bull Moose in Salem a couple of weeks ago I got a really nice discount. They had a few newly priced boxes of stuff they hadn't put out yet and they let me pick. Got some super minty large dome purple label Beatles; white album with poster and photos (the cool 4 attached photos still attached) and Magical Mystery Tour, $12 and $8 before discounts and a bunch of other tasty stuff, like a 1st mono Hollywood pressing of Time Out (only in VG but it was only $3). Couple of really nice young guys working the counter. We talked for a while and they showed me what they pulled from those boxes. They had made some nice selections. Luckily no FOMO because the only one I would have bought myself was a Sly and the Family Stone - Life. Said they get a really nice discount.

I gave up even bothering with Music Connection a while ago. While I would almost always pick up one or two things you'd really have to dig to find something that wasn't 2x the Discogs high price. The guy is nice enough and we talk most of the time I'm in there. And he'll haggle a bit. I've gotten some really nice stuff there, though. But, if I'm in the area I usually hit Metro City. Very small but I usually find something and his prices are fair.

The Newbury up there usually has a small bit of used stuff, but now they mix all of the new and used together so it is a bit of a pain. I skim still I see a top edge that looks like a used record. But I rarely find anything I'm after.

 

Unless there has been a change, the used LPs for sale at the Bull Moose store in Portsmouth is not Bull Moose's inventory. An outside vendor stocks those bins. He used to rotate the stock between the Portsmouth store and the Salem, NH store but I think the Salem store gave up used vinyl when they moved into their current location.

In the past, my biggest problem with the used LPs at Bull Moose in Portsmouth is that a lot of the records smelled like a wet basement. I don't buy records that smell like that.

 

musty records are not my kind of records, but occasionally something will show up from discogs smelling bad... i find replacing the inner sleeve helps a lot and then airing-out the cover. if the odor persists i'll usually put the whole thing in one of those resealable outer sleeves

 

Had a doctor's appointment in Danvers so took a quick swing to Beverly to check out Soundtracks. Nice little place. Not the biggest record store of all time but what it lacked in volume it made up for in quality. Got some really nice stuff and the prices were really reasonable. Knocked like 5 things off my wantlist. He offered me a really clean 1st Love - Forever Changes and 1st (I think) Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk. But I'm happy with my 80s white and red Love and didn't want to spend too much more, so skipped the Safe as Milk. So, if you're after those get over there and try to snap them up!

But the crown jewel was an unusual Zeppelin I. I check every I and II for a Piros cut. I have them but finding NM copies, eventually, would be nice. Well, this one wasn't a Piros cut, but it had an unusual label. Purple and tan? Never seen that before. So, for $20 I took the plunge. Because I was getting some other expensive-ish stuff he knocked it down to $10 fron $20. As I was driving home I was sure I had seen something about it before. Well, went to enter it into my collection and sure enough it had been sitting in my wantlist for years.

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

Label variant: (Atco) purple/brown Stereo labels that were only produced on Atlantic releases when pressed at RCA Records Pressing plant, Indianapolis. Some say these issues are "club" issues but no proof on release. Others feel that these were created from stock Atco labels to fill the need. "Club" or press error, a very rare label.

From bsnpubs: This label is rare and only appeared on a few titles from around 8130 to 8200. The Led Zeppelin album error commands premium prices, since not only is the label in error, but side 1 of the album is a different mix from the regular pressing.

Also side 2 does sound a little different from the standard issue. There is a long pause between "Black Mountain Side" and "Communication Breakdown", where the standard issue had no silence at all. And there is an unusually long silence between "Communication Breakdown" and "I Can't Quit You Baby", much longer than was on the standard issue.

 

I highly recommend Vinyl Vault in Littleton, MA.

Small store but they have a nice selection if you are a classic rock fan and prices are decent. They also have an entire wall of used CD's

Another small shop for Classic Rock is Nevermind Shop in Uxbridge. Not a large selection but the owner is picky on condition so not a lot of beatup vinyl. I have found some good stuff there for reasonable prices.

Joe's Albums in Worchester is very well organized, decent prices, and the owner is picky on condition but I was never impressed with the selection.

Deja Vue in Natick is fun if you don't mind crate diving as the place is a disorganized mess. The owner is an elderly Greek(?) lady who started out in the used vinyl wholesale business shipping containers of vinyl overseas.

She doesn't seem to check condition and the place is a mess but once you get to know her she will bring out the good stuff from the back for you. Nothing is priced so she eyeballs your stack and gives you a good price. It pays to chat her up. She keeps oddball hours so you really need to call ahead to see if she is open.

 

RCA club issue.