the Folkways records I see are Pete Seeger, Guy Carawan, twenties Jazz comps -- not the weird ones . Also, you can find the Pete Seeger and Clancy Bros. records on Columbia in the dollar bins. Harry Belafonte on RCA too.
Basically 92-95% of classic Rock from 1965-1982, with the occasional 5-8% outliers that continue to shoot up.
I find classic rock to be the best sellers but in reality the artists people want probably is only about 10%. Unless a buyer is really into music beyond what is thrown at them from commercial media, they all seem to want the same 100 albums. "Where's your Rumours, Billy Joel, Skynyrd, etc.? "
This. And it's not all Fleetwood Mac, it's just Rumours. It's not all Billy Joel, it's just Piano Man and Stranger. Not all Skynyrd, just Pronounced/Second Helping/Street Survivors. The reality is almost* everybody is after the same 100 albums. So yeah, of you're looking for a clean early copy, they cost a lot more than they did 5 years. But if you're interested in back catalog stuff, there are literally hundreds available. Or if you're looking for the tier below(Foreigner, STYX, Supertramp, Nugent, Foghat, Doobie Brothers, Allman Brothers, Alan Parsons, etc..) you can get really clean early copies for $10-$15 and less, even $5-$10. Of course there are exceptions with each artist. The truth is, the majority of the Buying Public are just not that interesting, and really don't explore. Though it's also understandable someone not really taking chances and branching out at $10-$15 a pop vs. $3-$5.
My experience with buying and selling at my place of work deals a lot with this. Nearly every day someone comes in that I've never seen before looking for the same albums. I just have to tell them that when it goes into the new (used) arrivals, it goes right out the door. And it's not just people that don't have them already. A lot of the people buying them already have multiple copies. Then there are the flipsters who know they can get more elsewhere. I hate pricing certain records high but if an old dude that's going to buy it for the umpteenth time or some flipster plans to resell it, we can't make them too cheap for that reason. If I see some younger kid wanting it, I'll usually tell them I'll knock off some of the price. Granted a lot of variables go into how much we had to buy them for. If someone walks in with a clean copy of the Top 100 albums of mediocrity and expects a fair shake, I'll give it knowing it's a for-sure seller. Also, Elvis records are cool again to the random person. It wasn't that long ago we had probably 30 to 40 used Elvis records just sitting around. Then one day we asked ourselves, "where did all the used Elvis records go?"
Oh yeah, point (from above) is there's a lot of misconception about LP values. Many people come in with nonsellers thinking they have something. Even classic rock stuff, I have to tell them it's basically bargain or cheap. Then there are all the trashed records that come in the door...
Plenty of 70’s soft rock and 60’s stalwarts that Depression era babies listened to are available for the raking by the boxful.
Makes you wonder if they knew just how lame their music was at the time. I'm guessing they didn't let their hobbies run their lives like many of us on this forum do.
I have actually been listening to Helen Reddy and Jim Croce lately --- I would use the term "well-crafted and beautiful" pop recordings , instead of "lame"
I was just being a bit sarcastic. There's so many of those records and no one really cares for the majority of them. But really... that stuff is kinda lame, right?
A lot of sealed Herman's Hermits MGM LP discs have been out there. MGM over pressed them, lots of sealed cutout copies still exist. Dave Clark 5, mono Epic LP discs in nice shape in my area are hard to find, as is nice Searchers LP discs. Chad & Jeremy LP discs are getting easier and cheaper to find nice.
I have two guys that always bring in the blues rock post 69-72 kind of stuff. Both have gotten really jerky lately when I can't offer them much. I have to tell them that I'm going to have to put a good price on it for the one person (besides him) that knows what it is. And the two guys sell to each other so I already know they've been passed back and forth. Neither of them are going to buy it again. Then my favorite question is: "don't you sell online?" Me in my head: "Ummm, only if I really have to. Don't you? I have better things to do than try to get ten bucks out of a Lindisfarne LP next year. And I sure don't want to test it out."
Compared to the Stooges .. but on their own, I like them. PS I have been driven to this (Seventies MOR soft-rock/pop) by the utter (for the most part) drivel of the current hit parade. Lewis Capaldi ... really. Harry Styles I like. That doesn't even include Kendrick Lamar and the WAP brigade (yes those records weren't made for me -- I get it)
The labels doing psych reissues -- some are better than the original releases. Extensive liner notes, photos, etc. This in response to Lord Hawthorne - sorry.
I lucked out with some original super nice Holly mono pressings awhile ago since a Decca (MCA later) plant was in my area. One of them a Brunswick black label Chirping Crickets. I hate calling old records NM but this one is pretty darn close. Whoever had these just put them into decent storage and probably never touched them after. Otherwise the other titles I got were posthumous releases. I haven't dug into them but I don't think any of those hold too much value. It also seems every time I find a Holly/Crickets 45, it's not really worth much. Maybe clean originals before his death have some value to the right collector. Problem is that the 'right collectors' either have what they want or have moved on to Rock and Roll Heaven.
It is. Croce sells. Usually his albums are beat up but clean copies do well. And honestly, it was late for me when I replied to the post about 'depression babies.' I didn't really read the '70's soft rock' so my reply was thinking about 40's - 60's MOR titles as I think depression babies buying habits were a little before 70's soft rock. Things like Croce, Bread, Seals and Crofts, etc. do sell but they tend to sit around until the Christmas buyers (just getting into vinyls crowd) start churning in.
My Depression Babies comment was geared more to the 60’s MOR that many people listened to as an alternative to Elvis-to-Beatles rock. Thinking more of later period Sinatra contemporaries such as the Petula Clark’s, Barbra Streisands, and Engelberts of the world.
MGM sent "off the books" 20% more albums in a separate load to city distributors to "send back as unsold" from the real loads. They got caught with millions of albums overpressed like Herman. Zappa pointed this out. ABC did the same.
Isn't every McCartney record getting an "Archive" treatment? Once they get to the Wings' records, anybody dying for one is gonna have a new, clean press available at their local Target.
I would say just the popular albums that are standard copies may have gone up a wee bit (but nothing crazy): McCartney, Ram, Band On The Run, and Wings Greatest. McCartney II is probably the only one that really got a bump in the past decade or so. I rarely ever see an All The Best. I think that one has gone up in value since it's more uncommon due to it's release period.
All Dave Mason's records are in the dollar bins -- some are very good. Was surprised to see Joe Jackson in the dollar bin the other day -- picked up his 2 record live anthology for a buck -- score !
usually the "hipster" stores throw old 60's and 70's country records in the dollar bins with the exception of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Definitely Buck Owens , Don Gibson, Connie Smith, Alabama, etc.
