Monday, January 30, 2006

Ten vinyl bargains

I am not a record collector in the sense that I don't know how much certain items I have are worth. However I used to buy a number of albums at record stores so I have an idea of how much items cost and how hard they were to find. These may not be the ten rarest items I own, but they are all ones that I like a lot and are at least a little rare as far as I know. Also all of these albums are also ones that I got cheap. Just the fact that they were all made in the 1980's or earlier makes them sort of rare at this point. I may not be able to remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, but I can tell you where I got each of my albums from.

10.Metallica-Creeping Death 12 inch single, 1984
Not super rare, but I got it new for maybe $6.00 back in 1986. Cool cover and it's on green vinyl.

9.Judas Priest- Sad Wings of Destiny picture disc, 1983
I picked this sucker up at a yard sale for $3.00 in 1992. Never saw it in any record stores.

8.Mercyful Fate- Black Masses/Black Funeral 12 inch single, 1983
I got this at a Mall record store for $4.99 new in 1988. Not hugely uncommon but it was a good find as a five year old import at the time and I am sure it's going for far more money now as well.

7.Holocross-s/t, 1988
Not an import, but this Pittsburgh based speed metal band released their only album on tiny New Renaissance records. I used to have it on cassette, but got this when I bought out most of my friend's record collection. They had a lot of energy and it still sounds as good today as it did back then. It has not been released on CD.

6.Black Sabbath-Live at last, no listed release date
This album was recorded in 1972 and was released by a tiny label from Holland, I believe. Normally you only saw this on cassette for cheap prices back then, but I saw it on vinyl for $5.00 new and snagged it. Some people frown on it because there are no overdubs or attempts to clean up the original recording, but that's part of the appeal to me. It's early Sabbath live and that's enough for me.

5.Twisted Sister-Under the blade picture disc, 1985
I got this at a record store that was going out of business in 1989 and it cost me $4.00 new. I have the Secret records version as well, but I have not seen this picture disc too often.

4.Medieval- Medieval Kills, 1987
Another album released on New Renaissance records. This Michigan band combined metal with almost a garage sound and it is fantastic. It's mid-tempo, but solid pounding metal and they had a fairly original sound. I picked this up used at a record store in 1988 for probably $3.00. If you ever see it then do yourself a favor and pick it up. It has not been released on CD.

3.AC/DC- High Voltage, Australian version 1975
I bought this used for $5.00 at a record store in 1987. A few of the songs have never been released in the states. Hearing songs I had never heard before with Bon Scott singing was well worth the price.

2.Ozzy- The Ultimate live Ozzy, 1986
I believe it was an American release, but not that easy to find. I got my copy for $2.00 at the same yard sale I bought the Sad wings of Destiny picture disc. Has pictures of Ozzy and Jake E. Lee with the girl from the Shot in the dark video.

1.Venom- Manitou 12" single, 1984
I have a pretty good Venom collection. This one I got used for $4.00 in 1988 and I think it goes for a pretty good price on ebay now. One of my favorite Venom songs as well and a cool cover.

There are a few of my prized vinyls. The next topic for vinyl week will be a true story involving a dumpster.

4 Comments:

Blogger David Amulet said...

I didn't know that AC/DC released different Australian versions. What trakcs on on this one that don't show up on our good old US of A High Voltage?

-- david

5:15 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

The Australian version of High Voltage has just a few of the songs that are on the American version. It also has four of the songs that end up on 74 Jailbreak. Stick Around and Love Song are the two songs that were not put on any American lp. The American version of High Voltage is actually a combination of songs from the Australian albums High Voltage and TNT.

5:39 AM  
Blogger :P fuzzbox said...

I didn't know about the Aussie version being different either. And I guess that sometimes it does pay to go to yard sales although I have rarely hit it big at one. Most of the time they are just the last stop before the landfill.

4:43 PM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

The Australian versions of Dirty Deeds and Let there be rock have some different tracks as well plus different covers. It's all hit and miss at yard sales and Goodwill. For every Rush or Judas Priest album you find like 50 Herb Alpert or Ray Conniff albums.

6:08 PM  

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