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On Friday, I received an email from Strictly Discs announcing that they have received a 2000 piece record collection. This weekend they would be allowing people a sneak peak at the collection before it hit the store’s main shelves. I showed up yesterday and spent an hour looking thru boxes in the store’s basements. I found a couple of gems.

In the Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson

This is probably the find I’m happiest about.  Two of my friends own this on record and I’ve always been jealous of them.  I really enjoy 21st Century Schizoid Man, but I mainly bought this record because of the incredible album cover.

Revolver – The Beatles

I’ve been looking for this record since I started collecting last summer.  I’ve found it a few times but it’s either been in rough shape or priced above $35.  I was delighted when I found it yesterday for $11.99.  This is my favorite Beatles album and is easily in my top 5 records of all time.

Harvest – Neil Young

I’ve seen this record around quite a bit, but I finally found a copy that was in really nice shape.  I already own After the Goldrush, but you cannot go wrong with Harvest either.  It is also the first Neil Young album I heard.  I feel that Neil Young is an artist that sounds better on record than cd or mp3.

For the past few months, I’ve been searching for 5 specific records.  The additions of Revolver and In the Court of the Crimson King to my vinyl record collection eliminate two of those records off the list.

It’s been awhile, but I made a return trip to the record store. I wasn’t on planning on purchasing anything, but I found a couple of records I couldn’t pass up. Once again I went to my favorite record store in Madison, Strictly Discs. So, here’s an update to my vinyl record collection.

Z – My Morning Jacket

I saw them live in Milwaukee a few months ago with a couple of friends. Before the show, I knew very little about the band. I enjoyed the show and started listening to Z. I really like this album. This might sound strange, but I think this album sounds like Elton John, if Elton John rocked. Wordless Chorus is probably my favorite song on this record.

Speaking in Tongues – Talking Heads

I continue to build my Talking Heads LP collection. Outside of Burning Down the House, I wasn’t originally a huge fan of this record. As time goes on, I have started digging this album. I really enjoy Slippery People and This Must Be the Place.

I made two more purchases today for my record collection.  Once again, it was the result of a lunch time trip to Half Price Books.  Here’s an update for those purchases along with a few others I made this month.

Parade: Music from the Motion Picture “Under the Cherry Moon” – Prince

This is part of Prince’s magical 1980-1987 run.  I’ve occasionally tried to argue that this is Prince’s best album.  Even though I’ve thought that at times, I can’t put my heart into that argument. Nothing on here is as good as Kiss, but the rest of it is still worth the listen. This album cost me $4 used.

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle – Bruce Springsteen

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t much of a fan of this album on my first listen.  Since then, it’s slowly risen up to become one of my favorite Springsteen albums.  I also think that The Boss looks a lot like Cat Stevens on this album cover.  This was also $4 used.

Layla and Other Love Songs – Derek and the Dominos

You might not know this, but this album has some decent guitar.  I haven’t listened to this enough to give much more of a review.  I picked it up for $25 at Best Buy because I have a gift card.  It’s 180 gram

Purple Rain – Prince

This is the reason I cannot put my heart into an argument that any other Prince album is better.  Honestly, it’s probably a top 5 album for all time for me.  I don’t know if I can be friends with people who don’t like this record.  I pre-ordered this from Strictly Discs a few months ago.  It finally came in last week, so I bought my 180 Gram copy for $23.

Well, I hadn’t planned on doing another one of these Vinyl Hunting entries this soon, but I came across a few good finds today at lunch.

My coworker, Dan, convinced me to go with him to Half Price Books at lunch today. I decided I’d go with for the conversation, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking thru their Vinyl collection (along with their comic books).

Generally, Half Price Books is cheap, but they are a bit riskier when it comes to quality.  I’ve found some great deals, such as Prince’s 1999 for $8, but I’ve also bought some records that were really scratched up.

I ended up making three purchases.

• Talking Heads: 77
• Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings and Food
• Talking Heads: Fear of Music

In the last few years, I’ve become a pretty big fan of the Talking Heads.  These three records will join Remain in Light in my vinyl collection.  While these three are used, they are all in pretty good shape.  My copy of Remain in Light is a brand new re-issue, so I was able to buy the three of these for the cost of that one.

On a related note, I went and saw David Byrne live in Milwaukee a few months ago and I’d recommend any Talking Heads fan to pick up his new album with Brian Eno, Everything that Happens Will Happen Today.

A few months ago, I bought a record player.  I like the warmth of the sound of a record and it is also a way to show off great album cover art.  I have the system set up in the basement, so often I’ll have a record playing when I’m in the office or when friends are over and we are playing Ping Pong or hanging out at the bar.

Another reasoning behind the purchase of a record player is it would be a way for me to show off my favorite albums.  With that in mind, I’ve treated my record collection as the elite tier for my music.  While my CD collection still contains embarrassing purchases from High School and my iPod contains anything I’ve been able to acquire from the library or friends, my vinyl collection just contains my favorite music.

I think I’ve pulled this off, with a few exceptions.  I’ve found that it’s often a better deal to buy new music on vinyl.  It is normally the same price as a CD (and only a few dollars more than a digital version) and newer releases often contain free mp3 downloads for the entire album.  Even though this can result in some great finds (ie. Fleet Foxes), it kind of ruins the idea of my collection only being my favorites.

The final aspect of the record player purchase is the fun of shopping for records.  I enjoy going to 1/2 Price Books and record stores and finding something I’ve been searching for.  As great as iTunes is, I think that has taken that excitement of CD shopping away.

Anyways, today I went to Strictly Discs and picked up 5 records.

• A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
• A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
• The Band – Music from the Big Pink
• Queen – Night at the Opera (180 Gram)
• Van Morrision – Astral Weeks (180 Gram)

Everything is new, with the exception of the used copy of Music from the Big Pink.  I’m listening to that now and I’m a little disappointed.  I should have spent the extra money on the brand new 180 Gram version.

Nearly every Queen song I’ve ever heard has filled me with joy, so I decided to pick up one of their albums.  From the songs that I knew, this seemed to be the best fit.  A Tribe Called Quest is my favorite hip hop group, so I was happy to find their 2 best albums.  Finally, Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks is probably one of the best debuts in Rock History, so I’m happy to find a new version of that.

Using Google Documents, I maintain my Vinyl collection.  Originally, it was an invite only form, but I’ve published a version on the web for those interested.