Cat Stevens, Harry Nilsson, Mountain, Bob Seger, and Boston. What do all these artists have in common? Other than the fact that they’re awesome, I found them in the 99› record bin at Vintage Vinyl. Buying an old record player has turned out to be a solid investment. Suddenly, older artists become much more appealing, and their work can be bought at outrageously low prices. Nowadays I probably flip through more crates of LPs than DJ Shadow on one of his sample-finding excursions. And each trip is guaranteed to yield some kind of great find, whether it be Jimi Hendrix’s debut album marked down to a buck or the Left Banke’s rare first record.
Before you can buy the goods, though, you have to own the means. Purchasing a record player is a relatively simple process, but there are extremely thrifty deals to keep your eyes peeled for. Some good first places to start are pawn shops and garage sales, which both usually have treasure troves of cheap records as well. You can probably find a decent record player for $20-$30 at these hot spots. (Let’s face it, you don’t need that $500 professional DJ turntable.) Just make sure the motor works, the needle is intact, etc. If you want to go a bit more expensive, those wood-paneled, one-piece player/speakers usually run around $100, but give you everything in one package and are much more portable.
If you decide to stick with an old turntable, though, you’ll need a few more parts. The most obvious is a stereo receiver. Your family probably has one lying around somewhere, but if a free one can’t be found, Best Buy’s cheapest ones, with speakers, will likely set you back about $100. Last, there’s the tricky phono pre-amp, which will actually allow you to run the turntable through a receiver. Most audio equipment just isn’t, well, equipped for turntables, so get the pre-amp for $25 online and you’ll be set. Now you’ve paid, at best, around fifty bucks, and you can start spinning all the wax you want.
But where to start your record rummaging? Luckily, St. Louis has a number of great music stores that still carry vinyl. The obvious one is the closest to us, Vintage Vinyl (6610 Delmar). Vintage has the aforementioned 99› bin, plus rock, jazz, hip-hop, dance, and country sections. These records tend to be used and so still run cheaper than most CDs. There’s also a good amount of recent material, from Outkast’s latest to the new Modest Mouse 7″ single. Be sure not to pass up the “just in” bin near the front counter, which a lot of good stuff sits in briefly before getting nabbed by a hardcore vinyl junky.
Other stores are only reachable by automobile, so the lucky few (at least it seems that way to a car-less sophomore) take notice. Euclid Records (601 East Lockwood, just take Big Bend Blvd. south) probably has a more extensive collection than Vintage Vinyl, plus they have a handy-dandy online catelog for easy perusing. Then there’s The Record Exchange (5320 S. Hampton), an old public library that’s been converted to the mother lode of vinyl. Navigating this monster can be a bit tricky due to the sheer volume of records, both good and crappy, but it’s worth a trip. Finally, don’t forget turntable upkeep, which is best achieved by a visit to Hi Fi Fo Fum (1155 S. Big Bend).
Now you’re ready to begin your vinyl odyssey. It will be a rewarding experience, I assure you. Records are not only cheap and plentiful, but possess certain aesthetic qualities as well. CDs (especially burned ones) tend to end up scattered around the dorm room, scratched and neglected. Records, due to their size, demand more careful attention and thus become less disposable and more cherished. There’s a certain innate goodness in sliding Patti Smith’s “Horses” out of its wax paper, setting it under the needle, hearing the crackle, and experiencing “Gloria” for the first time. Here’s hopin’ your record collection will yield similar perks.