These are the Things $1 Bins are Made of

I also like buying cheap vinyl. It's so rare that I'll actually find anything I'm actually looking for used in any record shop these days, that I often won't even look. That's why I just quickly flip through the punk/metal section, see the same Stryker, Ratt, Molly Hatchet, and Tesla albums that every record store in America is required by law to sell at all times, and just move on to convincing myself that it's okay to spend $25 on a new or re-released album.

I do, however, love sifting through dollar bins for vinyl. Usually shops keep classical records and overflow stuff in there. Always lots of Al Martino and Babs. If people were less dumb, they'd sooner or later have to relegate Fleetwood Mac in there, but people still think they didn't make five zillion copies of Rumours. Primarily, I'm in it for the classical music. I like my classical music on three formats: $1 vinyl, $0.50 cassettes, $5 double best-of collections from Wal Mart. That's it. Classical music just sounds better on a cheap format. Chopin would be way into it.

Let's see what I came up with last time:

Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra - The Romantic Music of Tchaikovsky

This is fine. It's got stuff from Swan Lake and Nutcracker Suite. It's an okay thing to own. It's an okay thing to not own. I will say this, though. No matter what, vinyl releases of classical music always have great biographies on the back of the jacket. Informative shit goin' on back there.

Sir John Barbirolli & The Halle Orchestra - Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E Minor

I'm like 100% certain half of this symphony is on another Sibelius record I own, but I don't care. I really like the Finnish so and so. Ya know what's cool? After I bought my first Sibelius record, I then found another Sibelius record in my parents' collection. Must've been Mom's. Isn't that something. She also had George Winston's Winter. That's poetry.

Song of Norway: Grieg's Greatest Hits

Cliburn and Ormandy are on this, but it's really just the same songs from some other Grieg album I bought for a dollar. The cover art is A+, though. It's mostly why I bought it. I'm not even sure if I like Grieg. Can someone talk to me about him? I need some guidance. 

Serge Koussevitzky & Boston Symphony Orchestra - Mozart: Linz Symphony, 36 in C

This also includes Symphony 39 in E-Flat. I also realize that I have no idea how to indicate artist/album title for classical records. This method seems wrong. But, like, it also seems the most rational. These are good symphonies, by the way. One day, I'll be able to tell the difference between them. 

Mozart's Greatest Hits

In the 70s, Columbia put out all of these Greatest Hits records for famous composers with people like Ormondy and Szella and Gould conducting the big time orchestras. They all have very distinct cover art. They've got this big, bold font and great trippy, colourful line portraits of the composer. These are absolute must-haves when you come across them (even for more than a dollar). I'll listen to this a lot going forward.

The Norman Luboff Choir - Songs of the Sea

I first picked this album up because the cover art of far-away photo of a seashore with a couple frolicking in the foam. I thought, "Oh fuck yes - more soundscapes of waves crashing on the beach. Perfect." Turns out, it's this delightful little collection of sea shanties. It's not nearly as salty as one might hope, and it even has more of a choral quality on many of the songs, but it's definitely a fun novelty album I don't mind owning in the slightest. It's also got some guy named Thurl Ravenscroft singing on it.

The Human League - Dare

What if I had found this in the dollar bin? Cot damn. I actually found it for $5 in very nice condition. This album is one of those weird albums that has a song that has been a commercial success for 30 years ("Don't You Want Me"), while also have nine other genre-defining songs that are just as iconic. It really is a special album. Side A has five of the most fun 80s down-pop songs ever recorded. Come dance with me in my room.