For Thanksgiving, we always travel to Atlanta to visit family and celebrate what we are ‘thankful’ for and just enjoy being around people we love.  And two things happened this year that involved vinyl.  The first was Black Friday Record Store Day and the second was that a family member brought up they have a collection of vinyl they have sitting around.  Anything that involves music or vinyl is a good time for me.

First off, let’s talk about the Black Friday Record Store Day.  Friday morning came and everyone was a little tired from eating too much the night before and it was a slow start to the day.  My sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to make us breakfast and I couldn’t refuse.  Now this started at about 8 or so in the morning.  The one record store that was fairly close to my sister (20-25 minute drive) was going to open at 10am so I felt I was still good on time.

Breakfast didn’t actually get ready until closer to 9am and now I was getting worried. I didn’t want to be rude and skip out on breakfast, so I decided that it was more important to sit with the family and enjoy what was a very yummy breakfast rather than get some exclusive limited edition vinyl’s that would bring me hours and hours of enjoyment.  And I was right.

My daughter and I eventually got on the road and made it to the record store, Sweet Melissa’s Records at about 9:50 which was 10 minutes prior to opening.  And there was no line!!!  That is right…NO LINE!!!  I was so excited.  We got a parking space right in front of the store and couldn’t be happier.  We get out of the car and there was a lady at the door coming out and we asked if they were open and she said Yes, come on in.  Then she added, we got bored and opened early!  Early????  Red Alert….Early?? Danger Will Robinson, Danger!!

Yes, that was not good news.  This was a small store that usually had very limited stock of Record Store Day releases and that was the case this year.  And what was worse was that now we missed out on getting anything I wanted.  And that was exactly the case.  The Alice Copper live album with the original Alice Cooper Band was sold out.  The Collective Soul album, Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, was sold out.  Wasn’t looking good.

But, it wasn’t a total bust.  I did find a few items that I wanted.  First being, Cheap Trick, The Epic Archive Vol. 2 (1980-1983) which consists of rarities and b-sides from that time period. I got Vol. 1 a couple years ago so this was a nice addition to the collection.

The second thing I grabbed was the Stone Temple Pilots Live album with it’s 3-D cover and 3-D glasses.

And the last Record Store Day item I picked up was Guns ‘N Roses 7″ Single for “Shadow of Your Love” from the 35th Anniversary release of ‘Appetite For Destruction”.

After going through their Record Store Stuff, we headed back to the used vinyl which they have a huge selection.  The one thing I noticed were their prices, damn they were expensive.  Way more than I normally spend on a used vinyl.  I was striking out until i got to the “W”.  They had the one early Whitesnake album I had yet to find on vinyl.  It was ‘Lovehunter’ with the naked woman with a large snake between her legs on the cover.  Then I looked at the price as I was expecting $30-40 as that seemed to be the rate on a bunch of their albums (well Beatles, Rolling Stone and some others I looked at).  to my surprise it was only $15…SOLD!!!

Now, we get back to the house and my Niece, Kristin, and her wife, Rhonda, were over and we got to talking about vinyl.  Rhonda mentions that she has some vinyl in a couple crates that were her dad’s.  She said I could have them.  I get real excited and figure my next trip down I will go look at them and pick them up.  They end up going home and while we are at dinner, she started texting my sister the albums and I am now excited at what could be in the set.  So, the next morning, I get up and and head over to their house.  It is about 7:45 am and the live 30 minutes away from my sister.  We need to leave by 10 to see my in-laws, plenty of time.

I get there and look through the vinyl and there are some really great albums.  I am excited now for sure.  Then I start looking at condition and I get worried.  They had been stored in a shed for years upon years.  Georgia heat and humidity took its toll on the album covers.  I still take them and throw in the back of the car and figure I will go through them when I get back to North Carolina.  And that is what I have done.  And they are in really bad shape (most of them).  I am going to try and save what I can and hopefully I will have some good stuff when I am done.  I did make it back in time and my wife just said…”you have a problem”…I agreed as the good husband I am.

What do I have?  Well let’s take a look.  There were about 70 albums and a handful of 45’s.

This first batch was what made me excited about the collection.  However, the Black Sabbath probably isn’t salvageable.  Cover is an absolute mess and not really connected anymore.  They all have a lot of cover damage, but when I clean up the vinyl I am hoping they will play.

There were a ton of live albums as well.  These aren’t in too bad of shape except for maybe the James Gang Live.  The Edgar Winter one and the Janis Joplin ones I am most excited about as I have the Deep Purple one already.  The Glenn Yarbrough one is also interesting to me and the Humble Pie…okay, they all might be good.

There are some obscure ones that have my interest as well.  The Barry Goldberg Reunion looks great along with the Babe Ruth one on the right.  Don’t know Trax or Edison Electric Band either or even Spaceship Earth.  All might be worth a listen with minimal damage.

A bunch of albums everyone knows…maybe everyone…The Steve Miller Anthology is in rough, rough shape.  All the others have some heavy damage to the covers.  Albums all questionable.  The Rock’s Greatest Hits is a box set of 4 to 5 albums and looks pretty cool.

This group has some interesting stuff as well with the Cheech & Chong Wedding Album (bad shape) and The Guess Who one is pretty beat up as well as the Chicago (which there were two).

The next group has Lord Sutch with Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck and many others on it.  I like The Stooges and Mott the Hoople ones and they aren’t too bad.

Carole King, The Cars, The Doobie Brothers, Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers as well as Cat Stevens, Rick Wakeman, KC & The Sunshine Band and Kris Kristofferson with Rita Coolidge.

Then we have the leftovers for me.  Stuff I might listen to, but might not.  The Running Scared soundtrack and 2001 space odyssey..maybe.

Out of the this group…maybe the Sonny & Cher…maybe.

And like I said there were a handful of 45’s including one Elvis and Eddy Grant’s Electric Avenue.  The Michael Jackson one and Nazareth are probably in the best shape.

And that is the bulk of them.  Like I said, they are in rough, rough shape and I am not sure what I can salvage, but I will try my best.  Some look okay, but most don’t.  But at least they will get some TLC from me instead of sitting out in the Georgia Heat of the shed.  They have found a good home so Thanks Rhonda!!!!  Maybe we will get some reviews out of this bunch for future posts!!