One
final instalment on the vinyl hunting I managed to fit in to our New
England family holiday.
So
far I've told you about Mystery Train, and the chance find of a
Jackie Wilson album in a thrift shop in deepest New Hampshire.
Between those two we also stumbled across a newish (open about 18
months) record shop – Revolution - in North Conway, NH of
all places. Another example of the “vinyl is back” phenomenon.
Spent all of ten minutes in there as we wanted to make sure we
completed a scenic drive into the White Mountains in full daylight.
Still managed to pick up an Eddie Harris album though. Then there was
Olympic in Providence. Mrs Darce and my daughter sought out a
very nice pub on Wickenden St and left me to some riffling.
Unfortunately I hit the shop only 30 minutes before closing time, but
I managed to buy four 45s, including two by Lee Rogers which I was
very happy with.
I
thought that was it on our trip as far as vinyl was concerned. We
were finishing off the trip on Cape Cod where I thought finding vinyl
might be a challenge, and our baggage allowance was probably close to
topping out anyway, so vinyl went to the back of my mind.
On our last
day we had decided to make our way back up to Boston along the coast
and off interstate again. One of the first stops was Sandwich
(incidentally, twinned with Sandwich in Kent). It was a sunny day,
good for a stroll. It struck us as being a very genteel place. We
idly browsed a few “nick nack” shops, with Mrs Darce, as ever, on
the look out for some earrings or maybe a little memento for the
house.
Macdonald's Emporium (of Sandwich as opposed to Macdonald's
Sandwich Emporium) didn't look promising on that front as we
approached it and we nearly didn't go in but am I glad we did! The
Emporium was a slightly curious place. It seemed to be part sweet
shop, part cheap clothes shop, and part consignment / second hand
shop.... and surprise surprise, there were a few records. First I
found a box of albums, but there was nothing of interest in it. Then
I came across one of box of 45s, almost all of which no longer had
their paper sleeves but each were instead housed in a flimsy plastic
bag.
I started looking through them not expecting much. There were a
mixture of genres – including, slightly bizarrely, another Tom
Jones single on Parrot, a feature of at least one of the other shops
earlier in the trip – but nothing exciting. Then, all of a sudden, a rich seam of Soul gold –
a Betty Lavette on Calla , June Conquest on Windy C, Major Lance on
Okeh, and some Brunswicks. BOOM! In the end I bagged (literally) six
45s.
OK, The Last Word 45 was a mistake, I wasn't sure it was Soul
and it tuns out it is tepid Garage Rock, but I am “pleased as
punch”* with the others, all in great condition considering they
had lost their original sleeves at some point during their lifetime.
The Betty Lavette and June Conquest 45s in particular rate as my
finds of the whole trip (along with that Jackie Wilson album I
regaled you with earlier).
This
Betty Lavette single is a storming double header, and quite a
desirable one too looking at its price history on the 'ogs. I will
share the June Conquest single next time.
*
Earlier in the trip a lovely lady working in a small Post Office had
told us “we are pleased as punch to see you” as we bought a stamp
for a postcard. She gave us a special stamp, and even signed the the
back of the receipt with a little message. Thinking about it that
happened to be in Center Sandwich in New Hampshire. “Pleased as
punch” has now become a family saying (as it may well have been
about 50 years ago!).
No comments:
Post a Comment