Your First honest LP Purchase

[JOv2]

...I wonder how many other kids out there were staying OUT of trouble by sitting for hours, with headphones on, in front of a phonograph...?
Tony

Works for me. My mom once showed me a photo from about age 3-4 of me clutching a bunch of 45s. By age 7 I earned the privilege to play any LP in my parents' collection; and the following year I successfully petitioned dad to allow me to relocate all the LPs into my room! Lucky chap, I. In my room, Dad set up his old Heath Kit amp and speaker he built/assembled in the '50s. Mono all the way. I guess it kept me off the streets -- and out of the TV room, too: to this day I have never owned a TV set.

 

[dostros]

I didn't punch a button yet, although technically it should be "in high school" for going to the store and everything. That must've been "After the Goldrush".

However my first LP was Whipped Cream and Other Delights, because I would have had a tantrum if my parents didn't get it for me. (I didn't know about the cover and my mother apparently asked the salesperson if she could have it in a plain brown cover.) I was a TJB nut since The Lonely Bull and I was 10 when Whipped Cream came out. The DJs used to use bits of TJB music on the radio in the morning because it was easy to fade out for the news and stuff, and my parents always turned it up when they came on so I'd wake up and get out of bed. I'd rush over to the radio and extase over whatever tune it was. Sometimes it was a phony TJB like Burt Kaemfert or something. It wasn't always clear if it was really TJB or not, with all the imitators.

 

[LPJim]

My parents bought WHIPPED CREAM, and I started collecting the others afterwards, beginning with VOLUME TWO -- because I liked the cover art -- and everything through WNML. From SRO forward I picked up each TJB album as it was released.

Using the inner sleeves as a guide, I started buying other A&M albums, especially during the Singer promotion in 1967. Woolworths and a couple of other stores ordered the more obscure titles for me, and trips to visit family in Virginia were fruitful. The basement of Chancellor's Drug Store in Charlottesville was especially great.

I was into plenty of non-A&M stuff like Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Steppenwolf and Procol Harum. After picking up the first PH album I was surprised to find A&M singles by them in a local department store prior to the release of SHINE ON BRIGHTLY in '68.

Mono albums were $2.97 and stereo $3.97, so I bought lots of mono ones. Singles were 89 cents, so I picked up every A&M obscurity I could find.

Procol Harum and Jimmie Rodgers were early examples of acts which were already of interest signing with A&M, which further reinforced my obsessive-compulsive collecting habit.

JB

 

[Harry]

This one I'm unsure of. I'd acquired a few LPs as hand-me-downs over the years. I'd always loved "records" in any form, so people would give me old albums, 45s, 78s, etc.

I know I'd gotten a few TJB albums from my parents, as presents, so it's a question of timing, as to at what point they stopped buying me records and when I started to buy my own.

I'm thinking it was probably around the time of HERB ALPERTS NINTH. It may have been some Sergio albums after hearing "Like A Lover" on FAMILY PORTRAIT, which I'm pretty sure my parents bought.

I remember them bringing home ...SOUNDS LIKE... from the store, and both they and I were fearful that it wasn't a true Herb Alpert album but one that "sounded like" Herb Alpert (there were many at the time!).

I remember joining the old Record Club of America back around that time, and among my first purchases there were a FIFTH DIMENSION GREATEST HITS album.

Harry

 

[Larry]

Hey Harry, speaking of Record Club of America, I joined that one, too.
One of my first purchases from them was The Rascals' Greatest Hits - Time Peace. The LP was warped along outer edge, so I sent it back for a replacement. The one they sent me was exactly like the one I sent back, warped. I had bought it because I liked Lonely Too Long and it just happened to be the first track on side 2. I was a little bummed out about it. It would have been nice to have had a Shure V15 Type IV cartridge with it's damped brush 8-9 years earlier in 1968.

 

[LPJim]

Speaking of record clubs, I joined one in 1968 called "Records Unlimited," based in Indianapolis. A hometown music store had one of their catalogs, and I remember most of the print being red.

They helped me locate some albums not commonly found in small-town racks, such as Jobim's WAVE, the Tamba 4 albums and STRANGE NIGHT VOYAGE by the Merchants of Dream.

This was a good source for about three years, before it went out of business.

JB

 

[Dave]

Hmmmmm, whatever happened to Columbia Record and Tape Club where you could buy your first, I forgot how many selections, for a Penny?

Dave

 

[LPJim]

Those record club brochures had tiny stamps that were replicas of LPs. The deal was 'buy one, get twelve free' and then you were supposed to buy a certain number of albums per year from then on. The little stamps were used to make your selections.
JB

 

[Mark-T]

I purchased the Jackson 5's "ABC" album.

 

[Rudy]

I belonged to a club called, I think, Discount Music. They let you buy LPs at a nice discount, and you really needed nothing other than a Schwann catalog to order from. They provided a quarterly copy of it, with their price list on the back. Got a few in-print albums from them that the stores never stocked, so it was worthwhile. No minimum requirements, and I don't even recall if they had an annual fee or not (I don't believe they did). No freebies, just good prices.

 

[Larry]

Hmmmmm, whatever happened to Columbia Record and Tape Club where you could buy your first, I forgot how many selections, for a Penny?

Dave

Dave, they closed up shop around the time of the Sony/BMG merger.
Just BMG Music Service now.

 

[Harry]

This just in: Sony has bought out Bertelsmann (BMG).

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

The deal was 'buy one, get twelve free' and then you were supposed to buy a certain number of albums per year from then on.

Those clubs were a good deal if you were careful. The catch was, buy a certain number per year at the regular price. If you bought anything on "sale" or any form of discount, it didn't count toward your purchase requirements for the year. The further catch was, virtually everything you might want (new releases, popular chart hits) was on sale, so you had to go to deep catalog or obscurities to fulfill your requirements.

My brother joined one of those clubs back in the 1980s, bought about 20 CDs and then decided to cancel, figuring he had bought enough to fulfill the deal. Then he got a bill for over $200 because nearly everything he'd bought had been on sale.

 

[Rudy]

Speaking of clubs, I joined the Columbia House Laserdisc Club, and I have to say that I really cleaned up on that one! You got three LDs for a pittance, then had to buy only a handful to complete your commitment (it may have been only another three). Everything past that was gravy. They were having constant sales, and I'd buy multiple LDs at a time. Built quite a chunk of my collection through their LD club, and finally quit when I ran out of things to buy, and they shut it down.

 

[Larry]

I belonged to both BMG Music Service and Columbia House. When they shut down Columbia House, they gave me another membership with BMG. So, currently, I have the two memberships, kinda redundant, huh?
I rarely buy anything from BMG unless I want the original CD of an artist and it's not available used through Amazon or Half.com. I usually wait until I have several I want and then take advantage of their buy one get 3 or 4 free offers.