Category: Goodwill

Thrift Store Stink

My wife has a strong sense of smell.  Perfume or other odors make her ill.  So it is a sad side effect of bringing home numerous stacks of thrift store treasures, that she often complains of the stink.

It’s a bit of a problem. Often it is mold.  Records that have been sitting around uncared for, for who knows how many years.  Some, like my wife, find them rank.  “Ewww, what’s that smell??!” she yells.  Oh, I got some new records today, sorry.

I call them record farts.  It doesn’t seem to be the vinyl, but the cardboard that does it. Next time you see an oldie, open up the outer sleeve and take a whiff. Whew!  It’s weird. And kinda stinky.

Hooked on Classics

hooked-on-classics-6-covers
First one gets you hooked; the rest never measure up

I loved the first Hooked on Classics record when I was a kid.  I went through a classical music phase when I younger, and this album introduced me to many composers.  I have every note of it seared on my brain.  Hooked on Romance is a magnificent track.

Later on I was thrilled to discover Hooked on Classics 2 – I had no idea sequels existed.  Alas, it sucked.  It’s the strangest thing: same exact formula, but there is no life whatsoever in the second one, or much of the others.  It’s difficult to describe, but you just hear it. Maybe the musicians were tired.  “Oh, not this shit again.”  TBH, I need to listen to some of the others.  I’m looking at the back cover track listing for Hooked on Rock Classics, and saying hey, some of these sound pretty good: Eye of the Tiger, Layla, Get Back, a medley…

It was great fun hunting down all of these at the thrifts.  Takes a little time, but very doable.

Wikipedia – Hooked on Classics

Discogs – Hooked on Classics

$0.10 for 101 Strings – part 1

101strings 1st album
These guys rocked.

I don’t know why we walked into the Goodwill store in the summer of 2014, but I remember the sale they had going on.  All used vinyl was $0.10 each.  Ten for a dollar! Nom! Nom! we went to town scarfing up the rotting old relics of bygone musical generations.  It didn’t matter if we knew the records or not, or what condition they were in – if anything seemed even remotely desirable or interesting, we added it to the stack.  This is how a new obsession began.

–to be continued…