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are the avid collector and the avid record collector the same person?

THE AVID COLLECTOR was the title of my column in Pulse! magazine. Pulse! (with the annoying exclamation mark) was the in-house magazine for Tower Records that was free to every customer in every Tower store in the world! The Avid Collector was about collectible records and ran for almost two years in the early ’90s. [Continue reading]

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are these five LPs actually rare and valuable records?

THE AVID RECORD COLLECTOR is a column that I recently started contributing to the Sixties Music Secrets blog. The intention of the column was to address LPs released in the ’60s and subsequently deleted. Then they found their way into cut-out bins of retail record stores around the country and then, years later, found their way onto collector’s want-lists. [Continue reading]

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announcing my new column “the avid record collector”

BE THE FIRST ON YOU BLOCK to read my new column, The Avid Record Collector! Sub-titled “From the Cut-Out Bin,” it can be found on the Sixties Music Secrets website! In each column, I will look at records that were mass-produced in the 1960s and subsequently deleted from record company catalogs. [Continue reading]

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why did rca have to export david bowie records to england in the ’70s?

THERE ARE A HANDFUL OF RECORDS from the ’70s that are so common among British collectors that they receive little attention from them. But they are all rather rare records outside of the UK—so rare, that most non-UK collectors have only seen them as images on the internet! [Continue reading]

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the stairway to heaven leads to gilligan’s island

IN MAY 1978, a record by a group with a rather silly name was released in the San Francisco Bay Area. After making a splash in that market, radio stations around the country picked it up for their playlists. Had things been left to themselves, the record might have been a really big hit record. [Continue reading]

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the avid collectors’ guide to wild in the streets part 4

THIS IS PART 4 of the Avid Record Collector’s Price Guide to Wild In The Streets. It addresses in detail the four albums associated with that movie and its music. The first three parts have been published, and with this part I finally get around the a labelography and price guide for the records. [Continue reading]

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the avid collector’s guide to wild in the streets part 3

THE AVID COLLECTOR’S GUIDE to Wild In The Streets Part 3 addresses records made that are associated with this movie—both singles and albums. All were released in the wake of the very successful movie in 1968, but few were hits. Before commencing, I recommend that you first readOn Wild In The Streets As Political And Social Satire” and then the first part of this four-part series of articles about the movie and its music. [Continue reading]

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the avid collector’s guide to wild in the streets part 2

THE AVID COLLECTOR’S GUIDE to Wild In The Streets Part 2 addresses records made that are associated with this movie—both singles and albums. All were released in the wake of the very successful movie in 1968, but few were hits. Before commencing, I recommend that you first readOn Wild In The Streets As Political And Social Satire” and then the first part of this four-part series of articles about the movie and its music. [Continue reading]

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the avid collector’s guide to wild in the streets part 1

IN 1968, AIP’S NEW MOVIE was not about bikers, babes, and devils. While “Wild In The Streets” was another American International Pictures exploitation B-movie, it was also a clever combination of black humor, sociopolitical satire, and some genuinely good rock & roll. The Avid Collector’s Guide to Wild In The Streets Part 1 addresses the records associated with that movie and its music. [Continue reading]