In April 2021, Thomas and I happened to be going to Burlington, Vermont on an errand. Since we were there anyway, I figured we’d stop at a local record store. There were several music shops in the area, but only one was open: Pure Pop Records on South Winooski Avenue. It happened to be a goldmine for both of us, for both new and used vinyl records.
From Burlington:
- Avril Lavigne – The Best Damn Thing (New)
- Genesis – Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (Used)
- Green Day – Dookie (New)
- Guns N Roses – Appetite for Destruction (New)
- Oasis – What’s the Story Morning Glory (New Limited Edition
- Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (New)
- Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (New)
- Steve Miller Band – Fly Like an Eagle (Used)
- The Who – Tommy Live (New)
- U2 – War (Used)
- Vanessa Carlton – Be Not Nobody (New Limited Edition)
Our daily haul consisted of about $300 of records from this one store alone! The Steve Miller was a find, since it was only $2 because the sleeve was pretty badly off, but the disc was perfectly good. The Genesis 12 inch single was only $3 and in really good shape, so that was a good bargain, too!
Then, we stopped in at another Rutland record store. The selection wasn’t quite what we were looking for, but we snagged these three records, two of which I was looking for and the other that Thomas had been searching for at previous record store stops. All three are used.
- Foreigner – 4
- Foreigner – Double Vision
- Peter Frampton – Frampton Comes Alive
The records from here were a little bit on the higher side for used records but they were clean and all ones we were both looking to knock off our wants list. About $42 cash for the three records was fair to help out a local store, even if we could’ve gotten them a fair bit cheaper online. (Soon after this trip, that store would close and our favorite local record store Mountain Music bought out a lot of their stock.)
I initially planned on doing some album reviews in the coming months, especially as more of our online purchases made their ways into our hands. It was quite exciting to be finally hearing a lot of this great music on vinyl! Unfortunately, my energy didn’t catch up with my time for the next year or so, but these album reviews will come in time.
What have you been listening to recently, on vinyl, streaming, or otherwise?
Related: The Good Vibes of Bon Iver | Veering Vivaciously into Vinyl Record Collecting
