Good Album Hunting, May 1, 2021: The Friends of the Springfield-Greene County Library Book Sale

We went to the fairgrounds on Saturday, which is half price day at the semi-annual book sale, and I managed to find a few records. By Saturday, or perhaps all week, they were down to something like twelve or sixteen boxes/crates of records, which is less than half of what they often have on the dollar records side, but I still managed to pick up a few.

The gleanings include:

• The Baja Marimba Band Rides Again by the Baja Marimba Band. I think I already have this one, but at 50 cents per, I got it just in case I did not.
• Pete Fountain’s Crescent City by Pete Fountain
• Fowl Play by the Baja Marimba Band. I bought several by this band, as you will see.
• Environments: Totally New Concepts in Sound Disc 8, a soundscape record with Wood-Masted Sailboat and A Country Stream.
• Environments: Totally New Concepts in Sound Disc 4, with Ultimate Thunderstorm (no word on if it’s almost as good as Passion Storm, but time will tell) and Gentle Rain in a Pine Forest. To be honest, I am not sure when I will actually listen to these.
• Saxaphone Christmas from Nashville
• Melanie by Melanie. There were several copies.
• When You Hear Lou, You’ve Heart It All by Lou Rawls. Several Lou Rawls records available. Where were R&B fans all week?
• Coming Out by the Manhattan Transfer.
• Vocalese by the Manhattan Transfer. To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan, but who can pass them up at fifty cents?
• So Rare by Boots Randolph. It must be true; I haven’t seen this record before.
• A Very Merry Christmas Volume 3, a compilation.
• “Do we need any more Christmas records?” my beautiful wife asked, and the woman counting the platters got to Christmas Disco by P.K. & The Sound Explosion. Not any more!
• The Best of Chuck Mangione by Chuck Mangione, a two record set. Since I started collecting Mangione after Christmas, I have been fortunate to find so many.
• Breezin’ by George Benson. I have this one already, but I think mine skips.
• Freetime by Spyro Gyra.
• Space by George Benson.
• Beyond the Blue Horizon by George Benson.
• Jukin’ by the Manhattan Transfer and Gene Pistilli.
• Pure Gold Benny Goldman.
• The Best of Tommy Dorsey by Tommy Dorsey.
• Shirley Bassey Is Really “Something” by Shirley Bassey. Jeez, what one does under the influence of a single Mark Steyn column from likely a decade ago.
• The Dukes of Dixieland featuring Pete Fountain.
• The Best of Henry Mancini Volume 3
• This Is Al Hirt by Al Hirt. Not a big fan of the Dixieland jazz sound, but, hey, fifty cents.
• Pronto Monto by Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Which apparently is Canadian folk rock from the 1970s and not a novelty record.
• Close-Up by Jackie Gleason. My lead over you in number of Jackie Gleason records grows.
• The Genius of Jean-Pierre Rampal, the flutist.
• Heart to Heart by David Sanborn. Lots of good light jazz to be had, and I have it now.
• White Christmas by Pat Boone. Can one have too many Christmas records? I think not! Although I do not buy all of them I see, as they’re plentiful at book sales. And of all the records, they look to be the most heavily used and abused, but that could be because the children are allowed to put them on, and something like Lou Rawls and David Sanborn goes on the record player when Mommy and Daddy are alone after the children have gone to bed–and how would you feel about a little brother or sister?
• Steve Miller K.C. Big Band, apparently a big band from Kansas City. Worth fifty cents, or consider it the GO half of BOGO for a dollar.
• The Magic of Zamfir, the master of the pan flute.
• Don’t Give Up by Brass Impact Singers. Apparently, the band from the Ozark Bible College and no relation to Walter Kime’s band.
• Tell Them by Brass Impact Singers. Both discs are collections of gospel/hymns, so I can play them on Sunday mornings when I have misplaced my Swedish Gospel Singers record. Which is often.
• Life Is Music by The Ritchie Family.
• No Time To Lose by Andrae Crouch. R&B?
• For Animals Only by the Baja Marimba Band.
• Christmas Time in Carol and Song with Leontyne Price and Arthur Fiedler, but most importantly with special guests Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. So this is worth the whole trip.
• Christmas Joy by George Melachrino and His Orchestra. Okay, maybe I did buy several Christmas records, but most of them were by artists that I already accumulate. And Pat Boone. And disco.
• The Christmas Sound of Music, a Collector’s Limited Edition from B.F. Goodrich. From when people got Christmas records from their tire store. I got this because it has Ella Fitzgerald on the cover, and I have not found her Christmas work in the wild otherwise.
• In Flight by George Benson.
• How To Make Your Husband A Sultan: Belly Dance with Özel Türkbaş. “No pressure,” I said to my beautiful when it passed through the counter’s hands. I don’t think she saw what it was.
• Beautiful Noise by Neil Diamond. You really don’t see Neil Diamond records in the wild for as popular as he was. Or maybe dealers are coming through before half price day and snapping them up.
• Waitress in a Donut Shop by Maria Muldaur. The influence of Charles Hill lives on. Also, on a trivia note, I saw when I searched Kate and Anna McGarrigal (above) that Kate provides some background vocals on one of the songs.
• Sketches by Skitch by Skitch Henderson and His Orchestra. I have no idea what this is, but the young man looks very earnest on the cover.
• Their Shining Hour by the Dorsey Brothers.
• Saxsational by Boots Randolph.
• Bits and Pieces by Rod McKuen. You can always find some Rod McKuen at these things.
• The Magic of the Melachrino Strings.
• Flutes Front & Center by Ray Rasch and the Pipers 10. Pretty sure I already have it, but for fifty cents, I picked it up in case not.
• Spark of Love by Lenny Williams. Looks to be R&B. Sometimes, I like to take a flyer on buying some artist I’ve never heard of; sometimes, I really, really like them and get a bunch. Which would be a sad thing if I really like this, as I am pretty sure I have never seen other works by the artist. Of course, now that I have this one, I will probably see them all over, kind of like Phoebe Snow (whose debut album I could have had a third copy of for a buck, further bringing down the average cost of them, but I demurred).
• Too Much! by a very young Lou Rawls.
• Is It Still Good To Ya by Ashford and Simpson.

Whew. That’s 53 new records/2-record sets that I somehow have to jam into my record shelves. The console stereo has a little bunker that can hold maybe ten or twenty; it looks like I’ll have to make use of it.

Best of all, the total cost here was like $30, or less than a silly lark of a handicraft.