Bargain Basement

We asked some local musicians what their most treasured album was that they had bought in a bargain bin or thrift store. Feel free to add to our list by adding your comment.

Mike Morley: My most treasured LP would have to be Human Instinct- Burning Up The Years 50 cents from a junk shop in the Octagon, Dunedin in 2001. This is NZ psychedelia at its very best, Billy T.K. is one of those legends of rock guitar, and i still see him playing from time to time.

Peter McLennan: Wow, that’s bottomless. ah…. There’s a series that Rhino Records has been doing, compiling five albums by various acts, firing em into cute little cardboard CD sleeves with the original LP cover art on, and sticking em in a little box. They sell for the cool sum of $19.99 – cheap as, and cute to boot. First one I grabbed in this series was Dr John, as a handy primer for his live show here not too long a ago. Most educational. But the absolute gem is Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band box. Their first five albums, funky as hell from top to bottom. Charles Wright is most well-known for his classic slice of LA funk, “Express Yourself”, sampled by rap group NWA for their ditty of the same name. You also get “65 bars and a taste of soul”, and some great cover versions like Girl from Ipanema, Can’t get no satisfaction (Funkiest Stones cover EVER), and Light my fire.

And then there’s the Chaka Khan set, Wilson Pickett, Slave…

James Duncan: Pulsing by Body Electric

Ryan Marshall, Battle Circus: Herbie Mann’s 1976 album Bird In A Silver Cage on vinyl The title track is one of the greatest funk tunes of all time. In fact I managed to find two copies, years apart… both for a few bucks each. Essential Saturday morning listening!

Don McGlashan: One day in 1996 when we were living in London with The Mutton Birds I went to a secondhand record shop in Islington and stumbled on possible tragic evidence of an Aussie music lover desperate for one last plate of pie and mushy peas before giving up and going home: a copy of Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes’ Night Of The Wolverine (which I enjoyed  briefly then lost) and Robert Forster’s 1993 solo album Calling Home From a Country Phone (whose refined, jaded jangle I still love now, after all these years).

Yvonne Wu, Battle Circus: The Grand Pecking Order by Oysterhead.

Jester Staples, Battle Circus: Dark Side of the Moon Vinyl up in Kerikeri some bookshop looking place. This vinyl was a mess! BUT SOUNDS INCREDIBLE! $5 It was sitting underneath a bunch of CDs I saw the edge of the rainbow, thought to myself I recognise that cover. Dug it out and it was Beautiful! Pink Floyd! Dark Side of the MOON!! Hello! Whoop!

Liam Finn: Toy Love by Chris Knox… I had just bought it in the States, then found out soon after about his stroke!

Here at b>side: R.E.M’s Up for $4.00… it was soooo cheap, I guess bands really do need drummers!