Bargain Bin Babylon: Chavin: Jet Lag
If you have a favorite record store, you probably also have a favorite dollar bin. Certain records, many of them by Boz Scaggs, turn up regularly in these heavily discounted crates, some of them...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Pinkiny Canandy: Pinkiny Canandy
What’s most instantly appealing about Pinkiny Canandy is the somewhat absurd (even for the era) album cover. Decked out in faintly purple tights, swashbuckler boots, a cape and neo-Mod hairstyle,...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Thore Skogman: Det Glada Liseberg
Half of my vinyl purchases are based purely on album covers. Ideally, incredible artwork graces every album in the dollar bin, but in the case of Det Glada Liseberg, my eyes were greeted by the...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Lori Jacobs: Everything’s Jake!
One of the many drawbacks living far from the nearest major metropolitan area is the lack of quality record stores to peruse at one’s leisure. Having lived in big cities previously and had the chance...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Twenty Twenty: Twenty Twenty
At first glance, the cover of Twenty Twenty’s 1985 self-titled debut makes a lot of promises. The hair. The lasers. The futuristic band name. But this synthesizer-washed band from Louisiana shouldn’t...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Macy Gray: I Try Remix 12”
The dollar bin is a wondrous and welcoming place populated by record store overstock, one-hit-wonder throwaways, novelty LPs, classical concert performances, Christmas records and other such...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: An Evening at Arnie’s Lounge
Privately released restaurant albums are among the most rewarding and the most frustrating habitués of your local dollar bins. Twelve-inch souvenirs of a night out on vacation, these records are...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Eddie Harris: The Reason Why I’m Talking Shit
What does the existence of this album, The Reason Why I’m Talking Shit, released on Atlantic, a prominent and well-respected major label, say about the state of the record industry in the mid-‘70s? Was...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Whippersnapper: America’s Favorite Pastime
You have probably never heard of Whippersnapper. The Atlanta pop-punk quintet hung up their positivity-tinged pathos set to breakneck drumbeats more than a decade ago. But with a name like that...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Dragon: Sunshine
My favorite record store happens to be run by an Australian expat, which means that there is an Australian/New Zealand music section. And it’s pretty great. Sure, there are the obligatory Men at Work...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Synergy: The Jupiter Menace
Oh, The Jupiter Menace Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this? Seriously, this is the type of $3 album that deserves at least an extra zero on its price...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: The Mike Curb Congregation: Sweet Gingerbread Man
The bargain bin can be a low-risk gateway to rediscovered music. It can also be an inexpensive history lesson in the guise of a children’s record. Look at the smiling gingerbread man on the cover of...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Shango: Shango
I don’t know what’s more appealing: the cover of Shango’s self-titled 1969 debut, featuring the quartet posed with a lounging lion or the description of the machete-wielding African “shango” cult on...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Adrian Belew: Mr. Music Head
Released in April 1989, Adrian Belew’s Mr. Music Head almost made the Kentucky-born wizard a true star. The album featured his one and only radio hit to date, “Oh Daddy,” and proved that despite his...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: The Templeton Twins with Teddy Turner’s Bunsen Burners:...
There’s really no good way to prepare one’s self for what awaits when the needle drops on Trill It Like It Was. Credited to “The Templeton Twins with Teddy Turner’s Bunsen Burners,” this musical oddity...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: George Winston & Meryl Streep: The Velveteen Rabbit
While listening to George Winston and Meryl Streep’s The Velveteen Rabbit, the most pervasive thought that struck me was: why would anyone make a record like this? It’s literally just Meryl Streep...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Rolando’s 5: A Lasting Memorable Souvenir from the...
A special subgenre within the world of dollar-bin private-press lounge records is the cruise ship band record. Released to give vacationers something to remember their trip by, such albums are easy to...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Ágúst Stefánsson: Gústi
Since the inaugural entry in the Bargain Bin Babylon feature, I have asked a new question every time I visit a record store: Got any weird shit? The quest for albums that are odd, unintentionally (or...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Zero Zero: AM Gold
You’re a punk rock fan. You’re scouring the bargain racks for come-ups and come along a CD stuffed with colorful, damn near psychedelic artwork. On the cracked plastic jewel case, a sticker that reads:...
View ArticleBargain Bin Babylon: Various Artists: Croatian Jubilee 2
The cover of Croatian Jubilee 2 features a quaint illustration of a couple in the old country leading livestock through a snowy landscape. The couple happens to lead you through a nation’s music as...
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