Beefheart and More

It’s been a productive weekend for crate digging.  I started off at a local estate sale where I found a 1957 Harman Kardon PC-200 “Prelude” mono amplifier.

With the amp they let me throw in a few records, so I took home a Kraftwerk compilation called Exceller 8 and an early Hanna Barbera LP.  Exceller 8 features selections from the first four Kraftwerk albums, including the 3:09 edit of Autobahn which was popular on the radio at the time.  (The full version of Autobahn runs 22:30 as side 1 of the album of the same name.)  I already have the Autobahn and Radioactivity LPs, so this will serve as a nice intro to their earlier work.

The Hanna Barbera album turned out to be among their first four records each released back in 1959 and the very first to feature the Quick Draw McGraw character.  The disc is titled Quick Draw McGraw and Huckleberry Hound – TV’s Favorite Cartoon Stars.  A mint copy has a Goldmine value of $150.

The next morning at the local flea market I found an excellent copy of Steve Reich’s most famous record – Music For 18 Musicians.  Sadly, I was about a dollar fifty short of the $5 price tag, so I’ll have to pick it up the next time I find a copy.

Sunday I went to the antique mall and came across a number of discs I would have liked to have purchased.  First there was a double LP from Donovan I had not seen before, and then one of the few Leon Redbone discs I don’t already have – titled No Regrets.    My $2 instead went to Captain Beefheart’s Mirror Man LP.

In the last year I’ve passed up opportunities to buy original pressings of Beefheart’s Unconditionally Guaranteed and Strictly Personal albums.  I’ve also held all three volumes (6 LPs which never occupy the same room) of the Grow Fins collection in my hands but didn’t buy them, either.  So even though I had half of Mirror Man’s tracks on the Music in Sea Minor 10″ I couldn’t say no this time.

I picked this one up in New York last year with an original copy of Trout Mask Replica

For images and detailed information about the 3 volume Grow Fins set on vinyl, visit the Captain Beefheart Radar Station here.  If you piece together the set online, it should run you just under $200.00.