THE ZOMBIES ODESSEY AND ORACLE LP FIND


 

Just thought I would share this special moment.
So, as a vintage / record dealer / collector, you spend a lot of time looking through piles of disappointment such as Russ Conway's greatest musical treacheries; Russ Conway may have sold hundreds of millions of records, but I don’t want them. Nobody does.
Sometimes fate smiles upon you. Yesterday in a charity shop and town that will remain secret until 2055 when I will release details, I found a pile of fresh pleasure (I’m not sure what the opposite of disappointment is strictly.)
I was in a hurry to get somewhere so I didn’t have time to check every record on the phone, looking at Matrix numbers etc. So I had to go on my own semi-expertise.
I made a really big offer on all 220 ish lps. It was a bit dry mouth and heart pounding time because it was 4x more than I paid the dentist last week (She gave me no LPS but did play stirring classical music as she worked) but as soon as I saw THE ZOMBIES Odeyssey (sic) and Oracle in there in wonderful condition I felt sure.
When I got home I spent 10 hours going through them all. There were about 100 duds, but that's normal. The Led Zep, Deep Purple and co should make up for it.
Now I am going to play THE ZOMBIES LP for the first time. Will it sound all crackly even though it looks clean? Will it skip on some invisible scratch? If it does I might hurl myself out of the window.
You may ask, why is this record worth a lot? Well, unlike the musical criminal Russ Conway, they did not sell zillions of LPS. A lot of 60s bands like the Kinks sold many many singles, but not so many LPs. The Kinks Village Green Preservation Society is a similar gem. Have I got that? Course I bleedin' have.
The feeling of putting on a magical lp like this for me is probably like an antiques dealer finding a Chippendale in the barn and doing whatever it is you do with those. You can feel the history, and although it’s great that re-presses exist ( I already have a £20 new copy of this) the feeling is not replicated with them.
I don’t know if I will sell it, maybe I’ll have to one day. I think my right premolar needs attention.

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