This follows on from a conversation that I had over on the very lovely Rochdale board, about my avatar and bands of the 70s and samplers back in the day. Do any of you still buy vinyl? I got rid of all of mine back in the 90s during a house move and regretted it for the next 20 years. About 4 years ago I bought a new turntable with the intention of replacing all my old stuff but that hasn’t gone well. I started off visiting charity shops and soon found that what was on offer was poor quality with all the best stuff creamed off for dealers who like to charge an arm and a leg. I bought a couple of new pressings but they’re not cheap either. EBay is a better source so I’ve bought quite a few that way, but the problem is that I get diverted onto other records and buy them instead. My collection therefore remains unreplicated.

Then I was in Oxfam in Keswick last week looking at books and instead came out with a copy of EGBDF by the Moody Blues which cost me a fiver and plays very well. That led me to buy A Question of Balance for eight quid off of EBay and it’s not far off mint. Anyway, one of the Rochdale lads was talking about his love for Fairport Convention who were never my cup of tea back then because of my preference for Jethro Tull who were more about the rock that the folk side of music. So I gave them another listen and got right into them, especially three of their albums from around 69 to 72 so had a shufti on EBay. YOU CAN’T GET A DECENT COPY FOR LESS THAT A HUNDRED QUID! WTF.

I’m still looking on EBay for (mainly) prog stuff but does anyone else do this? And has anyone any better sources that aren’t trying to rip you off?