Beach Boys vinyl

[SMiLE Brian]

Where is a good place to buy good vintage early Beach Boys albums on vinyl?  Everytime i find vintage early vinyl by them at record shops, the record condition is horrible from being played too much. (the records usually have girl names on them, so i think the worn out albums were owned by the girls screaming on the 1964 live album.) 

[Jason]

eBay...also use Google to find local stores.

[Jon Stebbins]

Rockaway.com
They supplied/loaned me a PILE of NM cond. first pressing Beach Boys vinyl for our Dennis Wilson documentary shoot. If you want the real stuff in great shape they can set you up. They also have some awesome rarities.

[bgas]

Rockaway.com
They supplied/loaned me a PILE of NM cond. first pressing Beach Boys vinyl for our Dennis Wilson documentary shoot. If you want the real stuff in great shape they can set you up. They also have some awesome rarities.

Agreed on their normal selection; however, you should expect to pay them more than practically anyone else in the world, because that's their pricing.
 Really, if you take the time, Ebay is a good bet; but Gemm and Musicstack can be good places also.
there's a record store here in town that gets some nice stuff. PM me with a list and I'll let you know. 

[Shady]

Not sure if any of you are lucky enough to have a Tower Records near you anymore but I am and Tower have a lot, a least here in Dublin anyway. Picked up my sunflower, pet sounds, Today!, Summer Days,  vinyl's there..

By the way for anyone who for feels like picking up a Pet Sounds vinyl, to my horror they sell it in Urban Outfitters, I guess Pet Sounds really is a hipster album

[SMiLE Brian]

Rockaway.com
They supplied/loaned me a PILE of NM cond. first pressing Beach Boys vinyl for our Dennis Wilson documentary shoot. If you want the real stuff in great shape they can set you up. They also have some awesome rarities.

Agreed on their normal selection; however, you should expect to pay them more than practically anyone else in the world, because that's their pricing.
 Really, if you take the time, Ebay is a good bet; but Gemm and Musicstack can be good places also.
there's a record store here in town that gets some nice stuff. PM me with a list and I'll let you know.  

Thanks for the tips and help, i checked rockaway.com, they were expensive, but had the goods. (yikes about duophonic pet sounds). Ebay sounds like a good idea and i would totally give up my local shopping mall for a tower records like that.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Record Surplus in West LA on Pico is THE place!

They have a constant stream of Beach Boys stuff coming in. And you can find an original copy of something like Wild Honey or Friends sometimes for like $6 or even less! Generally their prices are getting way too high all-around, but insane deals are always sprinkled in there.... Hell, you can even find Zappa stuff in great condition there for like $5 bucks which is pretty unthinkable!

Also, if you tell the guys there what you're looking for, they'll make sure to have it the next time you come in!

[Jon Stebbins]

Rockaway.com
They supplied/loaned me a PILE of NM cond. first pressing Beach Boys vinyl for our Dennis Wilson documentary shoot. If you want the real stuff in great shape they can set you up. They also have some awesome rarities.

Agreed on their normal selection; however, you should expect to pay them more than practically anyone else in the world, because that's their pricing.
 Really, if you take the time, Ebay is a good bet; but Gemm and Musicstack can be good places also.
there's a record store here in town that gets some nice stuff. PM me with a list and I'll let you know.  

Thanks for the tips and help, i checked rockaway.com, they were expensive, but had the goods. (yikes about duophonic pet sounds). Ebay sounds like a good idea and i would totally give up my local shopping mall for a tower records like that.

It really depends on if you want first pressings, or just good vinyl to listen to. I always insist on orig. issues because of their significance as artifacts, plus I like newish cond. Ebay can be a crapshoot if that is your criteria because everyone over grades so their stuff sells, and a lot of dealers don't know a first pressing from a hole in the head. If they say its orig. and Excellent or VG+ it can be poor and a common reissue from my experience. But I've picked up some nice orig. sealed and mintish vinyl from some honest ebay sellers, so as i said its hit and miss. An ultra savvy ebay veteran like Bgas has no problem there because he knows what he's doing. Yes Rockaway you pay top dollar, but everything is guranteed, no BS, they will work to meet your needs, and you end up with very cool stuff instead of disappointing garbage.

Neal at Record Surplus is an old friend and he knows his stuff. But they're often cherry picked to death for the same reasons they are good, because you can find things that are worth more than they price them for, therefore dealers are constantly trawling their bins. But yeah, its always worth a look, and through the years I've found some pretty amazing things there.

[roll plymouth rock]

(yikes about duophonic pet sounds).

is that a rare record or something?? i thought the mono was the desired pressing... i have both, so am just curious...

[SMiLE Brian]

(yikes about duophonic pet sounds).

is that a rare record or something?? i thought the mono was the desired pressing... i have both, so am just curious...

I just hate duophonic after a great experience with duophonic summer days, which was about the worst sounding album mix i have ever heard.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

It's rare in that all copies haven't been rightfully destroyed!!!!  

Jon, it's good for us to be getting the word out about Record Surplus! Get us nerds in there rather than the dealers!

The grading system they use there is a model of honesty and they make sure that if they're going to charge you a high price for a near mint disc, they're going to match it with a near mint cover or knock the price down a bit if both the cover and vinyl aren't of corresponding quality!

[SMiLE Brian]

It's rare in that all copies haven't been rightfully destroyed!!!!  

Jon, it's good for us to be getting the word out about Record Surplus! Get us nerds in there rather than the dealers!

The grading system they use there is a model of honesty and they make sure that if they're going to charge you a high price for a near mint disc, they're going to match it with a near mint cover or knock the price down a bit if both the cover and vinyl aren't of corresponding quality!

My stylus actually broke halfway though, so the music gods took mercy on me. Shame my east coast area doesn't have such great stores...

[hypehat]

I've just been lucky with my local record stores/ebay, although some are a lot more common than others - I still find multiple copies of Holland, Surf's Up, and Concert 64, stuff like that, in the bins. But it's mostly just hits compilations and duophonic things. Which is annoying, seeing as if I had no qualms about it I could own Little Deuce Coupe, Surfer Girl, Wild Honey.... gah.

Have only seen one copy of Friends in the flesh, the only BB's vinyl I truly desire besides the 3 platter Smile boot, in Music & Video Exchange in Notting Hill, which was £30 and had the dubious distinction of being a 'FIRST MONO PRESSING'  

If you want Pet Sounds on vinyl and aren't fussed about a '66 pressing, Urban Outiftters sell the 2006 remaster which is sensational, and well worth the shame it would take to go into a shop that sells decent if exorbitantly priced clothing  

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

You can find that Pet Sounds pressing at Best Buy stores too!

It felt really weird strolling into Best Buy recently to grab the new Radiohead on vinyl! 

[GeorgeFellInHisHorn]

All of my original BB vinyl was left to me from my dad. An original (and very, very used) Pet Sounds, Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, the Endless Summer and Spirit of America comps, and the GoodVibes/LGAFAW 45(also very, very used).
Managed to grab copies of Little Deuce Coupe and Smiley Smile in some local stores as well. I'm lacking mostly in the older ones, which i intend to fix ASAP

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Oh, and how dare I forget "Sound Station" in Westchester near LAX!

The place is filled to the brim with good stuff and they actually NEVER rip you off there! They may not have everything you're looking for, but when you do find something good, it's always a steal  

[Mikie]

Rockaway.com.They supplied/loaned me a PILE of NM cond. first pressing Beach Boys vinyl for our Dennis Wilson documentary shoot. If you want the real stuff in great shape they can set you up. They also have some awesome rarities.

Don't forget your wallet! And make sure it's stuffed with wads of $20's and $100 dollar bills! This place is for collectibles. Records and rarities and harder to get stuff to complete your collection when you can't find it anywhere else. I use to get stuff at Rockaway until it skyrocketed in price in the 90's. Or should I say 80's. Does Wayne still work there? I bought most of my original vinyl Beach Boys and Beatle albums (all new to mint to mint - condition) in local record stores in and around S.F. and L.A., the Capitol Records Swap meet in L.A. (later Pasadena), Music Man Murry, Tower, Record Factory, Amoeba, Al's Record Barn, Streetlight Records, Let It Be Records, Recycled Records, Rasputin's, Moe's, Village Music, Midnight Records, Goldmine, Discoveries, Peter, and Derek, among other sources.

Where would I get my vinyl records now if I were starting over?   EBay.  No doubt.

[bgas]

Where would I get my vinyl records now if I were starting over?   EBay.  No doubt.

YEP, Ebay. You're liable to find some sellers that overgrade there; but there are lots of sellers that undergrade too, cuz ebay has a-lot of the smaller sellers scared they'll get the boot if their feedback isn't perfect. So they only sell stuff where ther can't be any problems/misunderstandings. 
 Rockaway does have stuff that won't make your nose bleed, but usually the condition suffers; tho like Jon says, they have primo stuff almost all the time. I like them, you just have to be choosy, when you shop there.

I suppose it's all about location, cuz I'm ptretty sure there are stores on the east coast/most big towns that have good stuff.

[Loaf]

It seems wrong somehow to buy old vinyl online. I've built up my collection over years of pounding the streets of places I visit on holiday. Best hobby in the world. The hunt is half the pleasure of vinyl.

I remember the joy of finding (in the 90s before the CD reissues) Sunflower in a flea market in Bristol for £3. 15 Big Ones and MIU for $5CA each in Toronto. LA Light Album for £3 at a record fair. Surf's Up, Carl's solo albums and the 7-inch Spanish version of Kokomo in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Best find was Pacific Ocean Blue with insert for £7 sitting on the desk of Plastic Wax in bristol, it had just come in that morning and hadn't been put out. The guy hadn't even priced it yet, and i casually enquired how much, careful not to give away my extreme excitement because i would have paid a lot of money for it.

Anyway, Boston/Cambridge, Mass is chock full of places that sell vinyl. You'll never know what you'll find until you show up

[Amanda Hart]

It seems wrong somehow to buy old vinyl online. I've built up my collection over years of pounding the streets of places I visit on holiday. Best hobby in the world. The hunt is half the pleasure of vinyl.

I agree the hunting and chatting with the shop owner and all that is a real thrill. I hate buying anything online.

If your town has any Half Price Books, those are great places to go to find the occasional rare item for super cheap. The people that work there don't really know records so original pressings and cheap Pickwick reissues will sell for the same price. Obviously, you can get nice books there too. Last summer I pick up The Nearest Faraway Place for $6.00 and an autographed copy of The Lost Beach Boy for $4.99.

I recently moved to Chicago and have been disappointed at the independent record shops here. Any place I've been with records worth having are super expensive. I got spoiled as an Ohio State, there were 5 (now 4 since The Singing Dog closed) really nice record stores in the campus area.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

I used to have every album from Surfin Safari up to Beach Boys '85 on original vinyl.

When the two'fers came out on CD I sold them all.

There aren't many things I regret in life

But that is one of them

 

[WaxOn]

By the way for anyone who for feels like picking up a Pet Sounds vinyl, to my horror they sell it in Urban Outfitters, I guess Pet Sounds really is a hipster album

Cripes.

Ok, gotta shake it.

Two sources for vinyl that I'll let you know about  are gemm.com and elusivedisc.com. The latter has all kinds of vinyl related goodies and hardware as well. New and rare/collectables.

Gemm has sources from all over the world, I've had some luck there with really obscure things - although they're a bit well known now. In fact I just got a newsletter for the first time ever - after over 15 years of shopping there.

Of course it's hard to beat local stores as you can lay hands on the disc in question.

I've also had tremendous luck (as others have mentioned) on ebay. I've ordered many albums that really were mint or better, only once did I get burned. And for $15 it's hard to get too pissed - just give 'em a bad rating.

[WaxOn]

I used to have every album from Surfin Safari up to Beach Boys '85 on original vinyl.
When the two'fers came out on CD I sold them all.
There aren't many things I regret in life
But that is one of them

Dude. 

[hypehat]

Oh no! They sell Pet Sounds in a popular clothing shop! 

[Alex]

God forbid that an overpriced clothing chain takes part in that mortal sin called "cross-merchandising."