Diggin’ In My Own Collection – Found In The Bin

Diggin’ In My Own Collection is a nine-part series where I’m taking a look at some of the rare, and incredibly unique, albums in my CD collection. 

As many of you know, I will spend hours going through discount bins of CDs. The pure joy of finding something great, or deciding to pick up something random and ending up loving it, is always worth all the effort.

For this edition of Diggin’ In My Own Collection I’m taking a look at four CDs I picked up in discount bins that turned out to be amazing finds, and in one case made me a huge fan of one of the bands … a band you’ve seen written about here numerous times, and has been featured on my year-end top ten lists quite often.

 

 

Ludo – Ludo 

I discovered Ludo in 2008 when they were opening for The Presidents of the United States of America, and I remember it being one of those, “Whoa, these guys are great!” moments.

I’ll openly admit I was a bit late to the party, as the hilarious rockers had been around for half a decade at that point.

I had a radio show on WVOF 88.5FM at this time, and every once in a while the station would get rid of old CDs and vinyl they were no longer using, and didn’t have the space to store anymore, by leaving them in giant bins and letting people take what they want.

I don’t remember how long it was after seeing Ludo that this happened, but one night I arrived for my show and there were some bins of albums to go through outside the studio. In one of those bins was the Ludo’s first album. Talk about finding a gem!

The album was eventually reissued with extra content, but the original version is a tough find, and because of that I’ve seen it priced anywhere from $18 to $65.

 

 

Counting Crows – August and Everything After (Deluxe) 

Whenever I’m in Los Angeles I make a pilgrimage to Amoeba Music, the legendary independent music store. In their old location they had a used CD section that went on for aisle after aisle, and it was really well organized (I don’t know what their new location is like, but I hope it’s similar).

They had a deal where if you bought 3 used CDs they’d throw in a 4th one for free, so I’d always come home with 8 albums. During one of those trips I picked up the deluxe edition of Counting Crows’ August and Everything After.

The version of the album I bought is technically an advance copy, and “not for sale,” but as I’ve previously mentioned in this column, no one really pays attention to that, and while it’s currently available at various retailers at a fairly regular price, I still consider it a really nice find at $2.99 … or free, if you want to call it my 4th CD in the purchase.

 

 

Larkin Poe – Reskinned 

If you’ve been to this site at all over the past handful of years you know how much I love the blues rock sister duo Larkin Poe, but the story of how I became a fan starts in quite the random way.

It was 2016, and I was at a party Big Picture Media threw at their offices in NYC. I believe they were celebrating an anniversary. Larkin Poe was one of their clients at the time, and having invited members of the press, like me, the company smartly had CDs of all their clients available for us to take. I saw a copy of Larkin Poe’s Reskinned sitting there. It was the only copy of the album that was available. Something about it being the only copy there inspired me to pick it up. Boy am I glad I did, because I’ve been a huge fan of Larkin Poe ever since!

I believe the CD is out of print now, and with the band having become huge over the past few years, it’s become far more in demand. I expect it to continue to rise in value as the years go by, and Larkin Poe continue to be one of the best bands in all of music.

As an aside, that party was huge for me in another way, as well, as it was where I met an editor who hired me almost on the spot, and I ended up working for her at a major website for over a year.

 

 

Twinz – Conversation 

Back in college we had two stores that sold used CDs – Empire, and Mr. Cheaps. Empire was significantly bigger, but regular pilgrimages were made to both, and because of that I have to admit that I’m not sure in which store I picked up the Twinz album Conversation.

Who are the Twinz? That’s a good question, and one I wanted an answer to, because I was a big Warren G fan, and on his song “This D.J.,” off of his 1994 album Regulate…G Funk Era, he ends a verse by rapping, “And I still know how to make those ends / You don't believe me, go ask the Twinz motherfucker.”

Who are these Warren G associates?!?!?

I picked up the album to find out. What I didn’t realize at the time was their album, despite being on Def Jam, wasn’t mass produced, and because of that it can now cost a pretty penny – anywhere from $25 to $100 depending on the condition of the album. How much did it cost me? 99 pennies.

That’s right, I found a promo copy of the album in a 99 cent bin! Now that’s what I call a great score!

 

With my copy of Conversation being a promo stamped version of the album, the next installment of this column will take a look at five other rare hip-hop promo albums that have found their way to my collection.

Until then, keep digging!