*** Quoting Bud Webster to Walter Five dated 03-26-98 ***
> WF>>I hate to be the one to tell you, but Classical Records are a
> WF>>dollar a dozen. Most used record stores won't even *take* them
> WF>>if you're giving them away. With classical CD's going for 2-3
> WF>>dollars apiece in the bargain bins of most major electronics
> WF>>stores, unless you've got Enrico Carouso or the like, you're
> WF>>probably going to have a hard time selling them.
> 
> While this is correct so far as it goes, it doesn't quite go far 
> enough; there
> is a heavy collector's interest in the original stereo classical 
> recordings of
> the late 50s and early 60s: Mercury Living Presence, RCA Living Stereo 
> and the
> old blue-back London FFRR recordings can go for several hundred 
> dollars,
> depending on the particular recording.
> 
> Opera has a terrific following as well, especially complete sets with 
> libretto
> and notes.  As the manager of a used record shop for a decade, I moved 
> a
> considerable amount of used classical at very good prices - in fact, at
> one
> point we were out-selling several of the NEW record stores because we 
> carried
> a deeper inventory.
> 
Oh that doesn't suprise me, that you had a better inventory--Frank Zappa 
complains loud & hard that popular music stores don't carry enough classical 
and "modern classical" in his _Real_Frank_Zappa_Book_...I think the quote 
as:
"You used to be able to go into a record store and way in back there'd be a 
bin where you could *find* "Joe Blow's Bitchen Concerto No.1". But you go 
into a Record Store *today* and you can't even find that bin anymore. I am 
*certainly* aware that there is a high-end market for audiophile recordings 
of all material, but those sorts of collectors are few and far between. I 
speak from a Collectables Shop Owner's perspective. I can *move* 60's-70's 
mainstream Stones/Beatles/Zep and more obscure stuff; but I can't move 
classical records, and as I say, the dealers that *I* sell to won't touch 
em!
Of course, I'm down here in the Houston market, and it's not quite so 
*highbrow*, if you know what I mean...
Walter Five
"It is better to copulate than never."--The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
--- T.A.G. 2.7c Standard
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