The one record you regret trading or selling over the years

djtopcatdjtopcat Seattle WA The 206 312 Posts
edited April 2015 in Strut Central
Every serious record collector I'm sure has a story of a record they had at one time, that either they did not know the value of at the time,or traded,sold and now regret the decision. It could be something that skyrocketed in value, or just something obscure that you'll probably never be able to replace.

I have a few regrets, but my biggest was when I walked into a local junk store in Bothell WA about 17 years ago with thousands of estate sale records and bought one two dollar near mint soul/funk record that caught my eye. The truly sad and embarrassing part is at first I thought it was an entirely different famous disco band with the same name. It had a drawing of some dudes sitting in a cup. I knew it was early 70's and probably had some cool samples so I bought it. I took it home and gave it a listen, but just wasn't that wowed. At this time I still naively thought it was the disco band, maybe their first album. This was before discogs,popsike and blogs and I didn't see it listed on Ebay.
Anyway long story short one of my fellow record digger buddies at the time who knew exactly what it was immediately offered up a stack of trades for it. That should of been a clue I guess, but I just thought it was an early record by the disco group. The trade stack included Lyn Christopher,JB's,7-Eleven 45,and a handful of rock breaks which I was more interested in back then, so I figured it was a fair trade and poof it was gone.
A few months later I'm chatting with another fellow hardcore record digger and I mentioned I traded this person a cool early 70's soul/funk record that had some dudes sitting in a cup on the cover, and I said something about not being a big fan of their later disco hits like "you sexy thing" but I did like "everyone's a winner" He looks at me like I'm retarded and says "Hot Chocolate?" and I said yeah it was cool but I got some cool breaks in trade.
He said "Dude that is not the disco group, that is a monster rarity from Cleveland by this guy named Lou Ragland it goes for serious loot, holy grail funk rarity!"
Well that news sucked, and it sucked even more when I found out it was being sold for thousands of dollars and that was 17 years ago!
Nobody likes being taken, my pride was hurt but a deal is a deal and I agreed to it, so I have to live with it. I kind of was hoping this friend would throw in some more vinyl I was looking for to make the deal more even, but he never did, that's just the way he operates, and this is why I'll probably never sell him another record out of my collection. I found out he sold or traded it to some guy in England, and must have found another copy because last time I visited his pad he had the record framed on his wall!
I think of all the school loans,bills I could of paid selling that record now. Maybe the value has gone down since dunno, but either way that's my biggest regret. I have to constantly tell myself I only paid a few bucks for it. It doesn't help :( Try to top that one.
http://www.popsike.com/HOT-CHOCOLATE-LP-Rare-FUNK-CO-CO-Label-LOU-RAGLAND/130426220315.html
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  Comments


  • uhhh, sorry to be the one to break it to you, but that guy is not your friend. live and learn.

    b/w

    then again, that was pre-popsike times and by your own admission weren't feeling it and got brakes, yo! that you probably dug a lot more. it's easy to look back and see all the moves...

  • djtopcatdjtopcat Seattle WA The 206 312 Posts
    This is true, btw this person is on here from time to time and will no doubt read this so his name is anonymous (I live in Seattle ;)). Since then we've just traded some rare acapellas but no vinyl. Don't get me wrong I'm not angry, he just took advantage of my lack of knowledge at the time. He knows what he traded me was not even close to being fair for that album, especially to a friend, but c'est la vie. Oh and I failed to mention that I gave back a bunch of the records when I found out how valuable it was, never got fair replacements since. Would any of you guys be mad if this happened to you?
    On a somewhat lighter note a funnier trade with him was my sealed Power of Zeus promo for a Gemini mixer that broke and ended up in the trash a week later. I actually can laugh about that one now though haha :D


  • TDLT02TDLT02 149 Posts
    Still wish I had the two spare M- copies of Arthur Verocai on Continental I sold back at the start of the year 2000.
    This is a few years before the Luv 'N' Haight reissue that turned people onto it in a big way, before then hardly known to folks (even inside Brazil it was not well known to collectors or musicians). I got a good price for them both, but nothing like what they go for nowadays for one in great shape...

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I don't 100% regret getting rid of it, but I remember owning a copy of the Blue Mountain Eagle's album back in the 90s. Wasn't feeling it, wasn't hearing it, so I sold it. Some years later, there's a CD compilation of Nixon-era hard-rock that includes a Blue Mountain Eagle song. In the context of that anthology, it sounded great, but now I'm wondering if their album was as mediocre as I remember it being. Hey, it be's that way sometime.

    Think I'd better track it down on Youtube to be reappraised.

  • billbradleybillbradley You want BBQ sauce? Get the fuck out of my house. 2,885 Posts
    I had a few sealed copies of Gospel Storytellers and sold my last copy. I should have held onto at least one.

  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    that hiss in the gospel storyteller makes it hard to keep imo

    i regret trading some very nice african records for pennies in store credit when i was a kid

    i wish i had not sold this one either http://record.ticro.com/record/jacket/Q00000136.jpg
    but its not as bad as a major grail

  • djtopcatdjtopcat Seattle WA The 206 312 Posts
    Ah this is good therapy for a 40ish vinyl junky. One way I rationalize these things in my head is just realizing that they're just material things, it's not like losing a family member or pet. I actually stopped actively digging and buying for about 10 years because I just had way too many records and they suck to move. I bought two collections right before I stopped and that was it. The only records I've purchased since are small thrift store/garage sale finds and some Psych rock/funk reissues of records I'll probably never find original copies of anyway, but I still want the music.
    I hope I never become one of the eccentric record collector weirdoes that plan on taking some of their records straight to the grave lol

    I remember another one now, not quite as pricey as the Hot Chocolate, but went to the same guy of course.

    Gus Poole-Soul Revolution- found a near mint copy at a mostly hip hop record shop in Phoenix, maybe 2001.
    http://www.popsike.com/GUS-POOLE-Soul-Revolution-NOVASONIC-LP-SEALED-private-funk-jazz/231432533670.html



  • billbradleybillbradley You want BBQ sauce? Get the fuck out of my house. 2,885 Posts
    pcmr said:
    that hiss in the gospel storyteller makes it hard to keep imo

    That was actually the reason why I sold it, but I still regret it.

  • mrmatthewmrmatthew 1,575 Posts


    I flipped it a very cynically a few years after Margaret Kilgallen passed and did pretty well on it...now i want it back.
    I miss all of the Mo Wax stuff that i have sold over the years.
    Even the terrible Unkle stuff, but for only the Futura artwork.

  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    billbradley said:
    pcmr said:
    that hiss in the gospel storyteller makes it hard to keep imo

    That was actually the reason why I sold it, but I still regret it.

    same here bought and sold..can we geta hiss free reissue

  • billbradleybillbradley You want BBQ sauce? Get the fuck out of my house. 2,885 Posts
    pcmr said:
    billbradley said:
    pcmr said:
    that hiss in the gospel storyteller makes it hard to keep imo

    That was actually the reason why I sold it, but I still regret it.

    same here bought and sold..can we geta hiss free reissue

    Andrew Wartts did a remastered re-issue. I have no idea if it actually sounds better.

    You can buy it here: http://www.gospelstorytellers.com/

  • shooteralishooterali 1,591 Posts
    I regret selling my copy of Thesda- Spaced out in 2009. I paid nowhere near the going rate at the time...DAMN

  • Pazzant Bros - Chick-A-Boom 45

  • djtopcatdjtopcat Seattle WA The 206 312 Posts
    pickwick33 said:
    I don't 100% regret getting rid of it, but I remember owning a copy of the Blue Mountain Eagle's album back in the 90s. Wasn't feeling it, wasn't hearing it, so I sold it. Some years later, there's a CD compilation of Nixon-era hard-rock that includes a Blue Mountain Eagle song. In the context of that anthology, it sounded great, but now I'm wondering if their album was as mediocre as I remember it being. Hey, it be's that way sometime.

    Think I'd better track it down on Youtube to be reappraised.


    Yeah it's not a very rare lp, it was on Atco I think.
    I used to see at record shows back in the early 2000's for 20-40 a lot
    I'll have to listen to it on Youtube too to refresh my memory. I may even have a copy in my collection, when you cross the 12k record barrier you start to forget what you even have lol

  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,779 Posts
    Stark Reality.

    I found it for $2 in 2006 and used it as payment for web site services. I'm not a HUGE fan of the record to where I would pay its going rate, but years later as I archive alot of music featured on here, it has a lot of sentimental value. Especially because Monty was a huge part of this site....

    Thankfully, there's this:


  • shooterali said:
    I regret selling my copy of Thesda- Spaced out in 2009. I paid nowhere near the going rate at the time...DAMN

    Oh man that must of been hard to part with.

  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    What is the story with this, is it a box compiling all of the various re-issues that Stones Throw did?

    RAJ said:
    Stark Reality.

    Thankfully, there's this:


  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,779 Posts
    asstro said:
    What is the story with this, is it a box compiling all of the various re-issues that Stones Throw did?

    RAJ said:
    Stark Reality.

    Thankfully, there's this:


    [strong]STARK REALITY - ACTING, THINKING, FEELING (6XLP + 7" BOX SET)[/strong]

    [em]Acting, Thinking, Feeling marks the first time that psychedelic jazz ensemble The Stark Reality's Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop album has been reissued in full (the 2003 Stones Throw Records anthology Now only contained half of the original album's music). The anthology also contains the band’s out-of-print Roller Coaster Ride (first issued as 1969 on Now-Again in 2003), and a series of recently discovered, previously-unreleased tracks in a 6 LP + Bonus 7" "complete works" box set.[/em]

  • mrmatthew said:

    I miss all of the Mo Wax stuff that i have sold over the years.

    me too. I was a HEAVY Mo'Wax collector in the late 90s and into the 00s & had friends at the label who passed me incredible things (being on the MW mailing list, even though it was after the A&M acquisition, was a pretty incredible situation to find myself in). I ended up selling a load of MW stuff over the years (never the things I'd been given, but other things I'd found on my travels) including picture discs and Japanese rarities. I got the book last year and looking through it brought some major pangs of regret...

    Sort of related: I picked up the first Poets of Rhythm LP on Soulciety when it dropped and loved it, but was broke when I got offered 4 or 5 times what I paid for it and ended up selling it a year or 2 afterwards. Not a massively rare record or anything, but I always felt that it was stupid to sell something I liked so much. Oddly coincidental, the record shop I bought the Poets... LP from also did reissues including Hot Chocolate (the funk band)

  • RishanRishan 454 Posts
    the one record would be Archie Whitewater. It was my first ever large purchase ($50!) from TSL back in '99 when they had a whole box of unplayed promo copies. Took me a couple of weeks thinking it over before I finally pulled the trigger! I think it goes for about $150 or more now and is still one of my all-time favourite LPs.

    I actually sold my whole collection in about '06 to go live overseas and those next few years were the best of my life, so I'll never regret selling for that experience. I would love to have some of those back, especially the promo hip hop LP's, but 2 following closely behind the Archie would be Gil Scott-Heron 'Winter in America' and Ahmad Jamal 'Awakening' that I just can not seem to find anywhere

  • rishan - i have a clean dupe of awakening, if you need...

  • RishanRishan 454 Posts
    crabmongerfunk said:
    rishan - i have a clean dupe of awakening, if you need...

    hey, thanks, crabmongerfunk, will bear this in mind and might holler at it soon. Short of trades (and cash - just sorted the new tax year investments) right now. Would love to find this clean in the field again, as I did with my old copy (and Winter, what a pleasant day that was) but it's a distant dream where I'm currently at.

  • caicai spacecho 362 Posts
    RAJ said:
    Stark Reality.

    Thankfully, there's this:




    [strong]STARK REALITY - ACTING, THINKING, FEELING (6XLP + 7" BOX SET)[/strong]

    [em]Acting, Thinking, Feeling marks the first time that psychedelic jazz ensemble The Stark Reality's Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop album has been reissued in full (the 2003 Stones Throw Records anthology Now only contained half of the original album's music). The anthology also contains the band’s out-of-print Roller Coaster Ride (first issued as 1969 on Now-Again in 2003), and a series of recently discovered, previously-unreleased tracks in a 6 LP + Bonus 7" "complete works" box set.[/em]

    Oh wow.. I've already got the Now 2LP but might opt for the 3CD of Acting, Thinking, Feeling... way cheaper.

  • LoopDreamsLoopDreams 1,195 Posts
    I don't know why my brain seems to be able to records go once their gone... though the Ray and His Court that I got completely stiffed on by a dude who did a chargeback grinds my gears something fierce... I sometimes regret letting go a mint Ndikho Xaba LP that I had pulled cheap, but I did get a fair trade for it . I let a Lloyd McNeill Washington Suite go for way to little a while back (they then re-issed it but it's not the same. Bahhh water under the bridge.
    My worst experience by far was having a bunch of records stolen.... then a bunch were listed on ebay by someone I knew who had pulled them at our local dig, wtf.

  • HollafameHollafame 844 Posts
    I try not to harbour these kinds of regrets, but I sometimes feel a twinge when I think about selling my Nick Ayoub - Montreal Scene OG for two bills a few years back. Would love to have that one back on the shelf. At least I was prescient enough to rip the audio first.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I regret nothing.
    I started selling records in the 80s, needless to say in todays popsike dollars I have lost a fortune.
    But most of the time I sold records for a better price than I paid, and I set the price.
    Yes, I have miss priced many records, but hey, can't get mad at someone one for having more knowledge than me.

    OP: When you made the trade for a whole bunch of records that you wanted, that would have cost you hundreds of dollars on ebay, did you go back to the junk store and give them some more money? Or were you laughing about how you ripped them off?

    The guy you did the trade with gave you what you wanted. He may have sold the copy you traded, but only if he had a back up. He is not in the business of selling records, he is in the business of sharing his collection with the world, djing, mix tapes, production... Or I got the wrong guy.


  • djtopcatdjtopcat Seattle WA The 206 312 Posts
    "The guy you did the trade with gave you what you wanted. He may have sold the copy you traded, but only if he had a back up. He is not in the business of selling records, he is in the business of sharing his collection with the world, djing, mix tapes, production... Or I got the wrong guy."

    I think you got the wrong guy buddy lol He sells and buys, and is a record fanatic. Probably owns one of the largest rare soul/funk collections in the PNW.
    See this is where we differ in opinion though. The junk store I bought the lp from didn't give two shits about the value, as all the records were the same price $2!
    They were selling, I was coaxed into trading, big difference. A real "friend" would say "hey man that's a crazy rare soul lp, what do you want for it?"
    He didn't tell me that, he just said he'd like to have it, and I'm a nice guy. He offered up some break records in trade, and when I found out he sent it to England I returned them.
    Sorry I don't deceive my friends like that, and the poster who said "he wasn't your friend" was correct because his actions proved it. I recently asked him if he could please help me locate a local Christian rock record of a band my mom knew in the early 70's called Wilson McKinley. I had no clue it was that sought after, but not on the level of H.C. Let's just say I'm not holding my breath for him to come through. Lol Anybody here have an OG Hot Chocolate?

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I agree with the not my friend part.

    If you approached it as; I'm just doing the trade because he's my friend and it's a $2 record, then you were ripped off.
    But dude gave you a few hundred dollars worth of trade (Lyn Christopher,JB's,7-Eleven 45,and a handful of rock breaks) that should have been a clue.
    Maybe I am miss reading, but it sounds like you walked away from that trade thinking you had traded a shitty $2 record for a few hundred dollars worth of records you wanted.
    Did you feel guilty for taking advantage of your friend?
    I don't think you should have.
    The record had no value to you. The stuff you got was stuff you wanted.
    Your "friend" was happy. You were happy.
    Then your knowledge increased and got sellers remorse.
    But the record did not wow you. Only reason for wanting it back was for more profit.

    That your friend didn't share his knowledge is kinda whack.
    But begrudging his profit is kinda whack too.
    He still has a copy, and one of the largest rare soul/funk collections in the PNW.
    People who care more about profit than records don't have large personal collections of raerers.

  • djtopcatdjtopcat Seattle WA The 206 312 Posts
    Nah I knew it was at the very least rare, even if I got the bands mixed up at first. I was a pretty knowledgable collector even back then. I think the thing I'm still salty about is just not replacing what I gave back. That would of been the right thing to do. Either way it was so long ago now, it just happens to be my top vinyl regret of all time hence the topic question, I have many more less painful ones believe me haha

    Like this record I left in a box when I moved sealed fml

    Attached files

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I hear you.
    I've made so many record mistakes in my life I can't count em.
    That's why I forget em and move on.
    Plus you thought, friend, found out "friend". That'll stick in the craw.
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