JL Records (West Lafayette, Indiana) Revisited... (MANY PICTURES!)

[heavyharmonies]

I posted about this record store (well, CD store really... it has a fair amount of vinyl, but the focus is CDs) 2 years ago. I go there about once a year, and every single time I do I keep kicking myself to go there more often. Not only for the sheer enjoyment of being able to shop the music genres we love and view all these releases in hand, but because it's so damned overwhelming. There's never time to go through things at leisure, pulling out boxes under racks to rummage, because even flying through things and NOT exploring new artists, it's still 3-4 hours to go through the alphabet... let alone stopping and using their listening station (they'll let you listen to used/opened material, not still sealed merch).

It's only an hour and a half drive for me each way, so there's really ZERO excuse for me not going over there more frequently.

This time I remembered to take a bunch of pictures, pulling out releases from artists we enjoy just to show what they had in stock... a lot of material you'll never see at any mainstream store (even if there is any that carry CDs anymore). Sure, the prices are more expensive than what you'll pay at Amazon and other online stores, but they're not as bad as you would think, and there are bargains to be had amongst the used material when it comes to OOP discs. And to be fair, being able to view all this stuff in-hand is worth it IMO.

(Although every now and then you'll see an OOP disc that is WAAAAAAAY overpriced, but at least they have the odd and unusual.)

They have one of those old-school "buyer club" stamp cards, with 20 spaces. One stamp per disc purchased. Every other stamp you get a dollar off, and when you fill a card you get $16.99 off your purchase and then you get a new card. On your birthday, you get $1 off every CD and that's on top of the buyer club card discounts.

First the pics from when I was going through the aisles, starting with some general pics. Every single artist has its own title card, so look at the variety and depth of the artists. Also, look at the overstock in boxes underneath all the racks! That's the shit I never have time to go through (except when there's a specific artist I'm focusing in on).

You've got CDs in the racks, then ringing the entire room is a shelf of box sets and limited editions, then above that VHS tapes, and above that vintage audio equipment. Sections for DVDs and blu-rays (not just music, but movies as well, including a small section of 4K and 3D titles). There's a smaller upper room level that is nothing but vinyl.

If you're going to go, plan at least a full day, not just a quick drive-by. They're open from 11AM - 7PM Eastern Time.

 

 

Expensive at $249.99, but how many places have a still-sealed copy of the Vanden Plas Epic Works box set???

 

 

And now the stuff I picked up this trip. Most is completist fodder. There are a few artists where I literally want an example of every single pressing, even if I already have other label/year/country versions... call me OCD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I picked up this one for trade/resale even though I already have it, as it is the LOOOONG out of print original fan club edition.

 

 

Hmmm... didn't know there was a solo effort, and it seems to be thematically related to the Threshold album "Legend of the Shires".

 

 

 

More OCD completist fodder. I didn't know that Avalon Records (Japan) licensed releases for South Korea.

 

 

 

 

Live albums aren't normally my thing, but this appears to be way out of print, and for $10 why not?

 

A few OOP releases for my multichannel audio collection

 

 

 

I'll be posting more about these once I get my shit together, but I'm WAAAAAAAAAY fucking late to the game when it comes to the Jethro Tull 40th anniversary CD + DVD special editions. They only reason I knew about them at all is that I saw a blurb about the 40th anniversary edition of "Broadsword and the Beast", which is my alltime favorite JT album, the first one I ever heard, and I love the album cover... which led me down the rabbithole of all these anniversary editions and their multichannel mixes. Unfortunately a few of them are now OOP and insanely in the $150-300 range. I ordered all of the ones that were still in print (or that had been reprinted), but there were still 4 that I needed... and they had one of them.

 

And lastly, the most expensive purchase of the day, going back to previous box set discussions, this was one that wasn't on my radar at the time it came out. Based upon eBay listings, it's now a tough find... and they had one still sealed. No, it's not the Amazon exclusive that was signed by Biff Byford, but autographs aren't important enough for me to spend the $500-$1,000 that the signed version now brings. This one will do nicely at a fraction of the cost... a huge and hefty tome (literally).

 

So when all was said and done, a great (and expensive!) shopping day, but a place I wholeheartedly recommend visiting should you find yourself out here in flyover country.

JL Records
380 Brown St
West Lafayette, IN
47906

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[headbanger4life]

Man, I really miss places like this! I could spend hours in them just looking at all the stuff. You’re a lucky man to live near there.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

All the Chilliwack makes me laugh. 

[auslander]

Wow just wow. I wanna move there.