Let’s Dance! My latest Sunday flea market 7 & 12 inch vinyl record haul

Posted on March 5, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Greetings vintage mates! I finally found some 12 inch vinyl albums worth buying at my local Sunday flea market. Regular readers will know I often come back from the Sunday market laden with 7 inch singles, but rarely do I come across good albums in good condition and for a good price. Today I found three albums – all in excellent condition, along with three singles and an EP.

Total cost: (with various rates according to today’s XE.com currency converter)

24,00 Euros (what I paid) / 25,55 USD / 21,22 GBP / 34.77 CAD / 3 470,46 JPY

Right, I’m off to dance a little Bowie, enjoy the pics!

First up, AC/DC Highway to Hell, 1979, German pressing. Super pleased to find this in the wild!

AC/DC Highway to Hell. 1979. Atlantic. German Pressing.

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Jesus Kitsch! Another Sunday flea-market 7 inch haul.

Posted on January 29, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Jesus Kitsch. Dalida. Sonopresse. 1972. France.

Jesus Kitsch. Why? Because Dalida says so. This post is dedicated to my good blogging buddy Jeanine AKA BeKitschig. Why? Because the 7 inch vinyl records I found at my latest Flea Market visit are all a bit kitschy. And kitsch is cool. And we all need some good music to kitsch out to!

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The mysterious case of the pink case, and a 40th Maiden!

Posted on June 19, 2022 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Greetings vintage mates!

What’s in the case??

It’s a rather elegant case…

Compact, a dreamy pink colour…

Somewhat vintage…

But what does it contain?

Let’s open it up to find out…

Holy dinky retro-cool record players in pink cases! It’s a Muse Vintage Collection vinyl record player, a Father’s Day gift from your humble TVTA editor to himself! Thanks me, you rock!

This compact yet sturdy machine is ideal to test out the second-hand vinyl goodies I sometimes find at flea markets. At home I have a sweet hi-fi seperates system that’s packed away due to no space in my teeny-tiny Hobbit apartment, and is a mission to set up. The Muse compact is a blessing for an instant blast.

First 45rpm I tested…

But then…

Along came this…

Yet another Father’s Day treat from myself to myself! Thanks again, me, you really do rock this year!

A 40th Maiden?

The Number of the Beast is 40 in 2022. Was it really that long ago an eleven year-old me was tear-arsing it to the local record shop to buy this amazing album upon its release? And how about my cut-off denim jacket which proudly displayed a full sew-on back patch of the famous Derek Riggs album art? I remember a kindly retired neighbour offered to sew that patch for me. Seeing this record again sure brings back some memories!

Thanks for looking. Happy Father’s Day to daddies everywhere 😎

Comic shop 7″ Vinyl Record Haul!

Posted on January 2, 2022 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Ray Parker Jr. Ghostbusters theme. 1984. 45 tours West Germany pressing.

Happy New Year vintage mates! May love, joy, light and creativity be yours in 2022!

I spent the Christmas and New Year holiday working, with just two days off in between… luckily one of those days involved going into the nearest city for a spot of shopping, where I stumbled across a cool second-hand comic book store which also sold a selection of vinyl records and CDs. I plan to go back again later and grab some of the albums and CDs they had, but for now here are ten singles I purchased.

Format & Era: 7 inch 45 RPM vinyl. One picture disc. 1970s / 1980s. French and West Germany pressings.

Total Cost (Xe converter): 10 EUR / 11.37 USD / 8.40 GBP / 14 CAD / 15.64 AUD

Disc condition: All ten discs minty mint with two having mild surface scratches.

Picture Sleeve Condition: Fair to excellent condition.

My Best Picks: Seeing a Star Wars record always makes me happy to add it to my May The Vinyl Be With You collection! I was also pleased to see the novelty Zorro disc with its still-intact cut-out mask. The Elton John picture disc was a nice find too – Empty Garden was Elton’s 1982 tribute song to John Lennon. (edit: just checked out Thompson Twins Doctor! Doctor! on YT and man I forgot what an absolute 80s classic that is, and kind of sums up that era of music, especially the synths.)

Meco. La Guerre Des Etoiles (Star Wars). 1977. 45 tours French pressing.

Zorro theme. 1985. 45 tours French pressing.

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Another Sunday Flea Market 7″ Vinyl Record Haul!

Posted on December 5, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. The Message. 1982.

Greetings vintage mates. Just like in November I struck lucky again at the local monthly flea market, and picked up nine French pressings of vinyl singles released between the late 70s up to 1990.

Total cost: 6 EUR / 6.78 USD / 5.12 GBP.

Condition: All discs minty mint. Picture sleeves fair to excellent condition. Another winning morning I reckon 😎 I was particularly pleased to see the Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five single The Message, The Logical Song by Supertramp, and Fade to Grey by Visage.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. The Message (instrumental). 1982.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. The Message (lyrics). 1982.

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Sunday Flea Market 7″ Vinyl Record Haul (1970s/80s)

Posted on November 7, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Greetings vintage mates. It’s the first time this year our local monthly flea market has been open during the various lockdown and curfew stages here. This morning I was very pleased to pick up eight French pressings of vinyl singles released between the mid 1970s to mid 1980s – for less than the price of a cup of fresh espresso and a croissant!

The discs are all minty mint, and the picture sleeves are in decent condition. A winning morning I reckon 😎

Buggles Video Killed The Radio Star 1979

As always, thanks for looking 🙂

The art of children’s storybooks and vinyl records, 1960s -1980s

Posted on August 23, 2019 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Agathe Tran Quang My and Biosca art for Anne Sylvestre – “Fabulettes” 1969.

The storybook and vinyl record was an opportunity for children to fully immerse themselves in their favourite fairy tale, nursery ryhme, song or film. As Disney proclaimed: children can “see the pictures” “hear the record” and “read the book”. Disney Records and its Buena Vista label, along with Peter Pan Records and its derivative Power Records, were among the first companies to explore this multi-media approach to entertaining children by releasing storybooks with a vinyl record. Later would come cassettes – adding a new dimension of ‘mobility’ to the experience, when children could listen on a Walkman and be free to move from room to room or even go outside.

In today’s post we take a look at some French storybooks and vinyl records aimed at the younger children’s market, featuring fairy tales, nursery rhymes and traditional songs. Especially, we take the opportunity to look at some of the artwork involved, and here we see wonderful illustrations from the likes of Biosca, Denise Chabot, Agathe Tran Quang My, Annette Moch and JP Huster who each contributed delightful art for many record sleeves and booklets aimed at children throughout 1960s and 1980s France.