Dead people's records

I occasionally like to take a look in charity shops to see if they have anything interesting and maybe find a bargain. As a music fan I tend to gravitate towards the media section of the shop along with the usual assortment of middle aged men who mutter to themselves and have poor hygiene. The people in the media section also tend to be territorial and are not adverse to getting their elbows out in order to fend off any rivals for a bargain.

If you can get to it, most shops will have a small selection of vinyl records, but they always seem to be the usual assortment of Herb Alpert, James Last, Dean Martin or Andy Williams LPs from the sixties and seventies. There are often multiple copies of the same record available. I once took great pleasure in lining up five copies of "The Sound of Bread" to ensure that any passing Bread enthusiasts wouldn't have to look too hard to find the copy in best condition. Occasionally you will see a dusty box of classical music sitting underneath the shelves. Such boxes are often groaning with ten disc box sets or various "Classics for Pleasure" titles that haven't been played in sixty years. I have even seen boxes of cassettes - but searching those is a bit too hardcore even for me.

The one thing that all of these records and tapes have in common is that they are worthless. The audience for easy listening music is quite literally dead. Even the few living people who are interested in the genre aren't likely to need a another copy of "Al Martino: Gold" or Perry Como "And I love you so".

I also see other patterns emerging with newer music. Almost every single charity shop in the UK seems to contain the Robbie Williams back catalogue on CD. Invariably you can walk out of any 'chazza' in England with at least four copies of "Escapology" if you so desire. However, I suspect these CDs are merely the discarded ephemera of Generation X as they move wholesale to streaming services rather than as a result of their untimely deaths.

Therefore anything worth owning in a charity shop tends to stick out like a turd in a swimming pool. I have seen the prices of anything even vaguely worth owning rocket in the last couple of years. It seems the people who kindly volunteer to work in charity shops have become attuned to the difference between a box of dead people's records and something people might actually want. So unless you need another LP by The Tijuana Brass or to overpay for something you do want, you might as well avoid charity shops.