I’d never been to Nuggets before, but I saw a spot open in front of the store on my way back from the doctor’s office and, as a reward for actually getting one of my hockey injuries checked out, made an impromptu visit. I soon realized that I shouldn’t have fed the meter the rest of my quarters, since I would have needed every last one if I’d wanted to buy something.

Forty bucks for the Smiths’ Meat Is Murder? I got that LP at RRRecords for $4.50 two years ago. Twenty dollars for a Regulator Watts LP? I got one for $4.50 at Mystery Train a few weeks ago and I doubt there was a rush. If I’d taken notes instead of an anti-inflammatory drug, I could regale you with other examples of in-city overpricing (lots of $30, $40, and $50 LPs for bands without noted cult followings like the Smiths), but Nuggets makes In Your Ear and Looney Tunes seem like bargain outlets. Do I understand that the proximity to Kenmore Square necessitates such pricing? Sure. Was their stock fresh enough to justify it? Oh hell no.

I looked through every rock LP, most of which would have been dollar bin candidates at Stereo Jack’s, and the only one I remotely considered purchasing was Füxa’s Three Field Rotation for $12.99. I already own Venoy, their contribution to Darla’s Bliss Out series, and it’s not exactly in my heavy rotation pile, so I passed. Filing the soundtrack for Married to the Mob under both Brian Eno and the Feelies is a cheap trick to pad artist dividers, much like the inclusion of early 1990s magazines covering a given artist. I skimmed their jazz vinyl with no luck, finding a best-of compilation for John Coltrane for a whopping $20. If I’ve learned anything about jazz LPs, it’s to avoid such compilations, something that has been confirmed by their entry-level pricing at virtually every other record store I frequent. I couldn’t even get at their barred-off understock, not that I was optimistic about any potential finds.

With any used record store, the stock could be considerably better on a later visit, even if it’s just one record you’ve been hunting down, but Nuggets didn’t fill me with optimism that it would ever happen (or that the album wouldn’t be 4x eBay prices when I find it). It’s unfair to compare its selection and prices to an out-of-the-way store like RRRecords or Mystery Train, but Looney Tunes proves that an in-city store can maintain the stock turnover necessary to justify the increase in prices.

You may have noticed that I’ve been busy lately catching up on some months-old record shopping tales in The Haul. I’m still behind in that department, having gone to town on Record Store Day, but I’d like to map out a terrifying agenda for the next few months.

The Haul: No record shopping until I’ve caught up. (My wife rejoices.) Maybe a trip to the dollar bin if I’m going through withdrawal. This process slowed down after realizing that it’s a lot easier to write about these albums after listening to them, which, amazingly enough, takes time. Unfortunately, I realized that after missing a few big entries, meaning that I have a handful of completed posts waiting for chronological order.

Record Collection Reconciliation: I’ve selected 45 LPs and ten bonus seven-inch singles to tackle this summer. Expect new entries soon.

Compulsive List Making: I have about 30 unfinished top ten lists (J. Robbins songs, songs that sound like J Robbins songs, Rodan family tree songs, etc.) and I may very well finish a few of them.

Reading List: I’m formulating my summer reading list at the moment and hope to tackle at least ten novels this summer, several of the “it’s completely embarrassing that you’ve never read this book before” variety.

Feel free to encourage one meme over another.

Going two weeks in between trips to Newbury Comics feels like less of an accomplishment when it’s put in writing. This purchase also included an issue of Magnet, a magazine I hadn’t purchased a stray issue of in a few years. This particular issue is their fifteenth anniversary issue, which is impressive for a glossy magazine ostensibly covering alternative/indie music, but their broad scope is large enough to interest casual scenesters on a bi-monthly basis. That scope contributes to my hesitation for subscribing to the magazine, since too many of the issues focus a Big Indie Band of the Moment or a Classic Indie Standby. The fifteenth anniversary celebration acts as a compendium of the latter artists, but it’s interesting to get a perspective on which artists they still want to talk about a decade later.

23. Four Tet – Ringer LP – Domino, 2008 – $10

Someone please explain this vinyl pressing to me. Ringer has four tracks spanning a total of 31:33, with neither half lasting longer than sixteen minutes. Yet it was pressed on two LPs with one song per side. I would have understood this decision if the sides played at 45 rpm like the audiophile-oriented vinyl pressings from Bottomless Pit (and those more expensive Metallica reissues), but instead they run at 33 rpm. Is this format what DJs prefer? That might make sense, since Ringer is more “techno” in nature than other Four Tet releases, but some of the DJ-styled twelve-inches in my collection have multiple tracks per side. The record certainly sounds great, but $10 should be the regular price, not the mark-down price for Ringer, and a single LP would justify that price.