Vinyl Memories

I miss record stores. I know there are still some out there, but they aren’t as ubiquitous as they were when I was growing up in the 1970s and 80s. The main stores I shopped in were National Record Mart and Camelot Music. I recall getting some good albums in the bargain bin at G.C. Murphy’s as well.

I’m taking this walk down memory lane because my latest Flickr album – Let’s Go Shopping – features two photos of record stores. I think I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy looking closely at the details of images. The high-resolution files made by the Prints & Photographs Division lend themselves to close-up study. In one record store photo, taken in November of 1979 by Thomas O’Halloran for U.S. News and World Report Magazine, I (with a little help from some of my colleagues) was able to identify 33 of the albums for sale!

Here is the photo:

In no particular order, though I’m listing my favorite first:

• Saturday Night Fiedler
• Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps
• Cheap Trick – Dream Police
• The Alan Parsons Project – Eve
• Led Zeppelin – In Through the Out Door
• Foreigner – Head Games
• Journey – Evolution
• Jethro Tull – Stormwatch
• Barbra Streisand – Wet
• Barry Manilow – One Voice
• Cheap Trick – In Color
• Bob Dylan – Slow Train Coming
• David Bromberg – Wanted Dead or Alive
• Jefferson Starship – Freedom at Point Zero
• Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
• Jimmy Buffett – Volcano
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – So Far
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer – In Concert
• AKB- Stand Up Sit Down
• The Main Event
• The Billie Holiday Story
• Jean-Luc Ponty – Live
• Pat Metheny Group – American Garage
• Christa Ludwig & Leonard Bernstein – An Evening of Brahms Songs
• Claudja Barry – Boogie Woogie Dancin’ Shoes
• Taka Boom – Taka Boom
• Commodores – Midnight Magic
• Michael Jackson – Off the Wall
• David Ruffin – So Soon We Change
• Bobbi Humphrey – Freestyle
• Angela Bofill – Angie
• Rufus & Chaka – Masterjam
• Lou Rawls – When You Hear Lou, You’ve Heard it All

There is one album that I haven’t been able to place. Do you know what it is?

Learn more:

• See other photos taken by Thomas O’Halloran.
• Learn about the U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection.
• Check out this blog about America’s Record Collection.