While roaming around an antique store in Waxahatchie, Texas yesterday, I overheard a woman who worked there talking about vinyl records. She said there was a time, not long ago, when you couldn’t give them away. Antique stores were throwing them out. But, she added, things are changing. Vinyl records have started coming back and may become even more collectible than ever before. Typically, this store had an extremely small collection of mostly crap vinyl records. About the only interesting discs in the place were a “golden oldies” album published by a Houston radio station with photos of the disc jockeys inside the jacket, a direct-to-disc demonstration album pressed on red plastic that was apparently given away with Pioneer stereo equipment, and a Beach Boys fan club picture sleeve. If you happen to go searching for records in an antique store, you should know that the owners of these stores normally don’t put the “good stuff” out for sale. They are usually sold online through eBay or end up in the hands of a local collector who has a close relationship with the owners. Sometimes, however, the owners overlook a real gem and just set it out with the Firestone Christmas albums and other common stuff. This usually happens when they come across a record that’s so rare, it can’t be found in their (usually outdated) price guides and nobody’s trying to sell a copy of it online. I found my copy of this record in an antique store in Wisconsin and paid 50 cents for it. Today it’s listed as being worth $300, but I’ve seen it sell on eBay for as little as $74. Condition makes the difference, and mine is in great condition!

I don’t know anything at all about Glenn Dunno or Off Center Records. I’m guessing that The Capris from New York City, who had a big hit with There’s A Moon Out Tonight in 1961, had something to do with the making of this record. It’s possible that one of The Capris is singing this using the name Glenn Dunno. That’s NOT the country superstar Vince Gill who wrote this song, by the way, because he would have been only four years old at the time! Anyway, it’s a catchy song that has become a favorite of obsessed record collectors like myself. We just love records that sing about the joys of collecting records!

 

Here’s Sitting By The Record Player by Glenn Dunno on Off Center 6146 from 1961:

 

And here’s the flip side, Some One Like You:

 

If you know anything more about Glenn Dunno or the history of this record, please let me know!

While you’re sitting by your computer, be sure to check out MusicMaster Oldies if you want to hear tens of thousands of cool oldies from the 1950’s and 1960’s, along with a few other surprises!