Guide To the Boston Area’s Used Record Stores – Part II: Cambridge – Column

Guide To the Boston Area’s Used Record Stores

Part II: Cambridge

by Joshua Brown

If you are operating on a limited budget and an insatiable musical appetite, there’s no reason to pay inflated retail prices. With a little patience you’ll be able to find anything you want used, sometimes at half the cost of buying it new.

This time we’ll meet in historic Harvard Square, home of punkers and Goths, wimpy revolutionaries, and people who like to think about stuff a lot and/ or have listened to Peter Paul and Mary one too many times. Let’s meet in the “pit” right outside the Harvard Square subway station, shall we? Walk down to Mount Auburn Street and turn left. On the right you’ll see a sign, pointing to the basement, for In Your Ear Records. In Your Ear is one of three major used record stores in Cambridge, the others being Looney Tunes and Mystery Train, who also have a branch in Boston (In Your Ear have a store in Providence, Rhode Island as well). In all three cases, the Boston stores have better and faster-moving stock. Even so, chances are good that you’ll come across a few items that have thus far eluded you on the other side of the Charles River.

In Your Ear has specialty bins for new and used indie CDs and vinyl. Releases by labels like Matador, Drag City, and Homestead are plentiful, and the past three and a half decades are well represented. They’ve also got lots of jazz, soul, avant garde, ’60s psychedelia, and rockabilly on vinyl. Rare punk seven inches are sold on consignment from a collector at moderate collectors’ prices. They used to have a cool hardcore and metal section, but it has deteriorated over the last few years. If your taste is a tad more modern than the aforementioned categories, you’ll have better luck elsewhere. They have a good, albeit kitschy magazine selection. For used movies, try their store on Commonwealth Avenue past Boston University.

OK now, keep walking in the same direction and take a left on the nearest side street onto Massachusetts Avenue. Take a right and keep walking until you come upon Mystery Train Records, next to Oona’s used clothing outlet. If you’re looking for mainstream, alternative, or slightly underground rock on CD from the last decade or so, this is one of the best places around. You won’t find any amazing bargains since they price them all around $8.50, but they probably have what you’re looking for. The vinyl selection is fairly predictable, from Adam Ant to Frank Zappa. The seven inches are all kept at their Boston store. One aspect in which Mystery Train are exceptional is concert bootlegs on CD and video. Not cheap, but impressive. They carry cursory amounts of jazz, classical, and R&B.

Continue trekking up the right-hand side of Mass. Ave. away from Harvard Square and you’ll run into Pipeline Records. Like Mars Records in Allston, they specialize in garage and older punk. For lovers of exploitation, Pipeline carries the most complete collection of Psychotronic videos in the area. They go for twenty five bucks a piece, but if that’s your thing then I’m sure you’re used to paying those prices. They have a great section for punk and indie seven inches, many of which are collectable at reasonable prices. On twelve inch vinyl, they sell a lot of sixties stuff as well as jazz and classical. There’s a bunch of DJ dance vinyl stashed in the back where no one thinks to look. Their new and used CD selection is well-balanced but unremarkable. It’s good for ’90s indie like Guided By Voices and ’80s stuff like Elvis Costello.

Directly across the street is Second Coming Records, one of my personal favorite places to shop. There’s loads of stuff geared mainly toward twentysomethings. I rarely find exactly what I’m looking for, but I inevitably leave there with a bagful of bargains and a silly grin on my face. Over-priced items like Metallica, KISS, and Misfits records are counterbalanced by an inordinate amount of great stuff priced from two to six dollars (especially promo CDs with the covers missing). They have a huge selection of seven inches, as well as one of the best, and cheapest, sections for used cassettes in the city. There’s a huge selection of bootleg concert videos. Seventies classic rock is plentiful, with lots of bootlegs. If you’re into punk, ska, and hardcore, this is the place to be, boasting the only significant Oi! and ska vinyl sections in the Boston area. Reggae fans take note as well.

Now that you’ve crossed the street to Second Coming, keep walking down that side for a few blocks. Underground, next to an arcade, you’ll see Looney Tunes Records. Their used CD and cassette selection is kinda paltry, but their vinyl stock is unique. Readers of Goldmine must have a field day here, with all the ancient vinyl artifacts kept in excellent condition. Genres such as classical, jazz, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll are meticulously balanced, mostly counting backwards from the 1980s. If you’re looking for more recent stuff on vinyl, don’t pass them up, however, ’cause there are always a few surprises in there.

If you’re into oldies on vinyl, especially on 45, you may want to keep going to Central Square where you’ll find Cheapo Records. You’d actually be better off making a separate trip and getting off at the Central Square T stop, ’cause it’s sort of a hike. Oldies are not my specialty, but if that’s what you’re looking for, then Cheapo is unsurpassed by anyone else around here in that category.

Now let’s go back to Harvard Square. If you have a special thirst for Prog Rock, check out Pandemonium Records before hopping back on the T, a block and a half beyond the square on (?) street. ’70s Prog is their specialty, but they also stock punk and indie. The store is new, so there isn’t a lot of stuff circulating yet, but by the same token you’re likely to find something there that you haven’t seen anywhere else.

Now get back on the subway, but don’t go home yet till you’ve ridden two stops into Somerville’s Davis Square. On Highland Avenue you’ll find Disc Diggers, with an exclusively CD format. They still have some vinyl left over from the days of yore, mostly crap but at 50 cents a pop it’s worth a try. The thing that sets Disc Diggers apart from their competition is that they stock used copies of virtually every new release. Since most used music stores are stereotypically places to stock up on one’s all-but-forgotten favorites, Disc Diggers are the exception. Before you go to Tower Records or Newbury Comics to check out all the stuff that has just come out, stop here first. You could save a bundle.

And so ends our two-part tour of the area’s used record stores. There are a couple specialty shops that carry jazz and hip hop on Mass. Ave., but I wouldn’t be the guy to ask about them.

A final word of advice: While you’re shopping around Harvard Square, if any Maoists tell you that the Revolution’s just around the next corner, keep walking until you reach that corner. You’ll probably see a couple old guys playing chess.