COLLECTING CHRISTMAS!

GOLDMINE WRITER TIM NEELY TAKES YOU THROUGH THE STEPS OF BUILDING A CHRISTMAS ALBUM COLLECTION IN A COST-EFFECTIVE WAY.

- TIM NEELY

You’re finally in the Christ-mas mood. Perhaps you want to trim the tree or wrap presents or indulge in cookies and eggnog. You want the full throwback experience, but you don’t have any Christmas music to spin on your turntable, and you don’t want to hear the same old stuff from the local holiday-hits station. What now?

One of the best parts of collecting Christmas music is that you can obtain a good collection for not a lot of money. Except for music that is collectible for other reasons — for example, doo-wop, punk/alternative, audiophile reissues, 1990s vinyl — most Christmas albums are common and cheap. Many are likely to lurk in the bargain bins at thrift shops and used record stores. But don’t let that deter you! If it’s that old-time feeling you want, the $1-or-less stuff is exactly what you want. Because many of the albums were played only one month a year, even the cheap stuff often is in great shape. Actually, because the albums weren’t always stored with care, a mint-minus cover might be harder to find than a mint-minus record.

For this survey, the focus will be on vinyl albums. Collecting Christmas music on 45 is different; in recent years, some 45s, especially those that still get played on the radio, have become expensive. And CDs are yet another discussion.

In general, Christmas albums fall into two basic categories: various artists collections and single artist records.

VARIOUS ARTISTS ALBUMS