Today, I went to the secondhand shop nearby looking for a Coleman outdoors chair. What I ended up bringing home instead were 10 CDs for a grand total of 1,100 yen. I don’t remember the last time I bought a CD from a brick-and-mortar store.
But for ¥110 (70 cents) apiece they were practically giving them away. I tried not to be carried away and limited my purchase to ten CDs.
Reincarnation by Yumi Matsutoya
For a long time I’ve wanted to get my hands on Yumi Matsutoya’s Hikō-ki Gumo album (under her maiden name Yumi Arai), even before I heard the song of the same name in The Wind Rises.
But as luck would have it I ended up with this CD instead.
The Nocturnes (Chopin) by Artur Bernstein
An old (and fairly dirty) CD. Cleaning by 50/50 solution of ethanol and water took care of the blemishes on the disc surface. This should be relaxing music to listen to at night.
Kokorone by Ken Kamikita
I don’t have the slightest idea about this music or artist: I bought the CD solely because of the album art (and hoped for the best). I found out after I brought it home that this is a double CD.
Berstein Conducts Great Marches
Marches are great; they give you that festive mood, like you’re in an elementary school graduation ceremony, or in a fiesta watching a marching band, or in your living room on a Saturday morning watching Looney Tunes.
It came together with a cute mini-CD classical music sampler inside.
Pull Marine by Isabelle Adjani
A very old (and very clean) France-made CD by (I read later) an icon of French cinema. The album name I found through a little research.
The original owner might have played it once and then put it away in her closet and forgot about it for three decades.
Gregorian Chant (Monks’ Choir of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Martin)
The Gregorian Chant brings me memories of Miss Mijares, our high school music teacher who patiently tried to teach us the appeal of this kind of music. I doubt many of us paid much attention.
Now, 30 years later (and with adequate equipment) I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a CD to find out for myself.
Delicious by Dreams Come True
Dreams Come True are a Japanese pop trio who had a series of very popular albums during the 1990s but I never got to own any of their CDs.
Golden Solitude by Ritornell
I thought the cover design alone was worth the 110 yen I paid for this CD. I have no idea about the music inside (it should be worth 110 yen at least).
Magic by Dreams Come True
I’ve always seen this CD displayed prominently inside music stores during the band’s heyday in the 1990s but I never thought of buying it until now (when it’s less than 10% of its original price).
Every Single Day–Complete Best of Bonnie Pink (1995-2006)
Not only do I not know who Bonnie Pink is, the price tag annoyingly hides the name of the album and the artist (the back cover only lists the songs and the case was taped shut).
But I thought it was worth paying ¥55 per disc (it’s a double album) without knowing the music inside. Tanoshimini shiteiru.
All in all, a nice haul of CDs to add to my collection, and should be worth a few months of pleasurable listening.