margaret singana - why did you do it? (mp3)

t-coy - de me mas (mp3)

chico chico - bamboleo (spanish summer mix) (mp3)

bargain bins. love them or hate them, every half decent record store is burdened with them. they entice you in with their crate busting amount of records, their cheaper than cheap prices, their dusty persona, and of course, their low gravity positioning...

but, in the wonderful world of record shopping, there’s nothing more enjoyable than spending hour upon hour sat on a ludicrously uncomfortable floor. as you frantically sift through the multicoloured box’s, desperately looking for 'that' record that will makes those achy limbs, cut fingers and potential haemorrhoid attack, all but a necessity. so, the question lies - is all that time, effort and those constant visions of joan armatrading really worth it?

well, these occasional ‘tales from the bargain bins’ are here to help prove that it is. in times of despair, these scribes are here to give you hope and faith. that even after 3 hours of searching, with nothing but a constant reminder of how much you really did (and still do) hate dj luck and mc neat, that you've got to keep on going. keep on going, because 'that' record you really want, is probably just around the corner, wedged in tightly between a babylon zoo picture disc, and a big beat megamix...

so, to start things off, i am going to share with you three recent ‘bargain bin’ finds. nothing particularly ground breaking, but good records none the less...

first up is ‘why did you do it’ by margaret singana . originally released way back in 1975 by stretch, this is a top notch cover version by the south african born, ms singana. appearing on her 1977 album, ‘tribal fence’, it is worth getting for this track alone…

second up is from t-coy, called ‘de me mas’. as well as releasing the still played to death ‘carino’, they also dropped this cheeky little track around the same time. loads of horns and piano. top tune…

third up is the borderline ridiculous ‘bamboleo’, by chico chico. i am not going to lie, this is cheesier than a cheese board, but for some reason i really, really dig it. this record is a great example of, if in doubt, just buy it for the picture sleeve. a massive guilty pleasure...