Let’s Go To The Record Store #23 - Princeton Record Exchange (Princeton, NJ)

For this series I’ll be taking you with me through New York & New Jersey to various Music Stores & Record Shows. Sifting through CD’s, vinyl, and whatever else the stores have to offer. Then at the end I’ll un-bag the loot and discuss why I chose the ones I did. Come on…let’s go to the record store!
Related videos:
For previous episode (#22), see link:
• Let’s Go To The Record...
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[@tapanim6576]

Great store. Glad to see that there were quite a lot of people in the store looking for music in physical form.

[@billymuellerTikTok]

14:25 I have that Aerosmith Sampler on cassette - actually that was the album that got me into the Beatles because of their cover of 'Helter Skelter'... and Winger's first album got me into Jimi Hendrix with their cover of 'Purple Haze'

[@tomsimmons7192]

My son goes to college there, every time I'm up there I HAVE to go there and kill most of a day. It is like a goldmine of music!!! Love that place!!!

[@BrendonSnyder]

That sounds like a great way to spend the down time.

[@speedking4951]

Man, i could spend hours inside a store like this one. As always, thanks for sharing this nice shopping experience.

[@BrendonSnyder]

Haha…I did spend hours there! 👍

[@melvincalladine8187]

Wow if we had record stores like that here in England especially cds at those prices I would have picked up a few hundred English pounds worth of cds . Great piece of film Brendan 👌

[@BrendonSnyder]

Yeah it’s hard not to buy everything at those great low prices.

[@andrewmachado6988]

They had a lot of good stuff there and the prices are really good as well (I didn’t see any CDs priced above $5, even the new ones still with the plastic wrap on them).

[@melprophet1936]

I like that PREX puts the prices on the spine of the jewel case. I guess it mattered more in the old days when CD's cost a lot more, but it's still a cool little convenience for the shopper. And I agree, the prices there are terrific.

[@BrendonSnyder]

I actually hate it because it’s twice the amount of price tags that I have to peel off 😂😂😂😂

[@jaredl.8465]

'The Big Prize' is easily my favorite Honeymoon Suite album (despite the cover). Had it on cassette, too! It's really good front to back. "What Does It Take" plays over the end credits of the John Cusack movie 'One Crazy Summer.' And that Face To Face LP is intriguing. After digging a bit, I found several bands with that name. But their hit was"10 9 8." Wow -- haven't heard that song in decades. Very cool. THX, Brendon!

[@metaljew4456]

I have been shopping at PREX since they opened in the 80’s. I also worked there for a decade and met my wife there almost 30 years ago! I have two kids that don’t exist without this awesome record store!

[@kevinogracia1615]

When do find time to listen to your CD's? (Joke) Peace on earth.

[@ExileOnMyStreet]

That's actually a good question. He strikes me as more of a collector than avid listener. Not saying he doesn't listen to what he purchases, but instead always looking for the next rush of finding something new. It's an addiction really, one I mastered to break several years ago. I've culled thousands and now my collection is lean and mean (for me) and I'm much happier.

[@paulburns3788]

Hello Brendon how are you doing how was your Christmas 🤶 I hope you had a nice holiday

[@BrendonSnyder]

Thanks Paul it was very nice!

[@paulburns3788]

The bands you picked up and show the KZbinrs me I never heard some of them

[@BrendonSnyder]

That’s the idea…it’s so you can get exposed to some new stuff!

[@markcusack6335]

I do regret the closures of the various Tower Records stores in Piccadilly and Kensington, London; the former carrying a superb range of music in blues, country and, gasp….Americana. The sales assistants’ depth of knowledge in these fabulous emporiums was unrivalled, their passion for all genres of music unquestioned.

[@BungelTom]

Hey Brendon, just curious. Do you have your collection in discogs?

[@Original_Lurke_fromthe_Unknown]

Great Finds. At 2:41 who was that playing on the store music system? That sounds great. Anyhow that’s a great score you found. I’m always amazed about what you find. Really cool stuff.

[@seekah1]

Liked that one as well

[@paulburns3788]

Also I like your shirt of guns n' roses it looks cool man

[@BrendonSnyder]

👍

[@anxietymanTV]

Great buys. Thanks for the video. Saw Billy thorpe in the vinyl section. Great artist. Didn't realise he was so popular stateside.

[@purpletemple1]

Funny! I just bought that Alaska album a couple of days ago, it's quite good! I have never seen that oddly shaped Purpendicular cd. Wonder if that was some sort of promo!?! That Golden Earring is awesome! If you like it you should try their previous one No Promises, No Debts. Great store! Cheers.

[@Louisejames23]

Love this place, haven’t been for almost 20 years but it hasn’t changed much! Hope to get back to Nj this year, will be checking out your vids for other stores 😊

[@BrendonSnyder]

Don’t waste any time, get back to the store. You never know when one might close. Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@billymuellerTikTok]

8:35 who brings a baby to a record store?! LOL just kidding

[@4tuneagent]

I saw you looked at that 1980 self-titled album by The Brains, a new wave/Rock band from Atlanta.. Never issued on CD, love that album, and it had the minor hit, " Money Changes Everything ", which was later covered by Cyndi Lauper.. The whole LP is pretty cool, their first of 3.

[@BrendonSnyder]

Yeah I didn’t know anything about the band The Brains but their album cover looked cool!

[@teckertime]

Fantastic CD prices there at Princeton Records. Wow. Simple Minds Real Life is a classic!

[@BrendonSnyder]

And it turns out that I didn’t have it so it was also a good score!

[@paulburns3788]

The video was awesome I like it

[@BrendonSnyder]

Glad you enjoyed it Paul!

[@billymuellerTikTok]

11:35 I remember buying the full version of that 'Rubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary' album because I HAD to get "Stone Cold Crazy" by Metallica. the songs are all covers of Elektra songs by other Elecktra artists. I remember it was very expensive - I think $30 to $40 - what a cash grab by Elektra. This was back in the day before streaming and before Napster and before even iTunes where you could have just bought the one song you wanted for 99 cents. There were a few other albums back then that I bought for ONE SONG as well including the soundtrack to 'Days of Thunder' to get Guns N Roses "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and 'Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal' which was another expensive double CD to get "Civil War" which was before Use Your Illusion 1 & 2 came out (I also bought a cassette single of "You Could Be Mine" from Terminator 2), but at least the money from that was going to charity, although I still don't know who benefited from it.... Rubáiyát ended up being the best investment of the two double albums as it had a few other songs from bands I loved including "Going Down" by Lynch Mob and "You're So Vain" by Faster Pussycat and I also liked "Hello, I Love You" the Doors cover by The Cure, although it took me YEARS to finally get into them.

[@williambaxter4628]

That Golden Earring cd is a keeper.

[@Earcandy73]

I’ve been going to the Record Exchange for over 30 years!

[@BrendonSnyder]

…and hopefully for 30 more years!!

[@BadEnglishRecs]

Well I'd like to visit place like that! I paid more from my GnR. I think more than 5€. That Hanoi Rocks I would also need. I'd like to get Oriental beat's re(al)mix next year, and I guess I am ready to pay 25 €. I dont' remember when I was last time seeing Hanoi Rocks CD at fleamarket. Maybe people in Finland don't like to leave them ever. How many hours you use to find some Hanoi related stuff, I'll comment. ;) Because so often you show them. :D Who's next ! Only 3$? So unfair. :D mr. Finglish (Bäd English Recs)

[@piotrlangtvedt]

You should by RORY GALLAGHER. You would like TOP PRIORITY and JINX. Start with those. Pure rock. :)

[@BrendonSnyder]

I own it! 👍

[@piotrlangtvedt]

@@BrendonSnyder Yeah! Fantastic! 😉✌️👍

[@Jamescub]

I'm truly surprised at the very low prices at this store for CDs and albums! The prices on eBay and Amazon are much higher plus shipping costs.

[@MrMetalminded]

Wow! Great prices and a few that I'm going to have to add to my collection! I'm hoping we close early tomorrow (Friday 12/30). I'm going to head to a great used CD/Vinyl store not far from me. I may just make an afternoon out of it! Thanks Brendon!

[@BrendonSnyder]

Enjoy! I hope you have lots of great finds!! 👍

[@MrMetalminded]

@@BrendonSnyder thank you!!

[@robmills537]

Hi Brendon what an amazing place I would spend hours in there & the prices are fantastic, I saw you pull out a Frank Zappa cd I don't think I've ever seen you talk about Frank are you a fan of his ? All the best from Rob in England 🇬🇧.

[@BrendonSnyder]

Hi Rob! I like a little Zappa. I’ve got the album The Grand Wazoo and a best of album. But I know there are lots of Zappa fans out there so I like to include some of this stuff.

[@nowherejoe1368]

Did you pick up that "Brains" album? they wrote "money changes everything" which was a hit for Cyndi Lauper a few years later.

[@jeffreyrobinson9120]

Since Vintage Vinyl in Woodbridge closed down I`ve been meaning to get back to PRE. Haven`t been there in a while. Could spend the whole day in that place.

[@thedistortionden]

Enjoy watching your videos from Canada Brendon. Honeymoon Suite is a great add and you will remember Feel It Again once you hear it. Solid album and your older brother had great taste back in the day! Cheers to ya

[@mitchwilley5011]

Very reasonable prices...can't touch a used cd in north dakota or minnesota for under 6.00.

[@Mattomega]

I definitely would’ve gone home with Flash and Kyuss!

[@samhouston1979]

who knew there was a band called Alaska?

[@BrendonSnyder]

The band features Bernie Marsden on guitar from Whitesnake!

[@silviodraco9393]

Yeah is perfect. Enjoy 👍

[@BrendonSnyder]

Always lots of fun!

[@PetesCDVinylWorld]

I must've been there right after you, I saw some of those same CDs when I was there

[@bobg56]

You should also show the inside of the store itself so people get a feel for how big the store is.

[@BrendonSnyder]

Perhaps you should watch the whole video…the inside of the store is shown.

[@bobg56]

@@BrendonSnyder I apologize. I see it is between when you looked at the CDs and when you looked at the records.

[@allen-rp3gm]

I've been there a few times going back to the 1980's. Haven't been there in quite awhile though. What I remember from the last time I was there is that they had a huge amount of UK free Jazz on CD. Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Incus and Emanem titles.

[@BrendonSnyder]

I’m not a Jazz guy but they have a whole wall of Jazz.

[@seekah1]

Nice store, get some good shopping in there, don't really have anything like that locally. Here are my likes you sifted through that I own: Bangles - Different Light / Hanoi Rocks - Two Steps From the Move / Zep 1 / Zep Remasters / Rush - Moving Pictures / The Who - Who's Next. See if any of those you can get into. Great video Brendon, thanks for everything, Happy New Year to you as well.

[@BrendonSnyder]

I own all of those as well. Most of what I show that I don’t buy is because I already own it. Happy New Year!

[@gregoryleo4640]

I noticed that several of the CD's pulled in the store are BMG Record Club pressings(. I put those back when found. I know some people that don't mind, but I won't buy Columbia House or BMG/RCA record club issues. What is your preference?

[@BrendonSnyder]

I have no issue with them. Given a preference I will chose the non-club version. But sound wise there is no difference. I just prefer the UPC.

[@robdelker919]

Hi. New subscriber. Awesome huge collection. I can't help but try to think if you're able to use the angled portion of your wall for display/storage. Maybe bookshelves with angled shelves? I dont like seeing wasted space :)

[@BrendonSnyder]

The design was on purpose. I’m an architect and designed the space based on aesthetics and didn’t want to over so everything crowding the room.

[@jwgmoore6797]

Seeing the picture of the band on the back of They Only Come Out At Night album, made me realize that Edgar Winter is the only surviving member.

[@BrendonSnyder]

…that happens

[@joshhorvath7151]

I have a question I recently purchased a Kiss album and called kiss Carnival of Souls and it came from Germany side a is an English side B is in German have you ever seen any misprints of that album at record store sporting around

[@BrendonSnyder]

No don’t know if that’s intentional or a misprint.

[@victorsvorinich1595]

Lol. I was thinking of messaging you if you wanted to meet up there this morning until I seen this! Good finds today!

[@BrendonSnyder]

Maybe next time we can do that!

[@jeffgay2085]

Face to Face - S/T great debut. Love Laurie Sargent’s vocals and the band make a very interesting brand of pop-rock….highly melodic and verging on new-wave. Confrontation is a good follow-up on a similar vein, though 3rd album is slightly more mainstream. She then went the whole acoustic-hog on her solo stuff which was incredibly bland and boring stuff imo. Those early FTF albums though….❤

[@BrendonSnyder]

Cool…I’m looking forward to checking it out! 👍

[@keithbarrett656]

@@BrendonSnyder it was Wounded Bird that re-issued the album you picked up. Great stuff!

[@jasonwalt1664]

Great score

[@BrendonSnyder]

Thanks Jason, it was a blast!

[@billymuellerTikTok]

13:16 Patty Smyth was actually offered the lead vocalist role in Van Halen by Eddie when David Lee Roth quit the band to go solo but she turned it down because she was 8 months pregnant at the time and then they ended up with Sammy Hagar because he and Eddie were using the same car mechanic and he hooked them up. Sammy is a huge car guy - especially after "I can't drive 55" came out and cops would recognize him whenever they pulled him over for speeding and let him go with just a warning because they loved the song and he started buying faster and faster cars. Eddie saw Sammy's Ferrari 512 in the shop and asked the mechanic who the owner was and he told him and Eddie and Alex were huge Montrose fans growing up and loved his voice.... so imagine an alternate reality if Patty hadn't been pregnant or if Sammy hadn't had that hit song that got him out of speeding tickets.

[@jazzpunk]

Upon entering, looked a little like Birdland Records & Tapes in Va. Beach, VA. You showed some cool stuff in there. I got Flash IN THE CAN for Christmas, 1973. Mom bought it at the Norfolk NEX $4.00 I love Edgar Winter's White Trash...that album you showed us, though...pretty Disco-fied. IMO. Pass.

[@motley123rock]

Baton Rouge what an album that is. Couldn’t see on the video how much was it ?

[@BrendonSnyder]

Yeah great band!

[@davej.meister5421]

"Feel It Again" is actually Honeymoon Suite's only U.S. Top 40 pop hit, and that's the biggest American rock radio hit you'll find on Big Prize. Face To Face is a female fronted one-hit wonder new wave/AOR band from Boston, and "10-9-8" is the biggest hit from that album, their only Top 40 hit. Fotomaker is a late 70s power pop supergroup whose members include Wally Bryson of Raspberries fame, along with Gene Cornish and the late Dino Daneli (who passed away recently) from the Rascals. Only the singer and keyboardist weren't immediate household names that came from prior major rock bands. Their first two albums (from 1978 - and their S/T debut is an awesome power pop/AOR album from start to finish) are gems, but "Transfer Station" is more pop in the veins of ABBA than rock and roll. You'll definitely enjoy Taxxi, although States of Emergency from 1982 is their biggest and only charting album. Very surprised you pulled the "Away From The Sun" CD by 3 Doors Down off the shelf to show us. Honestly didn't think you'd like them, because you're not really into their late 90's/early Y2K post-grunge contemporaries like Creed, Matchbox 20, Nickelback, Fuel, Shinedown, Lifehouse or Vertical Horizon. It is actually a good album with some really strong tracks on it. Imho, the best way to get started with a band you're not sure if you like or not is to begin with their greatest hits/best of discs, then work your way to the individual releases. I've done that with several bands, and it seems to work for me.

[@kennethhardbargeriii2798]

What's up with the jazz music in a record store lol 😆

[@BrendonSnyder]

I prefer Rock as well but record stores do sell Jazz too. I just don’t think it always fits the vibe which should be considered when playing music.

[@samhouston1979]

$2? i’d pull the trigger for that Van Halen cd

[@BrendonSnyder]

I already own it!

[@147decibel]

Great shop, range of stock and prices. The CDs are nicely presented on those shelves. The Face To Face album looks very interesting, I've been on a Missing Persons spree this past month, having picked up the 2nd and 3rd albums on Rubellen Remasters. If you know any similar sounding female fronted bands please let me know.

[@samhouston1979]

they put the price tag over Patty Smyth’s nose 😏🙄

[@BrendonSnyder]

😂

[@nowherejoe1368]

Face to Face had a hit with "10-9-8" also the lead singer was the vocals for the character Ellen Aim played by Diane Lane in the film "Streets of Fire"

[@brentchristensen7832]

Glad you got the Rubicon album or I say get your butt back there. A really hard find. It's what Jack Blades and Brad Giles from Night Ranger first band together.

[@briankessler3501]

Really dig to "waste" a few hours looking thru the bins at record stores. Always find a few hidden gems to take home. Great post, Brendon and thanks.

[@mike-qk1vf]

hey brendon Honeymoon suite is a great canadian band. The cover for that 1985 disc is taken at niagra ontario canada.Feel it again was a huge one here in canada by honeymoon suite and the rest of stuff u got is awesome. good score for forty us. mike friend from canada

[@mrrandy1]

Honeymoonsweet the song feel it again, so wonderful.

[@BrendonSnyder]

👍

[@Ben_Horne]

The cool older brother with the amazing record collection to many.

[@BrendonSnyder]

Haha…cool!

[@samhouston1979]

i still need to get that 4th Cinderella cd

[@BrendonSnyder]

Don’t wait any longer…it’s soooooo GOOD!

[@darlenegoodwin]

Face to Face had a song called 10 9 8 in 1984, I remember.

[@SeanMorrisonRocks]

How is the parking

[@BrendonSnyder]

There is street parking that is metered and also a nearby parking garage.

[@garpike6382]

Hi Brendon, like your channel did you listen to the edgar winter group cd again? Sounds like you haven't heard it in a long time,what do you think of it?personally I love every song on it

[@BrendonSnyder]

I loved it and it kicked off a while Edgar Winter trip with me buying 10 albums of his.

[@garpike6382]

@@BrendonSnyder cool Brendon did you do or are you going to do a video on those 10?

[@BrendonSnyder]

They turned up in various New Music Finds episodes following this video.

[@garpike6382]

@@BrendonSnyder thanks Brendon 👍

[@BeatUpRecordsCDs]

That cult love cd is one of my favourite albums

[@Nephilim-81]

I love it, Brandon. Great way to spend an afternoon. ❤

[@BrendonSnyder]

It’s the best thing I know to do! 👍

[@Nephilim-81]

@@BrendonSnyder well hang on a minute. Your a decent architect and I have to say your media shelves are absolutely terrific. I’m so glad you got to give your collection the Royal treatment. Looks great.

[@captainbeyond7469]

My brother and I were at the same store last week. Made a couple of good finds but they were mostly picked over looks like they have restocked. Will have to make another trip. One thing I didn’t like was the staff was pretty rude not very customer friendly. Cheers

[@DorianPaige00]

I always thought PREX looks picked over. They under price almost everything and the slightly rare and rare's leave in a jiffy.

[@j.j.guerrieri5257]

Man, some nice selections in there💿

[@BrendonSnyder]

So much good stuff!

[@Mrajtheartist]

✨⭐✨💞💖💞💖💖💞💖💞💖💞💖💞✨⭐✨

[@BrendonSnyder]

👍

[@paulburns3788]

Oh by the way have you heard Savage Grace band

[@mrrandy1]

glad to see the store so busy

[@BrendonSnyder]

That was early morning too…I’m sure it’s busier later in the day.

[@mondoenterprises6710]

Some great picks in there!

[@mondoenterprises6710]

15 for $40 works for me!

[@rolfhoffmann4294]

Hoagie haven is not far from here

[@BrendonSnyder]

👍

[@StevensPaul]

WPRB sent me there........ and on MORE than one occasion 👍. You can't really beat their selection or their service 🐕‍🦺👍.

[@BrendonSnyder]

Yeah the whole experience is always a good one.