Randolph Music/Video Randolph

Photo by Jeff Loughlin

THE SKINNY
Randolph Music & Video is at 900C N. Main St (Route 28) in Randolph, adjacent to the North Randolph Fire Station and about 1.5 miles from Route 128/Interstate 93)
Cost: $5.97 for two slices of cheese pizza and a 7-Up
Time: 60 minutes

Quick Bites

For a quick lunch, grab a couple of slices of pizza at the Tomato and Cheese Co., a couple of doors down. The varied menu also includes Italian, Greek and Mexican specialties. If pancakes are what you crave, there’s the IHOP a couple of hundred feet away.

Time Travel

In an iPod world, there are still music fans who swear by old-fashioned vinyl LPs. Recordings that haven’t undergone digital remastering are making a bit of a comeback.

“There are people who’d rather play a clean record than a CD. It’s a different sound,” said Burt Barack, owner of Randolph Music & Video.

The store has thousands of LPs, along with 45 rpm singles, cassette tapes and even some 8-track tapes. Some are classics (Barack said the Beatles are his biggest seller) and some titles might stump even the most avid of collectors. And if you don’t have a record player, or need a stylus, you can get one here.

Browse a bit

Flipping through the stacks, you’ll find everything from K-Tel collections of 1960s music to an LP of Bruce Springsteen’s breakthrough “Born to Run” album with foldout cover and lyrics. You can listen to the music before you buy.

And if you’re not into old records, the what-were-they-thinking fashions and hairstyles in the album art are good for a laugh.

It’s not often you can come across such 1960s artifacts such as a “Sing Along With Mitch” LP, “Ballad of the Green Berets” by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler and an autographed copy of TV cowboy Rex Trailer’s single “Happy Holiday Feelin.’” There are even copies of Vaughn Meader’s 1962 comedy album “The First Family.” Meader, known for his impression of John F. Kennedy, saw his career skyrocket during JFK’s presidency and end with Kennedy’s assassination.