Learning to Hunt - Fresh Tendrils's Blog

Fresh Tendrils's Blog

Learning to Hunt

Posted on July 24, 2011 at 01:28 PM.

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This past weekend I made my first trek to a record shop. Now, this wasn't a music shop, this was a genuine, musty-cardboard smelling antique shop located in an air-conditioned warehouse. The purchases from Amazon were all one-sided. They contained experiences, yes, but they were all from a listening stand-point. Actually going and looking for vinyl IS getting your cherry popped because its the whole she-bang. A dingy, cool but still muggy old basement is probably a part of first-time memories for a lot of boys and girls. That's the exact impression this place gave off. The record section might as well had been a bed.

The initial problem is just finding a place to start. There was a center section and then behind that was a section that followed the wall and came to make an L. I started with the L. I originally wanted to spend a grand total of $50. That was my ball-park. I had another place I wanted to check out and I figured $50 for both would be adequate for awhile. So remember $50.

There's really nothing to do other than to just ****ing start going through each and every one. Flipping from the front to the back. Fingering each one. Every so often there was a spark or something to catch my eye. An Elvis Live in Memphis. The Surfaris original Wipeout! These were things that yelled at me from a music listener perspective. Wipeout on vinyl? If only it wasn't priced at $35 And then there were things that spoke to me on an individual basis. The Walton's Christmas album. If only I were a lot more stoned.

The rationale for picking out vinyl, I discovered very quickly was obscure. The first one I took out and clung to like death was a collection of "action tv themes" by The Ventures. Seriously. The Batman theme. Green hornet. Secret agent man. Holy bananas, Batman. I guess you could say I began leaning more toward the novelty of the format, because **** that's what a lot of them seemed to be anyway. The covers were some of the coolest, zaniest stuff I had seen. No wonder kids bought albums strictly by looking at the covers. Once I flipped through and saw Madonna's Like a Virgin, how could I resist that? Madonna was hot as hell back in the day. And while I thought that was intriguing, somehow I managed to resist the urge to run out and share a bathroom stall with Nancy Sinatra's How Does That Grab You. Nancy standing there with a brown sweater and boots asking that question. Oh you.

Flipping through and finding the damn ET soundtrack was like hitting the Trinity jackpot. Firstly, it features an artist that I admire and respect, but have yet to actually buy anything for in Johny Williams. Secondly, it features an artist that was one of the defining pieces of his respective genres and an absolute giant his ENTIRE life and an an artist that I just listen to because he's entertaining and a genius in Michael Jackson. Thirdly, its the soundtrack of a movie that I watched about a thousand times as kid. Once I opened up and saw how great of shape the platter was in and the booket, too, I could not say no. I didn't think about putting it back. When you find something like that, its almost like you're walking out of a bank with a million dollar bag in your hand.

A lot of the albums I took out and checked out the discs. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure "what works" and what really ****s **** up. I hypothesized and concluded with no scientific research that scratches are no-gos and scuffs/prints are doable. I took the time to take out the sleeve, take out the disc and look it over in my amateur way and then put everything back. I did this with a lot of records I thought about keeping; however, there were some definite "blind buys" that I "had to try" just for the hell of it because it was 6 bucks. I found, grabbed and clung to Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I did the same with some Fantasy reprints of CCR, which were two of the catches of the day. These weren't the original pressings, but they will certainly do until I find them. These were printed in 1978, were gatefold and in each gate contained one whole album. So two gatefolds resulted in four ****ing CCR albums. Green River and Willy and the Poor Boys were the "1969" gatefold. Cosmo's Factory and Pendulum were the "1970" gatefold. I almost did a little touchdown celebration dance when I found these. Imagine finding three of your favorite albums from one of your favorite bands in your very first visit to a record store. The universe works in hilarious fashion.

There were definite "next time" albums, but one stands out and above the rest. Chipmunk Punk. I **** you not. It is exactly what you think when you read those words. The Chipmunks - Alvin, Simon, Theodore. "Punk" - in the vein of My Sharona and Call Me "punk." This thing was bizarre, intriguing, frightening, and hilarious all in the same face. I picked it up and didn't want to put it down - it was one of those things. Something you buy just for how ridiculous it is. I managed to think like an adult and not a 17 year old boy for once and actually put it back down. I'm pretty sure Satan was testing me.

I managed to go through all the records this little shop had, with the exception of the 45s. I touched every single record in that place. My hands and fingers were dry from all the cardboard contact. My black shirt had random pieces of cardboard clinging to the front. The smell of the shop had not only faded into non-distinction, but apparently decide to follow me home. The catch of the day, by far, was the very last record I found and decided to buy. Pink Floyd's The Wall. Seriously. For some, this would be like finding Zeppelin I or the Beatles. It is a hall-mark album to me and I couldn't help it when a child's like ****-eating grin swept over my face. Something about simple happiness. While listening to The Wall at home I noted the irony of my happiness against the contrast of the not-so-happy (see: mentally isolated and depression riddled mind) state of the music itself.

When I left the shop, I went straight home. My total came to $119 and with forty percent off that was knocked down to seventy five greenbacks. Of course I paid in cash. On my ever-growing list of vinyl obsession, I've added that "one shop a day" is a good approach. I skipped out on going to the other store to save that for another Saturday morning and another lump of money gone. A rotation is already developing.

This is the loot I came out of the shop with:

The Ventures - Action TV themes
ET soundtrack
CCR - 1969 gatefold (Green River and Willy and the Poor Boys)
CCR - 1970 gatefold (Cosmo's Factory and Pendulum)
Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Madonna - Like A Virgin
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Pink Floyd - The Wall

I went in a virgin and came out a slut.