I put in just shy of 12 years at the record store. That’s a lot of time to work retail. If you’ve worked retail, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, it has its ups and downs. The ups include discounts. The downs entail being abused by the general public on a daily basis.
I have a nice plaque around here somewhere, commemorating 7 years at the store. It was a pretty cool gift. It was a total surprise, how it happened. My boss phoned me out of the blue one day.
“Mike,” he said. “I need a list of the top 5 albums of all time. It’s for an article we’re doing.”
“Cool!” I responded eagerly. “But what are the parameters? Is it like rock, or all genres? Because that’s just a wide-open question.”
“Just what you think are the top albums of all time, that’s all I really need.”
Cool! I started work on it. I wanted to be objective, fair. If I were making a personalized list of a top 5, it would be easy, I know there would be some Kiss and Sabbath in there. I wanted to discount my own personal biases and try to be as open as possible for this particular list.
First of all, I chose The Wall. I admit that I chose this over Dark Side due to personal preference, also I think a double album like The Wall deserves many accolades. I obviously had to give respect to two of the greatest bands of all time, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. I chose Zeppelin IV and Abbey Road. I really couldn’t choose a Zeppelin, so I went with IV as kind of a default answer. Abbey Road is arguably the most genius the Beatles ever were, so I could easily choose that over Sgt. Pepper’s.
OK, three down! Even though all three artists I chose were different from each other, they were all rock, so I needed to go outside that box. To represent country, I decided on Folson Prison by Johnny Cash. Were this a more personalized list, I would choose San Quentin, but I went with Folsom as it seems to be the best known.
I didn’t know what to pick last, so I went with a cop-out answer. Back In Black. What a weak, spineless choice! What am I a college student? Anyway, again I decided to be open and think about how many copies it sold, not about the many superior AC/DC albums.
I submitted my list. A month or two later, I was presented with this plaque! And these five albums were on the plaque! My boss had collected lists from a few of us who had been there a while, and given us custom made plaques, with the CDs and everything. It was really cool and I treasured mine for years.
I only wish he had worded his question differently! If I had known in advance what he was really asking (thus spoiling the surprise) I would have chosen these five:
5. Iron Maiden – Piece of Mind
4. Kiss – Alive
3. Kiss – Hotter Than Hell
2. Deep Purple – Fireball
1. Black Sabbath – Born Again
The original plaque is packed up in a box, as Mrs. LeBrain and I are planning a move to a bigger place. Here’s the five albums that made it onto the plaque though, at least all albums I proudly own. And because I don’t do anything small, I own them all in some kind of crazy deluxe box set. Enjoy.
A photo-heavy review for you today folks, enjoy the goodness! This one goes out to Rich, from KamerTunesBlog, a collection of detailed journeys through the discographies of many great artists.
LED ZEPPELIN – The Complete Studio Recordings(1993 10 CD Atlantic box set)
It’s funny to read some of the complaints about this box set on sites like Amazon! “The Song Remains the Same isn’t included!” Well, correct. It’s called Complete STUDIO Recordings, not Complete Live Recordings. “The artwork is too small!” Well, it’s a CD, not an LP. I’m of the belief that you can’t go wrong buying the Zeppelin LPs in mint condition. Much like Kiss or Alice Cooper, Zeppelin often gave you extra bang for your LP buck (more on that later). “Presence and Coda suck!” Well, I’m sorry if you feel that way, but this is the COMPLETE Studio Recordings, not the Personal Favourite Studio Recordings.
Anyway, I listened to the entire box set last weekend once again, and it’s always nice to revisit Zeppelin’s back catalogue in that way. After all, each album is a portrait of where they were at that time, and are truly best when played as complete albums, not songs on a compilation. Zeppelin I and II are an embrionic, pseudo-heavy metal band with hippy tendencies, but you are immediately blown away by how good this band was. All four members were simply stunning, a raging and ripping Plant included. By Zeppelin III they really started to explore the “light and shade” that Pagey speaks of in the included Cameron Crowe essay. It is a beautiful album. Zeppelin IV of course combines the sounds of the first three together into one multi-platinum work of art.
After Zeppelin IV, their albums become harder to characterize, but diversity is still key. Much like the Beatles before and Queen after, Zeppelin were not content to be a simple bass/guitar/drums combo. Strings, prototypical tape-based synth, and numerous other instruments are brought in to add to the Zeppelin mosaic. Houses of the Holy contains one of my favourite moments in “No Quarter” which is anchored by John Paul Jones’ keyboard and synth work, a hauntingly beautiful piece. Physical Grafitti contains perhaps their highest achievement in “Kashmir”, but certainly songs like “The Rover” continue the metallic goodness that spawned the band. Presence is an album misunderstood by many, a back-to-basics tour-de-force of power. The very Rush-like “Achiles Last Stand” combines progressive rock tendencies with Plant’s lyrical mysticism. Finally In Through the Out Door represents Pagey taking a step back and Jones filling the gap with modern forward-thinking synthesizer arrangements. “All My Love” is a ballad that came about five years too soon, a Plant/Jones penned masterpiece of beauty. “In The Evening” haunts with Plant’s vocals buried in the mix under cascades of Jonesy’s synth and Page’s whammy bar. “Hot Dog” is a pure country ho-down, and Zeppelin ended their career with the diversity that they started it with. But it doesn’t end there, as an expanded version of Coda is included, an odds-and-sods collection of outtakes. Certainly these are not the absolute greatest of Zeppelin moments, but “Bonzo’s Montreaux” represents the kind of experimentation that Zeppelin were founded on. A sequel of sorts to “Moby Dick”, it is a drum orchestra and worthy of the albums before. The expanded edition includes one of my favourite tracks, Zeppelin’s version of “Traveling Riverside Blues”. Page’s slide guitar is eloquent as it is excellent.
The packaging is ample. A thick booklet with photo after photo is included, as well as the aforementioned Cameron Crowe essay. Reading it, you can see where much of Almost Famous came from. Each CD is packaged with a reproduction of each LP’s original artwork. That means, for In Through the Out Door, you get all six covers, plus an image of the paper bag, and the inner sleeve. Zeppelin III gives you a miniature version of “the wheel”, and Physical Graffiti, the “windows”. These are static versions; if only you could manipulate them like the originals, but alas.
Remastering job is OK. I detected what I thought were a couple problems, I thought I heard some tape drop-out. I hate to say it, but maybe the Zeppelin catalogue could use a fresh remastering. 20 years have passed since this was released. And hey, just in time, Jimmy’s working on remastered deluxe editions of each album! Stay tuned.
As for the here-and-now, you can either go out and buy each album separately, or you can buy this set. Personally I think this set is the way to go, especially if you care about packaging. And it’s Zeppelin — you kind of need all the albums, don’t you? I won’t rate albums individually (that would require a Zeppelin series, something I would like to do) but I can give this box set:
Last year for Record Store Tales Part 145, I dug up some of T-Rev’s old mix tapes, complete with custom artwork. T-Rev always put such work into his tapes (sequencing and art included, he even numbered them as a series!), so it is a pleasure to give you this gallery of three more of T-Rev’s Tapes!
Rockers love to discuss “mix tapes”, so I invite you to comment on your own personal picks. Led Zeppelin? Metal Tunage? What would you do?
There were some pretty awesome picks this year. I have to give Scottie props for “Coming Home” by Iron Maiden, from the excellent Final Frontier album. I found some things a bit surprising, such as the overplayed-on-radio “Black Betty” by Ram Jam, placing so high.
“Thick As A Brick” was the live version, so just over 10 minutes. Other long bombers included all of “Supper’s Ready” by Genesis, which resulted in a tirade by Phil for just as long, about how much he thinks it sucks! (And he’s an old-school Marillion fan…surprising.) And of course there were several Maiden tunes that clock in well over 5 minutes.
For your edification, here is the official Sausagefest XII Countdown: 75 tracks, plus 35 tributes. One tribute for each person that submitted a list! 110 songs over one weekend! Awesome.
I’m going to be covering more of my rarities in 2013. This is part 2 of today’s Cinderella feature. For part 1, a more comprehensive review of the Heartbreak Station CD, click Tommy Morais’ review here!
This Cinderella compilation is a rare promo. Don’t know what a promo CD is? Watch the educational video below starring yours truly!
Record Store Tales Part 117: Promos
CINDERELLA – Once Around the Ride…Then & Now (Promotional only, 1990 Polygram)
This is a really, really cool package. Two discs: Then… and Now…, showcasing the absolute best of Cinderella up to 1990, including two rare live bonus tracks.
Somewhat predictably, Then… is a greatest hits set from the first two records. Five tunes from Night Songs, six from Long Cold Winter, which I rated 4.5/5 in a recent review. Then, the aforementioned two bonus tracks: “Shake Me” and “Night Songs”, performed live. “Night Songs” was one that I owned previously on a rare Polygram compilation from ’92 called Welcome To The Jungle. From what I can tell, these two tracks are originally from a 1987 European release called The Live EP, and it appears they’ve been recycled as bonus tracks on several items since, including a promo Kiss single for “Any Way You Slice It”!
Interestingly, the back cover states that the two bonus tracks are from a forthcoming EP also called Night Songs, an EP I’ve never seen or heard of before or since.
The tracks chosen are pretty much the tunes that anybody would have chosen given a compilation like this: All the singles, and a selection of kickass album tracks such as “Night Songs”, “Fallin’ Apart At The Seams”, and “Push, Push”. As a Cinderella collection of the early stuff, this is about as perfect a compilation as it gets. As far as I’m concerned the only track it’s really missing is the awesome “Take Me Back” from Long Cold Winter, a great tune that would have made a perfect single.
The second disc, Now… is the entire Heartbreak Station album (review here) from start to finish. It even comes with the full booklet for Heartbreak Station, so this is how I chose to buy the album. Heartbreak Station is another fantastic, underrated Cinderalla album. It was clear from Long Cold Winter that the band was interested in exploring their underappreciated blues roots. On Heartbreak Station, they ditched the glam and went full bore into those roots.
The opening track “The More Things Change” is aptly titled, but is actually the track most like their past work. “Love’s Got Me Doin’ Time” is nothing but pure funky goodness, a completely unexpected twist. The horn-laden “Shelter Me” was the first single (remember Little Richard in the video?), a really cool soul rock song. The lyrics were totally on-trend in the wake of the fresh Judas Priest trial, a rant on Tipper Gore and the PMRC!
Tipper led the war against the record industry, She said she saw the devil on her MTV
Sharp minded readers will remember that Tipper was prompted to start the PMRC when her kid was terrified by Tom Petty’s video for “Don’t Come Around Here No More” on MTV!
I love Little Richard.
The centerpiece of the album is the title track, with strings by John Paul Jones. The band were dissatisfied that they had to use synth on the previous album’s hit, “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)”. John Paul Jones lent the band some serious credibility. The song is a lush, sullen ballad with an incredible slide solo. I remember some video channels played it under the wrong name back in ’91. They were calling the song “The Last Train”.
Other winners: The totally country-fied “One For Rock & Roll”, with loads of steel guitar, dobro, and 12 string. The electrified “Love Gone Bad”, which also hearkens back to the Long Cold Winter sound in a powerful way. “Dead Man’s Road”, which is a haunting, slow dark rocker with loads of acoustics. Really, there are only a couple filler songs on the whole album.
This isn’t a cheap compilation to find today, but if you do happen upon it, pick it up. It’s a collectible now, but not just that, it’s one you’ll actually play!
And the award for most embarrassing goes to…Puff Daddy!
The year: 1998
The place: My store
The guilty party: Me
Remember that shitty 1998 movie, Godzilla? It’s OK if you didn’t. There are movie executives and Matthew Brodericks worldwide that want to forget it, too.
The soundtrack was OK though. “A320” is a non-album Foo Fighters track, and one of the first to feature Taylor Hawkins on drums. “No Shelter” is a rare Rage Against The Machine track. Ben Folds Five and Green Day contributed. I’m sure most of these bands would rather forget the movie itself.
The lead single, though, was a song called “Come With Me”, by Puff Daddy. You may remember this one, a remake of “Kashmir” but with ol’ Puffy himself providing new, enlightened lyrics.
You said to trust you, you’d never hurt me Now, I’m disgusted, since then adjusted Certainly, you fooled me, ridiculed me Left me hangin’, now shit’s boomerangin’
Anyway. The song features Jimmy Page and Tom Morello too, which is really too bad, because that put it in my obsessive-compulsive collector’s sights.
Then I saw the CD single come in
Track list:
Album version
Morello Mix (cool, right? basically, more guitar squonk)
Radio album version (?)
Live version (???)
Live version? Yeah. Although I’m sad to say that Jimmy Page performed live with Puffy more than once, this one is from Saturday Night Live. I don’t know who the drummer was, but he ain’t no Bonham (John or Jason), that much is clear. Jimmy Page does play on it, but I really hate when mid-song, Puffy proclaims, “I think I wanna dance!”
I don’t remember what I paid for this single, probably $3 with my discount. Forgivable? I hope you think so. But I have a lot of ‘splaining to do any time somebody sees it in my collection.
Then another different single showed up! It has two more tracks:
Extended radio edit
Radio versi0n II
Don’t ask me the difference except the swear words are replaced by Godzilla roaring on the radio versions. I ended up getting this one for free. I turned down the guy who was selling it, because it did look like a cheap promo (no booklet, for example, and the crappy track list), but he left it behind. And that’s how I ended up with two copies of a Puff Daddy single.
I like my CD collection to be displayed for all to see. I’m (mostly) proud of it. I ain’t so proud of this, even with the presence of Page and Morello. It’s always hard to explain and justify to guests, who never fail to notice it.
Therefore, the award for most embarrassing CD of all time goes to ME, for “Come With Me”, by Puff Daddy, not one version but two!
IRON MAIDEN – No Prayer For the Dying(1990, 1996 bonus disc)
Regrouping after a six-month break, Maiden returned to writing mode a changed Beast.
The Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album was artistically rewarding but the band were eager to return to their stripped down heavy metal roots and make a live-sounding album more like Killers or The Number of the Beast, without the production values and ten minute songs that were becoming the norm.
Both Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson were coming off solo albums (A.S.a.P.’s Silver and Gold featuring Zak Starkey (Oasis, The Who), and Bruce’s Tattooed Millionaire). Bruce’s was successful commercially and critically, Adrian’s less so. Still, it came as a complete shock to the fans when it was announced that Adrian Smith had left Iron Maiden.
Or, perhaps, been nudged out. Steve Harris was worried that Adrian was becoming unhappy, and it was especially obvious during the writing sessions for the next album. While Steve, Dave and Bruce were contributing heavy songs, the usually prolific Adrian had nothing but a song called “Hooks In You” that he had written with Bruce. He was clearly unhappy that Maiden were not progressing down the road pointed to by Seventh Son, and were going heavier. Steve took him aside.
When asked how into it he was, the answer came “about 80%”. Steve has always had a simple policy for membership in his band — you had to be into it 110%, or it wouldn’t work. The fans wouldn’t buy it, and Steve couldn’t look them in the eye knowing somebody on stage wasn’t completely into it. Adrian was out.
The band already knew Janick Gers, and he and Bruce had developed a successful writing partnership on his Tattooed Millionaire solo disc. Janick was nevertheless shocked when Bruce phoned him up and asked him to learn some Iron Maiden numbers. Janick initially said no, because he assumed Bruce was talking about his solo project, and they had already agreed to do no Maiden numbers. When Bruce explained it wasn’t for the solo band, it was for Maiden, Janick was horrified.
Janick Gers was really the only guy I can think of that was right for Maiden, also being from the era of the NWOBHM bands (White Spirit). He’d also been in Gillan (the incredible Magic album) and worked with Fish. The songs for the album were already written, all Janick had to do was head over to Steve’s farm, where they were recording the album, and learn the songs.
But that’s all just background, just context. That’s all important, especially to this album, but what is also important is the bottom line. And the bottom line is that this is the first time Maiden turned in something that was almost universally received as a disappointment.
While some fans were clamoring for a return to basic heavy metal songs, short and bangin’ and to the point, others preferred the epic scale of Seventh Son. And it was clear that you can’t just replace Adrian Smith. The songs on the new album, titled No Prayer For the Dying, seemed less finished and not quite up to standard. Not to mention Janick and Dave hadn’t had time to properly gel together, and never quite sync up on this album the way Dave did with Adrian.
The opening song “Tailgunner” is good enough though, not quite an “Aces High” but certainly adequate. Being tailgunner might have been the worst job on the Lancaster bomber, since it didn’t have a belly gunner! (Neither did Enola Gay, tailgunner was certainly the worst job on a B-29)! But Steve and Bruce failed to really nail it lyrically, with lines such as “nail that Fokker, kill that son, gunna blow your guts out with my gun” not living up to past Maiden historic glories.
Steve and Bruce also wrote “Holy Smoke”, the first single. This reckless fast number showcased a manic Janick Gers solo, demonstrating how different he was from Adrian. Where Adrian used to compose solos with beginnings, middles and endings, Janick just went for it! Dave was also somewhere between the two approaches. Now, without Adrian’s melodic touch, the band were moving sharply to a more live and spontaneous guitar style.
“Holy Smoke” is about TV preachers, and while they always make a good target in heavy metal songs (I prefer Ozzy’s “Miracle Man”) this one also fails to excite. As a song it doesn’t have much in terms of melody. On No Prayer, Bruce is shouting as often as he’s singing, and with the songs’ new emphasis on raw power, there’s less memorable melody to go around. Janick’s manic gonzo solo does fit the vibe of the song!
The title track is third, a number that tries to be an epic in under 5 minutes. It does indeed have all of the trademark qualities of a Maiden epic except the length: Multiple parts, multiple tempos, soul-searching Steve lyrics, and ample anthemic guitar melody. Yet the song fails to nail it home like, say, “Hallowed Be Thy Name” did.
Better is the badly titled “Public Enema Number One”. This Dickinson/Murray rocker is riffy, straightforward with some decent melodic bits. But again Bruce is hoarsely shouting the verses, and the song careens from section to section that don’t feel like they quite all fit together probably. Like other songs on No Prayer, the song sounds slightly unfinished.
And better again is “Fates Warning”, this time written by Steve and Dave. The opening soft guitar part is a nice change of pace, and a great example of Dave Murray’s tremendous feel. Perhaps in a past life he was a bluesman. Nicko then kicks the song into gear while Steve’s lyrics question the seemingly random nature of life and death. In the middle, is an old-school dual Maiden guitar lead, before Dave nails another perfect one of his own.
Side two begins with the stuttery “The Assassin”. Written solo by Steve, it is rhythmically complex as it is propelled forward. It has a fairly decent chorus but it doesn’t quite resolve itself nicely. Some of the guitar and bass melodies are reminiscent of “To Tame A Land” from Piece of Mind.
This is followed by the superior “Run Silent Run Deep” Submarine warfare is a good topic for a Maiden song, and the song chugs forward like those big diesel engines. This is one of the better songs on No Prayer. Steve and Bruce wrote it together, and Nicko’s precise drum fills accent the song perfectly.
Next is the worst song on the album: Bruce and Adrian’s “Hooks In You”. Lyrically this is one of the worst things ever on a Maiden album. Judging by the opening line, “Got the keys to view at number 22,” it sounds like Charlotte is back to her old tricks. Unfortunately, the band subjected people to this song live. I’ll admit it’s got a great little riff, but Bruce’s shout-growl vocals, lack of melody, and lack of any lyrical intelligence just sinks this one.
And then the baffling #1 single, “Bring Your Daughter…to the Slaughter”. This Bruce song is actually an outtake from his solo project. He recorded and released the original version with Janick Gers on the soundtrack to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5. I seem to remember that soundtrack being panned as “the worst soundtrack of all time” at one point. Steve heard the song, went nuts, and said, “Don’t put it on your solo album: I want to save this one for Maiden.”
Somehow, Steve was right, as it went straight to #1 in the UK, the first and only time this has happened to Iron Maiden. I don’t get it. I don’t get what people like about this song.
“Mother Russia” ends the album on a sour note. Lyrically simple, musically pretty good, “Mother Russia” is certainly not up to the standards of past Maiden album closers. Although it tries to be an epic along the lines of “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” (featuring a similar keyboard section in the middle), it’s just not as great as past epics. At five and a half minutes, “Mother Russia” is the longest song on No Prayer. It is made up of excellent components; I like the melody and the solos big time, but it’s just…not comparable in quality.
Nicko McBrain said on MuchMusic that No Prayer was “the best Iron Maiden yet.” Steve said that the album’s biggest problem is that it didn’t sound live enough without an audience track. I disagree with both. I think the album has an abnormally high quantity of unfinished songs and filler.
Even the cover art was substandard. To go with the live, stripped down sound, Riggs too stripped his artwork of the symbolism and fantasy. Instead, Eddie goes for the throat of a groundskeeper as he emerges (once again) from the grave. All hints to continuity are gone, as Eddie’s lost his lobotomy scar, cybernetic implants, and that bolt that kept his skull on! He even has his hair back. I guess somebody wasn’t happy with the artwork, because it was heavily tweaked for the 1998 remaster, repainting much of it and removing the groundskeeper.
The B-sides to the first single, “Holy Smoke” were the excellent “All In Your Mind” (a cover from somebody called Stray) and Golden Earring’s “Kill Me Ce Soir”. Both songs are pretty damn good. I prefer both to some of the album tracks!
“Bring Your Daughter” had two of its own B-sides: “Communication Breakdown” and “I’m A Mover”. Maiden tackle Led Zeppelin and Free less successfully than they did they other two B-sides. “I’m A Mover” ain’t bad as it allows Maiden to get into a groove they normally wouldn’t, and Bruce seems to have fun with the vocal.
I had one really, really awful summer at the store. My full-time backup had quit, and head office made the decision not to hire a replacement until the Christmas gear-up season. Instead, they decided to spread out the part-timers to cover the hours. They were always eager for hours, but not necessarily weekend hours!
I was required to work two Saturdays a month anyway. That summer, I had to pull a lot more than that. Saturdays, Sundays, the odd 12 hour shifts…I didn’t get to the cottage very much that summer. Allegedly, one head office staffer was overheard saying to another, “It’s going to be funny watching Mike try to work all summer without a full-timer.” Good to know they had my back.
I was furious. But I was also defeated.
I had one weekend booked off in July. I couldn’t miss that weekend. My grandma’s 80th birthday party was that weekend. There was no way in hell that I was going to miss my grandma’s 80th birthday party. It was a 2 hour drive away, in Kincardine Ontario. I only have one grandma (88 this year!), but wouldn’t you know it? Nothing ever went smooth for me….
I had a date the previous night (Friday), with this girl who was originally from Thunder Bay. We went out and we had a nice meal followed by a night of drinks. I woke up slightly hungover, but eager to hit the lake, and say hi to grandma. Then, my phone rang. Not a good sign.
My least reliable employee, Wiseman, was calling in sick. The truth was more likely that he was calling in wasted. Somebody had to get the hell over there and cover him. And that someone was me.
I pulled in, unshowered, unshaven, and pissed off. I had never been so mad at Wiseman in my life. It was becoming a far, far too regular occurrence that he was always “sick”, and someone had to cover for him. You can’t expect every part time employee to give up their Saturday plans and work on no notice, but a manager had to.
To her credit, there was one head office person on duty that weekend, and she came in to take over. I will always be grateful to that person for covering me on my grandma’s 80th birthday weekend. If memory serves, my great aunt Marie, her sister, made it that weekend too. I think that was the last time I ever saw her, she passed away not too long after.
My relationship with head office people was rocky to say the least, especially after that “It’s going to be funny watching Mike try to work all summer…” crack. But she did cover me when I needed it. I won’t forget that, and I’ll always be grateful.
The rest of the summer was what it was, weekend after weekend of working, the same grind and drudgery. The musical light in the tunnel that summer was the release of Marillion’s double Marbles CD. It is my favourite Hogarth-era Marillion to this day, and when I received it that summer, it got me through. We didn’t carry it in stock in our store, but it was in my car, and on my home player, all summer. It brightened the mood, it kept me going, waking me up in the morning and getting me out the door. The Summer of Hell’s bright spot was Marillion, and my grandma.
I would like to dedicate this installment of the Record Store Tales to that one head office person who stepped up and covered for me that day. We had many knock-down-drag-out arguments over the years, and I’m sure that her side of many events differ from mine. Regardless, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have been present for my grandma’s 80th, and for that I owe her a debt of gratitude.
RECORD STORE TALES PART 108: Building the Store, Part 2
Last time, Statham posted something about a dream he had, of us putting together our own record store. I wish I could have had the experience of opening a store without doing work! The reality of it varied. On the couple of times I helped set up a store, it was hardly glamorous.
The first time was when we opened up the first store that I managed. It was the biggest one so far, lots of stock, all crap. Junk. Shite. Basically what we did was, maybe starting six months in advance, just buy lots and lots and lots of stock. Before long we had, I dunno, maybe 5000 discs, all garbage. Dozens of Jann Arden, Spin Doctors, Michael Bolton…I had so much Michael Bolton that he took up three fucking rows! I even had rare Michael Bolton. Nobody had rare Michael Bolton! Nobody wanted rare Michael Bolton! Then you’d go to the Metallica section, nothing. Kiss, a couple copies of Kiss My Ass. And we had soooo much country. We had buckets of country. And rap artists that you nor I have ever heard of.
Waltz back over to the rock section and browse the classics. Did we have any Floyd? Nothing. Led Zeppelin? Just the tribute album, Encomium. Meat Loaf? Bat 2, but not Bat. We had a couple of Rush discs, like Counterparts, but nothing from the 70’s. No Maiden. No Miles. No Dylan. No Hendrix.
We had no standardized pricing scheme back then. So, if I was pricing Eric Clapton’s Unplugged at $9.99, the guy next to me might have priced it at $11.99 because maybe he liked it more. It was very subjective. Sometimes you knew what a CD was worth brand new and based it on that, sometimes it was so common that it didn’t matter, and sometimes nobody had a fucking clue. We’d try to fix the pricing it as we went, but it was slow. After we opened, a customer would come up with three copies of the same album. “This one is $8.99, this one $9.99, and this one $11.99. Is that because one is more scratched?” Logical question! But no, we just cocked up.
It took weeks to manually input and price all those discs. Shelving them took a couple more days. Making the header cards, setting things up, all told we were at it for maybe a month. Then the big day came and we did our opening. We were only half-equipped: there was no second computer yet, and only half of our CD players for listening station had been bought. Signs were still arriving to be put up.
I’ll never forget our sign that showed up that said, “WE PAY CSAH FOR YOUR USED CDS!”
Regardless of how crappy the stock was, it sold! I couldn’t believe it! There were only a few decent albums and I figured once they were gone, that was it. That wasn’t the case at all. People kept buying the old rap and country discs. Tanya Tucker? Check! We had lots! And people were buying it!
Then, used stuff started coming in at a rapid pace. Crazy stuff too. I remember this one huge Tangerine Dream box set coming in, on the Thursday of the first week.
After we opened and good stuff started coming in by the box full, all the hard work seemed like it was paying off. But the setting up was long and tedious, and I couldn’t stand Todd, who was also on setup duty. But who gives a crap? I spent weeks doing nothing but data entry while listening to music (our own music, which we brought in – of course). I rocked a lot of Deep Purple those weeks. It was awesome.
I remember that I had just found two Purple albums that I wanted: Concerto For Group and Orchestra, and King Biscuit Flower Hour. I also rocked Purpendicular, which had just come out, as much as I could. Todd didn’t understand the music at all. All he was interested in listening to was Floyd, nothing else. He played Bush once or twice, but otherwise it was all Floyd. He really, really liked P.U.L.S.E. And he just murdered Floyd for me, for a long time.
When I listen to albums like Concerto and Purpendicular, it brings me right back to doing data entry in that store. Not a bad soundtrack to work to.
My good buddy pen-named: Statham, who I met through the record store, has kept in touch via email over the years. We share many common interests, one of which is collecting music. We’ve helped each other find many treasures over the last 15 years.
I thought it might be a fun change of pace (instead of listening to me all the time) to get his perspective on the record store days!
For a view from the other side of the counter, here’s Statham!
RECORD STORE TALES Part 73: Crank It Up! by Statham
Mike asked me to write up something about any memories I have of the old days, back in the record store where he worked. I’ll give it a go.
I do not recall my first-ever visit to Mike’s store. My first memory of that particular company is of taking a shoebox full of old CDs I never played to their other location. But when I moved across town, Mike’s store was my mainstay. I was in there all the time.
You should know, I live in record stores. Always have, since I was old enough to buy my own music. I love the thrill of the hunt, the rare find, the new-to-me disc that branches my brain out into whole new fields of things previously unknown to me. Everywhere I’ve lived, I’ve haunted the record shops. And mostly the used-CD places… the new-CD corporate shops were good for new releases, not usually much else.
You should also know that I make it an unofficial habit to befriend at least one person in the shops that I like. Not in a needy way, not in a go-for-drinks sort of way, and definitely not in a creepy stalker way. Just a friendly thing, get to know them, and over time they learn my tastes too. It’s amazing how often they’d set aside stuff they thought I’d like (which I’d usually buy). And I’ve learned a ton from them, too. I’ve lived lots of places so far in my life, and have maintained this practice. Record store guys can be cool. Like Mike. Always super-helpful, to a fault sometimes. VERY knowledgeable. And his enthusiasm was absolutely infectious. Also, Mike’s a Sloan fan. And in my experience, this is generally the mark of a bright, caring and solid person. Hooray for Sloan!
Specific memories of the shop? Man, that was 16 years ago. But let’s see if I can cough up a few dusty recollections…
– Mike sold me my first Jon Spencer Blues Explosion CD (Now I Got Worry). He wasn’t convinced I’d like it, but he let me play it on the headphones, and I took it home. I am a lifelong fan of those guys now. If I don’t have everything they did, I have most of it. And it’s all awesome.
– I sold off all my Zeppelin albums one time. I just never played them, was probably listening to punk at the time and found them bloated, and I also probably needed the money. Mike was incredulous, tried quite hard to dissuade me. He eventually took them but still told me I was nuts. I probably was.
– One I definitely regret: I sold my Gits albums to Mike. I was in a different phase (probably jazz), and figured they were easy to replace. Ha! Have you any idea how many years I looked before getting most of those back again, when I realized my blunder? Remember, the internets were not then what they are now. And hey, I still need an old original CD copy of Frenching The Bully, too, so if anyone reading this has a good source, please leave a comment, thanks!
Statham selling his stuff
– I bought the Jewel record (the one with Hands on it) off Mike one time, when it was a new release. I think I just had that song in my head. Mike was sure I’d lost my mind. He told me he wouldn’t take it back in trade from me until at least one week had passed. Trust me, one week and one day, I took it back. He was right.
– I remember picking up the Black Crowes Sho’ Nuff box set for Mike, as I was going to Toronto anyway (and getting one for myself). No worries there, mate.
– I even applied to work at Mike’s store one time, too. They had this test you had to do, to try to see how much you knew about music. I guess they were weeding out the wannabes. Hell, I listen to music and pay attention to it constantly, and half of the stuff they had on there, I had no idea. So I got playful. I developed a “File Under” system. Like, Carole King was File Under: Stuff Your Mom Likes. And for ones I didn’t know, I made something up based on the band name or album title. I really was just taking the piss. Apparently, the manager wanted to interview me based on my results, but I’d just gotten another job anyway. To this day, I wonder how my life would have been different if I’d gotten that job.
I’m sure there are other memories that will come to me, now that I’m thinking about it. Maybe enough for a second instalment, if Mike would have me back as a guest. You know, to this day I still own many of the CDs I bought off Mike. I’ve lugged these things halfway across the country and back. It’s a sign of respect, man. Hold on to the good ones – both the albums and the good guys that sold ’em to you. I always do.
mikeladano.com 