From The Archive: The 5 Latest Additions to My Record Collection

Another “little bit of everything” edition

Feb 02, 2024

Note: For 2024, I’m planning to bring this series back. I love seeing what people pick up on their crate digging excursions, and assume many of you feel the same way. I’m resurfacing this one from almost exactly a year ago to serve as a (re) launch, since it parallels how I’m spending this week. Only the passport stamps have changed.
We’re creatures of habit, I suppose.

You can cover a lot of distance in a week.

It can be both really short and seem really long. And, of course, it can mean being a world away from where you were just seven days prior.

There is, of course, an entire industry devoted to popularizing pithy quotes about time. I won't bore you with any Successories-worthy examples other than noting that I was sitting on a beach in 80-degree temperatures last week. Yesterday, it was 4, and I was hoping my car would start.

It did — like me, it runs & drives, but no one’s quite sure how that still happens — and I made it across town to my favorite record store. I go on Fridays for a couple of reasons.

First: A pragmatic one- it's one of my days off from work.

Second: Most people don't have weekdays off. That makes the store less people-y. A worthy consideration in a place not long on space. It’s also when the crowd tends to be true music fans like us because…

Third: Friday mornings is when the store puts out all the new arrivals- new & used alike.

When you don't know what you're looking for, you never know what you'll find. Below is what I came home with.

“Sometimes you don't find anything, and sometimes you find it all. You never know what you’re going to get.”

The Barbados Steel Orchestra- Classics to Calypso (Wo-42, 1973)

As noted above, I’d spent the last week in the Caribbean. I spent this past week on the frozen tundra. I needed something sonically warm.

I found this waiting for me in the wrong bin (it is not “reggae/ska”). At $3.99, it was priced to move. I took it as a sign from the universe, and it didn't disappoint. If you've never heard a steel drum version of “Eine Kleine,” you’re missing out.

Tanya Tucker- Greatest Hits (MCA-3032, 1978)

Terry Barr

finally got to me.

If you haven't read his series on rediscovering women in country over on Medium, you really should. It’s fantastic. And persuasive. I knew I wanted something from the 60s’-70s-80s, but after that, I wasn’t sure who I was looking for as I headed down the stairs to the used section. I’d written “female country” on my Post-it note and figured I’d know it when I found it.

First up was Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City.” Yes, please! Seeing the $64.99 price tag? No thanks. At least not today. There was also a duet record with Conway Twitty, but I can only take him in limited doses.

Onward.

Dolly Parton had a section seemingly a mile-wide, but nothing grabbed me.

Tammy Wynette? Maybe, but nothin’ doin’.

But the greatest hits (one of several I’d find out) by Tanya Tucker seemed like a low-lift/low-risk record to take a chance on. So I did.

The Spinners- Pick of the Litter (SD 18141, 1975)

A lot has been written about Thom Bell in the wake of his recent passing. One of the architects of the “Philadelphia Sound,” he wrote songs for seemingly everyone coming out of the city, including the Delfonics, The Stylistics, and more.

And, of course, he was part of The Spinners. I have some of their work on compilation records. “I’ll Be Around” is de rigueur for any self-respecting compilation, but very little of the band’s actually work. Rescuing this record from the discount bin was the first step in finding that.

(Note: Some versions use their “Detroit Spinners” title; others use the shortened one. My copy is one of the latter)

New Order- Confusion 12" (SWRL 2213, 1983)

At this point, I am required by law to pick up any New Order record I don't already have. It’s just the way it is. I don't make the rules.

This 12" doesn't have the usual Peter Saville covert art, but the music doesn’t need it. These remixes by Arthur Baker & Jellybean Benitez stand just fine on their own.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds- Tuff Enuff (CBS 40304, 1986)

The story of this band is similar to many. The band becomes local stars… Catches the attention of a bigger act…which leads to a record label… except the record label doesn't quite know what to do with them…Band spends a few years retooling before trying again.

“A guy named Harmonica Frank once told me something long ago. He was a white guy who used to sing with a harp in his mouth, so everyone thought he was black, and he had a bunch of R&B hits. He said, ‘If you didn’t do something somebody else did, you wouldn’t be doing anything.’ And it’s true. That’s where this music comes from … It’s all in how you attack it. Even Muddy got his stuff from Son House and Robert Johnson. But he incorporated himself into it and got something unique. I’m not trying to do someone else, I’m trying to do us. You gotta do it like you and you’ll be fine.”

~Kim Wilson

A story told 1000 times, right? Except this band had Jimmie Vaughn in it. And Muddy Waters helped get them signed to a major label (Chrysalis), a Nick Lowe-produced record, and a spot opening for no less than the Rolling Stones.

Unfortunately, none of that translated to commercial sales, so the band separated from the label and spent the next few years looking for a new one and touring.

Enter 1986’s Tuff Enuff.

The band didn’t want to wait to make another record, so they didn't. Going into the studio with Lowe’s former partner Dave Edmunds as producer, the band delivered a solid album that included the blistering title track and a cover of a Sam & Dave classic.

$5.99? Wrap it up; I’ll take it! I hope my neighbors liked this again as much as I did.

Okay, there’s also a 4th reason I like going:

I’m usually bad at small talk, and I have a distaste for the sort of forced patter that happens in a place like waiting in a checkout line or similar. But get me next to another crate digger, and that all melts away.

Some of the best interactions I've had in this town have come in that store. Yesterday was no exception. A guy and I were shoulder-to-shoulder rooting through neighboring bins.

Out of nowhere, he said,

“you know what I like about coming here on Fridays? Sometimes you don't find anything, and sometimes you find it all. You never know what you’re going to get.”

Indeed.

So how about you? Found any good records lately? Have any thoughts on the ones I picked up? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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