detective on the case

I'm not with it today. This needs a lot more detective imagery added to it, but I'm feeling off:

I have more music than I know what to do with, and probably a quarter to a third of it is composed of albums I’ve found in thrift stores. In a purely monetary sense, it’s the only way I can afford to pursue my passion for tunes. I work in a library, for crissakes. More than money, though, there’s a certain thrill in walking into a thrift store and finding that one gem amidst the piles and piles of fool’s gold. I’m a treasure hunter. I love the element of the unknown, the not knowing when I walk in just what I’ll discover or in what directions these finds will take my collection. However, it’s not for the faint-hearted. You have to be committed and persistent, and you really, truly have to know your stuff. I spend as much time reading about music as I do listening to it, and that’s saying something. Knowledge is your best tool when hunting for anything.

That said, if there’s ever a time I’ve felt the pangs of wanting a Blackberry, it’s been in a thrift store. Inevitably I’ll come upon an album or artist I don’t know and that, for whatever reason, piques my interest. How great it would be if I could jump right on the Net and access Allmusic. Ah, information at my fingertips. But refer back to paragraph one. I work in a library. A Blackberry is a luxury I’ll have to do without. Still, even without direct information, there are things you can do to increase your odds. Yeah, okay, it’s only two or three bucks. What’s the big deal if you get home and it’s sour, right? Well, that shit adds up. Just take my advice and listen.

To start with, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. The artwork, and sometimes even the font, can tell you something about the music. Something as simple as someone holding a guitar can tell you that you aren’t dealing with electronica. You can do even better than that, though, by deciphering the style. In some cases, the artist’s clothing and hairstyle can drop hints like atomic bombs. Simply by looking at a few visual clues, you can deduce a lot.
To dig deeper, pull the sleeve out of the jewel case and do some reading. The liner notes will usually tell you what instruments are played and, just as importantly, list the personnel. Who plays on the album? Who gets listed in the thank-you section? You might find someone you know dropped in to play on one song, and that can tell you volumes.

In some cases, though, you’ve got to go more intuitive. One way I’ve increased my odds with thrift store finds is by looking at all the music on the shelf. Albums, or anything in a thrift store, rarely occur in isolation. No one takes a solitary disc to a thrift store, the same way no one drops off just one shirt. Donations to thrift stores come in boxes and bags… in VOLUME.

Take today’s find, for example. I went into the Family Thrift Store on Wesleyan Drive and found several CDs on the shelf. An album by the local band Silverscene (jangly Morrissey worshippers, those guys) was there, along with two albums by Lush, one by Moz himself, one by The Connells, and one by Teenage Fanclub. There may have been others, too, but they are escaping me. This is enough, though, to show a point. It’s highly unlikely this assemblage of shoegaze, Britpop, and janglepop took place on its own, over time. These albums represent a very particular taste in music and probably came in together, from one person’s music collection. The only mystery, to me, is that someone decided they were over these bands and dumped them. They’re timeless!

But I digress. This helped me immensely with two discs I was uncertain about, an EP and a single from a band called The Bluetones. It seemed like I’d heard of this band before, but I just wasn’t sure. Oh, if only I’d had my Blackberry! But I didn’t, and I didn’t need it, because the clues were all there like so many fingerprints and blood stains. These CDs had all come in together, and they were all indicative of someone with evolved taste buds. I walked up to the register and made the leap of faith with The Bluetones, knowing the odds were with me.

And, of course, I won.