Mergers & Acquisitions

On the same day that I caved and bought some more VHS tapes for the first time in a while, I also bought a couple of records. I went through a similar progression in my record buying to that which I went through with my tape buying, but it was faster. I first bought a number of them rather indiscriminately. I had to have something to play on my new player, and having records was a novelty to me much greater than having VHS tapes for the first time in years, but in a matter of weeks, I declined to buy any record I didn't really want.

I haven't bought many of those in a while, and not because I was trying to reign in my collecting. I just hadn't seen any really good ones. Recently I finally did. Now, I love Warren Zevon. By a wide margin, he's my favorite musician. I'll buy his records almost any time. I say almost because I have a finite number of dollars to live on, or I'd spend any amount. As it is, I can't spend thirty dollars on a record. That's what Warren's eponymous album costed at Amoeba, so I demurred.

On this most recent trip to that store, I found they have a couple more reasonably priced records. I had bought "Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School" for something like thirteen dollars. This time, they had "Excitable Boy" and "The Envoy" for two dollars and nine dollars, respectively. There was no question of not buying them. I snapped them up in a flash. A third album was too much, and I passed on that one, but I was delighted to have options when eager to hear a Zevon record, which is all the time.

All three of the Zevon records I have are great. Of course, most of his albums are great, but all three above are personal favorites which collectively feature many of my favorite songs. I'm playing them constantly, so I hope that I don't wear them out. I don't know how much a vinyl record can take, but I'm really putting them through their paces. I had better locate some more Zevon records in order to spread out the abuse, or else there's going to be a fatality.