Welcome to the 150th album post on Rebuilt Tranny Records. Yes, there are now 150 albums to choose from across the musical, and not-so-musical, spectrum on this site. The majority of these albums are random finds I’ve picked up during my years of vinyl scrounging through musty thrift-store shelves, Midwestern record stores, and scary horse barns. More often than not these weird finds end up being new favorites. Of course, there the few that literally get tossed out of the window like unwieldy frisbees. Try it sometime–it’s very therapeutic.

And then there are albums on my list of must-haves for which I continually hunt. At the top of this list was Chris Isaak’s Silvertone. I guess you could call it my white whale. Well, not really a white whale but more of a white coyote, given its dark western, cursed desert sound. Each and every time I’ve visited a record store for the past few years I’ve made a B-line to the “I” section looking for this mysterious LP. And every time I’d come up with nothing. No Chris Isaak to speak off, let alone Silvertone.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “Why didn’t you just hop on eBay and pick up a copy? You could have saved yourself a bunch of time and avoided many vinyl dust-induced sneezing fits.” To those people I say that yes, many times I thought about PayPaling my way into Silvertone possession. But the more I physically looked, and the longer I put off online gratification, the more determined I became to find this on my own. I became infected with the passion for the hunt.

Anyone can log online and pick up whatever they want from the endless number of fine internet record stores. Many times this is a completely acceptable method for bolstering one’s collection; mainly when pre-ordering albums from a record label’s store. However, the fact that just anyone can pick up anything  at any time online is what I’m getting at. When you point and click your way into a 33.3 rpm dream it takes away from the sense of achievement.

It’s like feeding a lion chopped Filet Mignon in captivity instead of letting it chase down a speedy antelope on the Serengeti. Yes, that steak sure is tasty but the king of the jungle craves the chase as much as the meat.  Spotting a baby antelope in the grass, the feel of hard-packed dirt beneath his claws, using those claws to grasp and tear the prey to shreds. And finally, when that most primal ritual has been fulfilled, the king relishes the taste of hot, wild blood at his leisure. He’s earned this feast–this winning.

The vinyl hunt is very much the same thing. Of course I love that I’ve found this record and have been playing it over. But at the same time it feels even better to know that I earned it. I had to check every possible spot it could be at every single record store. I found Silvertone last week while on my hands and knees searching through a bottom rack of used rock albums at Grooves Inspiralled Vinyl (and also found a sealed copy of Chris Isaak’s 1987 self-titled release for $6). Yes, it was bad for my back but it was good for the soul, god dammit! It’s like finding the Golden Ticket, something you wanted so badly–more than any other boy in this whole wide world!

But yes, I could have had this years ago. What’s the big deal about earning it? Well, let me put it this way: I would have missed out on boatloads of other music had I not been searching for this single, solitary disc. I wouldn’t have had a few laughs with Dr. Demento, never have been introduced to the eerie electronic world of Tomita, and never learned just how badass Canadian trains really are.

Additionally, I wouldn’t have been able to peep into lives of families from the 70s and 80s. Visiting thrift stores and looking through records is almost like looking in on someone’s living room. You can usually discern where each collection begins and ends in the bins, and through this collection you can see what tastes, or lack of, a family had. Oh, this person had a lot of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass–they probably used doilies on their sofa arms and had a room where you couldn’t step on the carpet. These other people had lots of Chicago albums–their house had blown glass sculptures and shag carpet tapestries. Lots 0f Culture Club and Grace Jones in this one–this family had a “confused” son they kicked out of the house when he turned 18.

What would happen if one day your vinyl shelves fell on you while you were looking for that Morrisey bootleg and smooshed the life right out of you?  And what if your vinyl collection was inexplicably turned over to the local Goodwill? What would vinylistas say of your collection? Would they say, “My word, this guy/gal was truly a hunter. Someone with an eye for the unique and a hunger for the divine. He fought the good fight and listened the good listen. Pour one out for this brave hunter! HOORAH, HOORAH, speed the soul of this golden ear to the bosom of the Gods!”

Or would they just flip through, saying, “I have this, have this, lame, lame, have this, boooring,” in the blink of an uncaring eye?

>>>Click here to download Silvertone at 320 kbps

Tracklist