Seven years ago yesterday I arrived in Los Angeles. A fresh-faced 24 year old with all of his belongings (minus most of his belongings) packed tight in the back of his red Volvo, I didn’t bring a single vinyl record across the country with me from New Jersey. No turntable, no receiver, no speakers, just a laptop computer, a portable hard drive, Ian’s borrowed Behringer mixer (four channel) and a pair of studio monitors that were gifted to me during a job I worked the previous summer in the Poconos. That was how I consumed music for almost a full year. It wasn’t until I moved to Angelino Heights neighborhood in Echo Park that I went out and purchased my first turntable and receiver. Finally I could listen to the small amount of records I’d purchased in my earliest days as an LA resident.
Shockingly enough at this point in my life I didn’t yet own a single Beulah record. As much as I’d loved The Coast Is Never Clear when I was in college, I only ever owned the CD. And though I had MP3s of When Your Heartstrings Break I never found that title on any physical format. Had I known back in 2005 I would get to interview Bill Swan for that still-unpublished travel book I wrote, I might have asked if he still had any sealed copies of his albums laying around for me. Alas, I was happy enough just to ask him a bunch of questions about the history of the band. And eventually I found both of the aforementioned albums on vinyl. Multiple copies. And I upgraded until I had the best copies possible, selling the lesser ones along the way. The only one I don’t have now is Yoko, which is a damned shame because I’m pretty sure “Wipe Those Prints And Run” is one of my five favorite songs they ever wrote. Is that one even available in LP form? According to Discogs the answer is “No,” but something tells me I might have seen copies floating around before…
As I’ve just linked to an interview with one of the founding members of Beulah, I really don’t think penning an introduction to the band or re-telling their biography would be anywhere near as useful as clicking the above hyperlink would be. So why don’t you do that while keeping in mind When Your Heartstrings Break is an incredible record. It’s so sought after by fans and collectors the last two copies offered for sale fetched $65 and $75 respectively. Then think about how I was browsing the racks at Amoeba back on May 11th, 2007 until I spied one with a $7.99 price sticker staring back at me. Why, yes, of course I purchased it. The joy one experiences while bathing in the warm vinyl glow of “Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand” for the first time — instead of it sounding all tinny and distant as it oozes out of your shitty laptop’s speakers — is unparalleled. And the rest of the album is just as good.
So on my first trip to Amoeba as an LA resident I searched the miscellaneous “A” and “B” sections and found a rare American Analog Set album and a rare Beulah album. Not a bad start to my life as a record collector in Southern California. What else would I find that day? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post…
And, seriously, read that interview with Bill Swan. I think it’s great.
Beulah
When Your Heartstrings Break
(Sugar Free Records – SF 012 LP, 1999)
A1. Score From Augusta
A2. Sunday Under Glass
A3. Matter Vs. Space
A4. Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand
A5. Calm Go The Wild Seas [MP3]
B1. Ballad Of The Lonely Argonaut
B2. Comrade’s Twenty Sixth
B3. The Aristocratic Swells
B4. Silverado Days
B5. Warmer
B6. If We Can Land A Man On The Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart
