Finding a copy of this record in VG++ condition is the stuff of legends and when I first laid my eyes upon it in a charity shop I rarely venture into, I almost had a coronary!
This shop was located in a shitty neighbourhood and usually only had dirty clothing and a stack of plastic cups for sale. I had been in this store maybe 3 or 4 times in my life and had never scored a decent record. I was passing by with a few extra minutes on hand so I decided to see if there was anything worth anything. Across the room I spotted a cardboard box full of vinyl so I raced across to see if there was anything besides James Last or Barbara Streisand in it. I flipped through it as fast as possible because some dirty, psychotic looking dude was sizing me up. Like realllllly sizing me up. From about 10 inches away. It was quite unsettling. As I was about to just say screw it, a heavenly light shone from above and I swear to god, although I am not a religious man, angels sang and He spoke to me. "PLEASE TAKE THIS LP AS A SIGN THAT I EXIST" There, between two Anne Murray albums was Bent FRIGGIN' Wind! It was in amazing shape. Still had the original cello wrap on it! I grabbed it and although I wanted to continue flipping through the box of vinyl, I scampered to the cash register. The older woman who took my money commented on how she like the artwork on the sleeve. As soon as I had exchanged my 10 CENTS!!!! for this record I told her that I felt that I could likely get about $3000-4000 for this LP. She looked at me as if I was the dirty psychotic looking dude from across the room.
Now, this type of score is a once in a lifetime event and I know that I will never find another record as valuable or collectible in my life. I have been to the mountaintop and the rest of my days will be spent on a slow decline of vinyl digging. Bent Wind was my Everest and I am ok with that. If I never find anything even remotely as cool as this album, I will know that for one day in my life I was the happiest record collector on the planet.
Jeezus H christ, man! I just left a comment on the Warpig awesomeness further up the page... then I see this. I'm thinking maybe you should buy some lotto tickets, hah! Unbelievable and really cool to see that you can still find such a rare record in a thrift store. I'm a fiend on yard sales, thrift stores, flea markets, etc... I've found some cool stuff, but I would literally shit myself if I found Bent Wind. Wow, and congrats. It's the one album I always search for on fleabay and whatnot, but I've yet to find one for sale. Rock on, bro
ReplyDeleteDev
yeah dude. great score. and by finding this record i gives hope to all of us who love vinyl digging. there are still a few great records out there that havent been grabbed. i rarely spin this actual copy but i do still listen to it.
ReplyDeletethanks for reading and actually caring about vinyl
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My pleasure, it all about the music... nothing like the sound and smell of vinyl. Hey, oddly enough, I hit the Starvation Army here in Penticton today and found two treasures. Have you ever heard of Twitch? Well, I managed to snag the first two 45s in mint cond!! Blew my fuckin' mind! They're possible the two rarest Canadian 45s from the 70's hard rock/ proto-metal genre, pressed only 100 or so of each. I imagine there's very few still alive. Check it out here.. only one of the tunes on youtube, as far as I could find. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteTwitch
Pretty wild sound and rare as hen's teeth. Cheers to the vinyl godz.
nice score. i normally take a little trip every year to smaller towns just to see what i can find. i just drive hitting every place that might actually have some records. i have a few gold mines that i always stop at when i drive around canada/ US. congrats once again on the twitch 45s!
ReplyDeleteMe too. I didn't have much luck in northern Idaho, but Alberta and BC have been quite good to me. I gotta slip down to WA one of these days to see what I can find. We found a store the other day that bought out a few radio stations back in the late 80's, they've had these records sitting in boxes ever since(30'000!). There's probably some really awesome records in there, I gotta talk the dude into letting me go through them before anyone else, mwahaha.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you when you get out hunting again. I'll keep you posted if I find anything groovy.
DDT
Thanks for sharing a cool story.... I was lucky enough to find someone to buy my last two originals about 10 years ago and it got me to Mexico for a 4 month vacation.... Now that I look back at it, I think if I kept them until now, I'd be able to buy a condo down there..... *sigh.... Marty Roth (original member) Bent Wind
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