One of the side effects of starting to collect vinyl is that you’ll suddenly be gifted a bunch of records. Which is awesome. For Christmas I ended up with Queen’s Greatest Hits, The Beatles 1967 – 1970, Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Xaviar Cugat’s Cugi’s Cocktails.

The other side of gifts is that you end up expanding beyond what you would have purchased.

The family bumped into a neighbor the other day, and he mentioned having a whole bunch of old vinyl in the garage. Then he said I could come check it out and take anything or everything. 

There were a whole bunch of records lined up in an old Peaches crate. Right off the bat, I came across Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall. I’ve always like MJ’s records because of how easy they are to dance to. I never really got into his music, but I thought it would be one of those albums to have easy access to every now and then. 

It’s a lot of fun.

Next, he had a Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues. I wish I’d grabbed this one. Talking Heads aren’t a band I’ve ever loved, but they are good and interesting. I’m almost certain I’ll never buy and album from Talking Heads, but I wouldn’t be against having one in the collection. 

As a note, my neighbor had a great selection in this crate. Rock, jazz, funk and a lot from in between. As I’ve said, the music you like can say a lot about you. That’s not really fair. It’s not like I came up with that idea. Nick Hornby turned the thinnest of premises about music defining you into a novel (or career, depending on how generous you’re feeling).

My son was with me during the crawl, and he kept wondering if things we from the Beatles. He doesn’t know a whole lot of bands (Beatles, Elbow, Jack Johnson, TMBG), but he likes the ones he knows.

We came across Green River, by Creedence, and he liked the look of it. Again, thinking it was the Beatles. We grabbed it. My wife grew up with Creedence on the speakers at home, and I’ve always liked their sound.

Next, we found a B-52’s self-titled album. I think there’s a small, small chance I love the B-52’s. I suspect I don’t, because I’ve never listened to a whole album and I can name all of, say, four of their songs. There’s still a chance I think they’re great.

This disc has Rock Lobster on it. A song millions of people must enjoy, judging by how often I’ve heard it on the radio. However, I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone who’s on the list. I love it. Rock Lobster is weird and catchy and I think it shows off Fred Schneider’s songwriting approach and skills.

You know. I’m gonna put the album on now. Hold up. 

Strong start. James Bond meets the late 70s. They’re from Athens, GA. Home of REM, The Drive-By Truckers, of Montreal and the Elephant 6 Collective. One of my favorite parts of the B-52’s sound is the little twangy, southern spike on everything Fred sings. 

The ability of a singer to lean into their accent is important. A lot of popular British music sounds indistinguishable from American singers. Good singers can tease out their homeland. Alex from the Arctic Monkeys, for instance, when he’s talking about trying to get into a club on Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured. 

This (The B-52’s) thing is good. The music is slimmed way down. Just beats and simple tunes layered up ever so slightly. It gives the vocalist a lot of room to take up with their voices. 

Finally, we came across Modern Lovers Live. This one is fascinating. I don’t think I’d ever heard of the Modern Lovers – until the morning of the day we were going through these records. That day, I listened to some AI-generated playlist on Spotify featuring a Modern Lovers song.

I looked up the band up after hearing the song and spent a few minutes discovering this new thing (more like new guy, as Modern Lovers is mainly Jonathan Richman). Then, I went to the coffee shop, stopping it at Red Onion Records. They had, for whatever reason, a copy of Modern Lovers displayed on the wall.

Then I saw the live version in the Peaches crate and decided to pick it up. Haven’t listened to it yet, but it was such an odd series of repeated run-ins I decided it must be worth having, if only for the story.

So there’s the story of how I ended up owning Modern Lovers Live.