Crate Diggin' - Used Kids

Lately I have been feeling myself falling into a growing rut when it comes to the music I am listening to. Though I appreciate most genres and styles, I seem to be having Alexa play the same three bands (Sublime, Grateful Dead, and Beck) time and time again. While doing some much-needed purging around the house, I found my wife’s Victrola; a gift from a few years back that had become forgotten. Along with it, I found a couple albums I had found digging through crates at a local record shop. I became inspired.

So, I made a trip back to Used Kids, a Columbus staple since 1986. The original store was located on North High Street dead smack in the middle of THE Ohio State University campus. In my early twenties, it was a must stop shop when visiting a group of friends who attended OSU (of which I would become a student some twenty years later.) I remember one such visit in which my friend Marty, who after previewing an album on the listening wall (an area in the store where you could check out new releases before buying) would be the only person in my life that actually bought the Chumbawamba CD.

A few years ago, when “they” decided to “clean up campus”, many of the iconic locations (like Bernie’s Delicatessen - a dive punk bar that also served sandwiches) either closed down or relocated. Bernie’s was especially devastating to me as it was the first venue I ever jumped into a mosh pit at. It was at a Lunachicks show that my girlfriend Star (not her real name) dragged me to. It was a bar I had eaten mushrooms on the patio and performed (with a sketch comedy group) in front of maybe three people. Many memories had been made there, but we’re not talking about Bernie’s. We are talking about Used Kids, which had moved a little farther north.

Not sure exactly what I was looking for, I just kind of meandered around at first. Finally, I chose a set of crates and a stool and began digging. I was somewhere in the middle of several rows of bins labeled "Rock", when I found my first album, a self-titled release by Pacific Gas & Electric. Not only had I never heard of them, but there was something about the image of them on the cover that called to me. It was the band sitting in a trashed hotel room. There was various music instruments scattered everywhere, a couple of guns sitting on the bed, and they all looked a little fucked up (especially the one crouched under the window.) Whatever was going on in that room I wanted in. It was the perfect start.

Wanting to find something completely opposite of the grungy seventies rock band I had just snagged, I navigated myself to the back room where genres like "Jazz" and "World" were located. It was here I would discover a section titled "Dollarland". I imagined it would be somewhere I could find cheap and old. I was right. The problem was that there was so much old and cheap that it made it hard to find something. I left to peek through some Jazz and Reggae before revisiting Dollarland. It was on my return trip that I found Ports of Paradise, which appears to be Hawaiin themed songs from the fifties.

My final vinyl kind of reached out and bit me. Upon pulling Ports of Paradise, I turned around and almost knocked a stack of albums over. On top of that stack was Moonlight Ragtime. The artwork immediately caught my eye. It was soft and colorful. Best thing...the songs were old enough to be in the public domain, which further solidified an idea I had for a related podcast (which I will discuss later.)

Since she didn't have school that day, I drug my teenage daughter Lilla (who only listens to video game scores) with me. Though she didn't act like it was a terribly miserable experience, she didn't seem to care about anything going on there either. I decided to trat her to lunch across the street at Punk Pig, a sandwich shop specializing in pork filled grilled cheese. She got smoked mozzarella and bacon. I opted for smoked gouda and brisket. They were both pretty tasty (especially that brisket.) $9 a piece tasty...I am not so sure.

When I decided to take on this adventure, this is just the type of album I was hoping I would find. From the moment the opening track began to play, I was hooked. It was a beautiful blend of blues and rock with perfectly timed horns and a touch of soul. The lead singer, Charlie Allen, reminded me a lot of a cross between John Lee Hooker (who they would cover on the last, and my favorite, song on side A) and Jimi Hendrix. There is even a moment during "My Women" in which he begins to skat, drawing inspiration from the likes of Duke Ellington. He was truly the "star" of the band. Not that the rest of the band wasn't good (especially guitarist Tom Marshall), but it was Allen who stole the show. I was blown away.

Then I flipped the record over to side two. On the back of the album (as shown above - 2nd paragraph), they described themselves as being "five more different and divergent personalities could not be conceived of - a Jew, a Christian, a Black, a Greaser, and a WASP." This fact could not be more obvious than in the "PG&E Suite." As noted on the album cover, it was a medley that was meant to represent a direction each member wanted to go. Apparently, that direction for most of them was more along the lines of light jazz than what I had heard on the first side. Not that it was bad, it just disrupted the feel of the whole album and had me wondering "what the fuck!" That is until Charlie Allen came on to sing "Boy Wonder" and brought the album back to the blues rock that had me vibin' to begin with. Finally, the album ended on a song called "Redneck", an upbeat, raucous jam taking aim at small town, small mind America. I could only hope that the next album satisfied me half as much as this one did.

When I grabbed this record I did so in hopes that it would fill my mind with island vibes. It had been a crappy couple of months and I needed to feel tropical (even if stranded here in gray ass Ohio.) This hope was increased tenfold as I thumbed through the booklet it came with. As it turns out, this album was somewhat of an advertising ploy. It was created in by Alfred Newman and Ken Darby (who both had some musical acclaim in the film industry) and the Matison Navigation Company to sell a cruise package they offered that took you around the Pacific ocean and featuring stops in Fije, Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand, and Hawaii (all of which have their own songs dedicated to them). Along with Alfred and Ken was a large choir, a ton of instruments, and other singers including Mavis Rivers.

It was an exceptionally cold and rainy day (for May) when I decided to finally throw on the record. It was crap outside and I had a couple of hundred headshots to cut for the Clippers (a minor league baseball team I work for), so I got the vinyl spinning and Photoshop loading.

From the moment it began, you could tell the two composers came from the film industry. It had little noises that reminded me of sound effects heard on 50's era TV shows like I Dream of Jeannie that led into a large crescendo and into a full choir welcoming you to the Ports of Paradise. What followed was a stretch of weirdness. There was tribal chanting set to a haunting melody that could only be made using a Theremin followed by more chanting before working itself into a frenzy that crashed into a chill and harmonious finish.

The next couple of songs were kind of what I expected to hear. Chill harmonies that transplanted me into the middle of a Laua (at least as I picture them in my head.) These tracks were alright, but not anything exceptional. In fact, there was a stretch of about three that all kind of sounded alike. Then, the last track of side one began. Back came the chanting. I couldn't help but picture an aborigine tribe somewhere dancing in a circle int the midst of some religious ceremony. It is here that Mavis Rivers made her mark. The song Isa Lei was a gorgeous song that really showcased off her vocal range. It was definitely one of the highlights of the album.

The second side opened with a pretty chilled choir driven tune, reminiscent of its title “Whispering Wind” (they even finish the song by making wind noises with their mouth.) Mavis made a return in the next song and again stole the show. Her contributions were by far the best on the record. I was not much of a fan of the next couple of songs. One reminded me too much of opera (which I have never had an ear for) and the other kind of had a gospel, religious tinge. The final song, “To You Sweetheart, Aloha” served a suitable finish as the full choir bid us all heartfelt aloha. All in all, this record wasn’t too bad. There were definitely some interesting parts and some parts that weren’t so interesting. I have never been a big fan of choir music, so it was no surprising that the two songs featuring a soloist (Mavis Rivers) were my favorite.

It is here that I decided to return to that initial trip to Used Kids and listen to the albums I bought then (of which I only got around to listening to Led Zeppelin's "In Through the Out Door"). I decided to start with the Bob Dylan album "Slow Train a Coming". Released in 1979, it was Dylan's first album after being "reborn again." It's just my luck, that, of the many, many Dylan albums, I picked up the bible thumping one. There should be some kind of disclaimer on things like this. It should have been in the gospel section, not the rock. Oh well, I decided to give it a shot anyways.

I will be honest...it was kind of difficult to listen to. I am not a religious person. In fact, I find a lot about religion to be absolutely ridiculous. Songs like "Precious Angel", "Man Gave Names to All the Animals", and "When He Returns" made me want to rip the needle across the vinyl and toss this record where it belongs (I am sure you can guess where this is.) There were a couple of tracks, however that weren't that terribly awful. "I Believe in You" had some nice chill guitar work, "Slow Train" had a bluesy rock sound that made me not care about the Christian undertones the lyrics came with, and "When You Gonna Wake Up" is kind of a throwback to his socio-political days (kind of). All in all, I don't think I will probably ever listen to this record again.

The other record I bought (and hadn't listened to) on that first trip to Used Kids Records was The Who: Live at Leed's. My love of live music is what drew me to pull this from the crate. Bands often do things a little different on stage than in the studio, especially when they are really vibing with the crowd. That's when you get things like ten-minute guitar solos and mind-blowing medleys & covers. Sure, live records can't capture the visual show or that sense of camaraderie amongst the band members that being there does, but they do bring you into the spontaneity of the moment and have the ability to transport you to another time and place. A place where you are fully immersed in the music and a time where it feels like the band is playing only for you.

What a way to start an album! "Young Man Blues" was the perfect song to start with. It came out fast and ready to make a statement about what this show was about. Hearing Daltry screaming "Young Man Ain't Got Nothing" over Townsends blaring guitar rift and thumping drumbeat, had me ready to jump in the pit and go crazy. Why they followed it (on the album) with "Substitue" is beyond me. It was pretty simple (by their standards) musically and chocked full of cheesy rhyming sentences. In the scope of the album, it did not seem to belong. It was pure pop. They had lost me...but only for a second until they got into "Summertime Blues." I won't say that this cover was better than the original, but it certainly was a fun rendition. They added a little speed to it that got it rocking and brought me back from the feelings of lameness that "Substitute" had instilled in me. The final track on side 1 "Shakin All Over" closed the first half of this album the way it began, with heavy guitar play and a touch of the blues. This, honestly, may be my favorite song on this record.

The second side opened with a fifteen minute rendition of "My Generation" that incorporated a medley of other Who songs and (perhaps) some of the best guitar solos of any live song out there. When I say solo's, I mean there were multiple; each one of them a shining example why Townsend is the legend he is. There are parts of this he is strumming so fast, I imagine his hand being nothing more than a blur over the strings. A guitar maniac caught in the moment and putting on one of the best performances of his life. The album closed with "Magic Bus", which brought it all back full circle with high energy blues (and some kill harmonica) that left me wanting more.

I will be honest; this was the first Who album I had ever listened to. Somehow, they were a band that missed me when I was going through my classic rock phase. I knew of their hits, but as far as their music in general went, I was completely clueless. I had no idea how heavy they were. They were a driving, musical force that I will have to further explore, including this show specifically. A quick Google search showed that there have been a few different versions of this album released including at least one that contained every song they performed that night. I can't wait to listen to it and find out what song I wish would have been a substitute for "Substitute."