78s and Heartbreak

Some things never change. Here is a hard lesson for any aspiring record collectors out there. 

 

Rule number one of record-digging is to prepare yourself for constant disappointment. I don't say this to discourage any aspiring diggers.  You will find good records and the occasional GRAIL from time to time, but generally speaking:  no matter where you are or what you're looking for, the first good (and usually best) record you find will be screwed up in one way or another.  Sometimes because of the thrill of finding that gem after hours of work, you don't even realize it until you get back home. It might be scratched, warped, cracked, or cruelly broken in two useless pieces, as is the sad case of this 1956 1st  pressing of James Brown's Please Please Please on Federal 78.  I spend two hours digging through piles of garbage records and suddenly I see that small 78 label with the Federal F sticking out. I removed the stack it was under and of course its the only one of them that is broken. 

 

The really depressing part is that when you do find such a record, in such sad condition, it will often times trick you into thinking you've hit a "vein" of quality vinyl and if you just keep digging you'll eventually hit paydirt.  So you dig and dig and dig and in the end there's nothing but Patrick Duffy. (Too obscure?)  Not trying to bring anyone down, just a small dose of reality.