A recent trip to Pre-Played in Madison was my undoing. It wasn’t my idea to stop, but that’s no excuse. Cindy looked for a movie and I surveyed the vinyl.

Am I ashamed? No.

I only got 2 and it was 30% off all vinyl. I call it fate we stopped in that day. I got

“The Police – Reggatta De Blanc”

This one was one of my first records ever. I got it when I lived in Ann Arbor. If you don’t own it, I know it’s old, but you should give it another listen. It changed me. There was a brief intense THE band phase for me. The Police, The Cars, The Beatles, The Stones… it was weird. This was out of nowhere back then and it exploded and of course the 2 hits from this album  “Walking On The Moon” and “Message In A Bottle” were in everyone’s ear and infectious. I remember seeing them on TV on a few shows and they were full of energy and it was perfectly situated between hard rock and soft stuff. Just right. I would listen to this and “The Cars – The Cars” and “Cheap Trick – Dream Police” over and over and over.

The Police have always stuck with me and as I write this and listen to it I am convinced that if they released this album today, it would fare well. It has a timeless quality and good solid music. My favorite track on this album surprisingly isn’t “Walking On The Moon” or “Message In A Bottle”, it’s the track “Deathwish” on the end of side one. Great tempo changes and intro drums by Stewart. Maybe it’s the echoey guitar that gets me.

“Running in the outside lane people think that I’m insane”

The whole album is great and I was happy to find this one. Brings my Police collection almost to completion.

I also got this one, in rough shape, but at 30% off it was basically free.

“Shaft – The Soundtrack”

Now, I knew at $1.99 the quality might not be great, but come on, it’s Isaac Hayes. I suspect 90% is instrumentals, but these are soul instrumentals. I could not pass it up.

Damn right.

Shut you’ mouth.