The Hitler Tricky Remix Album

This afternoon, Brian and Scott suggested the three of us head into Boston and hit the used record stores. It's a gorgeous day outside, a long weekend, and I had no previous plans, so I said sure, and hopped in the car. Usually, this activity involved getting on the commuter train on a Saturday morning, and spending all day combing through dusty stacks of bizarre records that no one ever listened to anymore and marveling when one of us found a gem. I was up for a little blast from the past today, and let me tell you, it EXCEEDED all expectations.

First, we hit In Your Ear Records on Commonwealth Ave., down the block from my favorite club in the world. I walked downstairs, and saw the windowless, packed to the rafters sales space, and immediately starting having High Fidelity deja-vu. The main reason for going here was that Scott needed to exchange a turntable he had purchased a few days earlier, that he felt was running slow. In the next half-hour, I witnessed Brian and Scott turn in to Dick and Barry from that movie. They were trying to explain what was happening to the clerk in the store, and to test their theory, he pulled out a 45 of the "Age of Aquarius". I almost died from containing the laughter. But, to top the absurdity, Brian then goes digging for the EXACT SONG that was playing when Scott noticed the turntable was spinning slowly. Apparently, this rig doesn't like Paul McCartney. At one point, I was standing there with my cell phone stop watch on, timing a full minute, while the same clerk counted revolutions. "Yeah, I'm getting 33 and 1/3, dude." Folks, I can't make this up. When Brian then started talking with the other clerk about a local Boston group from the 60s and their one release on a certain, now defunct label, and his attempts to locate this recording, I thought I had entered the world of fiction for sure. In the meantime, I dug around the local bins and found the vinyl EPs of my favorite Boston band ever, O-Positive. Of course, I bought both of them for a whopping 6 bucks. We solve the turntable problem, and take a quick diversion into the Goodwill Store next door, where I proceed to buy a denim jacket for another 6 bucks, and the plate pictured below for a whopping 65 cents. The jacket was in extremely good condition and fit me PERFECTLY, which, those of you who have seen me in person, is often very difficult for me to do.


From there, it was on to Looney Tunes on Boylston St. A little bigger, still packed to the rafters, and a similarly disinterested clerk at the register reading. Another half-hour transpired, where, digging through the bins, I found the record that was the inspiration for this post. "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer". It was a German language propoganda record, with Hitler's picture on the cover. It appeared to be extolling the virtues of certain Third Reich figures, along with other prominent German nationals, like Thomas Mann, Marlene Dietrich, and Albert Einstein. I held it in my hands gaping, and the now interested sales clerk started talking to me about this and how it's not the first of its kind he's seen since he's worked there. My friends and I were continuing the incredulous conversation around this album, when the clerk came out with a joke that is the title of this piece. "Yeah, but this one isn't as good as 'The Hitler Tricky Remix Album". My head almost exploded. I thought of Rob Gordon leaning back and surveying the scene set to the Beta Band song, thinking that it was good to be king. That line made that clerk king for today. I walked away with two vinyl records, a book about Wilco, a hot dog plate, a "new" jacket, and Peter Gabriel's Passion. I spent maybe $30. A good afternoon, in my opinion.

What did you all do today?



Talk About Love - O-Positive.

Between sneaking into shows at local colleges, and 18+ ones at the Paradise, I probably saw this band 6 times between 1988 and 1991.

MP3 File