Had some time to kill at lunch today, so I dropped into the Half Priced Books store in Westport.  Looks like they’ve finally removed the general 12″ section, and everything in that bin is now labeled (and unfortunately correctly so) as “Hip Hop 12″s” . . . not much worth seeing in there today except for three copies of a Dilated Peoples single.  I have a feeling the days of being able to grab the classic Detroit and oddball house releases out without sifting through the whole collection of Jackson Browne and Bonnie and Delaney albums are over with.

I usually start the album flipping at the Z end of the alphabet - it’s just closer geographically to the 12’s.  I immediately saw a Throwing Muses release as the first record in one of the bins - ended up being the Chains Changed ep from 1987 - a solid $4.98.

Immediately behind that was the band’s 4AD Fat Skier 7-track mini album for $3.  Stephanie’s a big fan of the band and has been asking for more female-front indie/punk stuff lately, so these definitely fit the bill.

Initially sidetracked by those finds, I started digging through the tail-end of the alphabet, finding a copy of a Full Cycle split with Die and Krust (”Timing Mechanism” and “21st Century” respectively) for 99 cents.  Turns out this is actually the E/F sides to a 3×12 edition of the Through the Eyes label compilation.  The other two pieces were not to be found.

A couple of bins over was a $3 12″ of Terence Trent D’Arby’s “Wishing Well” single and remixes - happen to flip it over and sure enough, it featured a Francois Kevorkian remix, as well as one from The Human League/Heaven 17’s Martyn Ware.

So I keep digging . . . no Talk Talk as usual.  I make it into the R’s and find a copy of Baby Ford’s BFord 9 album from ‘92 for $5 misfiled and had to do a double-take.  I’ve been hesitant to buy into the Baby Ford resurgence as of late - like most electronic musicians active since the late 80’s, the early/mid 90’s produced a fair share of cheese . . . but it’s hard to pass up a classic like this on double vinyl for $5.

The middle area of the alphabet produced a couple of nice gems - a $5 unopened copy of Barbara Manning’s 1212 from 1997, laid out across three sides of double vinyl, should catch Stephanie’s attention.  Another front-of-the-bin find was a little black-sleeved 10″ with odd script on the front which read “fins to makes us more fish-like” . . . instant buy.  Red vinyl too . . . I’d been looking for decent prices on this vintage of Liars stuff for awhile - $8, but worth it.

Back to finishing out the M’s and I come across Ministry’s “The Nature of Love” 12″ from 85 on WaxTrax.  Can’t wait to see what the “Cruelty Mix” is about.

The rest of the alphabet in was pretty boring - no Cocteau Twins either, as usual.  I pretty much knew what I kept seeing out of my peripheral vision was going to be the last good thing I’d find, there in the next-to-last bin, again, like the Throwing Muses and the Liars, in plain sight to everyone.

Yep, Brainiac’s Hissing Prigs in Static Couture.  Stephanie wants more weird stuff, here you go, cause this one’s a classic.  It also draws to close a long, drawn-out chapter in my life, one wherein I just keep repeating the words “Why didn’t I buy this for $2 at Superflea oh so many years ago” for thirty pages.  Glad that’s done, right?

So that’s the haul for today.  Total set back:  $40.