Much of my time lately has been spent hunting down pieces to (re)build my hardcopy music collection. One of these has had me tied in knots: Anvil‘s Strength of Steel on CD.
It’s rare as hell, this disc, because it’s out of print (surprise, surprise). And it’s one of those instances where you can occasionally find it – for a staggering 140 USD – and yet the vinyl is plentiful and cheap.
While it would be ace to have it on vinyl as well, it’s the CD I’m after. Do you think I can find it? Nooo, not on your life. At least, not for a price I’d be willing to pay at this point anyway. I’ve scoured eBay, Amazon, Gemm, Spun, some enormously dodgy (and now defunct) distros… and have finally hit up peeps in my Twitter network to see if I can crowdsource a copy.
Even that, I’ll wager, is doomed to fail. And so, the hunt continues.
It’s a curious process, hunting down these types of things. It turns you into a shrewd stalker: watching numerous items on eBay (when they arise), judging how far an auction is going to rise, working out what your bidding tactics might be. So for me, who haaaaates shopping, it’s become a bit of an obsession. You’d never catch me exhibiting this type of behaviour with physical stores; not only would it be impossible but I’d just throw a tantrum and give up.
The interwebs, however, are so big that I figure there must be one. Somewhere. That I can buy.
Stupidly hopeful? You bet. Having said that, I’m gonna go look some more. In the meantime, if you find a copy, hit me up. I’ll be forever grateful!
