Hunting Season

God, how I wish there were record stores like that in Manila. With clerks just like that too. I could be one of them. I know those places aren't making money, but I don't know, it's always been a dream of mine to play records for a living.

The most I can do on my end at the moment is to hunt.

It's been five years since I was first introduced to Juliana Hatfield, care of Evan Dando and the Lemonheads. I wasn't even looking for her, she was already there; lurking beneath a blend of power-pop so sweet that I swear I need an insulin shot every time I hear it, was Juliana.

Singing along with the the most irresistible whisper, she provided the back up vocals and bass to 1992's, It's A Shame About Ray. Her presence could still be heard in 1993's follow-up, Come On Feel The Lemonheads.

I remember flipping through the liner notes of The Best of The Lemonheads: The Atlantic Years, looking for a name. A name belonging to a voice that I just fell head over heels for. And that name was Juliana Hatfield.

One Google search later, I knew it. I felt it. I was in love. I had found a girl, a girl who plays the guitar, a managed who managed to find the balance between perfect pop and searing hard rock... WOW!

That was it! I needed her albums. Simply downloading them wasn't going to do it. I needed her albums, in my hands, standing in honor, alphabetically, with the rest of my cds.

Now, finding them was a problem. Everything she did between 1988-1995 was out of print. Even worse, whatever album she had still available was slowly becoming hard to find.

Had I lived elsewhere, this wouldn't have been a problem. I could have simply walked into a used record shop, browsed through what they had until I found her stuff. But being in Manila, at a time when Tower/Music One (at the time, the best record outlets in Manila) was on the verge of falling apart. I needed alternatives, and I needed them fast.

For a little over a year, I made my way through every garage sale and made frequent visits to the Evangelista St. in Pasay; the kind of place where, if you happen to be there at the right time, you can find virtually anything you're looking for. This Statement justified a year ago, when I magically stumbled across the Pistoleros' Hang On To Nothing, which at the time, was the last album I'd expect to find in Manila.

Now, someone out there (hopefully) is probably asking themselves, "Mike, why didn't you just check out eBay Philippines?". Well, I did. And turned up nothing... Well, that isn't true. I did find something. It was a 1993 vinyl pressing of "My Sister" with a "Spin The Bottle" B-Side that was distributed to local radio stations.

I was an idiot for passing that up... I don't even want to remember how much it cost, because it was a steal. I don't want to remember because I forgot the reason I had passed up on that glorious cover-less 7" promo single.

So, flash forward to February of 2006. Randomly, I search eBay, and oh, lord. I see it... Hell, it's not even it, I see... It's all of it!

Hey Babe, 1991
Forever Baby EP, 1991
I See You EP, 1991
The Juliana Hatfield Three: Become What You Are, 1993
The Juliana Hatfield Three: My Sister EP, 1993
The Juliana Hatfield Three: For The Birds EP, 1993
The Juliana Hatfield Three: Spin The Bottle EP, 1993
Only Everything, 1995

All those albums for a ridiculously low price of PHP250 a piece. That was It, this was the moment I have been waiting for. The chance to pay for a Juliana Hatfield album, and I was getting that chance in abundance.

This was it.

I called the seller up and told him, "Ok, I don't care where we meet tomorrow, I am going to buy all the Juliana Hatfield albums you have on you.".

Then he tells, "I'm sorry sir, these albums are already reserved.".

"How could they be reserved if you just put them up?", I ask him.

And then he tells me, "The buyer ordered them from me months ago and its only now that I finally received them.".

GOD DAMN IT!

That was it... Story of my life, really. There's always something I want that I can't have, no matter how hard I fight for it. And it just happened again. With those Juliana Hatfield albums. Damn it.

But, I remain optimistic. I'm at the end of my rope, but I still remain optimistic. And then, a couple weeks later, I find that someone's got Become What You Are up for PHP350.

Like hell I'm gonna pass this up!

So I call the buyer and thankfully, no one's reserving the album. It just came along with a shipment of used cd's that was sent to him. Perfect! Beautiful! This is great!

One phone call and twelve hours later, I'm at the nearest MRT station waiting for him. It was like a scene from a movie: the guy stepped off the train and walked over to the gate, and with a big smile, he took the cd from his backpack and handed it to me.

I wanted to cry. I really did.

After long last and after all that searching, I finally had, in my hands, in my possession, a Juliana Hatfield cd. I hand him the money as fast as I can and I just inspected the album. It was mint! Hardly any scratches on the cd, the bar code wasn't burned off, and the insert booklet was perfect.

Once I had some time to breathe, we got to talking about bands, about albums, and then he also mentioned that he had noticed the greedy seller who had put up her albums a week before. I mentioned to him that I was looking for her albums with the Blake Babies, her old band, and basically every solo record she released between 1991-1995. And with a giant grin across his face, he said, "I can get them for you!".

I looked back and said, "Holy shit, no way!".

"Just give me a couple months, man. And you'll have them.".

"Deal!".

That summer, he sent me:
The Blake Babies: Sunburn, 1990
Hey Babe, 1991
The Juliana Hatfield Three: Become What You Are, 1993
The Blake Babies: Innocence & Experience, 1993
Only Everything, 1995.

Each for a higher price of around PHP850, each. And you know what? They were all freakin' worth it!

Then, a couple months later, he calls me up and tells me he's got the 2000 UK-reissue of 1998's Bed, with the songs from the 1997 EP, Please Do Not Disturb. He sold it to me at PHP600. A few months later, I save up enough to order Crushing Love, her album with side-band, Some Girls, and for my birthday, my sister got me Juliana's 2001 best of album, Gold Stars.
(Michelle, I love you!)

Pictured above,
My Juliana Hatfield collection

And now, here I am. Five years older and hardly any wiser. It's been a long time since I've put myself on the hunt for albums, due to the fact that collecting albums, as a hobby, is freakin' expensive and I can find almost anything I want with a good Google search.

However, as of this afternoon, one artist has come to my attention. Someone who's music is worthy of a long and relentless search. And that artist, is Mary Lou Lord.



Now, Mary Lou Lord came to my attention months ago when I first heard her in the Saturday Morning Cartoon's Greatest Hits compilation, which complied some of the best names in 90's alternative and 80's punk and indie into one awesome album that paid tribute to the songs that accompanied cherished programs like The Flintstones, Speed Racer, The Banana Splits, and Scooby Doo. I had gotten the album initially for Liz Phair's cover of the Banana Splits' theme song, Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly's take on "Josie And The Pussycats", and Matthew Sweet's rendition of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?".

There were two songs on that compilation that really caught my attention. First was the Murmur's take on the theme song to H.R. Puffnstuff's theme, and the second was Mary Lou Lord accompanied by Semisonic, doing the Archies' beloved, "Sugar Sugar".

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I'm a sucker for a really good pop song, and "Sugar Sugar" is no exception. It's fun, its light, its catchy, and well, just plain sugary!

Mary Lou Lord gave that song a 90's twist, while retaining the song's strong flavor of late-60's bubblegum pop!

Mary Lou Lord shares many of the same characteristics that drew me to Juliana Hatfield: she's from Massachusetts, she's a cutie that plays the guitar, who has, in her own sense, found the boundaries between perfect pop and distorted rock. However, unlike Juliana who often shifts back and fourth between the extremes of pop and rock, Mary Lou Lord found her spot between, mostly keeping to, from what little I've listened to, this sublime and earnest sense of folk pop, with a little distortion thrown in.

I'm hooked! I want to hear more of Mary Lou Lord and I want to own her albums. I've already been taken by "Jingle Jangle Morning" and her cassette release, Real, which features what has to be the earliest cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Actually, her cover wonderfully stands on its own. It's original and bright, but its still got a subtle sense of teen angst surrounding it. Brilliant, really.

And with that, I return to the great hunt for music. I don't know how long it'll take me or how much it'll cost me before I come across any of her albums. But, I've always found a thrill in finding music. It's a great journey, really... In fact, its more than that, it's an adventure in itself. It is a story worth telling. It us searching for these wonderful works of art created by amazingly talented people that unlike any other form, has the ability to touch us in way that words and pictures can't even describe.

Thank you, Mary Lou! I'm excited about finding music again.