Take a Chance on Me : $1 Bin (or similar bargains)

Searching through sale bins is a double edged sword.  There always the risk of that sinking feeling in seeing something you paid top dollar for and my usual reaction to that is either quickly pass it by pretending (to myself) that I never saw it, or if it is something that I really think deserves to be heard by a wider audience I pick it up and add it to the collection.

The other edge of the sword is when I spy something that I know vaguely about that screams out "Take a Chance on Me".  While I obviously make conventional sale purchases "I have always wanted it but at that price it seems to be the right time".

"Take a Chance on Me Sale Bin" searching is quite different.  I am not talking about buying something by an artist I have never heard and sometimes never heard of (or remember hearing of). I think that with all my reading (magazines, album covers etc) I am at an advantage over the average punter but my sale bin "Take a Chance on Me" criteria still comes down to whatever I am looking at ticking one or more of the following boxes

• An interesting cover - it always starts there as you have to stop flicking through for some reason
• An interesting band name or title
• A vague recollection that I had heard/read something about it 
• Someone I know or have heard of playing on, producing or even just being thanked in the credits

I do not always get it right - I have bought some bloody awful clunkers that were in the bin for a sound reason.  But this post is dedicated to the gems, either in their own right or for the journey they set me off on.

Golden Smog : Down by the Old Mainstream : I don't think I knew at the time that guys were all Jayhawks, Wilco, Soul Asylum and Big Star members working under aliases.  This is a great album in its own right and so was the follow up. I think I have given 2 or 3 other sale bin purchases away.

Freedy Johnston : This Perfect World : It was the cover that got me - nothing quite like it.  This and the follow up album will get a post in their own right - they are that good

Wes Cunningham : 12 Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking : This was and is a weird one and a real one off - my only regret in buying it is that I should have bought more the one and only time I saw it (and bought it) in a bundle of 5 or six.  I know many people who would be attracted to its eccentricities. Imagine a mix of 60s europop, reggae and country.  It works.

The Eels : Beautiful Freak : The eyes have it and I now have about ten cds by The Eels and Mark E

Shaver : Tramp on Your Street : Billy Joe Shaver and his son Eddie all amped up - Eddie was a great guitarist who sadly died only a few years after this.  I have since bought quite a few more by Billy Joe. And of course Waylon Jennings' Honky Tonk Heroes where all but one song is written by Billy Joe.

Semi Twang : Salty Tears : I only bought this because it was produced by a mixture of producers on it (T Bone Burnett, Mitchell Froom and Jerry Harrison.  Until today I thought this was there only release. Have sought out a few solo albums by the main man John Sieger.  But now I see they released a follow up last year after a 20 year break.  Ordered!

Rilo Kiley : More Adventurous : Just that - I was feeling more adventurous!!