Vinyl find: History of the Soviet Union in Ballad & Song
A few weeks ago I found a great little record shop right around the corner from me. Tucked away in a non-desrcript office park that looked to be full of dentists and accountants, I’m sure I’ve driven by dozens of times without ever knowing it was there.
As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by a little old Eastern European woman who apologized for the mess, and offered help finding anything I was looking for. There were boxes and stacks of records piled up on every surface in the place. Bins along the outer walls that looked like they may have been in some order at one point, but right then it was just boxes and boxes everywhere you looked.
The old lady asked me if I was looking for anything in particular, which I wasn’t, but I said, “Do you have any Bob Dylan?” “Come with me,” she said, and led me to the back of the store. Towards the back is a small hallway that leads to another room that at one time must have been the office, but was now just filled with boxes of records. She started digging around and moving unlabeled wine cases filled with records, until she found the one she was looking for. “Here,” she said, “Lots of Bob Dylan in here.” She then walked back up to the front of the store, but before she did she told me to take my time and look at anything I liked. There were records stuffed on shelves next the owner’s business papers. There was an old desk, that had long since been used as rack for more boxes of records. It was total chaos, but it was fun to dig.
I ended up pouring through tons and tons of boxes, but really only scratched the surface. And since there was no real order, it was hard to keep track of where you’d looked as other people were constantly moving boxes and stacks of records and covering your tracks. Chaos, enjoyable chaos.
After an hour or so, I’d found a pile of a couple of records that I wanted—some old Stones and Springsteen, some Motown. But digging through one of the many boxes that were stacked back in the old office, I found the coolest record of the day: The History Of The Soviet Union in Ballad & Song. Put out by Folkway Records in 1964. I loved look: the bright red cover with the old hammer & sickle stamps, and the crazy song titles: “Boldly, Comrades, In Step,” “Tortured to Death in Captivity,” and “The Red Army is the Most Powerful of All.” The record seemed like a window into a different time and place. Such a random find, but one that sticks with me more than all of the others.
All that for a buck. Da.
