This album has been posted elsewhere, and recently too, but I have a great story to tell about how I came by this particular item in my collection.
I've traded CD's on eBay since 2000, so I have a good idea about which 1980's CD's are worth more or are harder to find. During a buying spree in 2004 I won A Dark Enchantment in an auction for a very reasonable $32 - and before the end of the year I had resold it for about $70, if I remember correctly. Prices for out of print CD's keep going up, so I was content to have ripped the album to my mp3 player and didn't actively seek out another copy. I did like the album a lot, though.
Fast forward to the summer of 2006. I was going through the complicated process of becoming a US citizen, and had an appointment for an interview with the INS in Memphis, TN. Memphis is about three hours from where I live, and two hours from where I used to work, so I planned on taking the day off to go down there. I'm not familiar with Memphis at all, having been to Graceland only once before.
The INS office was actually in the suburbs of Memphis and finding the exact exit was confusing, so that when I got close enough, but could not find the right street, I started looking for a gas station to get directions.
My normal philosophy, as a self conscious English twit, is to quickly scan the map books available for purchase to get my bearings instead of coming across like a clueless tourist. However, the gas station I found was in a very run down area of town, with security windows, and I was sufficiently intimidated that I left the store none the wiser as to where I needed to go. Just next door, however, was a run down thrift store in aid of some local charity group. I figured that they might give me directions, not to mention that I am, at heart, a thrift store junkie.
It was pretty run down, just a very average, small store with bundles of this and that. On autopilot, I headed for the music section, which consisted, as is typical in these places, of broken empty cases, a Celine Dion CD Single, something by Backstreet Boys, maybe a copy of Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack with the cover missing. You know the sort of thing.
In the middle of this shoddy pile, to my amazement, was a pristine copy of A Dark Enchantment on CD.
You could say I was excited. It even had the original import sticker and price tag on it - in other words, it was in the original case. I have no idea how it ended up in a tiny Memphis thrift store.
The price tag was an equally thrifty $1.00. I felt a little guilty handing over the money, but they were so thrilled to sell me anything that they happily gave me directions as well. One day, I have decided, I will go back there with a bunch of twenties. But, to the victor goes the spoils. I can't tell you how many times I have gone into the same kinds of places and found absolutely nothing of interest. Kind of like prospecting for gold, I guess.
Bear in mind that this is an album that was released in England in very limited quantities, and never had a US pressing. And yet, a copy managed to find its way to me, perhaps the only person out of half a million people or more in that area who would recognize it's true value, as a result of randomly pulling off the interstate at the wrong exit (I had overshot, as it turned out, and had to go back to the previous exit - and made my appointment with time to spare).
So no matter what, this one is staying with me.
Secession - A Dark Enchantment (1987)
- Eventide
- Promise
- Love Lies Bleeding
- Sneakyville
- Winifred
- The Box That Holds A Secret
- Ocean Blue
- Radioland
- The Magician
- Love Lies Bleeding (Reprise)
- The Wolf
- Eventide (Theme From A Dark Enchantment)
- All The Animals Come Out At Night
- Michael
- Havoc
- Promise (Dub)
