PAUL CHASTAIN "Halo"
THE REVERBS "The Happy Forest"

I was going to start this post with a long-winded chapter about the many wonderful and haphazard ways we discover music. But let's just dedicate this one to a guy named Tom Garvey who I worked with at Rose Records on State St. in Chicago when I was 19. Fresh from dropping out of college, I landed the enviable (ahem) $3.50 per hour position of "singles buyer" at the now defunct Chicago record chain. Newly promoted from cashier or "floater" (one customer asked me where the Leonard Cohen was and I believe I answered, "is that jazz?"), I was excited to buy 45rpm 7" singles and cassette singles for our store. It was a pretty easy gig, just follow the Billboard chart and order according to the neighborhood. We sold a ton of Edie Brickell and Julia Fordham singles that fall I believe.

Anyway, within a month of getting this posh gig, the manager told us all that the store was to be shut down and replaced with something called "Entertainment Outlet". We were given the option to continue working at EO, but it would be all surplus vinyl, cutouts, overstock, etc, nothing new, and of course, my status as singles buyer wouldn't be upheld. At 19, I didn't realize what an amazing concept (overstock LPs) it was for a record store, but Tom Garvey, assistant manager, re-assured me, to stay. I had to come up with $315 a month for my studio apartment in Wrigleyville, so staying was the only option.

To this point, I was on a 4AD and Wax Trax diet. A constant binging of Cocteau Twins and Pailhead. The staff (most of us from the aforementioned failed Rose store) spent about two weeks unloading boxes, tens of thousands of vinyl albums from defunct music mall chain stores with names like Turtles, Camelot and Record City. Almost immediately, Tom, and our other manager, Al, started hyperventilating and each started a "hold" bin. They were going apeshit, every time they'd open a box, I'd hear a "Holy Shit, Tom! It's a fucking mono copy of Sweethearts Of The Rodeo!", "Mine!". I started one too. At first, with Killing Joke 12 inches, but then, anything on their recommendation. At one point I think I had 400 albums on hold, not nearly the most of any employee, but impressive, because I do believe I bought most of them (and still possibly own them).

I was ignorant to the midwest power pop scene until one day when Tom handed me BOTH Paul Chastain's solo EP from 1985, Halo, and The Reverbs' Happy Forest EP from around the same time. He said I'd like them because one of my favorite albums to that point (still is actually) was Cypress by Let's Active. This was my first foray into small independent pop music which would be my calling years later when I started my own label. Ric Menck from the Reverbs and Paul ended up forming Velvet Crush several years later, who released my favorite record of 1991, In The Presence of Greatness, produced by Matthew Sweet on 8 track. Still, these EPs remained in my collection and eventually got heavy spins as soon as I abdicated my shoegazing throne. They were the first things I thought about when ripping vinyl to MP3.

There will be more posts about this wonderful chapter of my education and discovery of music, until then, enjoy these rare songs:

Paul Chastain HALO
The Reverbs TRUSTED WOODS