How Do You Find These Things?
How do you find these things? I get this question quite often. When asked how she finds the myriad of great memes she posts to her social media accounts, a friend says, “They found me.” I don’t think I can get away with that in this instance.
The truth is that, for the most part, finding these things requires a lot of hard work and patience.
I would say that most of my items come from eBay and, most recently, Discogs, but many of the items I’ve come across over the years came from being in the right place at the right time. I like to look through thrift stores, junk stores, record stores, and antique stores—both in-person and online.
For example, if I walk into a thrift/junk store I want to look over every possible inch of that store because you never know what you will find and where you will find it.
I once found an advance copy of Rumor Has It on cassette (shown below) at the very back of a junk store in Nashville on the bottom shelf of a bookshelf with a couple of other cassettes. I had no idea something like this existed at that point. I found a similar version of For My Broken Heart on eBay a few years later. Had I given up halfway through, I wouldn’t have found this great item.
Sometimes, you pick something up, hoping to find something, but it turns out it’s just a dud. But sometimes, you’ll pick up something and find something you’ve never seen. The latter describes this CD-R with the words “MCA Image Archive” written on it. I was browsing at the Music Row Yard Sale during the CMA Music Festival several years back and found this item for $2. I figured I was only out $2 if it was a dud. If it weren’t a dud, then I’d have something! It included hi-res images from many MCA Nashville artists, including Reba. All of the photos were for Reba’s Greatest Hits Volume III - I’m A Survivor release, and there was one photo in this set that I had never seen before! You’ll see that coming up on that Compilation Albums page when it is finished.
Most of the time, I can be very meticulous when browsing—looking at catalog numbers and pouring through the artwork. If I didn’t look at the artwork, I’d never know that the BMG Music Service version of the What If It’s You cassette had black-and-white artwork on the inside.
Fun Fact: The Columbia House versions of some of the late 90s CDs does not list the “Also Available by Reba McEntire” discography section and/or the Fan Club contact information. I assume the former isn’t listed because those titles might not be available from Columbia House.
Photos courtesy Discogs
Some other interesting finds over the years:
Two different versions of Live on LP - stay tuned!
Different coloring on the artwork for international versions of Greatest Hits Volume Two - and missing flowers?
“Censored” Reba Artwork?! (Thanks to my friend Billy for that tip!)
More to come…
