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What's your best ever punt?

droodzilla

droodzilla

pfm Member
I mean an album by an artist that you'd never heard before that you bought on spec, maybe because the cover intrigued you.

Stuff that you've already heard one song off, or knew had good reviews, doesn't count as a complete punt, in my book.

Mine is the album Riot on an Empty Street by The Kings of Convenience. I bought it in Sheffield Fopp for a fiver, about twenty years ago. I immediately thought it was very pleasant and well-crafted, but it's grown on me more and more over the years, and I've become a huge fan of all four KoC albums.

Musically and lyrically, they stand up to close and repeated listening in a way that very few artists do. It helps that their quality control is sky high (four albums in twenty years) - reminiscent of Steely Dan, in that respect.


Anyway, what's yours?
 
Good question, I'll give it more thought but this is first that popped into my head. I liked the cover. I liked it so much I bought their first album not long after. I'd never heard of them at the time.

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Has anyone, ever, bought an album that they have heard nothing of whatsover...................

I haven't, so far as I recall, amongst the 1500-2000 here. There must have been some, but only from well-known, favourite bands.

I have bought a few turkeys based on hearing single tracks though.

However, I have passed on some albums from artistes that I very much like, based on one or two tracks from the album on YouTube - the latest from Helios in the past week.
 
George Thorogood: i had a record voucher (birthday present about 1979) and wasn’t sure what to buy. Browsing local record shop, i was taken by the cool photos on the rear cover and the write up - i had never heard of him before.
Love him, still quite a regular listen. Seen him once at Cambridge corn exchange - brilliant.
If i ever get to the USA, I will try to see George and the Destroyers playing on home turf.



 
I bought the first Franz Ferdinand album purely because I liked the cover. I also bought the first Cornershop album on the basis of hearing it playing in Fopp, Sheffield.

To be honest I’ve often taken a punt on new artists or albums by people I already like. Loads of people buy the latest by a favourite artist without waiting to hear it. Spotify hasn’t always existed;)
 
Vinny said:
Has anyone, ever, bought an album that they have heard nothing of whatsover...................
Click to expand...

Back in the pre-internet dark ages of my school years it accounted for much of my purchasing. It is hard to imagine the isolation of that time now. Just no easy access to knowledge beyond a couple of radio programs a week and music papers, all of which focusing on ‘the now’, never a broader viewpoint or context. Luckily there was a superb second-hand record shop (Reaction Records, New Brighton) within a train journey, plus the local shop (Rox) had a cheap cut-out bin. I used to pick stuff purely on cover designs as I knew nothing and had no other way to research. I discovered loads of stuff; Hawkwind, Man, Nektar, Groundhogs etc etc this way. Stuff that was a good few years old at the time, but which I connected with more than the pop stuff on the radio or TOTP.

I’ve always bought and sold, even as a kid, so if I didn’t get on with something I’d trade it back the next week or swap it at school. Vinyl has always been a currency.

I need to think about what is my best discovery of this nature, but it is hard to do as there is just so much. I’d argue most of my musical knowledge can be rooted back to random punts and logical progression from there. I still do it. If I see something interesting looking at a price that I can’t really lose much on I’ll buy it and stick it in the shop if I don’t connect with it.
 
Vinny said:
Has anyone, ever, bought an album that they have heard nothing of whatsover...................
Click to expand...

I do this all the time. I love rummaging through the cheapy boxes in shops and record fairs, wondering what a particular record sounds like and shelling out a quid or three to find out.

If it's a 1950s jazz pressing of someone I've never heard of I buy it. If it's non-European ethnographic stuff I buy it. If it's Japanese traditional music I buy it. If it's on Warp/Rephlex/Skam/etc or looks like it's something similar I'll buy it. If it's disco or soul and I'm curious what it sounds like I'll probably buy it. Lately if I spot anything Caribbean I'll probably buy it. If it looks experimental or improvised I'll probably buy that too.

Pick up plenty of duffers this way but it's beer money and they go off to the charity shop.

All good fun : )
 
Vinny said:
Has anyone, ever, bought an album that they have heard nothing of whatsover...................

I haven't, so far as I recall, amongst the 1500-2000 here. There must have been some, but only from well-known, favourite bands.

I have bought a few turkeys based on hearing single tracks though.

However, I have passed on some albums from artistes that I very much like, based on one or two tracks from the album on YouTube - the latest from Helios in the past week.
Click to expand...
See my original post. I had not heard the album and I don't think I'd heard of Kings of Convenience at the time.
 
droodzilla said:
See my original post. I had not heard the album and I don't think I'd heard of Kings of Convenience at the time.
Click to expand...
Also worth saying I've done this with jazz quite a lot - especially when on holiday in, for example, France. I just go with the look and the vibe and accept that I won't win them all.
 
Tony L said:
Back in the pre-internet dark ages of my school years it accounted for much of my purchasing. It is hard to imagine the isolation of that time now.
Click to expand...

My OH came back yesterday from a sweep of the charity shops and reported seeing a young couple going through a stack of Easy Listening crud, Googling each one and playing it over their phone to decide if it was any good...

The middle aged bloke checking the value of charity shop CDs on Discogs is a common sight (and a practice which I still regard as 'cheating') but that's a new one on me!
 
I have no idea why, but I do now browse based on sleeve art, but still buy on listening - back in the day that was Peelie.

What are people's strike rate on blind/unlistened purchases - numbers and £££ ?
 
I have bought unknown music from Classical composers but I don't think I ever bought an album from an unknown rock or jazz band or artist that I'd never listened on the radio before.
 
tuga said:
I have bought unknown music from Classical composers but I don't think I ever bought an album from an unknown rock or jazz band or artist that I'd never listened on the radio before.
Click to expand...

After my first real jazz album, A Sample Of Blue Notes mentioned on the recent compilation thread, itself a blind punt for £1.99, I swiftly concluded buying jazz blind was actually really, really easy. It is exceptionally hard to find a bad jazz album on Blue Note, Impulse, Riverside, Prestige, Columbia, Verve, or Atlantic. There are some that veer rather too close to kitsch, but you have to hunt for them, and even then they are still likely of some interest. Add to that the vast number of musicians to follow from ensemble to ensemble, e.g. you can follow Wayne Shorter from a load of amazing Blue Notes through Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report all the way to Joni Mitchell and beyond. You could also build a vast and remarkably diverse record collection by only buying records that Ron Carter plays bass on!
 
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