Argot Navis

I’m willing to admit that I’m a bit out of the loop when it comes to music.  I still listen to a lot of music, but I don’t really have the time or energy to keep up with it as much as I’d like to.  On a related note, I recently finally visited this Rhapsody site that the television has told me so much about.  Readers might note that I never even visited this site when I had free access to it, so this is really something new for me.  I can’t see myself actually subscribing to Rhapsody, but for some people I could see it working.  This is all unrelated to the point I’m trying to make, though.

The point is, I tend to be that annoying guy when it comes to statements like, “Whatever you’re looking for, chances are you’ll find it on Rhapsody.”  So, I search for artists that I’m almost positive they won’t have.  Moss Icon?  Nope.  Sleepytime Trio?  Nope.  Drop Nineteens?  No, again.  The Lookouts?  . . . Yes?

Now, you have to understand, dear reader, how much this surprised me.  At the time, I was under the impression that Moss Icon, Sleepytime Trio and Drop Nineteens at least had records in print (it turns out that Moss Icon and Drop Nineteens no longer do, but that’s beside the point).  Lookout!’s page for the Lookouts says the only records left in print for them are two old comps.  So, I decided to check it out.

First, a bit of background.  For those of you too lazy to read the Wikipedia page, the Lookouts were a band featuring Lookout! Records founder Larry Livermore and soon-to-be Green Day drummer Tre Cool.  Their big claim to fame — you know, besides being Tre Cool’s old band — is that they played Operation Ivy’s last show (as you might have noticed if you read the Lookout! page on them), which is pretty cool.

Anyway, my first assumption was that the record Rhapsody had must be IV, since there were only four available songs and that EP was still in print a few years back (it’s also on YouTube if you’d like to hear it).  But no, it’s Mendocino Homeland (the same user has also put that up on YouTube, if you want to search for it), a record that was long out of print by the time I was old enough to care.  This really surprised me, since I had e-mailed Lookout! about that back when I was in high school, and their answer was something like, “I doubt we’ll be putting that one back into print, since I think you’re the first person who’s ever asked.”  Of course, that was something like eight years ago, and somewhere in the course of those years I’d acquired a copy of it, but it’s still exciting to see it available.

I was curious, though, why Lookout!’s site didn’t list it as being in print.  The answer is that it appears on a compilation of old records called The Lookout! Records Vinyl Vault Vol. 1 – East Bay and U.K., that is only available from online music stores.  The other bands featured are the Skinflutes, Fun Bug, and Wat Tyler Wat Tyler.  Being a fan of old Lookout! bands, I was a bit skeptical about the “Vol. 1″ designation.  The Punk Rock 7″s Volume 1 (featuring the “late, great Isocracy,” as Jesse Michaels once said) was never followed up with a Volume 2, so I thought this might have suffered the same fate.  In this case, though, there actually is a Volume 2, Olympia Hardcore vs. East Bay Sadcore, featuring Pot Valiant, Monsula, Worst Case Scenario, and, most excitingly for me, the Vagrants.  In all fairness, I’m pretty sure that Pot Valiant and the Vagrants are actually the same band, but the Pot Valiant record included here is still in print.

The Vagrants record, on the other hand . . . well, I’ve never even seen a copy for sale, and it wasn’t because I wasn’t trying.  (I actually went on eBay to look just now, and wouldn’t you know it, somebody has a copy for sale!  I may have to get it.  This really is the first time I’ve ever seen one.)  So it’s exciting that I can finally hear the two other songs on the Gone EP (Lookout! used to have an MP3 of “Gone” up, back in the day).

This, to me, is one of the most exciting things about digital music.  It doesn’t take as much effort to “reissue” things that very few people really want to hear in digital form, at least compared to repressing it on vinyl.  Pretty awesome, if you ask me.