Mission of Burma – This is Not a Photograph

It seems only fitting to finish off this week with another Boston band, and an iconic one at that.

What an unbelievable week. There’s really nothing I can say that someone else hasn’t already said more eloquently. Let’s just hope the rest of the year doesn’t continue at that pace.

Book-ending the week on the positive side, I filed the taxes on Sunday (getting a small refund from both state and feds) and the state refund was deposited in my bank account today, just in time for Record Store Day. I walked down to my local record shop which is remarkably still there, and still a record store. Not records plus CDs, DVDs, posters, t-shirts, books, and all kinds of other stuff. It’s small and it’s for the vinyl lovers. Most of the newly issued records are usually too expensive for me so I tend to go digging in the bins for stuff I should have bought back in the day. Depending on what you’re looking for, there are still some real finds.

Today I found Signals, Calls, and Marches by Mission of Burma. It was in such beautiful shape I was sure it must be a reissue but I took it out and it only had the 1981 copyright on it. When I bought it the owner said, “Wow, Mission of Burma, you’re a real deep catalog gal.” I came home and looked it up on eBay, there was a reissue on Matador Records back in 2008, but the one I just bought is an original 1981 Ace of Hearts pressing, it even still has the funky lyrics sheet on some kind of textured paper where the words to all the songs are written in alphabetical order. It’s so cool. $12.95 well spent in my book.