Tried To Buy... Weekend Edition

Despite the worst weather we've seen this season (yeah yeah, it was nothing, we know), hubby and I ventured out for some CD shopping. Maybe it was the fabulous luck we'd had last weekend, maybe it was the fact I'd finally heard enough tracks from some recent releases, but we had a decent number of CDs on our list:

• Cake - B-Sides and Rarities
• Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
• Neil Young - Prairie Wind
• Magnetic Fields - Distortion

All major labels, all somewhat recent releases (except the Neil Young, which came out in Sept/05). Was it foolish to think they could all be had and for a decent price?

Yes, apparently.

First stop was HMV, hoping they were seeing the same stock influx as A&B Sound. No such luck. Cake was selling at $14.99, which was reasonable, but the Magnetic Fields -- which had streeted that week -- was nowhere to be found. Neither were the Weakerthans, which was very surprising. What is the shelf life of a new release CD that isn't Justin Timberlake or Led Zeppelin? Prairie Wind was there, it was part of HMV's new lower prices promotion: $19.99 marked down from $25.99. Right.

We left the Cake CD and headed over to A&B Sound. Surely they would be able to supply us these few titles.

Or not. No Cake. No Magnetic Fields. And the Neil Young at a bargain $22.49, even though they had around 12 copies of it, obviously brought in for a sale. And I don't know how, but in just a week their stock managed to look.... picked over.

However, a single copy of the Weakerthans was there for $14.99. And I'd been hoping to pick up a DVD copy of the Neil Young movie Heart of Gold, which A&B had for around $16.00, so we were partially successful.

A stop at another HMV came up empty again. We broke down and asked someone there and after checking, we were told Magnetic Fields didn't come out until the 22nd. This seems a little off since not only is it available on iTunes, but a friend of hubby's has already picked it up. But the reality is, it's probably the biggest release of this week and hubby had checked three different chains without success. We'll hold off "Tried To Buy" judgment until next week. Maybe then we'll find Neil Young's Prairie Wind for less than $19.

Until then, the same Cake CD is on iTunes for $7.99. And through Apple you get two tracks not on the CD. Hmmm....