The ONE LAST RECORD On The List!

I am sure that many of you are avid record collectors like me… Regular trips to the local record collectors shows & stores are mandatory… Can’t pass up a box or bin at a yard sale without looking through it. Every time I’m in a new town I check the local record stores just in case, mail order, trade with friends, etc. Through all of this, I’ve had a mental list of all the records that I wanted to find. This record collecting bug has been with me since my very young teen years, and through many (MANY) decades of shopping, have found most of those wanted records off the list. Eventually that must-find list contained only one record left, it was a 7″ punk single by the band The Blessed (Deep Frenzy/ American Bandstand) from 1979… what a great feeling to have found all of the classic records that were Most Wanted  EXCEPT ONE! That last single stayed on the list for years and years… It is ridiculously scarce and hard to find.  Sure, there are other records that would be nice to have, there’s always records that would be cool, and they’re always making new ones… But that was the last record on the must-find list. 
The Blessed were a great punk band from the early days, it included Howie Pyro, Walter Lure, Billy Stark Stone, and more. They only were around for about 2 years.  I was at CBGB’s the night that they auditioned! They were teenagers, and so were we… Reminded me a little of the Stimulators, another great band from that era. The Blessed were (to paraphrase the Dead Boys) Young, fast, snotty and cool!  They pronounced it Bless-Ed (like blessed be). They killed it at their CBGB’s audition, very well received… So much so that Hilly asked them to do another set later that same night, which they did. However, they announced that they had already played all the songs that they knew, so their second set was their first set in reverse order! I remember a particularly cool song called Flagellation Rock.  Anyway, I saw them many more times after that, including a very memorable show at Max’s Kansas City that was billed as a NY Punk vs. NJ Punk night. The Blessed were the New York punks and the New Jersey punks were none other than the Misfits! Incredibly great show! Anyway, I did not know that the Blessed had released a single at that time, I don’t recall it ever being at any of their shows, but it did evidently come out in ’79 on an indie label (Daven records). I did not become aware of it until much later, but once I did, I became obsessed with finding it, and decades went by without ever even seeing it. I even spoke with Howie Pyro at the Chiller Theatre Expo once about it and he said that he didn’t even have a copy (don’t know if that was literally true, or his comment on its scarcity).  Eventually eBay and similar websites helped find some very rare, long sought-after records. I kept checking for the Blessed record but those searches just came up with a lot of religious recordings, and definitely not what I was looking for… Until one fateful day a few years ago when that record finally did show up, a mint copy!  So excited! It was very pricey, but I had to have it, after so many years of searching. Needless to say, I bought it, and held my breath until it arrived safely in the mail. The last, Most Wanted record on my must-find list, was finally found!  I’m still incredibly thrilled that I have it!   
What long wanted record did you finally find, and how did you find it?

Sadly, the great guitarist Walter Lure passed away last month (August ’20).  Beside the Blessed, he was of course in the original Heartbreakers, many of Johnny Thunders’ reunions bands, and The Waldos… and the only original member to be on the remake of the “LAMF” Heartbreakers album. Always great live, and on record!  He had a very interesting and colorful life. But you don’t have to take my word for it, you can hear it from him himself. Shortly before his death, he released an autobiography (March ’20) entitled To Hell and Back, an excellent read, pick it up and you won’t be able to put it down!  Listen to the records & read the book…
Rest in Peace, Walter