Miracle Legion was a band that released six records: “Backyard” (1984, an EP on Incas Records ), “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise” (1986, Rough Trade Records), “Glad,” a mostly live EP (1986), “Me & Mr. Ray” (featuring only Mark Mulcahy and Ray Neal, the rest of the band having been lost to artistic differences or something), “Drenched” (1992, Morgan Creek Records), and “Portrait of a Damaged Family” (1999, Mezzotint Records). That was the last Miracle Legion album. Mark Mulcahy, Scot “Spot” Boutier, and Dave McCaffrey also recorded under the name “Polaris,” doing music for the Nickelodeon show “Pete and Pete.” That’s where I came in.
I found the Polaris cd “Music from the Adventures of Pete and Pete” on Amazon.com and bought it thinking my kids would love it. Well, it turns out that I love it. Fool that I am, I did a little internet research, found Miracle Legion, and got all set to order their back catalogue. There’s one little catch, though - every one of these records is out of print. Fine, I thought, I’ll just turn to ebay…where there is ONE copy of ONE of the cds, which has currently been bid up to 41 dollars. I’m a tad discouraged.
I talked to someone who said he thought he’d heard that the Miracle Legion cds were going to be rereleased, but I can’t find any other information about it.
Does anyone have any idea where to find any of these cds (preferably “Damaged Family” or “Drenched,” but I’m not picky). I’ve about exhausted my (admittedly limited) resources.
This is what I have found so far:
“Drenched” seems to be the most readily available – I found it in several locations:
CDConnection has it for $13.95 on the Morgan Creek label.
Compact Disc Europe has it for $9.95 on the Polygram label.
CD Europe also has:
“Portrait of a Damaged Family” on the Mezzotint label for $12.95
“Me and Mr. Ray” on the ak label, unfortunately at import/collector prices – $32.95
Django’s has “Me and Mr. Ray” used for $5.99 but I’m sure stock is probably limited to the one copy.
In fact, you should contact any store you buy from directly, either by phone or e-mail, just to be sure that they actually have it in stock. Some places advertise stuff and then just put you on a waiting list.
I’m still looking, but I thought I would let you know what I found right away.
Good hunting!
It looks like Mezzotint has most of the recordings, but unfortunately, only “Portrait of a Damaged Family” is available on CD from them. “Me and Mr. Ray”, “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise”, “Glad”, and “The Backyard” are only available from them on cassette tape or LP recording.
Another place you can search is GEMM. They are a collection of music sellers in a database, sort of a Bookfinder for music. If you search for Miracle Legion there, they show a number of hits. As always with this sort of thing, make sure the seller has the item in stock. One of the CDs I found there is one called “Out to Play” which apparently was a demo CD in support of the release of “Drenched”.
This Miracle Legion web site lists that demo as well as one called “We Are All Lost”.
You may wish to check back with GEMM from time to time, as their database updates frequently.
Good hunting!
Thanks for the information - those are some great links. I’d tried the Mezzotint store, but they list “Damaged Family” as “temporarily unavailable.” Another link on the site shows it just as “out of print.” The other online places that list it say it’s “out of stock,” but I’ll try contacting GEMM and maybe Django’s anyway. I appreciate you finding me the sources.
Today I checked a used cd store I haven’t visited in a while and found a copy of “Drenched” in the clearance bin for $3.99. Given that kind of luck, I didn’t really expect to find anything else, but I spent an hour looking through all the other racks anyway, to no avail. I’m still pretty happy with the one, and I plan to keep on looking for others. I’m often surprised by what turns up where.
Stuff on Rough Trade from that time tends to be expensive when it turns up used. $41 is nothing… try bidding on a CD copy of Opal’s “Early Recordings” (also on Rough Trade). It usually hits $100 and I’ve seen shrinkwrapped copies go for $250. Don’t even get me started on Sarah Records stuff.
Still, nothing like half a dozen holy grails to motivate you to flip through a couple thousand used CDs in a couple dozen record stores. Good luck!
-fh
Although music is probably a little more important to me than it is for most people in my age group, I haven’t quite taken the last step into obsession that would be necessary for me to pay hundreds of dollars for a cd. Or at least not for many cds.
I don’t need much of an excuse to spend hours looking through used CDs, though. Just in the past two days, looking for these, I’ve also found Talking Heads’ “More Songs About Buildings And Food” and “Led Zeppelin III” used on cd (I’m very, very slowly replacing our vinyl, although I’m sure I’ll never actually get rid of the albums).
I haven’t taken that step either, which is why I don’t have “Early Recordings” on CD.
-fh
Well, if you’re not doing anything next week and you’re anywhere near Albuquerque, I know a few good used record stores…