I'm sure this has happened to other AKers: You hear something that you're unfamiliar with (or had misconceptions about)...and the quest is on! You MUST acquire as much music by that artist as you can. (wallet allowing) I had a recent one with Supertramp...I'd essentially dismissed them as just a "radio band" until I snagged a copy of "Crisis? What Crisis?" in a batch of LPs I picked up in Florida. That triggered a Supertramp quest. Now...I'm in the throes of TWO...one an upgrade quest for my selection of Jade Warrior LPs...the other is a Ry Cooder quest. I've loved Jade Warrior since I heard their debut in 1971...still have it. Recently picked up fresh copies of "Floating World" and "Waves" on The Infamous Auction Site. "Waves" came a few days ago and is stunning...well worth the $4.99 I coughed up. Absolutely pristine sound. "Floating World" arrived yesterday and will probably get spun tonight. Now it's time to upgrade my copies of "Released", "Last Autumn's Dream" and "Way Of The Sun". My copy of "Kites" is spotless...and I have to get up the gumption to pay large loot for a sweet copy of their debut. Then I need to dabble in some of their later releases. Problem is...I'm just boggled at the $$$ some of their stuff commands. They're a band well worth checking out if you're looking for something totally different and enjoyable. Then...there was a copy of Ry Cooder's "Bop Til' You Drop" in that Florida bunch. You know the rest: "Paradise And Lunch" and "Into The Purple Valley" are already in the house and there's a LOT more in his discography. Sucks to be into music.

I think that we all can come up with at least one example of this amazing happening. If we're lucky, even more. I can think of this happening to me at least three times and dating back to the 1960s.

I first "discovered" Don Shirley, a fine pianist in doing research for his upcoming concert in our college town. I think that I have successfully collected all of his domestic releases now and enjoy all of them.

I found the music of Pat Williams (Patrick Williams) before his reknown as a film and tv composer and always enjoy his writing and sense of taste in jazz flavored arrangements. I have all of his non-film, Tv albums.

The last of my "discoveries" was guitarist Howard Roberts, featured in a Capitol promo release and have collected all of his own recordings. I can't claim to have all he has performed on since he was so prodigious as a studio player on a wide variety of the recordings of others.

Listening to music that is unfamiliar is one of the true joys of listening. We tend to shut doors that are strange to us and that really narrows our listening pleasure. I know that some treks are disappointing but educational to us. Don't stop trying to find that next musical "hero."

I think that the beauty of having varied tastes in music is the fact that when you go out on the hunt you are far more likely to find something from an artist you like, even artists you don't have much music from to date. I usually try to compile a list and keep it in my wallet - that way if I wind up in a music store of some sort, I have an idea of what to try to search out :).

Many times the search will be an easy one; a recent occurrence like this for me was quickly searching out the soundtrack for the HBO miniseries "John Adams". Sometimes the search is not so simple. One habit I've gotten into is trying to grasp a sentence worth of lyrics, then do a Google search and see what I come up with.