Couldn't Call it Unexpected No. 4

A few weeks ago I was buying some bits and pieces from play.com I use them more than most of the other online stores because postage is free and you can usually pick up the odd bargain or two. Or four as it's turned out. I was looking through their sale section and spotted 'Mighty Like a Rose', Elvis Costello's difficult to love album from 1991. Big brother Gerry had it when it came out and the first time I saw Elvis when he was touring the record the year it came out but I hadn't heard it in a long time. Anyway, the version on the website was one of those expanded reissue things with bonus tracks and liner notes and all that hoopla. It was £2.99 and since I hadn't heard it lately and was buying a bunch of stuff, I threw it into the basket. Virtually.

So a few days later everything arrived - West Wing series 7, Andrew Collins latest book, What Was Lost (which I talked about last week) and a few cds. In amongst the pack was Mighty Like a Rose. Unfortunately they had sent me the original release of the album. This happens sometimes when I shop online and they usually resolve the issue quickly. I wrote to play explaining the error and they asked me to send back the old copy and they'd send me the correct one. Easy, right?

The following week the cd arrived in the post but again it was the wrong one. The invoice with the cd listed it as the expanded issue but somethig must have gone screwy in despatch. I wrote again to tell them what happened, adding that the first error was understandable, the second one less so. The following day I received a mail telling me that they'd posted the cd. It struck me funny that they'd do that since I hadn't returned the old one yet so I decided not to return it til I saw what they sent. Sure enough, 3 days later the wrong cd arrived. Again. I wrote once more and they sent it once more. It arrived this morning. It's the wrong one. I've now been sent 4 copies of the wrong cd. A cd I didn't really want in the first place but bought on a whim..

I'm curious to see how many they're going to send me if I just keep telling them that they've sent the wrong item. Also, I can't help thinking that nobody is reading my mails to play.com anymore. Or else they don't have much of a sense of humour.. Either way, I'm hoping that if things continue like this I'll be able to give a copy to everyone I know at Christmas.

I hope Elvis doesn't get to see this bump in sales on his next royalty statement. He always said that the record, which was slaughtered when it came out would find an audience in time. Who knew it would find its audience several times in the same place?

I listened to it today in work. It's great. Better than I remembered. But hey, if you don't believe me, I've got a free copy if you want it..

By the way, the title of this entry is the name of the last song on the record. It's a belter and given that today's arrival of MLAR4 was completely expected it seems appropriate.