The Bananas Split

Early Monday morning, August 9th.  I'm in the store doing a little prep work for the week.  So the phone rings... so I pick it up, as I'm trained to do.

Me: Backstreet
He: Backstreet?
Me: Yes.
He: Oh, hey, yeah... I'm hoping you can help me.  I'm looking for a Deep Purple album and I'm having a hell of time tracking it down.
Me: OK... what's the title?
He: It's one I had a long time ago, then I loaned it to someone and, yeah, well [chuckles], you know...
Me: OK... what's the title?
He: Oh... yeah, man... it's called Bananas.
Me: Bananas? I'm not familiar with that one... we definitely don't have it in stock at the moment.
He: Well I did have it at one point... I think I bought it at the record store in the Fredericton Mall, when there was a record store at the Fredericton Mall.
Me: Was it an older title, or a live one... it might have been an "official bootleg" or something along those lines.
He: Well I don't know... I don't have a computer and I'm on disability... so I can't really check...
Me: All right... well, I don't actually work today, I'm just in setting up the store for the week, but give me your contact info and I can check and get back to you later in the week.
He: Cool... I'd really like to get me hands on that album.

Information is provided.

Later in the week... I've done the research, but because I wrote the contact and album info on a piece of scrap paper and not in our order book... and that piece of paper is somewhere in a stack of semi-connected pocket detritus in my apartment... I'm unable to call him back on Wednesday and Thursday... but he calls back on Friday morning, August 13th.  In the meantime I've found this out about Deep Purple Bananas on Wikipedia:

Bananas is the 17th studio album by English rock band Deep Purple,^[1] released on October 7, 2003.^[2] It includes "Contact Lost", a short, slow instrumental about the Columbia astronauts, written by guitarist Steve Morse when he heard the sad news of the crash.^[3]
This is the first Deep Purple album to feature Don Airey on the keyboards, replacing founding member Jon Lord.^[4] The album was recorded in Los Angeles during January and February of 2003.^[1]
It is also notable as being the only Deep Purple album that features Ian Gillan being backed by vocals other than his own, with the song "Haunted" featuring a female backing singer, Beth Hart.

Me: Backstreet
He: Hey, Backstreet, yeah... I called earlier about a Deep Purple album...
Me: Oh yeah... I looked into that... it does actually exist after all.  It's not a bootleg, but it's fairly recent... from 2003.
He: I don't think so man... the album I had was from the 70s...
Me: Well all the information I have seems to indicate it's from 2003.
He: Well, sure it was probably reissued in 2003, but it's a 70s album... it has all the guys from the 70s on it.
Me: [double checking on the official Deep Purple site... confirms the 2003 release date, I read this paragraph from the "History" section over the phone]:

“Bananas,” the first record following Lord’s retirement from touring and his replacement by exquisite ivory-tinkler Don Airey, brought elements of pop to the table, grafted on some of “Purpendicular’s” ambition, and encapsulated the ensemble-riff power of “Abandon.” Tours behind both of these albums revealed this still-young band’s continued growth as a performing unit. By the end of the "Bananas" marathon, Airey had marked his apotheosis, from "replacement" to fully-integrated band-member.

He: That's bogus, man... I had that album on vinyl in the 70s and then I bought it on CD sometime around 2003 to replace it... then I loaned it out... or brought it to a party... or something...
Me: Well... I don't know what to tell you, all the information I have says it's a 2003 release, featuring most of the original line up, but still a new album.  Are you sure you're not mixing up two different albums?
He: No man... like... I know the cover... it's a shot of a dude sitting in a truck full of bananas, right?
Me: Let me check... [checking]:

Me: Yup, that's the cover at Amazon... but they say it's a 2003 release too.
He: Well that's just not right, man... I held that album on vinyl in my hands in the 70s... and then I had it on CD later on then I loaned...
Me: ...it to someone, or brought it to a party... yeah, well I can only go by the information all these sites have... and well...
He: Yeah, man, totally... but it's a 70s album.  Can you get it in, though?
Me: [anticipating that this whole thing could turn into months of trouble ending up in mutually dissatisfaction... I lie] No.
He: No?
Me: No. It looks like you could get it as an import from Amazon, but no one we deal with in Canada has it.
He: I figured it might be hard to get... yeah.
Me: Yeah... maybe you could get someone to get it for you online?
He: ...yeah, but you said you had a picture of the cover there?
Me: ...the one on Amazon, yeah?
He: Well, I actually have the tracks from the album saved on my Xbox... but I just don't have the cover... do you have a printer there?
Me: [started to get a little freaked out by all this] No I don't have a printer.
He: Do you have access to computers with a printer anywhere?
Me: Not at the moment... and the picture's kind of small to print off...
He: But you can see the dude in the picture... you can see his eyes?
Me: Not really well... it's a small picture.
He: Too small?  There's something about his eyes, though, man... you know?
Me: Not really, no...
He: Yeah... I really need that cover to check out those eyes... I remember it from the vinyl I had in the 70s.
Me: ...um, ok.
He: And you can't get it in?
Me: No, sorry.
He: And you can't print the cover off... cause I'd give you dollars, man, dollars.
Me: Can't do it, maybe someone else you know with a computer and a printer.
He: That seems unlikely right now.
Me: ...
He: Well whatever, man... I'll get it somehow, I suppose.  I'll be in sometime to take a look around, buy something else from you.
Me: Cool.  Have a good day.