The Scrounger's Report

Jul. 21, 2001

A CCM Treasure Trove

Egads, what a day!

What started out as just a normal day of CD scounging, turned into
an afternoon of tough decisions, and *WAY* more spent than
anticipated.

[Let me preface this by saying that I would never wish anyone
misfortune of this nature, even though as it turns out someone
else's catastrophe turned into my gain. However, since I entered
the picture well after-the-fact, I don't think there's any guilt
to be had.]

I drove an hour to one of my usual scrounging grounds, and after
an hour or so I'd gone through 90% of their inventory, with very
little to show, so I was feeling a little peevish about potentially
blowing $10 in gas with nothing to show for it. Then I encountered
2 racks that hadn't been there on my last visit, labeled "Christian
Music". Since Christian hard rock and metal is one of my collecting
"specialties", my attention was gotten. I started reading through
the titles and pulling discs... and more discs... and more discs.
WTF? All sorts of CCM rock and metal, some of it quite OOP, and
a *very* wide selection. Considering this store never had a CCM
section, something odd was going on.

I called one of the employees over and asked what was up with these
discs. I wish I hadn't asked. Evidently a local youth had died
unexpectedly, and his parents, wishing to remove as many reminders
as possible, had taken his CD collection en masse and sold it to
this CD store about 2 days ago. I felt a little uncomfortable
about it (it almost felt like grave robbing, know what I mean?),
but then realized (or rationalized, depending on your point of
view) that if I left the discs, someone else would simply grab
'em, and I'm guessing that where he is, he doesn't really need them.

Since the store didn't do a regular business in Christian music,
they'd bought them cheap and were selling them cheap just to move
them. All the discs were $4 each.

There was all sorts of material that I already owned, but would
have made good trading material or Ebay candidates, but I decided
to limit myself to discs I didn't already have. I passed on discs
like the following:

Rage of Angels - S/T
Barren Cross - Hotter Than Hell Live!
Saviour Machine - II
Rez - 20 Years Live (2 CD)
both discs from The Brave
the entire Petra discography
the entire Stryper discography
the entire Whitecross discography, including original Pure Metal
   pressings
all sorts of discs that may have been rare/OOP, but since the
   genres represented weren't ones I listened to, I passed;
   artists like Mark Heard, Sixpence None the Richer, Altar Boys,
   The Choir, Michael Knott, Michael Roe, Arkangel, and a myriad
   I don't remember.

[I'm toying with the idea of making a return trip this week to
pick up a few of the discs I left behind, now that I've had
a chance to look them up on Ebay. If anyone has any specific
requests, contact me privately with the titles and prices
you're wanting/willing to pay (Ergf, that sounds mercenary,
doesn't it? *shrug* A guy's gotta cover his expenses...)]

Some of what I picked up was OOP, others were simply discs that
at one point or another I'd toyed with picking up online for
$10-15 each, but given this opportunity... and still others,
while groups/genres I didn't normally listen to, were close
enough and had that OOP look to warrant a gamble...

When all was said and done I walked out with 60 CDs (and a rather
cool 1ft x 1ft Styx mirror that was only $5... had to snag it :).

So here's the list of discs I bought today:

Amos, Daniel - Live Bootleg '82. 1990. Stunt Records.
Amos, Daniel - Preachers From Outer Space. 1994 (1978). Stunt Records.
Amos, Daniel - Shotgun Angel. 1977. Maranatha Music.
Atomic Opera - Alpha and Oranges. 1999. Fever Dream Profuctions.
Atomic Opera - Penguin Dust. 1997. A Comic Opera Music.
Balance of Power - Ten More Tales of Grand Illusion. 1999. Nightmare Records.
Barnabas - Approaching Light Speed + 1. 2000 (198?). Magdalene Records/M8.
Barnabas - Hear the Light/Find Your Heart a Home. 2000 (1980/1981).  Magdalene Records/M8.
Barren Cross - Rattle Your Cage. 1994. Rugged Records.
Benson, David - Purpose of the Cross. 1996. ATG Records.
Bloodgood - To Germany, With Love!. 2000 (1993). Magdalene Records/M8.
Bride - Bride Live! Volume 1. 1999. Old School Records.
Bride - Live to Die. 1988. Pure Metal Records.
Bride - Show No Mercy + 7. 1999 (1986). Magdalene Records/M8.
Disciple - By God. 2000. Rugged Records.
Disciple - My Daddy Can Whip Your Daddy. 1997. Warner Resound.
Disciple - This Might Sting a Little. 1999. Rugged Records.
Disciple - What Was I Thinking. 1995. Slain Productions.
Eloi - Degrees of Freedom. 1997. Self-released.
Eternal Decision - Eternal Decision. 1997. Cling Records.
Eternal Decision - Ghost in the Machine. 1999. Godfather Records.
Extol - Burial. 1998. Endtime Productions.
Farner, Mark - Closer to Home. 1992. Frontline.
Glass Hammer - Chronometree. 2000. Arion Records.
Glass Hammer - Journey of the Dunadan. 1993. Arion Records.
Glass Hammer - Live and Revived Special Edition. 1997. Arion Records.
   (numbered out of 1,000, autographed)
Glass Hammer - On to Evermore. 1998. Arion Records.
Glass Hammer - Perelandra. 1995. Arion Records.
Guardian - Live!. 2000. ForeFront Records.
Impellitteri - Live! Fast! Loud!. 1998. New England Music Express.
King David - Against All Odds. 1998. Radical Christian Music.
Ledfoot - Ledfoot. 1997. Ninety Degree Records.
Magdallan - End of the Age + 7. 1999 (1992). KMG Records.
Messiah Prophet - Colors. 19??. U.C.A.N..
Mortification - Envision Evangeline. 1996. Rowe Productions.
Omega Highway - Love. 1999. Old School Records.
Philadelphia - Search and Destroy. 2000 (1985). Magdalene Records/M8.
Resurrection Band - Best of. 1984. Light Records.
Saint - Too Late for Living. 2000 (198?). Armor Records.
Saviour Machine - Behold a Pale Horse (EP). 1998. Massacre (Germany).
Saviour Machine - Live in Deutschland. 1995. MCM Music (Germany).
Servant - Light Maneuvers. 1984. Myrrh Records.
Seventh Avenue - Tales of Tales. 1996. ATM Records.
Seventy Sevens, The - All Fall Down + Bonus Tracks. 1995. VIA Records.
Seventy Sevens, The - Ping Pong Over the Abyss + Bonus TRacks. 1995. VIA Records.
Seventy Sevens, The - Seventy Sevens + Bonus Tracks. 1995 (1987). VIA Records.
Seventy Sevens, The - Sticks and Stones. 1990. Broken Records.
Siloam - Dying to Live. 1995. Ocean/Word Records.
Sweet, Michael - Truth. 2000. Restless Records.
Sweet, Michael - Unstryped. 1999. Michael Sweet Productions.
Teramaze - Doxology. 1995. Empire (Australia).
Titanic - Maiden Voyage + 3. 2000 (1995). Magdalene Records/M8.
Tourniquet - Vanishing Lessons. 1994. Intense.
Ultimatum - Symphonic Extremities. 1997. Juke Box Media.
Uthanda - Believe. 1992. Essential Record Group.
Uthanda - Groove. 1991. Broken Records.
VU - All I Need Is U. 1996. Bartholomew Productions.
VU - Just as I Am. 1999. Bartholomew Productions.
Veni Domine - Spiritual Wasteland. 1998. Massacre (Germany).
Visionaire - Mystical Dominion. 1998. Millenial Sun Records.

I guess this was a signal for me to work on HeavensMetal.Com...:)

-Dan