The Scrounger's Report

Nov. 09, 1999

And The Lord Smiled Down Upon the Lowly CD Scrounger....

Or so it would seem. :)

I took half a day off today to go do some spendi...err, umm
"shopping". I trekked to a town about 45 miles south of
Champaign, and first hit one of the mall stores because
I knew they had a small import section. While there I picked
up the new Savage Garden (Awesome stuff!), and noticed that
they had the Japanese import of "Truly Madly Deeply" (14-track
selection of Savage Garden tracks; mostly remixes, but 6 songs
not on the S/T CD). It was $26, but I said "WTF!"...evidently
the money was burning a hole in my pocket...

I don't know why I decided to pop in "Affirmation" first,
but I'm glad I did: at the very first pawn shop I hit, what
should appear but the very same Japanese import disc, but
for $5 instead of $26. Needless to say, I pounced, and returned
the new disc for a refund. What are the odds of finding the
very Jap import I just bought at the first store I hit? And in
the middle of redneck hell no less! Not likely to be too many
of those being sold, much less being pawned. It boggles the mind!

Ok, here's the haul for the day:

Jon Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory. 1990. Mercury. $1.95
  Gotta fill them holes in the collection....:)

Silent Running - Deep. 1989. Atlantic. $1.95
  Some pop that caught my eye...

Oak Ridge Boys - Step On Out. 1985. MCA. $4.99
  Ok, OK already! So there's some country I actually like...:)

Steven Curtis Chapman - More to This Life. 1989. Sparrow. $5
  Completism, completism, completism...

Agent Orange - This Is the Voice. 1986. Restless. $5.99
  Ok, so this was a mistake....a bit too tone deaf for my tastes. :(

Skyclad - Oui Avant-garde A Chance. 1996. Massacre. $7.99
  Haven't listened yet...

Lita Ford - Black. 1994. ZYX (Germany). $4
  I'm told it bites, but again I'm a completist...we'll see.

Various Artists - Metal Madness Vol. 1. 1992. Cema. $4.99
  An interesting li'l compilation with tracks from Cats in Boots,
  Rigor Mortis, Vixen, Havana Black, Helix, Exodus, Macauley
  Schenker Group, Saxon, Waysted, and Icon (now is that an
  eclectic mix or WHAT?).

and the last 3 are quite "intriguing":

Trade Wind - S/T. 1988. Trade Wind. $4
  A self-produced prog/AOR/rock "thingie". This had that "OOP
  as a motherf*cker" look to it, and it didn't sound half bad
  after a 30-second listen. Looks to be strictly a local band
  out of Fort Wayne or Indianapolis, IN. A tad underproduced
  but I'm not complaining...

Freiheit - Fantasy. 1988. WTG (Atlantic). $6.50
  This was a gamble (it was still sealed so I couldn't listen
  to it) that paid off quite well! A bunch of Germans
  (Stefan Zauner, Aron Strobel, Alex Grunwald, Michael Kunzi,
  Rennie Hatzke) doing a poppier version of ELO. It works
  extremely well!!

This last one I haven't listened to yet, so I've yet to tell
  how good it is:

Richie Kotzen's Fever Dream. 1990. Shrapnel. $9.99
  I was going to bypass this, assuming it was instrumental
  stuff, until I saw that Kotzen does lead and backing vocals,
  and then even more interestingly: background vocals by
  Jesse Bradman, Mark Tate, Danny Thompson, and KEVIN CHALFANT.
  I did a double-take on that one...we'll see.

All in all a very productive day!

Backatcha,

-Dan