The Scrounger's Report

Oct. 08, 2000

Hmmm... weekend. Nice day. Must be time for some CD shopping...

And so it was. Haven't had a chance to sit and listen to all of
these yet, so some may not be the worthwhile purchases they seemed
at the time. :)

First, from the mail:

Axel Rudi Pell - The Ballads II. 1999. Steamhammer (Germany).
   It will be interesting to hear how sme of the Gioeli versions
   compare to the original versions.

Mad Max - Never Say Never. 1999. AOR Heaven/Point (Germany).

Treasure Land - Gateway. 1998. Noise Records.

Crystal Eyes - World of Black and Silver. 1999. ABS Records (Germany).


And now for the fruits of my scrounging:

Bloodgood - Bloodgood/Detonation. 1998. KMG Records.
Die Happy - Die Happy/Volume II. 1998. KMG Records.
Shout - In Your Face/It Won't Be Long. 1998. KMG Records.
Vengeance Rising - Destruction Comes/Released Upon the Earth. 1998. KMG.
   I have most of the CDs that are in these reissues, but the
   completist in me wants to have the reissues as well, so when
   I found these dirt cheap I snarfed. Unfortunately I snarfed
   too soon. I already had the Bloodgood 2-on-1, so it's available
   for trade if anyone wants it...

Rick Mathews - Only the Young. 1990. MAS Records.
   Not bad AOR. It's a little short productionwise, but musically
   it has promise. You can tell this was a promo. The "liner notes"
   are simply some (unapproved?) endorsements from "Hollywood"
   Hamilton, Jimmy Lovine, and Jon Bon Jovi. Methinks the guy
   plugging himself just a wee bit too hard...:)

Scarlett and Black - S/T. 1987. Virgin Records.
   Dance pop stuff, with just an occasional tinge of AOR hooks.
   Reasonably well executed.

Mark Farner - Just Another Injustice. 1988. Frontline Records.
   CCM "blues hard rock". Not bad.

Coven - Death Walks Behind You. 1989. Medusa Records.
   I liked "Blessed Is the Black", so we'll see how this follwup
   effort compares. '80s thrash.

Angel Dust - Bleed. 1999. Century Media.
   Pretty decent stuff, I'm not sure how well it compares with
   their most recent effort though. Power metal.

Saga - Wildest Dreams. 1987. Atlantic Records.
   The releases from this group are *ALL* over the map stylistically.
   Haven't listened yet; I just know it's one I was missing...

Robert Tepper - Modern Madness. 1988. Scotti Brothers.
   I'd passed on this one a couple times before; figured I'd
   give it another listen. *EXTREMELY* fragmented album. I think
   the reason I gave it the old Bronx cheer before was that the
   first 2 tracks bite hard so I just dumped it without bothering
   to listen further. It isn't until track 3 that you actually
   hit some quality AOR....

Little America - S/T. 1987. Geffen Records.
   A couple of weeks ago I featured "Mary Jane" from the Fairgrounds
   album as my song of the week at Heavy Harmonies. I remember
   thinking "I know I passed on the S/T a number of times; I hope
   I find one again to check it out." I did. Worth keeping. (but
   this one only has one song produced by Paul Sabu rather than
   the whole album). Timothy B. Scmitt guest vocals on one of the
   tracks...

That's all for this weekend...

-Dan