The Scrounger's Report

May 05, 2000

Return to the Valley of the Inbred

So I returned to the Valley of the inbred, Decatur, IL,
yesterday to see what Cousin Toothie and the other extras
from the Deliverance cast were up to. I never cease being
amazed at what they stock as a matter of course that the
major chains here in town won't touch. They had the new
Dokken live, the reissued Savatage stuff, the newest Racer X
in quantity, the U.K. release of Yngwie's classical album,
as well as the new 1990-1999 Greatest Hits. Also, they
had a bunch of the new import reissues, including the
Legs Diamond S/T + 1, and the 2-on-1 from Fastway (S/T +
All Fired Up).

I spent some time going through and listening to their
"classic rock" holdings. They had catalog material that I
NEVER see at the large chains (I guess the chains are
only interested in stocking Greatest Hits packages).
They had deep selections of Thin Lizzy, T. Rex, Budgie,
Doobie Brothers, The Sweet; mostly older imports.

About a dozen different Motley Crue bootlegs, as well
as a stack of Dream Theater live stuff. I listened to
the Boston bootleg that has their KBFH concert plus
the original demos that got them their contract; it's
a shame the sound quality is so bad on those. They
had one of the volumes of the Queen bootleg of unreleased
and demo stuff (I forget the name) going back to
1968. Mixed bag on sound quality, so I passed on it.

I'm not sure what distributor(s) they go through, but
it's a completely different selection of stuff than
even our local indy shoppe here in town. The vast
majority of their cash flow appears to come from rap
and hip-hop sales, and predominantly cassettes at
that, yet the proprietors look like refugees from
the Allman Brothers, and there is plenty of southern
rock to be found. It's the most bizarre dichotomy to
see a grizzly good 'ole boy spouting off the discography
of today's popular rap artists. They know their stuff,
but there's just somthing weird about it.

I'm guessing they were generating $150-400
an hour in sales the various times I've been there;
not bad for a little hole in the wall dive.

Anyhow, on to the purchases:

A few that I picked up that I'm not sure if I will
keep or not (a little off the wall for my taste, but
they're OOP):

Spiders and Snakes - Oddities: The Glitter Years. 1995. Sansei Records.
   I've seen 2000 Retro on numerous occasions, but never
   saw this one. A bit too glammish for my tastes; the cover
   of "Air That I Breathe" is interesting.

Andy McCoy - Too Much Ain't Enough. 1988. Polarvox/Amulet (Finland?)
   I know this one's OOP as a son of a gun. First solo release
   from ex-Hanoi Rocks member. The packaging is weird though:
   Disc says "Made in Denmark", sticker on back says "Made in
   Finland." Spine catalog # is WISHCD 6, but it's on Amulet
   Records, copyright Polarvox Music. Eh???

And the keepers:

Midge Ure - Pure. 1991. BMG Music.
   Followup to the disc I picked up last week. Poppy stuff,
   but quite melodic.

Suntower - S/T. 1994. Stepping Stone Records.
   Imagine Meat Loaf singing melodic prog. It's bizarre.

Witchkiller - Day of the Saxons. 1984. Metal Blade.
   What can I say, I love classic '80s heavy metal...

Budgie - Deliver Us From Evil. 1993 (1982). Repertoire Records
   I listened through what is considered their "classic"
   material from the early 1970s, which I found to be a bit
   too primitive for my tastes. This disc, coming at the
   tail end of their career (aren't they doing a reunion
   tour right now?) is more along the lines of traditional
   AOR...

Kim Mitchell - Kimosabe. 1999. Chinook Records (Canada).
   I was surprised to find this here, brand new, one that
   they actually decided to stock (What, I'm not the only
   person in central Illinois that's heard of Kim Mitchell?).
   Nothing groundbreaking here, yet nothing disappointing
   either. It holds up to his earlier material quite well.

and lastly,

Doc Holliday - Modern Machine. 1998 (1983) A&M Records.
   They had the first 2 Doc Holliday discs as well (one
   sold right before I got there). I listened to, and
   put back the "Rides Again". It was too stripped back
   for my tastes. This is southern rock, and this particular
   album adds some keyboard stuff, almost poppy in nature
   to the Molly Hatchett/Lynrd Skynrd approach. It's
   different, but not bad.

Cousin Toothie says "Howdy!",

-Dan