The Scrounger's Report

Apr. 07, 2001

The (not just morally) Bankrupt Scrounger's Report v.37

It's a mixed blessing. You go out on a CD hunt with $100 budgeted
for the day. You end up spending $200 and have half the day left
over. Oy vey.

First, thanks to Marko for giving me info on the stores in question.

I left the house at 8:30 a.m. headed for a little broken down town
named Canton, IL, roughly 120 miles west of here. Now, prior to
December of last year, this little village's claim to fame was...
well... it didn't have one. Then "Shandi's Music and More" opened
up. This town is a throwback to the 1950s, with shops around the
"town square", a couple old geezers sitting outside the barber shop,
an idyllic way of life.

Sitting on a side street, amazingly out of place, is Shandi's.
KISS dolls in the window... good first impression. Just inside the
front door is the import rack, a veritable who's who of hard rock
and heavy metal, with lots of OBI strips peeking out. I take in
the surroundings, and then I recognize the music playing. It's the
new Vicious Rumors - Sadistic Symphony. Bonus points. The proprietor,
about 40-ish, is a *big* KISS fan and collector, and he proved to
to be quite knowledgeable about '80s hard rock and glam. He chatted
about Black 'n Blue, Smashed Gladys, Shameless, Wrathchild, etc.

There were (admittedly CDR) discs of the pre-cowboys Pantera 
albums, loads of bootleg video, t-shirts galore, stacks of vinyl,
and a big 'ole rack chock full of CD singles (YAY!). They were
packing stuff up to take to a CD show in Chicago, so I only got
to peruse part of the CD singles inventory. As it was, I snarfed
a bunch.

When all was said and done, I had some *serious* problems deciding
on which discs to buy and which to put back. The only thing helping
in this decision was the fact that many of the imports I could
probably get slightly cheaper online (for a retail establishment,
the prices were not bad at all).

As an aside, there is another music store right next door (I'm guessing
the new store wants to put the old one out of business), that while
I didn't spend a whole bunch there, had a *lot* of OOP hard rock
and heavy metal. Unfortunately, it's all stuff I already have. For
someone just starting out, this would be a veritable gold mine
(all used discs 3/$20).

First, a disc I picked up to put on Ebay:

.38 Special - S/T. 1977. A&M Records #CD 3164.
   A real tough find. Not as tough as "Special Delivery" but darned
   close. Excellent condition. If someone wants it without going
   through Ebay, I'll sell it for $30 + $5 insured priority mail
   (for reference, a lightly scratched one just sold on Ebay for
   $34, so I don't think this is unreasonable).

Ok, now on to the keepers.

20 CD singles:

Cry Wolf - Pretender. 1990. Grand Slamm/IRS.
Roxy Blue - Rob the Cradle/Talk of the Town. 1992. Geffen.
White Lion - Cry For Freedom. 1989. Atlantic.
Bad 4 Good - Nineteen. 199?. Interscope.
The Graveyard Train - The Reason (I Love You). 1993. Geffen.
Faster Pussycat - Poison Ivy. 1989. Elektra.
Vixen - Love Is a Killer. 1990. EMI.
Extreme - Tragic Comic. 1993. A&M.
Scorpions - Alien Nation. 1993. Polygram.
Scorpions - Does Anyone Know. 1996. Atlantic.
Savatage - Turns to Me. 1998. Atlantic.
Night Ranger - Forever All Over Again. 1997. Legacy.
Yngwie Malmsteen - Teaser. 1992. Elektra.
Alias - Waiting For Love. 1990. EMI.
House of Lords - O Father. 1992. Victory.
Shadow King - I Want You. 1991. Atlantic.
21 Guns - Knee Deep. 1992. BMG/RCA.
Giant - Chained. 1992. Epic.
Giant - I'm a Believer. 1989. A&M.
The Storm - I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love. 1991. Interscope.
The Storm - Show Me the Way. 1991. Interscope.

and a bunch of full-length discs:

Savatage - Poets and Madmen. 2001. Steamhammer (Germany).
   This is the boxed limited edition version. I've listened to
   about half of it, and I still maintain that Zak Stevens
   was a MUCH better vocalist for this group. Compared to
   the last few 'tage releases, this one is a major letdown
   (thus far). If it were an unknown group doing this material,
   I'd probably be loving it, but because it's Savatage, I know
   they're capable of so much more...

Razor - Violent Restitution. 1988. Steamhammer (Germany).
   Here. Have some thrash.

Radakka - Malice and Tranquility. 1995. Century Media.
   About time I replaced that darned CDR...

Gene Walk Group - S/T. 1993. Park Avenue Records.
   Indie glam/hard rock effort.

Slammin' Gladys - S/T.  1992. Priority Records.
   Ok hard rock.

Amethyst - Innocent as Hell. 1992. Sludgemonkey Music.
   I remember hearing a sample from these guys on a Perris
   Records sampler about a zillion years ago, but I never
   bothered to track them down. Quite a bit heavier than
   I recall.

Narita - Life. 199? Semaphore/Seagull Records.
   Melodic power/prog.

Firefly - Where You Gonna Run. 1998. Escape/Point Music.
   Decent melodic AOR. Album trails off a bit towards the end.

Mother's Army - Planet Earth. 1997. USG Records.
Mother's Army - Fire on the Moon. 1998. USG Records.
   Joe Lynn Turner, Jeff Watson, Bob Daisley, (Carmine Appice
   on one and Aynsley Dunbar on the other). How can you go wrong?

Pink Cream 69 - Mixery. 2000. Massacre Records (Germany).
   Ok, so, like why is "Looks That Kill" on here twice???
   Looks to me like the artwork is fucked.

Edwin Dare - Can't Break Me. 1994. Marmaduke Records.
   Pretty damned good melodic metal!

Blitzkrieg - A Time of Changes. 1991 (1985). Castle Comm.
   The artwork caught my eye on this one. Evidently NWOBHM.
   Anyone know anything about these guys? Other CDs?

Sinner - Judgement Day. 199? Saraya Records.
   I *HATE* it when there's no year to be found anywhere on
   either the artwork or the disc. When did this thing come out?

Bad Moon Rising - Blood. 1993. Under One Flag/Music For Nations.
   Doug Aldrich hard rock project.

Pangea - The First. 1998. Frontiers (Italy).
Pangea - Manchild. 1997. Victor (Japan).
   Both new still sealed. No bonus tracks on the Japanese version
   of Manchild, but it was the same price as the Frontiers
   version ($12.99 for a sealed Japanese import? You bet yer ass).

EZO - S/T. 1991 (1987). Victor Music (Japan).
   Another one to replace a CDR. No OBI, but then again it was
   only $13. I'm not bitching.

and lastly,

Angra - Reaching Horizons. 1996. ????
   Eh? WTF is this? I've never seen it before. No label listed.
   9 tracks (6 + 3 "bonus"):

   1. Carry On (original version with alternate chorus)
   2. Queen of the Night
   3. Angels Cry
   4. Time
   5. Evil Warning
   6. Reaching Horizons
   7. Carry On (official version from demotape)
   8. Don't Despair (previously unreleased)
   9. Wuthering Heights (preciously unreleased)

   Excellent booklet with lyrics, photos, and a lengthy
   biography of the group.

Wallet is empty, credit cards tapped out. I'm done for a bit.
Time to go listen to tunage.

-Dan