The Scrounger's Report

Monday I have to go back to the salt mine, so the obvious thing to do was go on one last CD hunt before real life intrudes. I dragged the dregs of my CD trade list up to a store about 1.5 hours from here in hopes that at the very least I could mitigate the inevitable purchases I would make. To my suprise, they took 22 of my discs @ $4 each (much better than I was expecting; stores around here have a tendency to offer $1-1.50/disc if they take any at all), so I was able to pick up a bunch of CDs without spending a dime. Yay!

First a pair of discs for the sale/trade pile:

Firesign Theatre - Fighting Clowns. 1980. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs.
Classic comedy stuff, although this particular album isn't one of my favorites. The MFSL pressings of their CDs can go for big bucks. Cutout.

Stranger - S/T. 1992 (1982). Sony Music Special Products.
Tough, tough, tough! Debut album from this Florida hard rock band. In pristine condition. There's a security strip adhered to the back of the booklet, which I'm not about to try and remove.

And the stuff to keep:

Britny Fox - Long Way to Live! 2001. Eagle Rock/Spitfire Records.
Filler really. Needed something to add up to $88, so I figured I'd snag this and hear how they sound after all these years. Does the lead vocalist still sound like he gargles with gravel?

Molly Hatchet - Kingdom of XII. 2001. CMC International.
I never got around to picking this one up; they played here locally right before the album came out, and some of the songs sounded cool.

Quiet Riot - Terrified. 1993. Moonstone Records.
Picked this up for a couple of reasons: (1) I didn't already have it, and (2) I've never heard of "Moonstone Records", so I thought this might be an early release/pressing of the CD. Who knows...

Ian Gillan/Roger Glover - Accidentally on Purpose. 1988. Virgin Records.
This one just looked kinda interesting. Bit of a more "classic rock" thing happening here.

TSOL - Hell and Back Together 1984-1990. 1992. Restless Records.
I had no clue these guys had a greatest hits compilation. Occasionally punk, occasionally glam, occasionally plain hard rock; these guys were all over the darned place...

V/A - Tomorrow the World. 1994. Dominion Records.
Oddball compilation. The reason I picked it up was that I recognized two of the bands featured. Bands included are Oliver Magnum, Chemikill, Ziad, Judge Mental, Mercury Rising, Fatal Array, Angels in Exile, Dr. Jest, and Altered Vision.

Tracer X - Tracing the Heavens. 2000. Self-released.
Apparently a local Christian heavy metal band from Aurora, IL. I didn't listen all that long to it, just enough to tell I would like it; power metal perhaps with a slight Queensryche vibe. Autographed copy, hey maybe in 30 years it will be worth a fortune!... or not.

Frost Bite - Secret Admirer. 1996. Underground Symphony (Italy).
More heavy metal. Features guitarist Jack Frost (Seven Witches, Metalium, etc.)

Joe Walsh - The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get. 1973. MCA Records.
Classic Joe Walsh, includes lead track "Rocky Mountain Way".

Extreme - Take it to the Limits. 1993. Cocmelos (Italy).
Live bootleg recorded in Dallas, TX January 1991. Not bad sound quality by the standards of the time; 75 minutes worth of goodies from their first 2 albums.

Fortune - Storyline... 1996. Self-released.
I've seen this AOR disc offered as a Japanese import (Alfa Brunette Records) a few times on Ebay, but didn't realize there was a domestic version. Cool deal. This makes *how* many different bands named "Fortune"? I'm aware of at least 3, possibly 4.

and lastly,

Tony MacAlpine - Violent Machine. 1996. Metropolis Records.
Instrumental hard rock; it will be interesting to hear if it sounds at all like his excellent 1980s work. Pure bonus is the fact that it is autographed by Tony MacAlpine, Ricky Riccardo, and Mike Terrana. Coolness!

Until next time,