The Scrounger's Report

Apr. 06, 2000

Turn your head and cough, rolling dice, and of course CDs.

Well, I had to leave work early today to go to the doctor's office.
Your normal pokes, pricks, prods, lectures, etc. Decidedly an
unpleasant experience. I think my doctor graduated from Marquis De
Sade U. So after the inquisition, what better way to get oneself
back into a positive frame of mind than to go CD shopping!

Due to the timing of things this past weekend, I'd only had a
chance to give the $2 bins at the pawn shop in Charleston a
hurried rush-through, so I decided to remedy this. There were
no listening facilities there, so it was gambling time! Shopping
by artwork can be kinda fun; you never know if you're going
to get a gem or a coaster, but at $2 per, if things go wrong,
at least you weren't paying import prices. :) After about an
hour of scrounging I came up with a stack of 23 discs that
looked like they *might* have potential. There were a bunch
more that I *KNOW* I could have used, but the condition was
so absolutely horrendous that I had to pass. *sigh*

As one would expect, I ended up with some horrible mistakes,
some so-so picks and a few surprises. I'll start with the 
horrendous mistakes first...

I Love You - S/T. 1991. Geffen Records.
   This looked like it might be hard rock. It wasn't.
   Alternasomethingorother.

Searcher - Exodus. 1994. Self-produced.
   Definitely low budget; I knew that going in. I had
   hopes that it might be hard rock or melodic metal.
   Heavy alternametal. Ick.

Horse - The Same Sky. 1990. Capitol Records.
   I don't know WHAT the [CENSORED] this is, but whatever
   it is ain't good. Pop, but the guy's voice is gawdawful.
   *fling*

The Nick Everett Group - Surrender Tonight. 1988. Third Story.
   Looked AOR. It's minor-label country, with a tinge of
   bar-rock in it. They shoulda stayed in the bar.

Lions and Ghosts - Wild Garden. 1989. EMI Records.
   Typical British morons with an attitude. Pop without talent.

Shaking Family - Dreaming in Detail. 1990. Elektra Records.
   Coulda been AOR, coulda been pop, coulda been country.
   Instead we get a blend of Melissa Ethridge and 10,000 Morons.
   *BAZOOKABARF*

Meet John Doe - S/T. 1990. Geffen Records.
   Well, I guess we're getting out of the "blows hairy chunks"
   and into the "decidedly mediocre" section. Bland midwest
   rock. The guy kinda wants to be Roy Orbison and Tom Petty
   at the same time. Uhh, scratch my initial remarks...
   This spells "SUCK".

Daniel Ryan - S/T. 1994. Synapse Records.
   So we left our balls at home, did we? This disc wouldn't
   be so bad if it weren't so damned boring. It never goes
   anywhere, and the choruses define "WIMPY."

Ok, now we venture into discs that appear to be worth at
least keeping...

Amnesia - Unknown Entity. 1991. Major Records (United Kingdom).
   Here, have some unknown, minor-label, British thrash metal.
   Ok, I think I will....actually not bad...

Robert Plant - Manic Nirvana (Digipak). 1990. Esparanza Records.
   Hey, it was two bucks...so shoot me.

Stillborn - State of Disconnection. 1993. Century Media.
   Some heavy metal for what ails ye. Has a tendency to creep
   over into alternaville every now and then but not bad.

Blue Mercedes - Rich and Famous. 1988. MCA Records.
   Poppy, poppy, poppy. Reminds me of Erasure at times.

Wallace Tozier - S/T. 1991. Self-produced.
   About as minor-label as you get. Hard rock, that while
   a tad underproduced, has some potential.

Cyclone Temple - I Hate Therefore I Am. 1991. Combat Records.
   I've always passed on this, and have had several opportunities
   to own this, just never cheap enough. It's better than
   I recall it being.

Now to the "pretty decent"-to-"damned good" stuff:

Meshuggah - Chaosphere. 1998. Nuclear Blast Records.
   Skull-crushing brutal metal. YUM!

Requiem - Spite. 1994. Deep Groove Recordings.
   Let's see, how do I describe this...uhh...."death techno?"
   Fear Factory Lite might be accurate. More techno then
   industrial though, still with heavy metal vocals and
   riffs.

Louis Michael - Living for the Music. 1991. AMI Records.
   Pretty decent AOR. The guy's vocals could use a little
   help periodically though.

Chris Thomas - Cry of the Prophets. 1990. Sire Records.
   Hmm... how about "Jon Butcher meets Robert Cray"?
   
Beggars & Thieves - S/T. 1990. Atlantic Records.
   You know, I've passed on this disc 8,423 times to date,
   because I recall listening to it at some point
   and thought it was crap. It's not crap. Much better
   than I remember. Straight-ahead hard rock.

Various Artists - Pounding Power Vol. 1. 1996. Metalized Magazine.
   A promo-only compilation of a bunch of extremely
   heavy metal from a bunch of different labels.
   Tracks from Stuck Mojo, Hoarse, Manhole, Painful Existence,
   Assail, Torque, Mercyful Fate, Klyster, Malevolent
   Creation, Legion, Compulsory, Arise, Ancient, Rotting
   Christ, Stratovarius, Naked Rain, Iced Earth, and
   Nevermore.

John Porter McMeans - Vigilante Man. ???. Subliminal Records.
   Anybody know anything about this artist/label?
   There's no year or musician listing for this EP.
   6 tracks of pretty darned good hard rock. The
   pictures of the guy on the front and on the J-card
   show him in a priest's collar. The record label is
   based out of Tennessee. Buehler?

Various Artists - Out of the Dark (Live Compilation).
   1997. Century Media.
   This disc kicks SERIOUS ass! 2 live tracks each
   from Moonspell, The Gathering, Samael, Sentenced,
   Rotting Christ, and Crematory.

and the unknown gem from this batch of $2 discs:

Joe Pasquale - Prey. 1991. MCA Records.
   It's pop. No, it's AOR. No, it's pop. Wait, it's
   AOR. [CENSORED] it! It's GOOD! Kind of a Michael
   Morales/Glenn Madeiros/George Michael thing going
   on, with a bit more AOR than pop. A few interesting
   guests on it: Bruce Gaitsch, Randy Jackson, Michael
   Thompson, Steve Lukather, and Martika. EXCELLENT
   production, and some good balladry.

But wait! There's more! For only $1.99 you also get
the Ronco Turnip Twaddler (TM)!

When I was done there, I said to myself "I haven't
checked out any of the new/recent releases, and it's
only 40 miles to Casa de Inbred, so let's extend this
roadtrip!!" So off I went once again to Decatur.

I scrounged a bit and didn't really find much (gee,
ya think I mighta cleaned 'em out over the last month?)
I did pick up a few new releases though, especially
when they were willing to knock down their prices
to the point where they beat anywhere I can get stuff
here in C-U.

Well, one used disc:

Scorpions - Fly to the Rainbow. 1983 (1974). RCA (Germany).
   $12.99 (expensive, yeah, but I hadn't seen one in a while).
   I *WILL* eventually own all their CDs....really...

The rest were new:

Uriah Heep - Sea of Light. 1995. Steamhammer (Germany).
   I kinda blanched when I saw this stickered at $22.99,
   but cousin Toothie let me have it for $10.99...

Demons and Wizards - S/T. 1999. Steamhammer (Germany).
   This is the popup digipak with the extra track. You know,
   THE ONE I ORDERED FROM CDNOW BACK IN FEBRUARY AND
   THEY KEPT ON "BACKORDER" STATUS FOR 5 [CENSORED] WEEKS!
   *ahem* Sorry... at any rate, I was going to buy this
   elsewhere online and use a coupon, but for $14.99, I
   finally just said "the heck with it".

Stratovarius - Infinite. 2000. Nuclear Blast. $12.99
   They haven't done much innovative in the past N albums,
   but they're still mandatory (and fun) listening.

Mr. Big - Get Over It. 2000. Atlantic Records.
   I listened to one track and decided to get it.
   And cousin Toothie let me have it for $7.99. Bonus.

Dio - Magica. 2000. Spitfire Records.
   Ahh yesss.....after the miscue that was "Angry Machines"
   da man is on track again. $8.99 well spent.

Well, that's all for this afternoon's scrounging. Til the
next time the CD bug bites (which these days might be
a question of hours),

-Dan