The Scrounger's Report

Nov. 04, 2001

What a beautiful day for... you guessed it.

Well, I hadn't *planned* to go out scrounging on Friday. In fact,
the plan was to do some yardwork, or lay around and do nothing
productive on my day off. But the day dawned absolutely gorgeous
(I guess you could say we're in the midst of "Indian Summer" here),
and with gasoline down to a buck a gallon, I... just... felt...
the... urge... *sigh*

It really was a beautiful day for a drive; the 2-hour trip to
one of my lesser-frequented scrounging holes passed like nothing.
There's something quaint (read: provincial) about rural America.
Watching the populace, you literally get the feeling you're in
a land that time forgot. One is surprised that the locals are even
walking upright. When I got to the store, several of the town's more
colorful individuals were tormenting a kid who had failed the
exam to enter the army... for the third time. We're talking
serious lack of brain power here, folks. Put it this way: your
average house plant will score at least 70 on the ASFAB. Even a
rap music fan would pass the test on the second go-around. To fail
the exam three times indicates a true miracle of nature; I'm
surprised there was enough brain wave activity to coordinate
respiratory functions... I'm thinking he was dead but just too
stupid to fall over.

Then there were the "rocket scientists" that were exercising
their higher thinking at his expense. Picture "Cousin It" from
the Addams Family, and if you shaved away all the hair, you'd
find nothing but tattoos.

What a lovely place. That's the paradox about CD hunting. The
less likely you are to want to reside in a neighborhood, the
better the pickings are likely to be. Go figure.

I picked up a couple of video tapes:

Bon Jovi - Breakout (Video EP). 1985. Sony. 23 minutes.
   A cool little collectible containing 5 videos from the first
   two Bon Jovi albums.

Skid Row - Oh Say Can You SCREAM. 1990. Atlantic. 100 minutes.
   12 live performances plus videos for Youth Gone Wild,
   Piece of Me (uncut version), 18 and Life (uncut version),
   and I Remember You.

V/A - Doomsday News. 1990. Strand VCI. 60 minutes.
   A cool collection of of late-80s heavy metal:
   Mordred - Every Day's a Holiday, Watchtower - The Eldritch,
   Kreator - Betrayer, Voivod - Ripping Headaches, Rage - 
   Invisible Horizons, D.A.M. - Human Wreckage, Running Wild - 
   Bad to the Bone, Vendetta - Brain Damage, Celtic Frost - 
   Wine in My Hand, Mania - Gods of Fire, Coroner - Last
   Entertainment, Scanner - Buy or Die, Gamma Ray - Space Eater.

Now on to the CDs:

Nightwish - Wishmaster. 2000. Century Media.
   Ok, mix opera and prog metal. It's fairly decent, but I'm not
   sure how often I could listen to it.

Wayne - Metal Church. 2001. Nuclear Blast.
   Some solid straight-ahead heavy metal; not overly memorable
   though.

Various Artists - Disharmony Sampler. 2000. Century Media.
   Good selection of tunes from Shadows Fall (x2), Nevermore (x2),
   Cryptopsy, Sentenced, The Gathering, Jag Panzer, Stuck
   Mojo, Eyehategod, Dark Tranquillity, Borknagar, Angel Dust,
   Nocturnal Rites, Carnal Forge, Old Man's Child, Onward,
   and God Forbid.

Doro - Machine II Machine. 1995. Vertigo (Germany).
   One of those "completist" purchases. It's probably (what the
   hell am I saying "probably" for, there's no doubt about it)
   her worst effort, but I had to get it. Too "modern".

Tokyo Blade - Pumphouse. 19??. Zoom Club Records (United Kingdom).
   So whe did this come out? There is absolutely no information
   about who the lineup is or when it was done (Zoom Club is one
   of the WORST about this).

Heavy Pettin - Big Bang. 2001 (1987). FM Revolver (United Kingdom)
   Decent packaging. I haven't listened to it yet, so I'm not
   sure where it fall with respect to their other 2 studio efforts.

Fair Warning - Heart on the Run. 2000. Avalon (Japan).
   Yeah, paying $12 for a single is outright silly, but you don't
   understand... it's Fair Warning, damnit! Is the track "For
   the Lonely" only found on this single, or was it added to one
   of the 2-disc reissues?

Mystik - Perpetual Being. 1994. Massacre (Germany).
   This seems a tad heavy compared to the other acts I've heard
   on Massacre; definitely falls into the "metal" category. Fairly
   mundane.

Mercury Rising - Building Rome. 1998. Dominion Records.
   Prog metal. Haven't listened to it yet.

Tuff - Fist First. 1994. R.L.S. Records
   Someone told me this was their first release, yet it doesn't
   fall into the timeline that way. Was it recorded earlier than
   1991 and just released later?

Treasure Land - Questions. 1997. Modern Music.
   The artwork is humourous; it's as if they're trying to portray
   this dark forboding image... it's not working. Power metal.

Lost Horizon - Awakening the World. 2001. Koch/Music For Nations.
   Ehh? Since when is Koch doing power metal? Looks like a cross
   between Hammerfall and Manowar. Sounds like the former and 
   image like the latter. The band lineup names are just laughable.

Sabbat - History of a Time to Come. 1988. Noise Records.
   Late-80s thrash. Decent, but not memorable.

Divine Regale - Horizons. 1994. Self-Released.
   Proggity prog prog....prog.

Twilight - Eye for an Eye. 1994. Olafssongs (Denmark)
   Whoah. Looking at the artwork, I was expecting either thrash,
   grindcore, or death metal. Quite melodic dark prog metal.

Edenbridge - Sunrise in Eden. 2001. Sensory Records.
   Meow! Wottababe! This chick is fuh-iiiiiiine. Not too bad
   of a sanger either. Female-fronted prog metal. From New Jersey?

Psychotic Waltz - Mosquito. 1994. Psychotic Waltz Music.
   More prog from this now defunct group.

Randy Coven Band, The - Sammy Says Ouch!. 1990. Guitar Recordings.
   Instrumental hard rock, with bass beaing the featured instrument.
   Al Pitrelli on guitars, also Blues Saraceno making a guest
   appearance.

Saxon - Greatest Hits Live!. 1990. Grand Slamm.
   Ah Hah! Another Grand Slamm label acquisition. Filling in
   more slots in my Saxon collection...

Kidd Robin - The Inevitable Return of the Dinosaur Monster. 1996.
   Digilogical Harmelodies.
   This is an odd one. None of the band members are listed.
   It appears, from the lyrical content and the thanks, that
   this is/was a Christian band. Lead vocalist sounds very much
   like early/vintage Geoff Tate.

Knight Crawler - World of Make Believe. 1996. WBMG.
   Apparently a local band from St. Paul, MN that has toured
   around in the midwest quite a bit. Suprisingly good AOR.
   The usual production deficiencies from a no-name self-released
   effort, but shows some talent. I also got a VHS tape of
   3 of their videos for a buck. Not bad.

Talisman - Talisman + 6. 1993 (1990). Empire Records (Sweden).
   Throw out the 6 bonus live tracks, and you have one hell of
   an AOR masterpiece! Quite possibly my favorite if Jeff Scott
   Soto's efforts (Biker Mice from Mars soundtrack is up there
   though).

and the last 2 discs, which I would call "finds":

Various Artists - Mama's Fallen Angel (Tribute to Poison).
   2000. Progressive Arts Music.
   Who? Where? What? When? Why? I don't recall anyone mentioning
   this. No one of any note is on this, from the minimal liner
   notes it appears to be members of indy bands from Florida.
   There are a couple of throw-away tracks, but by and large
   these are some damned good covers! The bands that are mentioned
   as having members participating are Hear Here, Vent, Mamma's
   Root, Aces Wild, Elephant Orange, Cintron, and Wraith.
   Anyone have a clue on this one?

Great White - The Blue EP. 1991. Capitol Records (Japan).
   No OBI, but for $7 I ain't bitchin'. What the hell this was
   doing in Bumblefuck, Illinois, is beyond me.


Gorgeous weather, a decent haul, what a beautiful day...

-Dan