The Scrounger's Report

May 06, 2000

Who said nothing ever came out of Eastern Europe but communism?

Just got a package of discs in from Eastern Europe.
Many gambles, but no real risk, as the kind gentleman
offered them to me as "discs on approval"; that is,
pay for the ones I like, and send the others back.

Can't beat that with a stick! I'm keeping 10 of the
12 he sent me. After shipping costs, it averages out
to roughly $12 per disc, which might seem a tad high
for used CDs, but there are some gems here, not to
mention 2 in particular that are extremely TOUGH to find.

The 2 I'm tossing back:

Naked Sun - Wonderdrug. 199?. Omni Records (Canada).
  Harder-edged rock, but a bit too '90s for my tastes.
  Also I didn't care for the vocals.

The Slaves - S/T. 1990. Happy Hermit Records/I.R.S.
  Glam/punk hybrid, with an underlying bass of traditional
  '80s hard rock. Nothing on it really caught my fancy.

The keepers:

Swedish Erotica - Blindman's Justice. 1995. Empire (Sweden).
   Would fall under the category of melodic metal rather
   than AOR. Has a tendency to lean a bit to the '90s
   alternasound every now and then, but there are some
   pretty good melody lines in this one.

Ian Parry - Symphony of Dreams. 1993. Non-Stop Prod. (Austria)
   I like this MUCH better than his current material!
   Traditional AOR/hard rock; none of the prog stuff
   he's doing now.

BB Steal - On the Edge. 1991. Phonogram (Australia).
   Finally, I get to replace that damned CDR!
   Def Leppard clones. Good stuff!

Jeff Paris - Lucky This Time. 1993. Now and Then (United Kingdom)
   I just spun the first track to decide if I wanted
   to keep it. No traces of a '90s sound on this one!

Bitches Brue - We Might Not Be American But Still We **CK
   1989. FM Revolver Records (Germany).
   Female-fronted (Fiona Clarke??) glam stuff. Kinda
   mediocre, but I have yet to see any release on this
   label that wasn't hard as hell to find.

Stone Fury - Burning Like a Star. 1984. Retroactive (Germany)
Stone Fury - Let Them Talk. 1986. Retroactive (Germany)
   Lenny Wolf pre-Kingdom Come, also features Bruce Gowdy
   on guitar.

Siloam - Sweet Destiny. 1991. Image 7 Records (Canada).
   Pretty decent hard rock. Long-haired poseurs in
   long overcoats and cowboy hats.

and these last 2 I'm glad to finally find on CD:

Rick Springfield - Beautiful Feelings. 1984 (1978).
   Mercury Records (Germany).
   This one consistently costs $50+, so I'm glad
   to find one without having to get into a bidding war.

Victory - S/T. 1985. Epic Records.
   I have been checking Ebay for this disc weekly for
   almost 2 years, and have never seen one offered.
   Nor have I seen this for sale online or off, at
   any price. I think my Victory collection is now
   finally complete! *whew*

Time to go turn up the volume!!!

-Dan