The Scrounger's Report

Oct. 02, 1998

Road trips, CD shopping, porn....the usual.

It had been a while since I'd gone on one of my little forraging
jaunts, so I decided to take half a day and spend next paycheck's
overtime money today.

Drove the 1.5 hrs to Springfield to visit "Recycled Records."
I hit them once or twice a year. It's a weird little place,
housed in the same building (and run by the same people)
as "The Springfield Furniture Company." This is a turn-of-
the century department store building. The first floor is
a furniture warehouse (selling the same cheap-ass cheezy
furniture as "This is Shit Furniture!"). When you get to
the back of the store, there's a desk/cash register with
a fat greasy geek sitting there buying and selling porno
magazines and comic books; he's perpetually yelling at
his parents (who must be in their 70s) who evidently
live in the store (there's a kitchenette behind the porno
mags, and the parents have been there every single time
I've been there).

You climb precariously up a narrow, creaky, semi-stable
set of stairs and emerge into a veritable nirvana of
CDs, cassettes, and vinyl. You would never think from
looking at the place from the outside that an aural
goldmine lies within...

They sell both new and used CDs, will do mail-order,
and will take orders on the internet (www.recycledrecords.com).

The CDs range in price from $4 to $50; they have a fair amount
of imports and bootlegs. 

I spent $120 on 10 CDs and 7 LPs. I had a stack of another
15 or so CDs, but had to put them back.

I haven't listened to everything yet, but here's a rundown
of what I came away with (most is appropriate for this list) :

CDS:

1. Grave Digger - The Reaper. 1994. Gun Records (Japan). $18
   Power metal.

2. Fear Factory - Soul of a New Machine. 1992. Roadrunner. $8
   Heavy metal/industrial

3. Harvest - Mighty River. 1993. Benson Records. $3.50
   Lite CCM countryish AOR. Very melodic; relaxing.

4. Kansas - Monolith. 1979. Kirshner Records (eh??? I always
   thought their stuff was on major labels). $4

5. New England - 1978. 1998. GB Music. $14.
6. New England - Explorer Suite. 1998. GB Music. $14.
   Imagine my surprise actually walking into a place and finding
   these two! I have a CD-R mastered from a cassette of the
   self-titled release, but hadn't gotten around to mail-ordering
   these. Pure 1970s pomp rock ala "Angel."

7. Alcatrazz - The Best of. 1998. Renaissance. $14.
   This one has been on the "release iminent" list for the last
   two years, so I had given up on ever finding it. SNARF!

8. Kim Mitchell - Aural Fixations. 1992. Alert (Canada). $10
   I've said it before; I'll say it again: This guy is one of
   THE most underrated solo artists ever (along with Gary Moore).
   I'm slowly but surely trying to put together a collection of
   his stuff.

9. Bonnie Tyler - Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. 1986. Columbia
   $7. When I saw the "Produced and directed by Jim Steinman" on
   the back I *HAD* to grab this (I'm a BIG meatloaf fan).

10. L.A. Guns - Live! Vampires. 1992. Vertigo (Japan). $15
    Still has the companion photo booklet. I couldn't pass on
    this for that price...

Vinyl:

1. Head East - Head East. 1978. A&M.
2. Head East - Gettin' Lucky. 1977. A&M.
   I find it absolutely bizarre that "Flat as a Pancake" is the
   only John Schlitt (Petra) era Head East available on CD.
   Someone NEEDS to release their catalog on CD!!!

3. Killer Dwarfs - Stand Tall. 1986. Grudge.
   I already have this on CD, but I occasionally see people 
   looking for the vinyl.....(trade bait).

4. Grim Reaper - See You in Hell. 1984. Ebony Music.
   *sigh* I've pretty much given up on the idea of finding
   anything but "Rock You to Hell" on CD, so I guess is
   the next best thing...

5. Helix - Walkin' the Razor's Edge. 1984. Capitol/EMI.
   Again, can't find it on CD.

6. Kick Axe - Vices. 1984. Pasha Records.
   This is a MINT copy...time to make a CD-R.

7. Shooting Star - III Wishes. 1982. Virgin Records.
   I guess this one's never been put on CD. Can someone
   find me CDs of "Burning" and "Silent Scream"? :) :)

All in all, while it was an expensive day, it was quite
satisfying. Well, time to go listen to music.

-Dan