The Scrounger's Report

Jan. 26, 2000

Esotericus Bargainbinia Absurdum

So I went out bargain-binning today.

Sacrilege! Blasphemy! Persecute the heretic!

*How* *DARE* You!* You BASTARD!

[note to the people on other lists who are right about now
going "What the [CENSORED] is this dipspit going on about?":
on one of the lists I post to we've got a particular pinhead
who believes that one shouldn't delve in bargain bins or trade
CDs with other people since those activities don't result in
royalties paid to the musicians; rather one should purchase
CDs only through retail outlets. Yah. Right. I'll leave
the various arguments pro and con as an exercise to the reader.]

Anyway...

I decided to frequent one of my bi-monthly haunts and
came away with a bunch of "interesting" discs; a very esoteric
mix of genres, although leaning toward the lighter end of
the musical spectrum:

 1. Robin Beck - Trouble or Nothin. 1989. Mercury/Polygram.
    I already have this excellent disc, but I knew Marko needed
    one, so I snarfed. Yet another Desmond Child creation,
    featuring the ubiquitous "Hide Your Heart" ala Paul Stanley.
    Really a must-have disc for any self-respecting hard rock/AOR
    fan. Good luck finding it. :)

 2. Lance Keltner - S/T. 1992. EastWest Records.
    Some rather interesting "laid back" bluesish hard rock. I
    haven't given this a complete listen.

 3. Dreams So Real - Rough Night in Jericho. 1988. Arista Records.
    I remember the title cut as being a minor radio hit. Produced
    by Bill Drescher.

 4. A Split Second - Kiss oF Fury. 1990. Caroline Records.
    How do I describe thi...err...ummm.. "Gothic Eurotechno"?
    It's quite different...not bad.

 5. A-Ha - Memorial Beach. 1993. Warner Brothers.
    The completist in me said snag this to fill in my collection.

 6. Harlow - S/T. 1990. Reprise Records.
    I stupidly gave this away a couple of months back; I hadn't
    listened to it in quite a while. Catching one of their videos
    on the M2 marathon made me want to reacquire it....

 7. Zed Yago - Pilgrimage. 1989. BMG/RCA Records.
    Some unusual female-fronted melodic metal. Really interesting.

 8. Graham Grace - Shining Knight. 1986. Palace Records.
    Some fairly mild Europop that has that "OuttaPrintLikeAMoFo"
    look to it.

 9. Naro - Press Play. 1994. Interplanet Music (Canada).
    A Phil Naro project with Harry Hess contributing on keyboards
    and backing vocals. This one was quite a surprising find.
    It has some good hooks here and there, but every now and
    the some extremely "90s" vibes intrude...

10. Billy Branigan - Make A Move. 1987. Polygram Records.
    It's most definitely pop, but it has a slightly heavier
    edge (maybe a riff or two) here and there. Pretty good.

11. Brad Gillis - Gilrock Ranch. 1993. Guitar Recordings.
    This one was a surprise as well. A predominantly instrumental
    album from Night Ranger's guitarist. A nice find.

Overall quite a good day, despite my having to do 17 Hail Mary's
and 426 Our Fathers as penance for daring to buy used CDs instead
of buying retail...:)

Til next time,

-Dan