The Scrounger's Report

Nov. 22, 2000

Twice in one week??? Aww, come on now!

Well, yeah. I took the day off from work and decided to ignore the
ballot revoti... err, manipula... err, thieve... err, "recounting"
*cough* (almost couldn't spit that one out :), and head up north a
ways to Kankakee, IL. Adding to today's haul were a couple of
packages in the mail. I'm floating in CDs!!!

First, a couple of CD singles:

Chris LeDoux - Bang a Drum. 1998. Capitol Records. Promo.
   Why the [CENSORED] would I buy a country CD? Well, because
   this song happens to be a duet with Jon Bon Jovi...
   Album version + edit.

Child's Play - Wind. 1991. Chrysalis Records. Promo.
   Appears to be autographed by someone in the band. *shrug*

Bee Gees - Bodyguard. 1988. Warner Brothers. Promo.
   Album version + edit.

Russell Hitchcock - Swear to Your Heart. 1990. Hollywood. Promo.
   Lead singer of Air Supply; from the "Arachnophobia" soundtrack.

Desmond Child - Obsession. 1992. Elektra Records. Promo.
   Album version + edit. Picture disc.

Desmond Child - You're the Story of My Life. 1991. Elektra. Promo.

.38 Special - Signs of Love. 1991. Charisma Records. Promo.

Great White - Rock Me. 1987. Capitol Records. Promo.
   title cut plus "Face the Day" (extended version).

Brian May - Too Much Love Will Kill You. 1992. Parlophone (UK).
   title cut, "I'm Scared", title cut (guitar version),
   "Driven By You" (new version featuring Cozy Powell on
   drums and Neil Murray on bass).

Lou Gramm - True Blue Love. 1989. Atlantic Records. Promo.
   album version + edit.

Robert Hart - A Little Love Is Overdue. 1989. Atlantic. Promo.
   Just the title cut.

Now the full-length discs:

The Chasers - Something's Gotta Give. 1989. Pyramid Records.
   Was a gamble. Minor-label CCM hard rock. Looks (and sounds)
   *EXTREMELY* dated...

Christopher Cross - Walking in Avalon. 1998. CMC International.
   2-CD set for $3? You bet. It will be interesting to hear
   how this compares to his classic material.

Great White - The Best of. 2000. EMI-Capitol Records.
   I've got at least 2 other greatest hits from Great White.
   Why not add another? Part of the "10 Best Series".

Slaughter - Eternal Live. 1998. CMC International.
   Completist fodder.

Artillery - By Inheritance. 1990. Roadrunner Records.
   Classic thrash.

Iron Maiden - Brave New World. 2000. Portrait Records.
   Yeah, I know everyone else already has it. The cheapskate in
   me wanted to wait until I could find it for less. $6 sounds
   about right...

Kreator - Into the Light. 1992 (1988). Noise Records.
   Just exploring what these death/thrash headbangers are all
   about...

Mortification - Blood Word. 1994. Intense Records.
Mortification - Live Planetarium. 1993. Intense Records.
Mortification - S/T. 1991. Intense Records.
   Just recently discovered these guys. CCM death metal which
   later turned into rather excellently executed melodic
   thrash. I now own 8 of their CDs, but evidently I still
   have 3 full-length and 2 EPs to go. Egads...

Kansas - Song for America. 1975. CBS/Kirshner Records.
   One of the few Kanses studio discs I'm still missing.

Armageddon - The Money Mask. 1989. Talkingtown (R.E.X.).
   I'm guessing this one's a toughie. CCM melodic metal.
   Pretty decent, actually...

Grinder - Nothing is Sacred. 1991. Noise Records.
   Melodic thrash (hey, I like traditional thrash, mmmm'kay?)

Julian Lennon - The Secret Value of Daydreaming. 1986.
   Atlantic Records. Some decent ditties on this one.
   I still need to ty and find Valotte (tougher find).

Petra - S/T. 1974. Word Records.
Petra - Beat the System. 1984. Star Song Records.
Petra - This Means War! 1987. Star Song Records.
   Closing in on completing their discography, and it's
   a damned large one. I think I'm up to 21 CDs...

Aria - Hero of the Asphalt. 1994 (1987). Moroz Records.
   Kinda hard to tell what's going on here...all the words
   and writing are in Russian. Pretty good melodic heavy metal.

Capricorn - S/T. 1993. Shark Records.
   More heavy metal. 2 of the members are from Grinder (see
   above).

Celtic Frost - Cold Lake. 1988. Noise Records.
   Heavy metal band makes an attempt at doing hair metal.
   This album is to CF what Metal Magic, Projects in the
   Jungle, I Am the Night, and Power Metal are to Pantera.
   The band disavows this disc entirely. In fact, the
   entire Celtic Frost catalog has been/is being reissued
   *except* this disc. Get while the getting is good, cuz
   it ain't gettin' released again.

Shakatak - Drivin' Hard. 1981. Polydor Records.
   Gamble from the 3/$5 bin. I thought that this band was
   an '80s dance pop band. This has more of a jazz thing
   going on. Weird.

Slaves of New Brunswick. 1991. Westwood Group.
   A very disjointed disc that has a few decent moments.
   Obviously a must for any Glen Burtnick completist.

Strykken - Best Before End. 1996. TEPA Records.
   Ok, ok. I had the band name "Stryken" in my Ebay
   search scripts due to a piece of vinyl I had from
   the '80s. This disc showed up in the search so
   I figured "What the hell" and snagged it for $5.
   Haven't listened to it yet, but it *looks* like
   hard rock...

Coracko - New Virus Spreads. 1992. Polydoe (Germany).
   Name makes it sound like heavy metal. It's actually
   hard rock, and reasonably executed.

Nasty Idols - Cruel Intention. 1991. HSM Records (Sweden).
   Sleaze glam.

Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1. 1988. Wilbury Records.
   OOP as a [CENSORED]. Since it was the first and most
   notable of their albums, I figured I might as well
   snag it.

Outrage - The Final Day. 1991. Polydor (Japan).
   Continuing to work on their discography; melodic
   thrash band with an all-Japanese lineup. If anyone
   has any of their discs for trade (other than this
   one, "Spit", and "Life Until Deaf") please contact
   me offlist. I know that at the very least thay have
   a greatest hits CD in addition to the ones I have;
   I suspect more.

Mr. Big - To Be With You (Live). 1993. LiveLine Records.
   Looks like a bootleg, but the sound quality is actually
   better than the vast majority of boots I've listened to.

Xentrix - Kin. 1992. RoadRacer Records.
   Completes my CD discography of their works (with the
   exception of the "Ghostbusters" CD EP; if anyone has
   this and wants to part with it, please contact me).
   Excellent melodic thrash.

Atlantic - Power. 1994. Bellaphon Records.
   EXCELLENT AOR!!! Very similar to Dare in many respects.

Jennifer Rush - Heart Over Mind. 1987. CBS/Epic Records.
   Well, her voice is a little idiosyncratic, but overall
   this is quite melodic stuff. Some noteworthy cameos
   and backers, including Richie Sambora, Dan Huff, Harold
   Faltermeyer, Anton Fig. Album includes a duet with
   Elton John.

and lastly, a disc that was a complete and utter surprise
to me, although evidently they've got a discography a mile
long (must be a European thing):

Bad Boys Blue - Bad Boys Best. 1989. Coconut Records (Germany).
   This disc was in the package I received, and my first
   impression upon seeing the cover art was "Boy did I
   [CENSORED] up!". One Jamaican in dreadlocks and one
   black guy looking like a gangsta wannabe. I put it in
   the truck's CD player with much trepidation...
   Damn this is good stuff! Very well produced and arranged
   '80s melodic pop music. Occasionally just a hint of
   reggae, but it's hardly noticable. Lots of keyboards and
   vocal harmonies. Anyone have discography info on these
   guys? If this is representative of their '80s efforts,
   I'm wanting them. How does their later work measure up?

Well, all in all a most fruitful day. Happy Thanksgiving!

-Dan