The Scrounger's Report

Jan. 20, 2001

The Scrounger's Report, v. 31.

You'd think that after hosting our local metal listening group meeting
last night and having my skull pounded for 5+ hours, that I wouldn't
be in the mood to go out and find *MORE* metal. Well, obviously you
Have No Devotion TO THE BROTHERHOOD OF METAL AND YOU SHOULD BE
EVISCERATED UPON THE ALTAR... OF.... 

*ahem*

Sorry about that. I've got metal on the brain. I got up early this
morning and headed south to Charleston/Mattoon, IL, swung up through
Tuscola, and then headed straight north to Kankakee/Bradley (all
told, I drove about 285 miles today doing my CD scrounging).

Things started off poorly, when the first 2 pawn shops that
I usually hit were inexplicably closed. Bastards. Music For a
Song in Tuscola proved to be a bit better; they're great for
import CD singles at $2.97 each (it's a nationwide chain, so check
for one near you). I've really been getting into CD singles as of 
late, they tend to be cheap (usually 50 cents to $4), and you can
find all sorts of edits, remixes, alternate versions, live tracks,
demo versions, and unreleased tracks that you would never find
on albums... Then up to Bed Smart/Record Bar in Bradley,
IL; it's a weird combination: cheap tacky furniture and new/used
CDs. Why is that combination popular? There's also Springfield
Furniture Co./Recycled Records in Springfield, IL, and there is
absolutely no connection between the two. I'm assuming their are
bizarre combinations like this elsewhere.

Picked up a whole bunch of stuff, most heavy metal:

Rock Video Monthly, Oct. '93. Heavy Metal Releases.
   For only a buck, why not. Of note are videos from Flotsam and
   Jetsam, Paradise Lost, and Type O Negative.

A bunch of CD singles:

Fear Factory - Cars. 1999. Roadrunner (Germany).
   Title cut plus Descent (Falling Deeper Mix) and Edgecrusher
   (Urban Assault Mix).

Sepultura - Against. 1999. Roadrunner (United Kingdom).
   Title cut, "The Waste", "Tribus" (demo version), and "Common
   Bonds" (alternate mix).

Sepultura - Choke. 1998. Roadrunner (United Kingdom).
   Title cut, "Gene Machine/Don't Bother Me", and "Against"
   (demo version).

The Corrs - What Can I Do? (Live at Royal Albert Hall). 1998.
   Atlantic/Lava (United Kingdom).
   Title cut, "Runaway", and "Toss the Feathers", all live.

The Corrs - What Can I Do? (Tin Tin Out Remix). 1997.
   Atlantic/Lava (United Kingdom).
   Title cut, "What Can I Do" (Stringapella mix), "Paddy
   McCarthy".

KISS - We Are One. 1998. Mercury Records.
   Title cut (edit), title cut (full-length version), "Psycho
   Circus", and "Psycho Circus" video, plus a screensaver.

Sepultura - Dead Embryonic Cells. 1991. Roadrunner Records.
   Title cut, "Orgasmatron", and "Troops of Doom".

And now the full-length discs:

Sepultura - Against. 1998. Roadrunner Records.

Gang Green - King of Bands. 1991. Roadracer Records.
   This is the 4th disc of theirs I've found in the last week;
   decent thrash with a slightly "punk" aspect.

Fight - War of Words. 1993. Epic Records.
   I completely ignored Rob Halford after he left Judas Priest,
   that is until the sheer brilliance of Resurrection, so I
   figured I'd go back and pick up the material he did in the
   interim. This has a few excellent tracks on it, namely
   "Into the Pit" and "Life in Black" for the most notable.

Slayer - Show No Mercy. 1987 (1984). Restless/Metal Blade.
   13-track version, as opposed to the 10-track version
   currently available.

Accept - Eat the Heat. 1989. CBS Records.
   Hmmm, no Udo Dirkschneider on vox. HURRAY!!!! :D :D

Cheap Trick - Busted. 1990. Epic Records.
   A bit more polished than their older material...

Schizophrenic Circus - S/T. 1994. Megarock Records (Sweden).
   I purchased it because of the label it's on, known
   to have some phenomenal AOR efforts on it. This,
   unfortunately, has some very modern elements to it,
   although there are a couple of decent tracks.

Motor City Rockers - Rollin' & Tumblin'. 1993. Black Cat Records.
   Sleaze Glam out yer ass...

Stories - About Us. 1996 (1973). Buddah Records (BMG).
   It was cheap, so I figured I'd gamble. Some pretty decent
   classic rock (dated as hell, obviously).

Fastway - All Fired Up! 1984. Columbia Records.
   It's recently been reissued as part of a 2-on-1, so some
   of the lustre at finding this is dulled, but hey, I'd
   rather have an original pressing any day...

This next one was a complete and utter gamble, since it was
sealed, but sometimes ya gots to roll the dice. This time
it paid off:

Phil Cristian - No Prisoner. 1988. Voss Records.
   Quite well done melodic keyboard-driven AOR! Surprisingly
   features Steve Salas on guitars, and Jason Scheff guests
   on one track. Artwork is dated as hell, and just screams
   "OUT OF PRINT". So for $6 it was a winner.

Lastly, I hemmed and hawed on this one given that it was
pretty pricey (I'm a cheapskate to the Nth degree), but
seeing as I'd not seen it in stores anywhere as of late,
and for all I know it's no longer available, I bit the
bullet. One for all the metal "historians" out there:

Various Artists - Grim Harvest (Complete Metal Massacre,
   Volumes I-XII). 1998. Metal Blade Records.
   An 11-disc boxed set of all the Metal Massacre albums.
   It's numbered #1,700. How many were issued? Also, it's
   the "BMG version". If that's the case, were there 2 sets
   of numbered versions, those issued by Metal Blade, and
   those by BMG, or were the ones manufactured by
   BMG *ALL* numbered 1,700? :D :D  (or were all of these
   sets manufactured by BMG for Metal Blade, hence they
   all are BMG versions?). It set me back $55, but it's
   a nice set to have...

That's all for this scrounging trip. Till next time,
Bang Thy Head!

-Dan