The Scrounger's Report

Jul. 07, 2001

The Out-Of-Print Scrounger's Report

No interesting travelogue today (was all business; get there,
get in, get out, go home; plus it's a place I'd talked about
before, and believe me, yer not missing much by skipping
the description of the flora and fauna...:)

Had a good dumpster-diving day today from the perspective of
finding out-of-print goodies. It seems like the spate of reissues
and 2-on-1's as of late is driving people to dump their originals,
which is fine and DANDY for us completists...:)

Dead On - S/T. 1989. SBK Records. $3.25
   Not stellar, but passable, thrash metal.

Glory - Crisis vs. Crisis. 1996. IRS/Dream Circle (Germany) $6.00
   I had this before, didn't care for it, and traded it away.
   I'm giving it a ssecond chance; maybe it will grow on me.
   I think the thing that bothers me about it is that the first
   vocals you hear are industrially "voice boxed", and I hate
   that crap with a passion...

Raise Hell - Not Dead Yet. 2000. Nuclear Blast. $3.25
   Fodder for our local metal listening group. A little death
   metal to cleanse the palatte (although I'm wondering if
   these guys are attempting to be the "Spinal Tap" of that
   scene; seems a little *too* put on...)

Heimdall - The Temple of Theil. 1999. Elevate Records. $3.25
   Power/prog metal. The lead vocals are heavily accented;
   I've only given it a brief listen thus far...

Wargasm - Why Play Around? 1988. Profile Records (Canada). $6.00
   Was surprised to find this. I'd picked up one of their later
   thrash albums about a month ago and it was surprisingly
   good. We'll see (or hear actually) if this compares favorably.

Def Leppard - High 'n Dry. 1981. Mercury/Polygram. $6.00
   "What? You didn't already have this? What the [CENSORED] is
   the matter with you??!?" Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go away. You bother
   me. :) I'd never gotten around to picking this up, and I
   wanted to get the version with the 2 remix tracks on it,
   but without paying any premium (for some stupid reason the
   12-track version seems to stay in the $15 range on Ebay,
   and that's to friggin' much; after all I have my reputation
   as a cheapskate to maintain!). So $6 seemed reasonable...

Shout - It Won't Be Long. 1988. Frontline. $6.00
   Finally, I can replace that stupid CDR I've had since time
   began. Excellent Christian hard rock featuring Ken Tamplin.
   It's available as a 2-on-1 reissue from KMG (which I also
   have), but the completist in me has to have the real deal...

Stonehenge - Shadows. 1996. J.E.M. Recordings. $6.00
   Semilocal band (Niles, IL). Kind of a blend of thrash and
   traditional heavy/power metal. A little underproduced, but
   overall decent.

Outrider - Long Time Comin'. 1996. Self-released. $6.00
   This was a neat find. 3-piece "bar band" out of San Leandro,
   California. Very melodic "good 'ole boy" southern rock.
   A few excellent epic ballads on this disc; songwriting
   and production could use a little work in places, but
   these guys have (had?) potential...

Colosseum - Daughter of Time. 1991. Success Records (U.K.) $6.00
   This one is weird. Kind of a jazz/rock fusion thing.
   What's really bizarre is that the track listing and cover
   art are *completely* different from any of the ones listed
   on Ebay, or at allmusic.com . Some of the tracks are the
   same, but others are completely different. I like the cover
   art on mine better than the one shown elsewhere...:)

MSG - One Night at Budokan. 1981. Chrysalis Records. $6.00
   Actually saw two of these at the same store, so it can't
   be that uncommon. :) It's recently been reissued as part
   of a 2-on-1, but as always, I gotta have me an original...

MSG - Michael Schenker Group. 1981. Chrysalis Records. $6.00
   I saw the cover art to this one (red logo plus white guitar
   on black field), and it didn't look familiar, which struck
   me as bizarre, considering I already had 3 MSG self-titled
   discs: McAuley-Schenker Group (1991), Michael Schenker
   Group (1980), and Michael Schenker Group (1981). What I
   neglected to realize is that the 1981 S/T I already had was
   the U.K. pressing which has completely different artwork.
   This is in fact the same album, just the U.S. pressing.
   Neat for the completists...

Various Artists - The Finest of Hard Rock, Vol. 1
   1994. K-Tel Records (Switzerland). $12.00
   K-Tel Records??? Yep. This is one of the most bizarre
   compilations I've ever encountered. I like aboscure comps,
   so I of course had to snag this one. Check out this lineup:

   Disc 1
    1. Gotthard - Firedance
    2. Uriah Heep - Easy Livin'
    3. John Parr - Killer on the Streets
    4. Gary Moore - Nuclear Attack
    5. Glenn Hughes - I'm the Man
    6. Black Sabbath - Sabbra Cadabra
    7. Steve Whitney - AC/DC Medley
    8. Sinner - Fast Decision
    9. Jaded Heart - Excuse
   10. Hittman - Say a Prayer for Me
   11. Krokus - Rock City
   12. Dokken - Back in the Streets
   13. Transit - Take Your Love
   14. The Big Skip - I Didn't Give Enough
   15. Lenny Wolf - Hot Brain

   Disc 2
    1. Magnum - Kingdom of Madness
    2. Judas Priest - Diamonds and Rust
    3. Mama's Boys - Rescue Me
    4. Nazareth - Claim to Fame
    5. Phantom Blue - Never Too Late
    6. English Steel - She Goes Down
    7. Mud Slick - Manhunt
    8. Soho 69 - No More Promises
    9. Phenomena - Dance With the Devil
   10. Annihilator - Phoenix Rising
   11. Axel Rudi Pell - Tearin' Out My Heart
   12. Sic Vikki - Her Body Compliments...
   13. Krokus - Electric Man
   14. Steeler - Undercover Animal
   15. Jeff Paris - Lucky This Time

and lastly, one that if memory serves, is a *real* tough find.
It's missing one of the spines, so I guess it's collectibility
is shot, but still not a bad find for $5.

Jude Cole - S/T. 1987. Warner Brothers.
   I have "Start the Car" and have never been enamored with it;
   I'd always wondered "Why all the buzz over Jude Cole?". This
   album (IMHO) is considerably better. Good lite/westcoast AOR.

Til next time...

-Dan