The Scrounger's Report

Well, about 3 weeks ago (wow, it seems longer than that), I'd taken the 
90-minute drive to Lafayette, IN to do some scrounging, and had run out of 
time and money before hitting all the stores in town. I decided to remedy 
this. :)

I spent 6 hours in 2 stores, going over them top to bottom (well, they were 
BIG CD stores). One of them was one that I hit last time, but had felt 
rushed going through it, so I wanted to do it justice. Note to self: next 
time remember to leave an hour early since IN is in the eastern time zone, 
hence you lose an hour, idiot.

The more I went through JL Records, the more the place annoyed me. Yes, 
it's HUGE. Yes, they have some wonderful stuff. But it's a giant trap for 
the unwary and/or unknowledgeable. Bootlegs abound, inkjet-printed artwork 
of fairly rare discs, labeled as "Imports" for $25-35 each. Very annoying, 
since many of those discs *are* ones that I would be willing to pay those 
prices for, *IF* they were originals. Also, many discs labeled as "Out of 
print" (and prices jacked accordingly) on things that are still in print 
and/or have been reissued. I'm not the brightest bulb in the lamp, but I 
consider myself to be relatively well informed on what's in and out of 
print when it comes to AOR, hard rock, and heavy metal. Lastly, they label 
(and price) things as "Imports" that are not. Example: material on the SPV 
and Nuclear Blast labels. Yes, technically, they say "Made in Germany" on 
them, but they have U.S. distribution. They can be found virtually anywhere 
at standard prices; no markup. For example, they had the recent UDO digipak 
reissues at $24.99 each. I can get those at our local mom and pop indy 
shoppe for $11.99 each. The whole place is set up to nab the unsuspecting.

They *did* have a very good selection of legitimate oddball imports 
(admittedly high-priced). I was extremely tempted to pick up the Wrabit 
Japanese imports, but considering I've only ever read about them and not 
actually heard any of their material to know whether I'd like it, I was 
loathe to drop $33 apiece on them. (Who the hell am I kidding? I'm loathe 
to drop >$25 on *ANY* CD... although I did just pick up Praying Mantis - 
Demorabelia for $25 on Ebay, but it was one of those "I Gotta Have It!" 
purchases).

Enough of my bitching about musical tourist traps. :)

The haul.

A bunch of CD singles:

Coca Cola Pop Music Volume 1. 1991. Coca Cola.
A 3-inch CD with tracks from Bonham, Tommy Conwell and the Young 
Rumblers, Firehouse, and Killer Dwarfs.

Coca Cola Pop Music Volume 2. 1991. Coca Cola.
Another 3-inch single. Tracks from C&C Music Factory, Will to Power, 
George Lamond, Brenda K. Starr, and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.

[Obviously vol. 1 is the better of the two :) :)]

Accept - I Don't Wanna Be Like You. 1993. BMG/RCA (Germany).
3-track single. I think they're all album tracks.

Great White - In the Light (Live). 2000. Portrait Records.
Promo single. Edit and album versions.

Starship - Good Heart. 1991. BMG/RCA.
Promo single.

Time Gallery - Taking the Best. 1989. Atlantic Records.
Promo single. Faded and LP versions.

Screaming Jets - Here I Go. 1993. Atlantic Records.
Promo single. Edit and LP versions.

Lonestar - Amazed. 1999. BMG Records.
"Captain Mix" and "AC" Mix. I'd meant to pick this up when it came out, 
but D'oh!

Indecent Obsession - Tell Me Something. 1990. MCA Records.
Promo single.

Bon Jovi - Always. 1994. Mercury Records.
Title cut, Never Say Goodbye, Edge of a Broken Heart

The last 4 singles (they're not really singles per se) are apparently part 
of a radio show series. They're all promos, and the label (I guess) is 
"Foundations". Basically they're an entire radio shows that have interview 
segments with a given artist interspersed with music cuts (not of the band 
in question, with the exception of the last musical track on each CD). The 
four I found were:
FCD5 - Vince Neil (1993)
FCD6 - Scorpions (1993)
FCD8 - Fight (Rob Halford) (1993)
FCD13 - Megadeth (1994)

Pretty cool. I'd like to get my hands on the others in the series.

On to the full-length CDs:

A few I picked up for friends:

Badfinger - The Best of Badfinger. 1995. Capitol Records
Too Beatlesish for my tastes.

New Frontier - S/T. 1988. Mika/Polydor Records.
Produced by Richie Zito. I found my copy up in Wisconsin about 3 years 
ago. This is the first one I've seen since.

The (for the most part) keepers:

Roni St. James - Burnin' Hot! 1993. Magikal Records.
<CARTMAN>GOD DAMMIT!</CARTMAN> There is nothing worse than something 
that looks promising but sucks rhino balls... and this is it. It was 
sealed, so I wasted $10 on this P.O.S. It has all the appearances of a 
guitar-hero hard rock album. Unfortunately the namesake is tone deaf and 
cannot sing at all. This is pretty bad stuff. Hey Kurt, this asshole 
apparently hails from NJ, so could I get you to drop by Avenel, NJ and 
personally smack the everloving shit outta this bonehead for ever 
attempting to proclaim himself a musician??

Love Lies - Delve. 1993. Rabid Records.
Reminds me of a harder-edged version of U2. Ok, but nothing special.

Seven Stories - Judges and Bagmen. 1990. Columbia Records.
Mid-tempo rock. Kinda hard to describe. Maybe John Cougar crossed with 
The Alarm?

V/A - The Album Network Tuneup, Vol. 2. June 1991.
Promo-only compilation. 15 tracks from Circle of Soul, Richard 
Thompson, Banderas, Mark Cohn, Chris Rea, Will T. Massey, Warrant, Loud 
Sugar, Saraya, Drivin 'n Cryin, James Brown, Great White, Peabo Bryson, 
Birdland, and Dread Zeppelin (Stairway to Heaven sung by a tagteam of an 
Elvis impersonator and a reggae singer. this is BEEEEEEEEE-ZAAAAR).

V/A - Delco Electronics Music System Sampler. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs.
No year listed on this one. Why pick this up? Pretty much anything on 
the MFSL label means $$ if you go to resell it on Ebay, plus the song 
lineup is pretty good (and the disc was only $2, so how can you go wrong?):
1. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
2. The Bangles - Manic Monday
3. Huey Lewis and the News - Heart & Soul
4. Eddie Money - Take Me Home Tonight
5. The Grateful Dead - U.S. Blues
6. Journey - Anyway You Want It
7. The Hooters - And We Danced
8. Jethro Tull - Jump Start
9. The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Tuff Enuff
10. Huey LLewis and the News - The Heart of Rock & Roll
11. Bryan Adams - Run to You
12. Eric Clapton - After Midnight

Toto - The Seventh One. 1988. Columbia Records.
About time I got around to picking this up! Egads, what a glaring 
omission in my collection. I'm so ashamed...

Livingston Taylor - 3-Way Mirror. 1978. Epic/Sony (Japan).
I think I prefer his older brother's (James Taylor) material, but this 
is decent westcoastish lite rock.

Guy Mann-Dude - Sleight of Hand. 1989. MCA Records.
Instrumental hard rock stuff. Alice Cooper and Kevin Dubrow guest on 
one track each.

Znowhite - Act of God. 1988. RoadRacer Records.
Female-fronted thrash. Decent, but not stellar.

Live Tongue - S/T. 1995. Perris Records.
As hard-edged glam rock goes, this is pretty darned decent. A *slight* 
modernish bend at times with some of the instrumentation and harmonies, but 
not overpowering or annoying. Think comparisons to Skid Row. Quite solid!

Hoglund Band - Faces. 1989. Alarma Records.
Melodic CCM AOR. Decent stuff, a little light. Mats Olausson (of Yngwie 
fame) does keys.

Balaam and the Angel - Live Free or Die. 1988. Virgin Records America
Seems to be considerably better than their second album. I was 
surprised (considering I thought Days of Madness sucked).

Symon-Asher - Three Color Sun. 1992. Miramar Records.
Not sure how to describe this one. It's melodicalternahardrock. Weird 
stuff.

Slade - You Boyz Make Big Noize. 1986. CBS Records.
While I like the majority of Slade's stuff, for some reason I have an 
affinity for the material they did in the '80s (as opposed to the 60s or 
70s). Probably because of the better production...Solid stuff. "Love Is 
Like a Rock" is a killer tune.

Screaming Jets - Stealth Live! 1991. RooArt.
Promo-only 6-track EP. 5 live tracks and 1 studio cut. Pretty good 
stuff! Recorded at The Palais, Newcastle, New South Wales, in May 1991.

Shameless - Backstreet Anthems. 1999. Red Skunk Recordz (Germany).
Glamglamglamglam. All sorts of names guesting on this album: Stevie 
Rachelle, Tracii Guns, Bruce Kulick, Robert Sweet, Eric Singer. Produced by 
Gilby Clarke. Decent.

Motley Crue - Raw Tracks II. 1990. Elektra (Japan).
Completist fodder. No OBI, but still has the orignal tattoo sheet, 
kinda cool.

Paragon - Road Back Home. 1994. Self-released.
Indie hard rock from Indiana. Not the greatest production in the world. 
Decent attitude. Lead singer sounds a little like Paul Stanley at times.

Change to Eden - S/T. 1993. Self-released.
Very lush melodic lite rock, with just a tinge of prog. Different, but 
good.

Dying Breed - First Light. 1998. Birthright Records.
Solid hard rock. Again, local indie stuff from Hammond, IN.

Bob Welch - French Kiss. 1992 (1977). Cema Special Markets.
No liner notes whatsoever, but I recognized the song "Sentimental Lady" 
right off the bat! '70s AM lite rock. Good stuff.

Quantum Fuzz - Mind Matter. 1992. Safooma Records.
More local schtuff, this time from Lafayette, IN. Lead singer wants to 
be a Geoff tate soundalike and lookalike, but only partially succeeds. More 
of a hard rock band than melodic metal, so at times his voice seems a 
little out of place.

Praying Mantis - Live at Last. 1990. Grand Slamm Records.
Probably paid more than I should have for this ($20), but I've been 
wanting to fill more holes in my PM collection, and the opportunity 
presented itself. Also, I'm always looking for stuff on the Grand Slamm 
label that I don't already own. I had no idea this was on the GS label. 
What label are the current pressings on? It's kinda weird hearing Praying 
Mantis and Iron Maiden tunes on the same album...

Y&T - Black Tiger. 1995 (1982). A&M Records (Japan).
More completist fodder. Can't go wrong with any of the Y&T stuff.

Capaldi - Some Come Running. 1988. Island Records.
Very melodic stuff!! Guests on the album include Eric Clapton, George 
Harrison, Mick Ralphs, and Steve Winwood. The lead track is a cover of 
Crowded House's "Something So Strong" and it sounds quite good. The 
westcoast fan will enjoy this.

Ezra - The Key. 1991. Asaph Records.
Who? Christian hard rock that is quite well done. Very melodic, lotsa 
keys. Choruses could be a bit stronger, but the lead vocalist has quite a 
strong voice. Fans of Elefante-era CCM hard rock will enjoy this. Oh, and 
it appears that someone is selling a copy dirt cheap on Ebay right now (Buy 
It Now of $5). Well worth it. Majorly minor-label stuff.

We'll end on a VHS tape I picked up:

V/A - Video Stampede. 1992. Word/Pakaderm Records.
Cool!!! 55-minute video of material from the Pakaderm (John and Dino 
Elefante) label. Tracks are:
1. Mastedon - Live at Cornerstone
2. The Heard - We Need Jesus
3. Richie Furay - Man of Many Sorrows
4. Guardian - Never Say Goodbye
5. J.C. Crew - No Guts, No Glory
6. Guardian - Power of Love
7. Halo - My Buddy

Till next time, happy scrounging!

-Dan