The Scrounger's Report

*grumble* Wasted time and wasted money are 2 things I absolutely despise. I 
got a good dose of both yesterday. I drove 30 miles east of here to a small 
town that usually has good pickings, but after hitting 4 stores, came up 
with bupkis. Nada Zippo Zilch. Not to be disuaded from my quest, I drove 
120 miles to hit another town, where I fared somewhat better. But to add 
insult to injury as I was driving back home, I was listening to my coolest 
find of the day, and was wondering why the choruses didn't match the song 
titles on the artwork. I popped the disc out of the dash, and AUGH!!!! The 
CD and the artwork were both from the same group, but were different 
albums. Being the dumbass I am, I *should* have caught that at the store, 
but didn't. So I drove back 20 miles to the store, in hopes that when the 
person sold this disc, they sold the other one, so I'd end up with the 
correct discs. No such luck. How often do you find Japanese '80s hard rock 
sung in Japanese, anyway? The 2 albums in question were from the group 
"Reaction", entitled "Twist and Shout" and "True Imitation", from 1987 and 
1988. Pissed me off to no end. Opportunities lost. :(

I didn't come away empty-handed though. A few discs I picked up for the 
trade/sale/Ebay pile (contact me if interested):

Boulevard - S/T. 1988. MCA Records. Cutout.
Excellent AOR coming out of Canada.

Maynard Ferguson - The Best of. 1980. Columbia Records.
Excellent greatest hits compilation from this jazz trumpeter. Fairly 
tough find, it consistently goes for $20++ on Ebay.

Chase - In Pursuit. 1993. Salt Music
Solid indy melodic rock.

Nik Kershaw - the Riddle. 1984. MCA Records.
LONG out-of-print domestically, some pretty decent pop/AOR. This will 
set you back $25 if you can find it. Mint condition.

And the keepers (well, sort of):

The Neats - Blues End Blue. 1989. Coyote Records.
Oink. A gamble that fell on its face. It looked like it might be hard 
rock (or at least have a hard rock base), but it's more bar-based blues. 
And I don't like blues. Onto the trade heap it goes.

Stone - S/T. 1988. Mechanic Records.
According to my CD database I already own this. I must have loaned it 
out or traded it away at some point since I haven't been able to find it. 
So I picked it up again. And I now know why I may have traded it away. Not 
even 2nd-rate, more like 5th-rate Metallica wannabes. Mediocre at best.

Tankard - Two-Faced. 1993. Noise Records.
Bargain-basement (at least as far as quality is concerned) German 
thrash outfit that has been around for 87 years. The artwork on this one is 
cool, so I picked it up.

Cabo Frio - Just Having Fun. 1983. Zebra Records.
Cabo Frio - Right on the Money. 1986. Zebra Records.
Instrumental jazz stuff that looked long out-of-print. For $1 each, I 
figured they were worth snagging. Makes good background music.

V/A - Rock 'n Roll Meltdown. 1988. Mercury/Polygram Records.
Yet another '80s metal compilation. Tracks from Zodiac Mindwarp and the 
Love Reaction, Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force, Scorpions, Warlock, 
Cinderella, Deep Purple, KISS, L.A. Guns, Kingdom Come, and Bon Jovi.

V/A - Metal Melt Down. 1989. Pure Metal Records.
No connection with the above. Songs from and interviews with 9 
Christian metal bands: Whitecross, Scarlet Red, Tempest, Bride, One Bad 
Pig, Jerusalem, Leviticus, Lightforce, and Rosanna's Raiders.

Imperials - Free the Fire. 1988. Myrrh Records.
CCM pop/lite rock, very well produced and arranged. A little fluffy though.

April Wine - Over 60 Minutes With (The First Decade). No year listed. 
Aquarius Records, Ltd. (Canada)
18-track compilation of early material from April Wine. Supposedly 4 
tracks are "previously unreleased", but I don't know when this was 
released, so some of the tracks may have seen the light of day on other comps.

S.A.D.O. - Sensitive. 1989. Noise Records (Germany).
Mid-tier thrash. Some more melodic passages throughout, but the lead 
vocalist is a bit on the shrill side.

Black Sabbath - Tyr. 1990. I.R.S. Records.
Everyone considers Black Sabbath to be *the* quintessential heavy metal 
band. Not me. I honestly don't care for the vast majority of Black Sabbath. 
Most of it is so horribly recorded/mixed/produced that it's painful to 
listen to. On the other hand, the Sabbath stuff from the mid-80s through 
early'90s is pretty good (read: if it didn't have Ozzy on lead vox, it's 
worth checking out). This album is quite melodic, more hard rock than 
metal. Tony Martin's lead vocals are quite solid.

Helicon - Mysterious Skipjack. 1996. Noise Records.
Klaus Meine does thrash?? Fairly solid metal album, having both ballads 
and thrashers.

Havoc - Father Jones. 1992. B&N Records.
Fairly average (with moments) indy metal. Lead vocalist at times sounds 
like Bruce Dickinson. Production is where this falls down.

Lanfear - Towers. 1995. Self-released.
Indy prog metal from Germany. Haven't given it a huge listen yet.

and we finish up with an oddball:

The Brandos - Gunfire at Midnight. 1992. SPV Records (Germany).
Classifying this one is difficult. It's like a modern-day blend of 
Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Alarm. Quite strong melodically 
however. The choruses have a very sing-along quality to them. The lead 
vocalist is somewhat coarse (ala John Fogerty). More interesting than the 
description would indicate.

Till next time,

-Dan