The Scrounger's Report

Well the temperatures have finally made it up into the 50s on Saturday, so I packed up a box of trade bait and headed out to one of my sources about 2 hours west of here. Nothing earth shattering, but a few interesting indies and filled some holes in my CD singles collection.

Singles

Royal Hunt - Message to God. 1997. Rondel/Teichiku (Japan). From the best era of Royal Hunt, the D.C. Cooper-fronted material.

Nelson - S/T. 1991. Geffen Records (Japan). Weird that this single doesn't have a title on it anywhere like most singles or EPs do...

Stratovarius - Black Diamond. 1997. T&T/Victor (Japan). Stratovarius - Father Time. 1996. T&T/Victor (Japan). Stratovarius - Hunting High and Low. 2000. Victor (Japan). Completist fodder for my singles collection. Wouldn't have bought these, but trading makes it a bit more equitable...

Full-length Releases

Some are keepers and some will wind up on the trade/sale pile.

Taliesin - Anthem.1997. Platinum Entertainment. Interesting pop instrumental versions of classic rock standards.

Jodi Bongiovi - S/T. 1989. Alpha International Records. Not nearly as well known as her cousin. Band includes members of the group Bystander. This used to fetch a decent penny at one time, but it looks like that may have changed...

Scarlett and Black - S/T. 1987. Virgin Records. Pop schtuff. Is it me or does the chick look like Annie Lennox?

The Hunger - Cinematic Superthug. 1998. Universal Records. Gambled for a buck. Modern hard rock, but quite good. The choruses are pretty darned melodic.

Darren Smith Band - Keep the Spirit Alive. 2005. MTM Music. I feel obligated to pick up anything that has a Harem Scarem connection, and this one does not disappoint.

Rox Diamond - Powerdrive. 2005 RockJock Music. Hell yeah! This one picks up right where the S/T left off.

Harem Scarem - Big Bang Theory. 1998. Warner Music (Japan) Probably my least favorite of all of the Harem Scarem efforts, but with the trade I didn't pay too much for it...

Thunder - Laughing on Judgement Day. 1992. EMI (Japan) Nice slipcase and extra book.

Doctor Butcher - S/T. 1994. Gun Records (Germany). I already had the digipak reissue from last year, but I wanted to pick up an original pressing for the collection. Great for Savatage fans, but a much heavier rawer feel.

If Only - Destiny. 2004. Outlaw Records. Screams "Bootleg!" but since I had enjoyed "No Bed of Roses, I wanted to hear what the original version sounded like.

AKA - Melting Pot. 2000. Smokin' Moon Records. Gritty bar rawk, but with decent melodic choruses.

Steel Rain - Trial and Error. 2004. RPM Recordings. Gritty bar rock. Not very polished at all. Official CDR released by the band.

Freight Train Jane - Hallucination. 1994. New Century Media. Not as good as Black 'N Blue, but it's getting tougher to find...

Stream - Experimental. 1995. Magada International (Canada). 3-piece proggish hard rock band. Looks like Rush. Not as memorable though. Songs have a dissonant "modern" sound at times.

Shag - S/T. 1995. Beyond Records. Decent if not bland hard rock. Nothing overly special.

Spoyld - Burgundy. 1996. MC Records. Melodic rock. Not too bad. Definitely an indy flair to it.

War Crime - Live. 1995. Black Wall Records. In yer face hard rock/melodic metal. Apparently they had a CD on Perris Records (at least the banter makes reference to it).

Josephone's Quarentine - Let Go. 1996. Miranda Music. It's a shame the production is so poor, because musically this is quite good! I think this may be the first band I've ever found from Nebraska... and they don't even sing about corn!

Various Artists - Dont Tribute Bad. 2004. Sleazy Rider Records (Greece). Now this was a unique find! An international trubute album to Firehouse, a large number of the bands being from Greece. Some of these covers are pretty darned good! Record label now seems to be defunct.

Electric Boys - Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride. 2004. Universal Music (Sweden). Electric Boys - Groovus Maximus. 2004. Universal Music (Sweden). Electric Boys - Freewheelin'. 2004. Universal Music (Sweden). Now [b]THIS[/b] is the way reissues should be done! Great packaging, excellent remastering sound quality, and chock full of bonus tracks! Seriously recommended if you like their material.