"I'd buy that for a dollar!" Great purchases for a buck or less

Huh. Someone came up with the exact same thread idea/title five years before I did. Curse you!

A friend of mine, who's a master digger, chanced upon a copy of The World of Cecil Taylor for pennies in the Salvation Army recently. It's pretty gubbed, but still, that's a rare and valuable record, not least cos it was reissued under a different name.

I've not managed any such finds, but I've picked up some nice stuff in that shop nonetheless, not least some 70s Dylan albums for 25p. Problem is that there are always diggers lurking there, waiting to pounce on any new donations.

My favourite £1 buy was a Rutles picture sleeve ep with Cheese & Onions, I Must Be In Love and A Girl Like You on it. It's not in the Record Collector guide, but it's not something I've ever come across.

quando quango - love tempo 12"
space - magic fly lp
from reckless records in chicago
plus tons and tons of shit from the dusty groove 35 cent bin

Crappy record store near the edge of the city that I haven't thought about in years, plays some of the worst music I've ever heard. Got 6 $1 records, including a copy of Giorgio Moroder - From Here to Eternity LP which looks like it hasn't even been touched, and other assorted dance 12's with stuff like Svek, Mike Ink, Remixes by Mad Mike Banks etc.

A pretty who'd have thunk it experience. :)

Vinyl I bought today. (Still like the specificity of this thread more than that catch-all rolling vinyl one.)

$2, thrift store, 46th and Queens Blvd, Sunnyside:

Steve Arrington's Hall of Fame I (Atlantic, 1983)

$4 total (= less than 50 cents each), vintage store, 48th and Skillman, Sunnyside:

Automatic Man Automatic Man (Island, 1976)
The Stanky Brown Group If The Lights Don't Get You The Helots Will (Sire, 1977) (if the band is stanky and brown rather than Stanky Brown being somebody's name, this should be filed in the S's rather than B's obviously)
Hoagy Carmichael Hoagy (RCA, 1981)
Desmond Child And Rouge Desmond Child And Rouge (Capitol, 1979)
Ducks Deluxe Don't Mind Rockin' Tonite (RCA, 1978) (already had this, but what the heck, I'm sure I'll find use for another one someday)
Gazebo Gazebo (Baby Italy, 1983)
Puhdys Das Buch (Pool West Germany, 1984)
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes This Time It's For Real (Epic, 1977)
Randy Travis Old 8 x 10 (Warner Bros., 1988)

Probably not the first time I've tried those Desmond Child and Southside Johnny LPs. Maybe this time they'll sink in. Or maybe I am just a glutton for punishment.

Passed up a couple other 50-cent '80s Randy Travis LPs, but Xgau gave them worse grades than the one I bought, so maybe that was smart. Passed on a 50-cent 1987 Guadalcanal Diary LP too (what did they sound like?), and a $2 1989 LP by Joe Hardy-produced New York hard rock band Law and Order, though if George advises otherwise, I'll go back for that one.

Automatic Man Automatic Man (Island, 1976)

Don't know if you'll like this. Requires more than one listen. Extension of Stomu Yamashita's Go, sort of, which was an experiment on jazz and middle of the road hard rock, the latter furnished by Pat Thrall, who made a lot more money with Pat Travers later but quit that, too, after co-writing "Smoking Whiskey, Drinkin' Cocaine." Anyway, Automatic Man is nothing like that. It's very spacey, often almost frictionless, sometimes veering into prog. One of the members -- singer/bassist, I think, is now much more famous as a songwriter/producer under another name. Plus Michael Shrieve's in the band as a kind of poor man's Jan Hammer. I like it but was there at the beginning. Definitely an acquired taste but not so convincing that you'd have stuck around for the second album, which was colored pink instead of blue, like this one.

Don't remember a great amount about Law & Order except that I had it on cassette, my band played with them in Allentown, and they were good guys. Kind of in the Circus of Power style but better although not that much so. They were part of the major label wave of second and third tier signings in the late Eighties of metal rock 'n' roll bands that were supposed to be more gritty and from-the-street than the hitmakers. Published about the same times as The Throbs and Vain and were in the same, uh, vein. About six months later, grunge washed them all away. Toss up whether it's worth 2 bucks. Depends on the whether and how much loose change you have in your pocket.

$2, thrift store, 46th and Queens Blvd, Sunnyside, today:

The Geraldine Fibbers Get Thee Gone (Sympathy For The Record Industry 10-inch EP, c. '90s I guess)

An extravagance, since I am a total fetishizing sucker when it comes to 10-inch EPs (even though it is impossible to find inner sleeves). Plus I've never liked anything by these '90s indie art roots nerds before (not that I've listened much), and why would this be any different? But I used to be (very) mildly curious about the Fibbers, and I figure, if I'm ever going to like anything by them, this'd be about the correct amount of songs. Plus they cover Dolly's "Jolene" on it; how bad could that be? (Pretty bad, but I'll probably keep it anyway.)

Of the last batch of cheapos I bought, I wound up liking Automatic Man more than George predicted. Also liked Arrington, Stanky Brown Group (its more pompy rocky Tully first side anyway), Hoagy, Desmond Child (a lot actually -- not sure anybody was ever more disco-metal), Gazebo, Puhdys (though '70s LPs I have by them rock harder), Southside Johnny (well that one's pretty darn marginal but I like when the Coasters show up at least), and Randy Travis. Which means I wound up liking the whole pile, I guess.

i've been obsessed of late with all Patrick Adams productions and was thrilled to find an original 12" of Universal Robot Band "Freak With Me" for $1.39 at Other Music, of all the places.

An extravagance, since I am a total fetishizing sucker when it comes to 10-inch EPs (even though it is impossible to find inner sleeves).

78" sleeves are 10 inch. http://www.bagsunlimited.com/cart/browse.asp?subcat=42 I guess I bought myself a lifetime supply several years ago.

The Geraldine Fibbers Get Thee Gone (Sympathy For The Record Industry 10-inch EP, c. '90s I guess)

An extravagance, since I am a total fetishizing sucker when it comes to 10-inch EPs (even though it is impossible to find inner sleeves). Plus I've never liked anything by these '90s indie art roots nerds before (not that I've listened much), and why would this be any different? But I used to be (very) mildly curious about the Fibbers, and I figure, if I'm ever going to like anything by them, this'd be about the correct amount of songs. Plus they cover Dolly's "Jolene" on it; how bad could that be? (Pretty bad, but I'll probably keep it anyway.)

This record sounds like a frog being choked while someone laboriously puts a guitar out of tune, but I love it; only thing I ever liked by them. Bought it when it came out & would buy a nearly infinite number for $2 each, or half of infinity for $4/ea. It was around the time of Uncle Tupelo's breakup and we were all looking for a new hip alternative country act. Didn't find it; found a choking frog. Still!

I just have to put in a good word here for the Fibbers' two proper albums, the 1st of which is a favorite of mine.

You think finding inner sleeves for 10" records is hard? Try finding OUTER sleeves!

Outer sleeves, what? (I think I have maybe three of those, out of several thousand albums. Never really understood what purpose they serve, unless the record cover is made out of paper. Though I actually think I own a 10-inch somewhere where that's the case.) Will look into those inner ones, though...

I always find great records at salvation armies in Queens. Lots of old-school italian outer-borough disco DJs who've moved on.

But tonight during dinner I listened to Joe Jackson's Night and Day, one of THE most ubiquitous dollar-bin records, at least in these parts, and I think it's a pretty wonderful record.

Jesus, I was just looking at craigslist for used CD's, and it's astonishing to think that people actually think they're going to be able to offload all their regrettable mid-late 90's junk (Backstreet Boys et al), for $5 a disc, but there's dozens of these people. One person was selling the Lion King Soundtrack for $10.

75 cents each, Value Village, Houston, this afternoon, all vinyl:

Ray Charles Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music (ABC Paramount, early '60s) (I used to own a late '80s reissue, but this one's the original pressing. Looks pretty scratched up though.)
Gulliver Gulliver (Elekta, early '70s I guess?) (Don't think I ever even heard of this before -- Daryl Hall's pre-Hall & Oates band)
Stacey Q "Shy Girl" (On The Spot 12-inch, 1985) (pre-debut LP indie-label single; already own the 7-inch.)
(Various) Every Which Way But Loose (Elektra, 1978) (w/ Eddie Rabbit, Charlie Rich, Mel Tillis, Hank Thompson, and lots of instrumentals about orangutans, apparently)

gulliver album is JUST about worth 75 cents. musically, that is. but i only played my copy once years ago. maybe i would like it more now. these things happen.

I've got the Gulliver CD. I got real excited about it about two years ago for about 20 seconds then realized it wasn't all that great.

CD: Bjork's "Homogenic" and Saint Etienne's "Tiger Bay"

12"s
LFO - "LFO"
Stacey Q - "Two of Hearts"
Afro-Rican - "Give it All You Got", Sun Town pressing
TLC - "Diggin' on Me"
Whitney Houston - "I'm Every Woman" (gatefold 2x12")
C+C Music Factory: "Things that Make You Go Hmmmm", "Gonna Make You Sweat"
The KLF - 3AM Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.)
Missy Elliot - "Supa Dupa Fly"
Black Box - "Everybody, Everybody"

Curious about this Stacey Q, will investigate.

captain beefheart 'trout mask replica' gatefold LP in fantastic condition - 50 cents
best of ELO LP, brand new - 50 cents

$1 each LPs, garage sale, North Austin, last Saturday:

The Move Looking On (Capitol, no year listed)
Weather Report Sweetnighter (Columbia, 1973)

Move LP was 1970, apparently.

Bob Dylan, Planet Waves (original Asylum edition), 99¢ -- Wal Mart, 1979
Pigpen, Daylight, $1.00 -- Uncle Buck's, Oxford, 1997

"Citywide Garage Sale," Austin, today:

Joan Armatrading How Cruel (A&M EP, 1979) free
Moe Bandy & Joe Stampley Just Good Old Boys (Columbia LP, 1979) $1
Johnny Bristol Feeling The Magic (MGM LP, 1975) $1
Cold Chisel Cold Chisel (Elektra LP, 1980) $1
Headpins Line Of Fire (SGR LP, 1983) $2
Jackson Highway Jackson Highway (Capitol LP, 1980) (Never heard of them, but they have tons of facial hair and at least one great song title: "Rock and Roll Man [Hung Up On A Disco Girl]".) $1
Kansas Bringing It Back (Design Ltd. Music LP, 1980) (Strange looking apparent comp that "may contain previously recorded material" on a questionable indie label I never heard of) $1
O.B. McClinton If You Loved Her That Way (Stax LP, 1974) $1
Ronnie Milsip Images (RCA LP, 1979) (Nice gatefold, and possible disco-country potential) $1
Aaron Tippin Greatest Hits...And Then Some (RCA/BMG CD, 1997) (Road-tested about half of this already. Sounded better and tougher than I'd remembered him.) $3

Goodwill Store, North Central Austin, today:

(Various Artists) The Beatnuts Collection 2 (Strictly Break double LP, 2004) (Questionably legal compilation of songs with hopefully nutty beats that the Beatnuts have allegedly sampled, from Enoch Light, Serge Gainsbourg, Roy Ayers, Lou Rawls, Tyrone Davis, Zulema, Ann Peebles, Harry Nilsson, Electric Prunes, Lou Donaldson, Five Stairsteps, etc.) $2
(Various Artists) The Original Toga Party (Adam VIII double LP, 1979 ("As seen on TV" comp of clearly awesome '50s and '60s frat-party hits by the Isley Brothers, Sam Cooke, Dovels, Regents, Orlons, Kingsmen, Bobby Lewis, Joey Dee and the Starlighters, Lee Dorsey, Chips, The Essex, Kingsmen, Tommy James and Shondells, etc.) $2

Oliver and Jasper's International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal on Jackson Highway: "This band plays a very commercial style of Southern boogie, but not hard enough to stand alongside other outfits of the genre. Most of Blackfoot guest on one track."

BFC (Carl Craig) - 'Elements 1989-1990' on cd for 250yen (£1.80)

Recently:

Truth Hurts feat. Rakim — "Addictive" 12" $1
Felix feat. Jomanda — "Don't You Want Me" 12" $.50

$7.58 total (= $1 to $2 each + tax), some indepedent thrift store at Burnet and W. Koenig in Austin:

Dan Hartman Relight My Fire (Blue Sky LP, 1979)
Harlequins Four "Set It Off"/"Set It Off (With All That You Feel -- Instrumental)" (Jus Born 12-inch, 1985) (Competing cover of Strafe song, released pretty much simultaneously with the original version. This may or may not be my second copy of this; I still need to check)
Ohio Players Greatest Hits (Westbound, 1975) (Their earler, pre-huge-"Fire" crossover hits obv.)
Raze "Jack The Groove"/"Oh Song"/"Jump In Your Dance"/"Bonus" (Grove St. EP, no year listed) (Songwriting, production, mixing, recording studio credited to Vaughan Mason of "Rock Skate Roll Bounce" fame, with some help from one Ben E. Epps. Record label based in Orange, NJ. Pretty sure Raze were considered a sort of Jersey equivalent of house music, so this is probably mid '80s -- And yeah, the copies on line all say 1986, though most of those seem to be on British labels, which presumably means they came out at least slightly later than in the U.S.)
Gil Scott-Heron Moving Target (Arista LP, 1982) (West German pressing, which means this might have been owned by an American soldier stationed there the same time I was, who knows.)

So yeah, not much Rock this time. None, really. Though Dan Hartman does include a version of "Free Ride" with G.E Smith on lead guitar.

Passed up a couple c.-1986 Trax label house 12-inches that looked pretty scratched up, including "The House Music Anthem" by Marshall Jefferson. Also a very indie looking early (1979) Ricky Skaggs album on (bluegrass not rap) Sugar Hill. And a 3-LP live set of Christian rock on Myrrh from 1977 by Phil Keaggy, The Band Called David, and the 2nd Chapter of Acts. I would have bought that one but they wanted to charge me $4 for it, and I'm a cheapskate. Plus I probably never would get around to listening to the whole thing. Feel free to tell me if I was a dumbbell to pass any of those up.

even though phil keaggy is my lord and saviour (in his role as frontman for Glass Harp) and i do own a 2nd chapter of acts album that isn't half bad, you can live without the myrrh sampler.

i love raze, by the way!

$45-or-so total (including $5 entrance fee), Austin Record Convention (which apparently happens twice annually), N. Lamar in Austin morning. (Most old LPs there looked way overpriced -- total sucker-bait. The trick was to stick to $1 and $1.50 bins underneath the tables. Still spent way more money than I should have -- getting to the point where I need to break the habit again. But life is short.):

Ambrosia Life Beyond L.A. (Warner Bros., 1978) (w/ "How Much I Feel." Their highest charting album. Never bought an Ambrosia LP before -- I'm not much of a yachtsman -- and passed up a moldy looking copy of their debut, possibly a fatal mistake.)
American Tears Tear Gas (Columbia, 1975) (W/ a sheet of six band stickers inside. Plus they're wearing shag haircuts and gas masks. Drummer named "Tommy Gunn." Called "plod pomp" in Jasper & Oliver book.)
Carla Bley Sextet (Watt, 1987)
Bus Boys American Worker (Arista, 1982) (Said to be their hard-rock/AOR move, I believe)
Glen Campbell Southern Nights (Capitol, 1977)
Chicken Shack 100 Ton Chicken (Blue Horizon, 1969) (Did not expect them to look so Rennaissance-Fairy.)
Ry Cooder Paradise and Lunch (Warner Bros., 1974) (5-star album in first Rolling Stone Record Guide book, fwiw; I recognized the cool cover, though I bet the music sounds stodgier)
Daddy Cool Eagle Rock (Wizard EP, 1982) (Weren't they supposed to be Australia's answer to Sha Na Na or something? Feel like they were decently reviewed in Creem once, but maybe not)
Derringer Derringer (Blue Sky, 1976)
Esperanto Dance Macabre (A&M, 1974) (Apparently prog, though looks decadent in an early Eurodisco kind of way. Zero stars for all three albums in first RS guide!)
John Fred and his Playboy Band Love My Soul (Uni, 1970) (Xgau gave this a B-.)
Golden Earring The Hole (21 Records, 1986)
Head East Head East (A&M, 1978) (w/ "Since You Been Gone")
Head East Get Yourself Up (A&M, 1976) (Funny album cover -- a jeep hauling what looks like a giant load of weed, in the shape of of an Afro)
The Inmates Shot In The Dark (Polydor, 1980) (their second album, w/ their cover of the Music Machine's "Talk Talk," which lots of new wave bands covered, I just realized)
The Invisible Man's Band The Invisible Man's Band (Mango, 1980) (Chris Blackwell-produced disco by former Five Stairsteps, apparently)
Ironhorse Ironhorse (Scotti Brothers, 1979) (feat. Randy Bachman on guitar and vocals. Got some AOR play in Detroit at the time, but I don't think I've heard it since. Passed up a later LP by them.)
Chas Jankel Chas Jankel (A&M, 1981) (Ian Dury's lead Blockhead. W/ "Ai No Corrida," later that year a hit for Quincy Jones)
Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society Mandance (Antilles, 1982)
Shannon Jackson When Colors Play (Caravan of Dreams, 1987) (Same guy; not sure why he dropped the Ronald from his name. This actually made my Pazz & Jop Top 10 the year it came out, strangely enough.)
Tonio K Life In the Foodchain (Full Moon, 1978) (w/ his quasi-hit "Funky Western Civilization")
Tonio K Amerika (Arista, 1980)
Tonio K La Bomba (Capitol EP, 1982)(No real explanation for why I went Tonio Krazy, though I did pass on two later albums by him.)
Malcolm X "No Sell Out" (Tommy Boy 12-inch, 1983) (Music by Keith Leblanc. First time I've owned this in decades; first time I've ever owned it with the Macolm X picture sleeve on it. Looks like a later pressing than the one I had before.)
The Motors Tenement Steps (Virgin, 1980) (In that weird Traffic-like trapezoidal die-cut sleeve)
Juice Newton Dirty Looks (Capitol, 1983) (Sealed, though I won't keep it that way. LP cover looks extremely new wave.)
Nutz Hard Nutz (A&M, 1977) (George is a fan of these guys, I believe. "The proverbial support band and always guaranteed to keep the punters happy," say Jasper and Oliver, who claim "Wallbanger" -- included here -- is their best song. Popoff gives the album a 7/6.)
The Olympics The Officical Record Album Of The Olympics (Rhino, 1984) (Reissue from wannabee Coasters, who apparently had a pile of smallish hits)
Ossian Acelsziv (Artisjus, 1988) (Totally guessing about the record label. Very goofy looking Hungarian metal with unpronounceable song titles)
Sharks First Water (MCA, 1973) (Featuring Andy Fraser from Free on bass, plus a very pre-punk Chris Spedding on guitar!)
Spitballs Spitballs (Bersekley, 1978) (Apparently very short covers of 15 then-forgotten '60s oldies, from uncredited musicians partly produced by Kenny Laguna. Used to see this in cutout bins a lot; had no idea what it was.)
Michael Stanley Band Heartland (EMI, 1980) (w/ "He Can't Love You")
Isaac Payton Sweat Cotton Eyed Joe/Schottische, Jole Blon and Other Bandstand Favorites (Bellaire, year unknown) (One dealer had about 40 sealed copies of this -- weird, since I swear I just googled Isaac Payton Sweat for the first time few days ago. Maybe they used to sell this in country dance halls or something, and nobody bought it. Label is based in Texas; looks extremely cut-rate.)
Talas Sink Your Teeth Into That (Relativity, 1982) (Vaguely remember somebody comparing this power trio to Blue Cheer in a Creem Rock-a-rama or somewhere once. Probably bullshit, but I'm still curious. Popoff gives it a "5," but I don't think he liked Blue Cheer much in the first place. Also I just noticed they have Billy Sheehan on bass.)
Teka Ensemble Golya, Golya, Glice: Hungarian Folk Games And Dances (Hungarian Records, 1980) (Looks cute and authentic at the same time, though the label is based in Teaneck, NJ.)
World Saxophone Quartet Plays Duke Ellington (Nonesuch Digital, 1986) (The "digital" trend for pre-CD vinyl didn't last very long, did it?)
Zuider Zee Zuider Zee (Columbia, 1975) ("Wooden and uninteresting 1975 album from a group with an Abbey Road-era Beatles fixation," RS record guide says. Appropriately given their end-of-alphabetness, they do a song called "Zeebra." Also one called "The Last Song Of Its Kind," but it doesn't say what kind it is.)

all the musicians are identified in my copy of spitballs. you know, jonathan richman, greg kihn, members of earth quake, etc. in fact i think it even has a group picture of everyone who played on the album.

i go nuts playing life in the foodchain really REALLY loud about twice a year. one of my fave albums of all time.

Yay! As for Spitballs, really? Because I don't see musician names anywhere, though the baseball team on the back does have faces glued on. Inner sleeve is an original Bersekley yellow one too -- weird!

Keith Cross and Pete Ross - Bored Civilians
British folk-Rock from 1972 (sorta - touches of the Fairports/ Fotheringay but also a little bit jazz and a little bit rock)
1 euro
Great record

and a bunch of other stuff, not so good, mostly.

oh, yeah, like i said on the vinyl thread, me and the kids went to a book sale and we got two bags of books and videos and 5 records for a buck. great videos too. star wars trilogy boxed-set on vhs! all kinds of stuff. just cuz i'm so generous i gave the people two bucks. these were the records i got. (and they will be going in my ebay pile, probably. everything except the laibach sells for real money):

laibach - s/t (with insert)

current 93 - looney runes (with poster)

current 93 - swastikas for noddy

death in june - nada!

death in june/current 93 - split lp

A couple others I came real close to buying and passed on, fwiw, were the first Yipes! LP from 1979 (Milwaukee hard powerpop new wave band, and judging from the reviews I'm looking at, I should have paid the $2 they wanted for it) and the Brecker Brothers' Heavy Metal Bebop from 1978 (very intriguing title and goofy LP cover, and I think I didn't hate "Some Skunk Funk" once, but I'm a fusion skeptic. Probably should've shelled out $1 for it anyway.)

Judging from the 50-cent EP I bought, Daddy Cool's 50s schtick is as close to the Flamin' Groovies (maybe even Brownsville Station?) as to Sha Na Na. Still not sure I like these particular songs, though.

So what was the deal with Ambrosia, anyway? First side of the album I bought starts like medium-hard late '70s Styx pomp-rock; second side starts like quasi-Steely Dan (including a song called "Angola" that sounds like Steely Dan doing minstrel reggae with fake accents bordering on the offensive); the huge hit "How Much I Feel" is blue-eyed ballad schlock that I basically confused with Air Supply at the time. What were thinking? Who was their audience? And how typical is this record?

...blue-eyed soul ballad schlock, I mean -- As much Hall and Oates as Air Supply, in retrospect.

all the musicians are identified in my copy of spitballs. you know, jonathan richman, greg kihn, members of earth quake, etc. in fact i think it even has a group picture of everyone who played on the album.

― scott seward, Sunday, 5 April 2009 19:54 (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yup, mine too. It's the UK edition.

Maybe that Superpitcher album in the Zavvi (now called HEAD wtf) sale on lunch - I will know once I've listened to it

you made me pull out my Spitballs mine has no info, it is Dutch. I paid 99 cents for it in 1991. I forgot to remove the inner price tag.

I must have known what it was from reading Trouser Press Record Guide or something. Nope, just looked it was in the Rolling Stone blue guide.

$1 each, Half-Price Books, Lamar at Airport, Austin, today:

Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring (EAV Music Appreciation Series LP, 1968) (The "Study Version" on the first side is "desigined to be played with the filmstrip," and includes "electronic signals superimposed on the music to indicate when filmstrip frames are to be changed." Filmstrip not included, of course, so that means I only have to listen to the "Listening Version." Sounds easy!)
The Farm Spartacus (Sire/Reprise CD, 1991) (Post-Manchester/pre-big beat U.K. rock-techno, or something like that. I believe "Groovy Train" was some sort of hit in England. I'll probably hate this, but thought I'd try it anyway.)
Wilson Pickett The Wicked Pickett (Atlantic LP, 1966) (Scratchy, but it looks like he does a lot of great songs)
Southside Johnny And The Asbury Jukes The Jukes (Mercury LP, 1979) (Was kinda disappointed by This Time It's For Real which I paid a buck for last year, but by the looks of things this was probably their new wave record, if they had one)
Widow Rockit (CBS Associated, 1985) (Never heard of them, but looks promising -- L.A. corporate mid '80s fake new wave rock with a girl singer. They actually had two different cheesy-looking 1985 LPs at the store; went with that one because it's got two possible Holly Knight songwriting credits plus a cover of Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight," which Nazareth did an awesome version of once. If I like this one, I'll go back and spend a buck on Gone Too Soon or whatever it's called, which has a tombstone on the cover. If I don't, I won't.)

The Farm Spartacus... I'll probably hate this

Too bleh to bother to hate, actually. "Groovy Train" clearly the most tolerable song, and still not so hot. But then I never got Happy Mondays, either.

Southside Johnny And The Asbury Jukes ...probably their new wave record, if they had one

They apparently didn't, despite Johnny's skinny tie on the cover and the 1979 copyright. Though "I'm So Anxious" might the closest they ever came. I should have been over it decades ago, but I still never fail to be astonished by how mediocre these guys always seem to sound, in a genre (white bar-band r&b-rock) I basically like. They're never that funky, never that rocking, never that soulful, never that catchy, and their songwriting was nothing special. Seems they just did all that stuff enough to get by. Guess they were really lucky Bruce was their buddy.

More duds:

Glen Campbell Southern Nights (Capitol, 1977)
Gil Scott-Heron Moving Target (Arista LP, 1982)

Probably Daddy Cool, too -- amazed to learn "Eagle Rock," which is really no great shakes, was a gigantic hit in 1971 in Australia, where it somehow topped the charts for ten weeks. Maybe I'll force-feed it to myself a couple more times, but I doubt it'll hit. (Copyright on my 12-inch single says '82, so I guess it's possible this is a re-recording.)

on the local weekly market there are one or two bookstands that also have a couple of rugged looking boxes holding slightly less rugged vinyl. checked these out yesterday

JJ Cale - Naturally (Ariola, 1971)
Tom Lehrer - Revisited (Lehrer Records, 1960)
Franz Schubert - String Quartet No. 13 by the Janáček Quartet (Supraphon, 1962)
Walter Carlos - The Well-Tempered Synthesizer (CBS, 1969)

The Motors Tenement Steps (Virgin, 1980)

Weird record. The band had basically broken up, but the two guys who had once upon a time been in Ducks Deluxe stayed together as a duo, and got Jimmy Iovine to produce, and wound up moving away from the pub hard rock of their earlier records toward an almost showtune-rock kind of archness and ornateness. Everybody seemed to notice back then how much "Love and Loneliness" sounds like Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With," but I'm not sure if anybody noticed how much "Tenement Steps" sound like "MacArthur Park." Those are the two side openers, both almost five minutes long, and they're the two songs I used to hear on college radio in the '80s. Not til halfway through Side Two -- with "Nightmare Zero" and then "Modern Man" (because every fake new wave band back then had to do a song called "Modern Man" that tried to sound like Devo) -- do they speed up and let the new wave rock in.

Turns out Daddy Cool's "Eagle Rock" does have some kind of archival riff and primal structure to it, best overheard loud from the next room over after a couple beers (which is how it was probably often heard in Australia at the time, I bet.) So not as great a pub-boogie single as say "Teenage Head" or "Smokin' In the Boys Room," but still not bad. (And the lyrics to their B-side "Daddy Rocks Off" basically go something like "boogie woogie woogie woogie woogie woogie woogie woogie woogie boogie.")

Widow Rockit (CBS Associated, 1985)

Sound like Scandal, and do it well -- bright sun-shiney hand-clapping hard pop. Maybe a little Quarterflash thrown in there, too (though no saxophones.) Cover of "This Flight Tonight" does sound based on the Nazareth version, to me ears.

"Esperanto Dance Macabre (A&M, 1974) (Apparently prog, though looks decadent in an early Eurodisco kind of way. Zero stars for all three albums in first RS guide!)"

I bought this when I was in high school and loved it for about two months. Never looked into the later two. More Roxy Music prog than Yes prog, features a violin prominently. Haven't played it in years, in fact I may have gotten rid of it because I can't remember seeing it since I played it last. Still have a soft spot for it, though.

And the first Ambrosia is worth getting. "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" was the hit from that one, which had some kind of Kurt Vonnegut connection, I think.

Dollar CDs from the KTRU Outdoor Show:

Volcano Suns-The Bright Orange Years (expanded reissue)
Carbon/Silicon-Last Post
Mark Olson & Gary Louris-Ready For The Flood

xp Not hearing any Roxy Music I can identify on that Esperanto LP, unfortunately; not much Yes, either, though. Really wish there was more rock (as in guitars) in their prog, and more singing too. First side ("The Journey"/"The Castle"/"The Duel," woaagh) is mostly instrumental, at least 'til the sub-Focus operatic hocus-pocus in the final track; second side the high male singer stays sparse and gets lost among the Belgian/Italaian/Brit octet shuffle, who don't really crank their changes silly and over-the-top until the two-minute concluding title track. So though I really want to like the record (the cover illo of leotarded lesbians battling with bull-whips in mid-air is pretty sick), I'm actually bored by most of it. (One website on line compares them to Curved Air, who I've barely ever listened to; was under the impression they were jazzier and folkier, though. Also, Esperanto sadly lack a lady singer, not to mention anybody who wound up in The Police.)

One Amazon reviewer's dissenting opinion, fwiw:

Side One (of the LP) is very much an orchestral ELP, with a touch of orchestral Caravan thrown in for the few vocal tracks. Side Two, in retrospect, is much more interesting, because it contains many of the elements that the Alan Parsons Project would use a year later in their debut album, TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION: highly visual orchestrations, rhythmic bass-lines, John Miles-like vocal. I'm not aware that they have credited the influence of Esperanto, but it's hard to believe that Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson had not heard DANSE MACABRE before composing their first album.

It turns out I have the Last Tango LP (their third) and not Danse Macabre. They do a cover of Eleanor Rigby on it. This one seems to have more vocals than DM, and I kind of remember a female vocalist doing some of the singing (but it may have just been backup).