Salutations™!!

Yes, I have the date right up there. The BCPF and I went to Underdog Records on Friday because I had a Cobras Game last night. Jonathan had been closed on Wednesday and Thursday for the holiday but was open on Friday. Yay us! Here’s the haul:

©Chrysalis Records

• Metallica – Metallica — #255 on the RS list, it’s my second favorite Metallica album after Ride the Lightning. On this tour, they did an “In-the-Round” stage setup where they were in the middle and the crowd surrounded them on all sides. During the song “Seek and Destroy” from their debut album, Kill ‘Em All, James Hetfield came down and sang the hook with groups of people. As he walked past me (I was in the second row but we had been moved up to the security railing) and said, “I need one more crazy m*****f***er and I nearly jumped the fence screaming me! me! me! He came over, grabbed my hand and had me dangling over the railing as he went into the line. I was breathing through my nose, inhaling deeply, and he did the “searchin’…” and I yelled, at the top of my voice, “SEEK AND DESTROY!!!” I had friends who watched it from farther back in the arena and they told me later that they couldn’t even hear the music when I did that because it was so loud. “Enter Sandman,” “Sad But True,” “The Unforgiven,” “Wherever I May Roam” and “Nothing Else Matters” were all released as singles. It was a great heavy album. Not as heavy as their previous albums, at least not in the “thrash” way, but it was heavy sonically. 2xLP. New.
• The Decemberists – Picaresque — The BCPF doesn’t hold back when it comes to The Decemberists. This album was the band’s last on the Kill Rock Stars label and was produced by Chris Walla, guitarist for Death Cab for Cutie. 2xLP. VG++.
• Judas Priest – Killing Machine — This is a 2015 reissue of what we Americans knew as Hell Bent for Leather. It’s the same album and yes, I have Hell Bent but I wanted one with the albums’ proper name. Why was there a change? When this came out it was around the time of the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. Brenda Spencer, a 16-year old, shot and killed the principal and a custodian and injured nine others (including eight children) from her house. When a reporter got in touch with her whilst she was holed up in her house and asked why she did it, she said, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” That was the inspiration of Bob Geldof’s Boomtown Rats’ song, “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Anyway, this was an opportunity to have both titles. VG+.
• Okkervil River – The Stand Ins — The BCPF likes this band and picked out the album. I liked what I heard but I wouldn’t have known to get it. My pal Patrick Ferguson is a big fan of the band as well. This was a follow up to The Stage Names and if you put the prior album above this one, it makes a complete picture. VG++.
• The Knack – …But The Little Girls Understand — The follow-up to their debut, Get the Knack, which I tout as a gravely underappreciated album. This one charted well, but many critics panned it for its tired misogynistic themes and subject matter. I haven’t listened to it, yet, but again, I loved the previous record. We’ll see how the sophomore effort goes with me. VG+.
• Arlo Guthrie – Power Of Love — I know nothing about this album other than it was released in 1981. The BCPF likes her folk heroes and well, he is one. VG+.
• The Shirelles – The Shirelles Greatest Hits — $1 bin find. I’m not really sure why The BCPF wanted this one but it could be that it was a girl group. She usually goes for the more rocking/post-punk/first wave-kind but she picked it up.

Now, the next four I did not buy at Underdog Records, although I would have had I seen them there. Before we knew that Jonathan was open on Friday, we had stopped by Design Archives on Fourth Street and they had vinyl. I thought at first these things were overpriced, but I had Jonathan look at them and he said that was pretty accurate to what he would have charged, so I felt better about getting them at that point. Here’s that mini-haul:

• Rush – Fly By Night — I added three more albums to my Rush collection through this vinyl stop. This is Rush’s second album and the first with the monster Neil Peart not only on drums but with the lyrics, too. Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee liked that Peart was a bookworm and wrote imaginative lyrics. That way they could concentrate on complex music. VG+.
• Rush – Power Windows — This was the follow-up to Grace Under Pressure. The album has the songs “The Big Money” (for which there was a somewhat revolutionary video), “Manhattan Project,” “Marathon” and “Mystic Rhythms” among others. VG+.
• Rush – Hold Your Fire — The mostly forgettable follow-up to Power Windows does at least feature “Time Stand Still” with Aimee Mann singing back up. It was the lowest selling Rush album since Hemispheres. VG+.
• Ultravox – Vienna — Their fourth album and the first on Chrysalis Records and the first with singer Midge Ure. The singles on this album were “Sleepwalk,” “Passing Strangers,” the title track and “All Stood Still.” VG+.

I think this week’s haul was awesome. We’ve already listened to some great stuff and hopefully will get to a bit more today and hopefully, I’ll have time to listen to some throughout the week. Underdog Records will be open all next week and you should listen to The Less Desirables (well, you should anyway) to hear the TLD/UR weekly special. Also, use Discogs to track your music collection, be it vinyl, cassette, CD, or even 8-Track.

Until tomorrow, keep spinnin’…
Scorp out!

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“Time stand still. I’m not looking back but I want to look around me now. Time stands still. See more of the people and the places that surround me now.” – “Time Stand Still” (Peart/Lee/Lifeson)