Madison Bargain Hunts

Better late than never I suppose but not a lot stood out in the Madison Bargain Hunts. Poorly planned and didn't start out very well, only had 2 and half hours sleep before I left there. First time I went up there and didn't find anything from both Half Priced Bookstores in Madison.

I wasn't feeling very well after having to go to the toilet and bottoming out not once but twice and of course my nose would plugged up and I couldn't breathe worth a shit. Not much for bands, missed out on Uncle Kracker and could have gone seen Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at High Noon Saloon. Didn't go to State Street and see what The Exclusive Company (say it with me) had to offer and after going to 10 other music stores decided to wait till later summer if and when my better half decided to come down here. Anyway, I was serenaded to Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica and probably lost half my hearing due to the dood cranking it out when I was in the dollar record section. But I did managed to find a few albums, such as Steve Winwood's Roll With It, a Mac Mcanally Finish Lines Geffen album, Badlands 1990 album featuring Jake Lee and the late great screamer Ray Gillen and the new Vampire Weekend Contra on vinyl. And then I took my stroll on the edge of Lake Monona, went to Strictly Discs to hang there till closing and then went to Barnes & Noble and hung there till closing and decided to get George Harrison's Cloud 9 for 20 bucks total to replace my copy which doesn't play very well on my stereo. Then I returned home.

In short, Madison remains the best place to find music but it was mostly hit and miss.

Some cd's found there.

Cactus (Wounded Bird/Atco 1970) the Vanilla Fudge rhythm section meets Mitch Ryder's guitarist Jim McCarty and ex Amboy Dukes lead screamer Rusty Day to make faceless boogie. Used to be the rage back in 1970 but nowadays it's pretty pointless. Grade C

Aynsley Dunbar Retallation-To Mum From Aynsley & The Boys (One Way 1994) More faceless bluesbased boogie from the former drummer of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and managed to get John Mayall to produce it. Somewhat a step above Cactus but not by much Grade C+

Great Speckled Bird (Collector's Choice Music/Bearsville 1970) Ian & Sylvia Tyson decided to make a band featuring future NRPS member Buddy Cage and Amos Garrett to make their answer to Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Leans more toward The Band although I can't stand Sylvia's quivering vocal. Grade C+

Badlands (Atlantic 1989) Lost metal classic with Jake Lee and Ray Gillen. Also includes future KISS drummer Eric Singer. Badlands got lost among all the hair metal/spandex boys of that era, simply of the fact that Lee was more interested in the blooze based rock of Zeppelin and Deep Purple and was blessed that Ray Gillen can scream them out. Record didn't sell very well although MTV did play a couple of their videos. Singer replaced the late Eric Carr in KISS. In 2000, Koch Records reissued this on a limited basis with a bonus track which you could take or leave but the album itself is pretty damn good. Grade B+

Willie Nelson-Tougher Than Leather (Columbia 1983) Strange and boring concept album that had a hit with a Little Old Fashioned Karma. Great song but this album isn't one of his best. C+

The Who-Greatest Hits Live (Geffen 2010) Another cash-in by Universal this has two cds, one featuring the original band and although none of this really measures up to anything on Live At Leeds or The Kids Are Alright, even off nights having Keith Moon pounding away on the drums can be highly entertaining although he seems to be having problems keeping up on Won't Get Fooled Again. CD number 2 showcase The Who from 1989 onward and leaves Kenny Jones in the dust. And if Zak Starkey is supposed to be the second coming of Keith Moon, how come he's only featured on three tracks and the other five are by Simon Phillips? Cherry picks the infamous 1989 Join Together boxset and I do like the selections. For fans only. Grade B

Scorpions-Sting In The Tail (Universal 2010) The supposely final studio album from the longtime German metal rockers and if that's the case they leave a very good testament to the spirit of rock and roll although whoever recorded this on CD should be shot due to LOUDNESS factor. You don't need to be an expert to try to unlock the secrets of the songs such as Spirit Of Rock, Raised On Rock or Rock Zone but for a band saying farewell makes me wonder what do they mean by The Best Is Yet To Come? Dieter Dierks could've made this a classic to remember by had he produced it. Still, it's a nice way to end 45 years of rock and rolling. Grade B+

Saliva-Moving Forward In Reverse (Island 2010) Still raving against the world like it was 1999, Saliva's nu-metal could be good at times and for the rest would sound quite nice at WWE. In fact their second biggest hit was used for a commercial. Critics didn't like their by the numbers nu-metal which didn't make them stand out all that much from the kOrn or Godsmack but once in a while they could come up with a melodic song such as Broken Sunday or Southern Girls which sadly isn't included on this album. Even though their music may have dated, Saliva managed to hang with Island for five albums and a best of and that accounts for something. In the end, I think I perfer their 2007 Blood Stained Love Story but as they say if you only want the hits....
Grade B