Right.
As we limped on to the end of the year, it's time for the annual bragging of what was the best albums of 2019. Each year, it gets to the point that we post the best and then forget about them when the New Year's Day rolls around.
With corporate radio sticking to same fucking bullshit playlist of the past 30 years, new bands have to rely on NPR, a local college station still playing new music or satellite radio or streaming. Deep Tracks will promote commercials of new music and then revert back to a overplayed classic rock. Despite what they tell you, The Weight nor Somebody To Love are deep tracks, they're played consistently on regular radio.
But then again I'm old. I still enjoy hearing something not being played to death, which is why I continue to search for the off the wall LP and CD that is out there. There'll be no shortage of off the wall music that you will not hear on the radio. 2019 has a few albums that you won't hear on the radio. My picks of the year BTW. It's a losing battle to seek the new album on CD. Best Buy don't sell them anymore and Wal Mart and Target cherry picks the usual. Only artist I heard about is Cardi B telling the world her booty is her smorgasbord. Yeah we have come a long way down the poop chute. What used to be a way to tell people to fuck off is now passe. Unless, there's Cool Whip and Hershey's Syrup, shit still taste like shit. And I'll pass on Cardi B's offer of booty burgers.
It was decided that this year would be my final year of reviewing new music on a regular basis. It's been more irregular and me having to make special trips to Madison and Dubuque to get new albums. Moondog remains the best of the bunch. CO OP Moline a distant second. So, for best record stores in the area that sells CDs. Here's my picks
Best Record Store (within a 2 hour drive)
1) Moondog Music-Dubuque IA
2) CO OP Tapes and Records-Moline ILL
3) Analog Vault-Cedar Rapids
4) Ragged Records-Rock Island ILL (The Davenport Store has been closed since the March Flood)
5) Wax Static-Marshalltown IA
6) CD's 4 Change-Dubuque IA
7) Books A Million-Dubuque/Davenport IA
8) Record Collector-Iowa City IA
9) Wal mart/Target-Various Locations
10 Metro Records-Cedar Falls IA
Upon trying to find that Waterloo store that sold records, I came across Metro Records in Cedar Falls but I never been there to check out their selection. Moondog and Co Op are 1 and 2 simply of the fact that they still have a decent used CD selection and still sell new ones. Analog Vault in town, is the best place for records if you're looking for new albums. Wax Static in Marshalltown has grown by leaps and bounds to the point that they now have the Deep Cut Song of the day, which most of the time are not Deep Cuts. I have still yet to check them out, maybe next year. If I need to head to Madison, Mad City Music Exchange and Strictly Discs are the best places to go. Weird Harold's in Burlington is another place I need to check out and after the flop Davenport record hunt, perhaps I should have gone the extra 35 miles.
Best Used Music Stores:
1) Half Price Books (Marion, Madison and Des Moines)
2) St Vincent De Paul (Waterloo, Cedar Rapids and Madison)
3) Stuff Etc. (Dubuque, Coralville, Iowa City, Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo)
4) Goodwill (Various Locations)
5) Salvation Army (Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Moline)
6) Housewerks (Iowa City)
7) The Source Bookstore (Davenport)
8) Crowded Closet (Iowa City)
9) Money And More (Iowa City/Waterloo)
10) Sweet Living Antiques (Iowa City)
11) Vintage Vinyl (Cedar Rapids)
To be honest, this is where I find the majority of albums and CDs, the thrift stores, the kindness of strangers, the travels that have put 25K on my car this year. I do not agree that the CD era is over, I read and see some of my hoarder friends across the pond paying big bucks for certain CDs. Stuff Etc in CR hasn't been selling CDs of late and neither has the Waterloo location. But the opening of the Dubuque Stuff Etc, (next to Goodwill) I managed to find more than I usually do. Out of all the areas, the Coralville location still continues to have a decent turnover of inventory. The surprise has been the DBQ location, the best bargains are at Davenport at 99 cents per cd. All have been hit and miss except sometimes I do score a few, which isn't too often.
For 45's The Salvation Army in Davenport was the go to place but the last four times I have been there I found nothing and a couple times there were no 45s anywhere. This summer, the Cedar Rapids location had quite a few but the best ones were picked off a long time ago and basically the leftovers are too scratched up for playing. Which the St Vincent De Paul Madison area is the best place for 45s tho they are mostly pop standards of the 50s. Or for that matter, Mad City Music Exchange or Moondog DBQ, I enjoy the quarter selection of Mad City Music X or the dollar section at Moondog, Analog Vault also has various 25 and 50 cent selections worth seeking out too.
What galls me is some of the record stores that have to look up certain records on the internet and then priced them out of my price range. A certain record store that I used to frequent when in town made that big mistake of pricing a 45 at 30 dollars and I'm not about to pay 30 dollars for a VG stock copy that have seen better days. I know they have to make a living but I also know that I have to pay bills and keep a roof over my head. And girlfriends are not cheap either.
But since their appearance in Marion since 2005 it's been Half Price Books for the bargains and they do have 45s from time to time. I love the Marion store and the West Madison store, but the East HPB has always been the lesser of the three. And maybe I'll see what the Des Moines store has to offer. I haven't been to Des Moines in 10 years, if I can stomach the traffic congestion, I might pop a couple Xanax and go for it and head west again. But it's not high on my list of things to do.
The bargain hunts don't usually go outside of Dubuque nor Davenport anymore. I enjoy taking a couple days up and hit Madison but this year's took a lot out of me. The constant hurry up and run from Goodwill to Half Price Books to St Vincent De Paul took two days to sort things out. And a whopping three hours total at Mad City Music X as well, but then again it's more worth going to Madison than Iowa City, which only has Record Collector that sells records and CDs. Once they lost FYE and Real Records, it wasn't the same. Pawn Shops are about as trash as it gets, sometimes there'll be some quarter finds, as there was when I went to Waterloo last month but it's a rare occasion if I find anything. Therefore, they get a honorable mention.
Sweet Living Antiques is a very good place to find records but I do admit I haven't been there in a while. Vintage Vinyl in Cedar Rapids used to be part of the old Antique Mall in Marion but I don't think BDW is a part of them nowadays. I have yet to go there since they moved.
In 10 years time I have seen the disappearance of Hastings Entertainment, FYE and most of the mall record stores. We're better off just ordering off Amazon or Second Spin to get new music but I continue to have pretty good success of finding them at Thrift stores and the Half Price Books Clarence Bins. The question remains if Stuff Etc will phase out the CD section, like they did in Cedar Rapids or Waterloo. And record and CD hoarders will be out and about. As long as Half Price Books still keeps going on, we'll continue to find the off the wall CDs and albums. I rather hit the music stores than give Jeff Bazos any more of my money, the reason why it took so long to get the new Darkness album. It's great to know that Co Op Moline had a copy but in theory I should have let the guys at Moondog order up a copy for me. But I did buy the latest Specials album from Moondog.
A way to let them know that they're still the best store in this area.
PS I got off subject about the best music of 2019 and went with the best record stores instead. We'll do that next time we get together, pick the best albums.
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