The Final Bargain Hunt: Iowa City/Coralville

What was found:

Taste-Live At The Aisle Of Wright (Polydor)

Fleetwood Mac-The Pious Bird Of Good Omen (Epic)

Stone Garden (Gear Fab)

Pixies-Come On Pilgrim (4AD EP)

Nox Boys (Get Hip)

Robert Cray-Too Many Cooks (Tomato)

45's

Child Of The Times-Barry McGuire (Dunhill 4014)  #72 1965

Hey Mama-Climax Blues Band (Sire SI-358) 1972

You'll Never Tame Me-Bobby Rydell (Cameo C-167) 1959

Do I Love You-The Magic Ring (Music Factory MU-404) 1968

Plus

The Best Of Miles Davis (Blue Note)

Titus Turner-Taking Care Of Business 1955-1962 (Jasmine)

So anyway, my girlfriend was singing in Coralville so I decided to do a pre Madison trip and see what Iowa City had in store.  Of course I had to wait 15 minutes to get into Record Collector but blew 35 dollars on a bunch of 45s and off the wall CDs.    For the 45s You'll Never Tame Me was one of the sought after replacement copy 45s from Grandma's box of records and I always like You'll Never Tame Me from the start. Originally the A side, the other side, the horrendous Kissin Time made number 11 in 1959.  Note: Doc Pomus and Mort Shurman wrote You'll Never Tame Me, and they would write songs for Frankie Avalon and Fabian (Tiger, Strollin' In The Springtime). But then again I've been accused of putting too much attention to Rydell or Fabian or Tommy Sands or Johnny Tilloison and *ahem" Paul Anka.  Compared to the likes of Justin beaverbiscuits, I prefer them to Justin any day.  And of course I'm dating myself.   Hey Mama is CMB's boogie blues that didn't get much airplay but like the hoarder that I am, I figure I would bring into my collection.  Do I Love You, is that bubblegum pop this side of the Association or perhaps the Beach Boys or the Wall Of Sound, since Phil Spector co wrote this one.   Barry McGuire tried for second big hit with Child Of The Times with PF Sloan writing it, but it fell short of expectations. B side Upon A Painted Ocean is so so.  Makes me wonder if Eve Of Destruction B/W What's Exactly The Matter With Me is all the Barry that I need.  Tho I keep an eye out for the long deleted Anthology on One Way Records.

Record Collector had the first five CDs mentioned above.  I've been on the lookout for Rory Gallagher stuff with and without Taste and the Live At The Aisle Of Wright was found. The Fleetwood Mac Pious Bird is part of the albums recorded for CBS/Epic (imports can be found but Sony Legacy never bothered to issued those early CDs. Pious Bird shows the Mac slowly moving away from hardline blues and gave us the amazing Albatross and the original Black Magic Woman.  Come On Pilgrim is a fine 20 minute EP from the Pixies and The Stone Garden album is not the band from Iowa but rather a band from Idaho, which could compare themselves to Iowa's own Truth and Janey or the Iowa Stone Garden who might have made their own album.  They owed their sound to Cream and free form jamming. They only made a 45 to which the best song SF Policemen Blues and Stop My Thinking.  Bastard and Woodstock has a slinky Blue Cheer vibe to it.  To be a nice guy I bought a cheap 25 cent cd Nox Boys which is the better of the two unknown bands.   Jim Diamond (White Stripes) helped the band find their sound and vision which owes more to pub rock than White Stripes, tho the freakout album ending  Save Me sounds like Echo And The Bunnymen on Prozac.  For latter day garage rock, Nox Boys is one of the better albums of the 2010s.  Too bad you never will get to hear it on the radio.

The Robert Cray album came from Goodwill.  I rarely see the Tomato version of Too Many Cooks and it came out in 1980, when Robert was starting out. Over time Cray would eventually would sign up with Mercury Records and made Strong Persuader, one of the essential blues albums of the 1980s.  Salvation Army had the FM soundtrack on CD but I didn't want another CD with Cold As Ice on it.  Despite it all, Stuff Etc had nothing to offer, the Coralville branch is seeming to not buy CDs any more and the Iowa City had a couple of interesting things (Tina and the B sides)  but not enough for me to wanting to buy them.  Money And More still has the overpriced Blues boxset for 25 dollars.  As for Housewerks, they can go blow themselves. 

Record Collector is the last I C store selling cds, but they're more into selling vinyl.  I have been very lucky finding CDs there the past couple of times.  Wax Xstatic in Marshalltown has a grand opening for April 11 and the bargain hunting will go over there to see what I can find.  It will be the first excursion to Marshalltown ever, Wax Xstatic had a bit of bad luck due to a tornado destroying part of their business a couple years ago and the the COVID outbreak put them on hold, but they have a new place and here's hoping we'll go see what they got.  

The next Final Bargain Hunt goes to Madison one more time.  Since turning sixty, I am retiring from the big bargain hunts that have driven me the past 30 years.  But then again, those who have been following my adventures have heard me scream the LAST bargain hunt, The FINAL and the ABSOSLUTELY FINAL bargain hunt, but I do think the next one will be the last.  

To be continued as they say.