#643: The Bug 2

The new-music hunt&seek mission continues. On Monday the Girlfriend & I spent mosta the day hitting local 2nd-hand stores looking 4 new sounds & other stuff -- & as a result I probly have enuf new music in the house now 2 last me 4 MONTHS. Also scored some cheap new Motown best-of CD's 2 fill some holes in the at-work motivational-music bag of tricks.
The Girlfriend & I made a good team -- she scouted-out stashes of music I sometimes missed with my bad eyes, & then I dug thru it. I can recommend Jen's Attic in Bremerton, Wash., & the New 2 You Antique Mall in Port Orchard, Wash., as great places 2 track-down 2nd-hand vinyl & CD's at mostly-very-reasonable prices. (& the Port Orchard WalMart had a big bin of cheap new CD's, but this is NOT a commercial.) Here's what we came up with:

The Rip Chords (Bruce Johnston & Terry Melcher) -- HEY LITTLE COBRA.
The Roches -- NURDS.
Al Green -- GREATEST HITS.
Adam Ant -- FRIEND OR FOE.
Cars -- HEARTBEAT CITY.
Focus -- DUTCH MASTERS best-of.
Carole King -- HER GREATEST HITS.
Turtles -- MORE GOLDEN HITS.
Linda Ronstadt -- GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2.
Rascals -- SEE.
J. Geils Band -- BEST OF VOLUME 2.
Gary Lewis & the Playboys -- A SESSION WITH, THIS DIAMOND RING.
The Association -- AND THEN ALONG COMES....
Van Morrison -- BEST OF.
Journey -- INFINITY.
Byrds -- 20 ESSENTIAL TRACKS.
+ cheap new best-of CD's by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Diana Ross & the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, & Bob Dylan.

OK, so why? Well, I've been looking 4 a copy of HEY LITTLE COBRA 4 YEARS. Sounds like Beach Boys-lite, sorta. Can't wait 2 put on the gorgeous acapella "Here I Stand," & "Gone" & "The Queen" & "Ding Dong" & all the rest.... Almost put The Roches back when I saw it WASN'T produced by Bob Fripp -- but then noticed 1 of the songs is entitled "The Death of Suzzy Roche," & that's all I needed 2 see ... The Al Green best-of is 2 fill a hole in my '70s Soul collection, & cos "Let's Stay Together" still sounds great.... Adam Ant cos I'm a sucker 4 "Goody Two Shoes" (possibly my themesong?) & "Desperate But Not Serious".... HEARTBEAT CITY because it's the Cars' most consistent album, fulla great songs.... The Focus best-of just so I can hear more, & cos it fits in with my prog/Strange Music weakness.... Carole King's best mostly 4 the beautiful "Been to Canaan".... The Turtles' best-of mainly 4 the gorgeous "Lady-O" -- & also 4 1/2adozen more song titles I don't recognize.... La Ronstadt's best-of mainly 4 "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me" & "Poor Poor Pitiful Me".... The Rascals' mainly 4 the great title song & so I can hear more -- I also put BACK their TIME/PEACE best-of cos I have most of their hits on the original albums already.... The Geils mainly 4 "First I Look at the Purse".... Gary Lewis 4 "Count Me In" & "This Diamond Ring," & Bcos they were cheap ... The Association ditto, & 4 "Along Comes Mary".... Van's best-of Bcos I had his 3-CD STILL ON TOP best-of, loaned it 2 a friend 6 months ago, & haven't seen it since -- which PROVES you should never ever EVER loan books or music 2 friends. I 1nce loaned John McPhee's CURVE OF BINDING ENERGY to a roommate at tech school & he took it back 2 Georgia with him! ... INFINITY cos it's chock-full of good stuff that'll motivate me at work -- I shoulda picked-up Journey's EVOLUTION 4 $5 while I was at it.... The Byrds' best-of doesn't include "Wasn't Born to Follow" (the earliest co-opting of a song 4 an ad that I can think of -- it was turned in2 a Lucky Lager beer commercial around 1969), but almost all of the other essentials R there, with the Xception of the gorgeous "John Riley".... The Motown & BTO CD's R 4 motivational help at work (2 bad "Tramp" isn't included on the BTO), & the Dylan is mainly 4 the great "Tangled Up in Blue" (if "One of Us Must Know" was on it, it'd B essential).
This on top of the last cheaply-purchased batch, & I should have enuf new music 2 listen-2 2 keep me busy until Summer. Hopefully....
Reviews of all these will B coming in the days & weeks ahead....
...Oh, & 1 last thing: Why does everyone jack-up the prices on Beatles albums that have ALWAYS been available, that have NEVER been out of print? In R searches on Mon, I tripped over copies of the WHITE ALBUM, SGT. PEPPER, REVOLVER, RUBBER SOUL, HELP! -- & in each case the owners wanted $25 each! Why?! They're not RARE. R they asking that much just cos they survived the '60s?