My Life is Likened to a Bargin Store...

Last year, Winnipeg's Into the Music purchased the archives (CD's and vinyl) from both our local CBC radio station and the one from our "neighbouring" city of Regina. Last weekend they blew out the last of the CD's for $.50 each (or 100 for $25.00). Needless to say, I dived in head first, trying the patience of my fellow rock walk'ers.

Nothing highlights trash/treasure dichotomy quite like store-wide blow-out sale. Surely you will disdain some of my purchases; when the prices go down the better angels of my judgement pull out their debit cards.

We've got a lot of styles in this soufle; ska (King Apparatus), protest folk (Phil Ochs, Malvina Reynolds), Alt-country (Cactus Brothers, Mack McKenzie, Jughead, Cheryl Wheeler), Brit-folk (The Levellers), power-pop (Doughboys, Chris Page), celtic (Spirit of the West), world music (3 Mustaphas 3), straight-up country (BR5 49, Blackhawk) and, inevitably, failed super-group (Little Village).

And this is only the fifty-cent bin I also stalked the slightly more expensive two-dollar bin but more on that later...

So, MRML readers, what are some of your favourite finds in the cheapie bin?

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What Did You Buy on Record Store Day 2013?

Music Trader (A.K.A. Indie-Rock Central)
Purchases: Titus' Andronicus' Local Business (new, $17.99), The Motors' Greatest Hits (used, $8.99)
Store quality: Hipsterific!
Buyers' Remorse: Low on the Titus, a highlight of 2012 but medium on The Motors which is an imperfect distillation of an imperfect band.
Clerks irritated: One (out of two).





The Folk Festival Music Store (A.K.A. Your source for classic rock, folk music and zithers)
Purchases: Undertones Positive Touch/The Sin of Pride ($18.99) The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem ($21.99).
Store quality: Folktastic,
Buyers' remorse: Very low for Positive Touch, which I love more every year but higher for Sin of Pride which is a pretty tepid affair and non-existent for The Clancy Brothers since it includes their first four, and probably best albums on two CDs.
Clerks irritated: one (of one)





Entertainment Exchange (A.K.A. Where the 90s go to die)
Purchases: The Methadones - Ill at Ease [$3.99]
Store quality: Entertaining with a high quantity of the Blues.
Buyers' Remorse: Low, I mean it's my least favorite album by Dan Vapid (ex-Screeching Weasel) and The Methadones but for less than four bucks – steal!
Clerks irritated: Less than one but there really wasn't sufficient time...





White Star Diner
Food Purchased: Pulled Pork Sandwich with Bacon, Tomato and Cheese.
Store Quality: Clean, well-lit and tasty.
Buyers' remorse: Two steps closer to death...
Clerks irritated: Too hungry to tell...

(P.S. Yeah I also bought the new double-CD re-issues of the first two albums by The Boys last week from the Folk Store and neglected to mention that!)

Needless to say the albums kick-ass and are in a far better format than the old both-albums-on-one CD I used to have.





So readers, tell us what you bought on (or near) Record Store Day in the COMMENTS section!

What Music Did You Buy This Week? (04/03/13)

Watch out bank account, I'm spending like a right-wing politician elected on a balanced-budget platform! I've been pretty cautious these last few months, so I guess a splurge would not be out of character. The Moxy Fruvous (Canadian novelty-folk, unlikely to be profiled here) was only $5.00 and a cool find because it's a radio promo of a cassette that was never released on CD.

 

I paid full freight (about $22.00) for the new UK Subs album, XXIV, which is fierce affair, all 'pensioner-punks' slights aside.





The Graham Parker bootleg box was a cool item that I was hesitant buy until the price dropped to $21.00 for a six CD set [!]





The Rodriguez album, Cold Fact, has been inevitable since I watched the spell-binding Searching For Sugarman twice, once by myself, once with my wife and a friend.

I also downloaded the the re-issue of TV Smith's 1975 glam-rock band Sleaze (it was only $4.99 and the vinyl is $21.00!) plus the debut by NYC's Pedico because "Nixon Now" rocked.





So readers, tell us what music you've bought recently in the COMMENTS section!

What Did You Buy This Week? (09/12/12)

The Sack Get Wrecked CD (more HERE), the Kurt Baker Want You Around 7" (more HERE), the Devo Tribute 7" (see below) and all the buttons all came from Jolly Ronnie Records - thanks for great order, Ryan.

The Graham Parker Live at Rockpalast 1978, 1980 (more HERE), which captures GP and the Rumour at two peaks and Bob Dylan's Tempest (more HERE), which is reviving my lagging faith in the man's late-career resurgence. The last two were bought brand new ($15.99 a piece) from The Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store - thanks, Andy!





So, please tell us what music you've bought recently in the COMMENTS section (and fell free to leave a link, if you're so inclined).

What Did You Buy This Week? (09/03/12)

Programming Notes:

1) This irregular "whad'ya buy?" series (more HERE) have been generating lots of positive feedback - please keep us up to speed on your purchases in the COMMENTS section!

2) Speaking of irregular series; the Helen Love (which is in jeopardy as of now), The Vapors (shortly) the political tirades (sorry but not really) and The Fastbacks (coming up!) will be rolling out but in a bit more spread out manner.


Did I promise to cut down this week?

Well, actually despite the strange array of ephemera pictured above, I only spent $4.00 on music this week.

The Mercy River (country-gospel with a few sharp covers alongside some more dire originals) and The Dire Straits Brothers in Arms CD's (three strong hits to open, three filler songs to drag the middle down and the band's three best songs for the climax) were the 'big ticket' items, amounting to four-and change at the local thrift Store. Neither of them will get much play on my stereo (or on this blog!) but they might make decent Glove Box albums (see HERE) or get sold.


The  Deja Voodoo sticker (for a show that I saw!), the 1959 cash-in edition of  Allan Ginsberg's Howl (with the introduction by Willaim Carlos Williams) was a gift from the friend I helped move this weeekend, both of which he slipped into a plastic comic bag with the re-print of The Freak Brotheres which is...god I HATE the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and and the vapid stoner culture they helped codify!

On a happier note, he also gave me two J Church (more HERE) CD-EP's Yellow, Blue and Green and Tide of Fate (more on those at some point). That same friend passed me The Mangees Rocket To You CD-R and an altogether different friend gave The Dinks, Dawn of The Dinks CD. "Hallelujah, It's Raining Pop-Punk!"

So, please tell us what music you've bought recently in the COMMENTS section (and fell free to leave a link, if you're so inclined).

What Did You Buy This Week? (08/26/12)

Programming Note: While these "whad'ya buy?" posts (more HERE) will not be done EVERY week, I have really appreciated your feedback. So, please continue to tell us what music YOU paid for recently in the comments section!


Graham Parker (more HERE): Squeezing out Sparks (w/ Live Sparks) Arista, re-issue, 1996 - $9.99 at The Folk Festival Music Store. The Parker back catalog is a MESS but I was ready to replace my bonus-free version with this at that price (though unfortunately it skips on track 20!)




The Capitalist Kids (more HERE): Too Big To Fail, Grackle Records, 2010 - $13.99 at War On Music. Sixrteen shining minutes! If you crossed The Onion with the Lookout Records catalog circa 1993, you'd not only be a lucky bastard and you'd also get The Capitalist Kids.
 



Raging Slab - S/T free and still too expensive (it is as bad as I thought it would be when the ads for it were ubiquitous).

N/V

The B-52's: Time Capsule, Reprise, 1996 - $1.99 at my local thrift store. A fine new wave band and I like the singles a lot (plus it's a great 'glove box album' which you'll know what I mean if you have a wife, kids and a car!)




The Clash: (more HERE) The Singles, Sony, 1991 - $1.99 at my local thrift store. Yup my Clashophillia has gotten so bad that for a buck or two I'm willing to buy things just to fill out the collection. Sad.




Photo of the Week: 
Someone defaced the ever-present Big Sister-like picture of Shelly Glover, my local Conservative Party Member of Parliament, in a most curious way.

So, please tell us what music you've bought recently in the COMMENTS section (and fell free to leave a link, if you're so inclined).

What Did You Buy This Week? (08/18/2012)

Dan Vapid and The Cheats S/T (more HERE) and Kurt Baker's Rockin' For a Living (more HERE) came from War On Music and were not cheap ($16.99 and $12.99 respectively), Redd Kross' (more HERE) Researching the Blues was $15.99 from The Folk Festival Music Store, while The Ramones' (more HERE) Mondo Bizaaro was about $18.99 from Music Trader. So it was an expensive weekend and I'll need to cut back next week.

The Vapid album is stellar set of pop-punk tunes and should be bought by all Weasel fans toute suite. The Baker EP is fantastic musically but I'm more hesitant to recommend because it's expensive, weakly-packaged (cardboard sleeve, no insert!) and it UNFAIRLY leaves off two songs from the ten inch version. Redd Kross' new album is blood-stirring and destined  to hit a slew of Best of 2012 lists. As for Mondo Bizaaro, the imperfections are glaring. It starts with a weak, dated Joey political tract, follows it with the weaker of the TWO songs from the pen of drummer Marky Ramone but, fortunately, the album then hits a real strong patch in the middle, leaving at least eight very good songs to make up for the filler at the beginning and near the end.














Okay, I took Commando, I took from the library because it's reeeeeal short (and Johnny Ramone's rah-rah Republicanism irritates me - BUT I WON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT HIS FREE SPEECH, ESPECIALLY SINCE I'M NOT PAYING FOR IT!

Hey music lovers.

We'd love to hear about what music you bought this week!

This Week's Purchases (08/06/2012)

The CH 3 shirt was bought at the show for a mere $12.00. I'm not big on rock shirts but I was planning on getting something and it's a pretty cool number. (Speaking of which at The Zoo show it was amusing how every old guy tried to pull out his 'unassailably cool rock T-shirt" - Jesus Lizard. D.O.A., Ramones, Cro-Mags et al).

Steve Earle's I Feel Alright was purchased alongside Weddings. Parties, Anything's The Big Don't Argue, The  Men They Couldn't Hang's Silver Town, Three O-'Clock Train's Anthology (coming soon!) and  John Wesley Harding's Why We Fight for $20.00 at Entertainment Exchanges under their 'buy four - get one free' deal (thanks, Chris!)

Uncle Tupelo's No Depression and Steve Earle's Sideways were whisked out of Music Trader's used bin for about $8.00 apiece, while the the two TV Smith albums (Last Words of the Great Explorer and Channel 5) were taken out of the 'new punk section for a reasonably $18.00 a piece. (That whole deal cost me only a few dollars cash of course, thanks to my vinyl trade!)

 And to close off here's a shot of CH 3 rocking the Punk Douglas Club!

(And you wonder why I don't have a Tumblr for my photography!)

Did you buy anything this week?
Let us know in the COMMENTS Section - let us know what sort of CD's/LP's/MP3's etc you're buying to support the artists you love!!

This Week's Purchases!

The New Model Army Small Town England 2 X CD was ten bucks NEW (and I had $23.00 in trade!) from Into the Music.

The Roman Line Morning Portraits and the Teenage Bottlerocket Freak Out were 16.99 and 17.99 (ouch!) at War on Music.

The Gordon Lightfoot 3 X CD (which covers five full LP's) was $4.00 at an antique store which was awash in metal (but also Johnny Cash and the Ramones) CD's.

As for my $10.00 in vinyl, purchased early this morning not from a 'garage sale' but a 'man cave' sale, I got a number of things from outside my ken but cheap vinyl is fun to buy and ripe fo re-sale.

 (image from here)

Lunch was at Five Guys Burgers & Fries, a US import which ought be labelled the Peanut Allergy Death Star* for it's obsession with using peanut oil for everything. That said, the burgers were both busy (eight or nine toppings is the basics) and highly tasty. I prefer to limit my chain restaurant visits but I'd go back for a burger that good.

Did you buy anything this week?

let us know in the COMMENTS Section!

* I suggest a sign on the door that says "If you have any peanut allergies, you've already come too far. Please flee immediately."