Fall/Winter Record Show 2023

That time again. CDs and Records at the Utica Record Show. A little update from between the two shows...well nothing particular interesting to talk about. I always find a lot of records and CDs but I've been cutting back on the LPs in particular as I don't really listen to them. CDs I tend to listen to them but then make MP3s of the tracks I like. So when I buy it's usually obscure stuff that I'm so happy to discover. Sometimes they are so amazing and so offbeat. Here is one such album:

Spell - Seasons in the Sun (aka SIN). I got this at the Bouckville Antique Fest among other stuff. It was mixed in mostly 70s stuff that I like but this was 90s and I've never heard of the group. Odds where high that I'd probably like it. Also I pre-test albums on my phone via Youtube before buying and this one was strange in the way I like my strange (psychedelic, synthy and cheesy), so I bought it. I played it on the way home and it has some really strange but amazing songs, such as "Big Red Balloon." Turns out that album is all cover songs, most of which I've never heard of. Big Red Balloon turns out to be one by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, which is something I would have avoided because they were part of that early 70s country scene that sorta sucks, but it turns out that their output is actually really good. I guess progressive country? Smart dark stuff actually. The song is actually amazing and both versions really WOW me! Anyway, it turns out that Spell is actually by a "noise" experimental artist who puts out really terrible stuff that only experimental fans could appreciate and I guess this was him and some woman who's also into experimental doing a mind fuckery on their fans. Basically doing twisted versions of songs. It's probably why I like it so as they really done some inventive stuff with crusty classics.

Another other big discovery came off of one of those CDs that puts a lot of various artists together, but this was early 2000s Gothic Darkwave stuff. Gothic Darkwave sounds a bit like stuff like The Damned's "Phantasmagoria" but a little bit more updated in sound. What blew me away was the first track (Return "Coming Home") as it sounded like Men Without Hats but with a way more modern sound. Turn out it came from this album:

The Cruxshadows - Wishfire ~ I loved the song so much that I tried their other stuff online. They are fucking awesome! I actually went and bought their other albums on CD which means I really found it amazing! It turns out that Darkwave is a pretty good classification of music which I've not really come across as I don't typically listen to anything much from the last 25 years too often.

Another album that I discovered is one that I need to buy as I don't think I'll ever find it in person, but I've played the MP3s at least 100 times by now.

Red Red Groovy - 25 ~ I'm unsure how I discovered this one, but it's basically very similar to Spell. 60s psychedelic dance synths. It's also 1993, like Seasons in the Sun. Basically really strange stuff that doesn't bore me as it goes all over the place in unexpected but enjoyable ways.

There were loads of other albums I bought this year but those three are ones the most memorable ones.

Onto to today's Record/CD show. Same as always. Same dealers, not a single new seller. A lot of old stock that I've seen before. Not many bargains either, so I didn't buy a lot. Mostly bought from the person from Albany whom I buy often with the $1 CDs and books. Bought a few comics for my collection which I won't list as they were not anything super amazing. So here is the stuff I bought in no particular order:

The Waitresses - Bruiseology ~ $1.00 ~ I've never seen this one in the wild before. Everyone knows the first album, "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" because they had a few classic 80s hits from it ("I know what Boys Want") but this one I think was a flop and didn't churn out any hits. Sadly It was water damaged but that's ok because my other one from them is also water damaged. LOL The albums are fine though.

With records, I'm mostly sticking to groups I'm fond on which I'll probably never ever find on CD at a cheap price. Lately I've been buying female rocker groups/bands for a special collection, which as the Waitresses and this next group.

Toronto - Get it on Credit & Head On ~ $2 each on Vinyl ~ I may or may not have Get it on Credit but I've never seen Heads on before. They also had the first LP "Looking for Trouble" which I know I already own as that's their most popular one. Toronto is very much like any other girl fronted rock band from that time period. Scandal, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, etc. I've been on a kick lately buying any of those girl bands on LP as for some reason I rarely bought them before. Also Toronto is obviously from Canada and I like the rock LPs from the late 70s to early 80s from most Canadian bands it seems that never really were all that popular here in the USA. Toronto is actually pretty good. It's one I would buy on CD at a higher price, if they ever make it down to here from Canada that is. I've been saying that about Men Without Hats for ages and I still cannot find their first two albums in the USA due to some contract dispute that's been going on forever with them. OH! It turns out that Toronto done "What about Love" which Heart later on made into a mid-80s hit. Toronto is very much like 80s Heart as well!

Those where the only vinyls I bought. I saw a lot of decent LPs cheap, but I had most of those already and I didn't want to start collecting random new to me bands that I was sorta interested in. I was in a little foul mood too and I ended up getting sick after two hours (too many pot heads stinking up the place with their foul lingering pot stenches), so I basically wasn't able to concentrate enough on rare goodies to enjoy myself. I did take snaps of some of them for later research though just in case I missed something awesome! Onto the CDs!

Joe Ely ~ Love and Danger ~ $1 ~ The Albany guy with $1 CDs had quite a few that I was interested in, but my brain wasn't really working too right to remember who this guy was other than I knew he was a famous name. I tested the first track and he seems ok. Turns out he was a country guy that done a rock album by this point in his career. Honestly for a $1 I didn't care, so I bought it without much thought. Seems ok listening to a few tracks. Glad it's more rock-country instead of country-county stuff, as I really cannot get into most normal radio friendly country from the 90s to now. The first track is sorta John Farnham (You're the voice) type rock stuff which made me get it. Pompous rock that I like for the cheesiness because it takes itself so seriously when it's actually sorta lame. LOL! So lame it becomes cool! I assume the rest of the album is more of the same. Actually I think the first track is sorta like that Jethro Tull track that won a grammy, "Steel Monkey." I don't know the name for this sort of sound but it's very particular to that late 80s to early 90s time period too. I guess worth that dollar risk!

Graham Parker - The Mona Lisa's Sister & Your Country ~ $1 each ~ I believe I've mentioned in a few prior posts that I like Graham Parker. I somehow seem to find him often very cheap used on vinyl and CDs. I'm going to need to make a checklist as he made quite a few albums and I am starting to forget which ones I need but I'm pretty sure I need them both. I've never seen Your Country before and that turns out to be a 2002 album, which is out of the range of what I like (I try to stick to 70s and 80s and sometimes 90s) but for a dollar I didn't care. The Mona Lisa's Sister one was scratched to shit and I'm surprised that the person was selling such a beat up one, but I do have a CD fixer, so it's not a biggie. But yeah, I dunno why I like Graham Parker but I do. His music tends to jam and isn't lame or annoying like Springsteen and other similar guys.

Boy George - Jesus Loves You – The Martyr Mantras ~ $3 ~ $3 tends to be a little higher than average for experiments but this is Boy George and I knew what I was getting from his prior albums. It's very much his typical singing style, but this time around very typical dance music from 1990. A dated piece so if you like that year in club music, you'll probably dig this LP. It was worth getting I say! Apparently this isn't a "Boy George" or a "Culture Club" album but a side project of his. Trying to be a little Prince-like I think!

Paloma Faith – Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful? ~ $3 ~ I wasn't sure about this one. It seems good enough. I've been into getting 2000s to now albums by females whenever I find them cheap for $1 but it's extremely hit or miss. Some are interesting and some are rather awful. It really depends on what the music is that they are singing to actually. This one sold me basically on her distinct bitchy sounding voice and the not so very typical music that she's doing it to. It tends to be a little orchestral at times or with lots of brass or sounding like vintage movies done modern with some hip/hop. It's not something I'm used to hearing so I think I'll end up liking it, but I need to sit down and give it a serious listen. It was worth a nearly blind buy for $3 though but I think it could be a little too chill for my tastes! OH, I know her song "New York" from this album! She's probably rather popular and I don't really know as I don't pay attention to modern music much. I've probably heard this song at the store several times while shopping.

Lady Sovereign – Public Warning ~ $1 ~ Another one I bought because of a girl. I sampled it and WOW it was so cheesy that I knew I had to get it. I played it on the way home and DOUBLE WOW....were they actually serious when they put this out? How did anyone think this would sell? LOL! It's basically a white girl trying to be Eminem or something to the most cringe lyrics and most cringe rappy hip hop music. It's so outlandish that it becomes extremely interesting, like rubber necking a car wreck. Checking the charts out, she didn't really do that well either. Ranking at 58 in the UK and 48 in the US. 10 in Australia for whatever reason, they seem to love her there. She released another album with far worse results, other than an 11 in Australia. And never heard from again. Apparently she had a few successful singles which lead to this album which flopped. Reading the reviews, critics where all over the place. Basically it seems that it was an intentionally silly album which people didn't quite get the joke. She's also British, so that would explain it a little. They have a strange sense of humor that not many people would get and she's poking fun at hip hop and the such. This is why I like going to the record show, to find strange albums like this cheap and learning strange tidbits about unpopular albums!

The Beautiful South – 0898 Beautiful South ~ $1 ~ I forgot why I remembered this was an album that I wanted. Bought it without even sampling it. Tested it in the car and was indeed a good one. Yet another British album, not really popular in the USA at all, but this one did get them just a little known here in the USA. 1992, so that was the start of grunge, so this had no chance at all, as it sounds sorta late 80s to me. Seemingly I will like nearly anything charting popular band from England from this time period? To me it's sorta like Depeche Mode, but not very much synth at all. A good buy!

Peter, Paul And Mary - (Moving) ~ $1 ~ Crazy I know, but I don't remember ever seeing this album ever! O_O;;; Playing it now and it's very amazing for 1963 as I didn't know anything sounded like this in that year. My knowledge of 60s music is rather poor as so much of it is actually rather awful. This one is good as there is harmonizing which I really like a lot. Anyway, I really should try out their other albums but I don't recall seeing those on CD often. This album I do like quite a bit.

Carly Simon – Torch ~ $1 ~ LOL Yeah, the only reason anyone buys this album is for the cover. I have it on LP for the same reason. I am playing it now and ick... It's dull ass Smooth Jazz. One of the styles of music I detest. I thought there would be a couple synths on this at least. But then again, I knew it was a shitty album, I just wanted it for display reasons. OK, I checked and the NEXT album of hers (Hello Big Man in 1983) is actually what I would listen to. Lots of synthy pop songs. I have never actually seen that one, but I'll pick it up if I see one cheap. 1985 "Spoiled Girl" seems more of the same good too. I think I have the one that follows that from 1987 (Coming around Again), but that one was another bad one with tons of cringly bad songs (like Itsy Bitsy Spider) with really bad synths. Going backwards, 1980 "Come Upstairs" is actually rather good, I'll need that one too but I've never seen that album before. Ditto about 1979 "Spy." 1978 "Boys in the Trees" I know the main song "You Belong to Me" I don't think I care for the rest of that LP though. 1976 "Another Passenger" is more of the same that I don't like. Ditto 1975 "Playing Possum." 1973 "Hot Cakes" more of the same. 1973 "No Secrets" I know the "You're so Vain" song and it's good but the rest of the songs are very dull. 1971 "Carly Simon" and "Anticipation" is samey but more country music like. So basically Carly Simon keeps changing her style and gets top 10 hits on certain charts. Touch had no hits at all, and most of her others had at least 1 hit song on some chart. I'll probably get the the two late 70s ones and the two mid 80s ones but not the rest. Oh, I see... "Torch" means Torch Songs (pre rock songs from the 50s), which is what this album is. Derp!

Pussycat Dolls – Doll Domination ~ $1 ~ Worth a dollar. I have the prior album and it seems they only released two albums? Really? I thought that they were super popular! Anyway, I knew what I was getting, female dance pop. Good stuff! Looking this album up, it was "meh" according to critics and failed to live up to sale projections. I guess that's why there isn't a third album. The one in the photo is actually Doll Domination 2.0 which is some re-release to correct the "bad" first release. Whatever.

Shadowfax - What Goes Around ~ $1 ~ Dammit, why cannot I ever get the good Shadowfax albums on CD? It's always the best of or the very meh ones. This though is a best of one which has some of the songs on it that I want. Shadowdance and Brown Rice especially. But yeah, the first 3 Shadowfax albums which are more progressive and oddly enough you cannot find on CD. The next 4 are amazingly easy to find but are no where as good as the first four. I've been after these for about 30 years now. I should buy them online and be over with it. LOL!

Danny Kaye - Sings Selections From Hans Christian Andersen ~ $1 ~ Worth a dollar. LOL!

Two and two are four

Four and four are eight

Eight and eight are sixteen

Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two

I soooo love the Inchworm song! He's actually good with his nearly countless other songs too but I know the inchworm Song probably the best as that one I have on my hard drive already. Sadly I know that songs from this era are full of hisses and such so I don't have much hope for the CD to be a good pressing at all

And that's all for this time! Not a huge haul really but then again I don't really need any more CDs or albums either. I had a fun day looking, buying, listening and reviewing and that's all that counts! See you next year!