RECORD STORE TALES #1121: A Look at the New CD Section at the Old Toys R Us Store
Lo and behold! CDs have joined their vinyl brethren at the Toys R Us Store!
They are filed with the same lack of attention and care, but they have arrived. Deluxe and super deluxe editions? Yes. Deleted items? Also yes. Value? Sometimes? The prices were scattered from deals to ripoffs.
Pricing is a problem across the board, but keep in mind, they did beat the Beat Goes On across the street on some vinyl pricing on last visit. It’s hard to tell if some prices were real or a mistake. On vinyl, the new Beatles single, for example, on black 7″, was $32 bucks. The same price as their cheapest Iron Maiden long-player. They wanted $130 for their Whitesnake Still Good To Be Bad box set. Other boxes, like Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull, were moderately priced in the low $30s.
Joining the CDs were DVDs, Blu-rays, and TV series box sets. They had picture discs and collector’s editions. I just hope the section continues to grow, and improves in execution, instead of withering on the vine.
For a detailed look at everything I scored at the Toys R Us music section, enjoy the short video below!
If you weren’t following back from 2012 to 2019, you may have missed all the Mike and Aaron Go to Toronto excursions!
From 2012 to 2015, Aaron and I went to “Taranna” every year to go hunting for CDs, records, books and more. We always made our regular stops: Sonic Boom, BMV and Pauper’s Pub. Some years, we hit up shops like Kops Records, Paradisc Bound, and Moonbean for coffee. I missed 2016 and 2017 to go to TF Con in Toronto instead. There are only so many dollars! Aaron and I returned in 2018, at the behest of my late mother-in-law, who was dying of cancer. “Go with your friend,” she insisted.
After her passing, Jen and I decided to spend the summer of 2019 at the cottage. We were not able to go at all in 2018. We made up for lost time, but in 2020 the pandemic hit! Aaron and I were not able to return to Toronto together since.
I always documented and edited these trips into videos. I recently compiled all these videos (and some bonus stuff) into two live streams that you are able to watch below! Both streams have bonus footage! The first has a musical unboxing from Aaron. The second stream has a brand new chat with Aaron that you have never seen before!
Aaron and I will be returning to “Taranna” in 2024. Watch this space…
RECORD STORE TALES #1114: Music Groups / Party Poopers
They say it’s not about size, but I do have a pretty big music collection. I guesstimate at around 6000 CDs at present. Because my goal in collecting music is to acquire physical copies of “all the official tracks” by the bands I like, I do have a lot of rare discs in my collection. Primarily, Japanese imports with bonus tracks. I don’t go out of my way to buy multiple copies on multiple formats (though I still do) and I don’t shell out big bucks for anything if I already have all the tunes. I don’t buy cassette reissues, I don’t worry about vinyl variants. I just want a physical copy of “all the official tracks”, be they remixes, live, or whatever.
Because I have so many rare CDs, twice in 2022, Tim Durling asked me to guest on his show Tim’s Vinyl Confessions. We did two episodes on rare CDs (#351 and #390). I showed off a number of my imports, but because my music is so scattered around the house (a whole other story), I missed a few. Some I didn’t even think of. I mean, I could have grabbed every Japanese import in my house, but instead I grabbed a few dozen of the closest ones with obi strip intact. They just look cooler that way.
Fast forward a year to summer of 2023. While relaxing one Saturday afternoon at the cottage, I was ambushed by Tim and John the Music Nut, as they tried to coerce me into buying some Y&T CDs. Their methods worked, and I ordered Black Tiger, UnEarthed Vol. 1, and the DVD On With the Show. However, Tim was flabbergasted when the subject of “Go For the Throat” came up. “You need the 2006 reissue of In Rock We Trust,” cautioned Tim, “because, aside from the Hear N’ Aid CD, it’s the only place you can get that track on CD.”
“I have Hear N’ Aid on CD,” I responded.
“WHAT?” Tim was absolutely floored, flabbergasted, and perhaps a little betrayed that I had never brought this fact up before.
Hear N’ Aid, of course, was a project produced by Ronnie James Dio in 1986 to raise funds for famine relief in Africa. It was released on cassette and LP, with a 7″ and 12″ single too. There was a documentary on VHS, and sources report there was even a very rare CD single in Japan (found on a Japanese music auction site). In 1986, there was no compact disc release.
This changed in 1994 when a limited Japanese CD was released overseas. It was deleted again shortly after.
“Mike…that has to be one of the rarest CDs you own! Why didn’t you show it off on my show when we did rare CDs?”
The Music Nut concurred that it was very hard to find on CD. It didn’t occur to me. I acquired it for about $15 many years before, from “Gum Chewin’ Conrad”, a customer of mine at the Record Store who always sold Japanese imports (no obi, unfortunately). I also had a cassette (in a Thunder Bay landfill now) and vinyl, but the CD was the only thing they cared about. A few days later I posted about it on Facebook, and Reed Little from the Contrarians immediately jumped into the comments, remarking on my rare treasure.
There must be some issue with record labels and estates, considering the artists involved. The Hendrix estate is already a tangled affair, and there was a Jimi song on the album (“Can You See Me”). The album also contains rare live Kiss, Scorpions, Accept, Dio, Rush and Motorhead. The song “Stars” recorded by the supergroup Hear N’ Aid, had members of Motley Crue, Dokken, Journey, Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Blue Oyster Cult, Queensryche, Night Ranger, W.A.S.P., Y&T, and solo artists such as Ted Nugent and Yngwie J. Malmsteen. Even Spinal Tap were involved. You can imagine, this must be why Wendy Dio has struggled so long trying to reissue the album.
In recent months, I began dipping my toes into the murky world of Facebook discussion groups. The best, by far, is Jamie Laszlo’s Let’s Get Physical. I enjoy the Rock Candy Magazine group. I also joined a couple Facebook CD collector groups. The experience was, to say the least, mixed.
I discovered one property that I will declare as an axiom: there is always a party pooper in any Facebook music discussion group.
Disclaimer: When I collect, I don’t care so much about value. I care how much I spend for music I want, but not resale value. I am also not an audiophile and tend not to get along well with diehard audiophiles.
I decided to post my Hear N’ Aid CD in the Rock Candy music group and see what the reaction was. My caption was “Some folks say this is the rarest CD that I own,” which is 100% true. Folks do say that.
There were over 500 reactions, and only two negative comments. Negative comments, sadly, are as constant as the north star.
“It’s not that rare,” said the first Negative Nancy. “There are copies on Discogs right now for as low as $50, and there are 17 copies available.”
Thanks. Go buy one, then.
The other Negative Nancy wasn’t happy with the sound quality on the CD. He complained there’s a low hum throughout the disc. He showed me some kind of graph. I told him I was very happy with my disc, and I enjoyed listening to the music and never noticed a hum. He told me I never really listened.
I get it, everybody wants to say their two cents. Most people were very cool and posted pictures from their own collections. From about 500 reactions, there were about 10 to 15 people who owned the album on CD. Most had vinyl, cassette, the single, or a VHS tape.
I left one CD collector group immediately, when all the comments were either focused on value or sound quality. I stayed in another group, despite two weird comments.
“Crappy pic…more disc, less face next time,” said one guy who couldn’t read the title and never heard of the zoom feature.
“This CD is mastered from the LP,” said another guy who had no evidence for his claim. “Wendy Dio doesn’t own the masters and the reissue will also be taken from vinyl,” he insisted.
Weird folks in some of those music groups, I’ll tell you. The audiophiles reminded me of dealing with those types in my Record Store days. Guys who could hear things I never could, and get angry because I couldn’t. Music collectors are by and large an amicable group of nerds, but there’s always one or two ready to rain on your parade.
A huge thank you for watching this show with me last night! It so happens that John and Henry in the comments are currently buying Alice Cooper albums, and I showed off a few of ’em on this show. In other timely circumstance, I also had on hand a rare Slash CD, in time for Slash to put out his new video on the same day, for “Killing Floor”! Lots of great stuff happening in music right now.
In this episode we also looked at the very obscure “Vinyl Disc” format with a release from the Hellacopters. We dove into huge chunks of Deep Purple, King’s X, Faith No More, and Marillion. Indeed, when it came to Purple and Marillion, we ran into live album after live album, which simply have not received the time and attention they deserve. Why?
Too much music.
I hope you enjoyed this show! Look for a new episode of Rock Daydream Nation featuring John Clauser and myself this weekend, and a live episode of Grab A Stack next Friday. Cheers!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 54: Too Much Music Part 3
Welcome to the third (and final?) “Too Much Music”, a series on Grab A Stack of Rock where I simply grab a stack of nearby random CDs and show them to you, the rock fan! Inevitably, I run into multiple discs that have never been played, or have gone unplayed in years. That’s why we call this series “Too Much Music”!
On this show, we will dig through some of the following:
My favourite album of all time
Marillion box sets, remix albums and singles
Deep Purple reissues
Compilations
Soundtracks and rare promos with rare tracks
Blaze
More Canadian content
Lots of King’s X
Alice Cooper
Dio
Catherine Wheel
Queen
Loudness & more Japanese imports
Scorpions
April Wine
Faith No More
Steve Vai
Pearl Jam
Brant Bjork
Tribute albums
Deluxe editions
And a look at a really weird format called Vinyl Disc
All this and more. I do not think I will be able to do the comments section due to illness.
Friday March 8 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube,or (HOPEFULLY) Facebook!
Special Edition Episode: Our BRIGHTON ROCK Collections
Established in 1984 under the name Heart Attack, from Niagara Falls Ontario came the mighty BRIGHTON ROCK! Powerhouse screamer Gerry McGhee, Greg “Shredder” Fraser, Stevie Skreebs, Martin Victor and Mark Cavarzan comprised the original lineup. Johnny Rogers joined in the by the first album on keyboards, and the band began making their footprint in rock history through an EP, three studio albums, a live CD and a handful of standalone recordings. We walk you through all of it from start to finish.
Joining me for this special episode is longtime friend Len Labelle, a local collector whose history with Brighton Rock goes back to the debut. Len talks first impressions, a brief encounter with a band member, and favourite songs. We played two vintage MuchMusic interview clips with the band and talk about a VHS tape that we believe never came out. Towards the end, we detoured and took a great look at A World With Heroes, a Kiss tribute album featuring Brighton Rock. We returned course and talked about the final Brighton Rock recordings, and the present day with Storm Force.
We hope you find this episode fun, informative, and full of love. We lost Gerry McGhee to cancer in 2020, and fans continue to miss him. I hope we did Gerry justice.
Please enjoy this special episode of Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike and Len. If you know anything about that Brighton Rock home video, please leave a comment or drop us a line!
RECORD STORE TALES #1111: Every Copy I Have Ever Seen of This CD Was Flawed KISS: “Forever” CD single
Some stories, people just don’t believe! In my years at the Record Store, I encountered a number of anomalies. A Four Horsemen CD with Dwight Yoakam music on it? I witnessed it with my own eyes and ears. This actually isn’t an uncommon phenomenon. Mis-printed CDs happened occasionally. The wrong artwork would be printed on a CD, and it would get sent out in the wrong packaging and sold to an unsuspecting customer.
Far more common are CDs with audio flaws. Sometimes it’s noise, sometimes the audio drops out. Even the glorious Judas Priest 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music box set sadly has audio flaws, on a very very expensive item. Frustratingly, it’s on one of the songs exclusive to the set. There is a jump the in audio during “Diamonds & Rust” on the 2nd CD of Beyond Live & Rare. Priest have never corrected this or sent out new discs to people who bought it.
However, there is one more common flaw in a CD single that nobody seems to know about. Whaddaya mean, every single copy of Kiss’ smash hit “Forever” single has a skip?
I worked 12 years at that used Record Store. In 12 years, I played every single copy of the “Forever” single to check, including the one I own. It happens, unfortunately, on the only non-album song: the remix of the title track!
It happens at roughly 1:40 of the song, right before the solo. The lyric should be “Until my life is through, girl I’ll be loving you forever…yeah!” In the CD single version, it goes “Until my…rrrr, yeah!” The remix clocks in as 3:48 on the single. In the Kiss box set, it is 3:50. Two seconds are missing.
It’s not a scratch on the CD (or every other copy of the CD). There is absolutely no visible flaw. The music was simply printed incorrectly. Perhaps the master copy had a skip? Who knows. It’s there. Hear it for yourself below! Here is the evidence.
JOURNEY – Departure (1980 CBS 8-track, Remastered 2010 Sony CD)
CD from the set 3 Original Album Classics
Changes were afoot in Journey, and alluded to on Departure. Aside from the Japan-only soundtrack Dream, After Dream, this was the last stand for Gregg Rolie. While he would also appear one more time on the Captured live album, he was not there for the new studio track included. For all intents and purposes, Departure is his “last album”, to use an inaccurate but easy term. For the man who once was Journey’s only lead singer, Departure only has one of Rolie’s lead vocals, and only two co-writes. (In the discography, Departure directly followed 1979’s compilation of early material, In the Beginning, featuring early material and a large number of Rolie vocals.)
With Steve Perry leading the charge, Departure commences with the party anthem “Any Way You Want It”. Those who don’t know it, know it. It has been featured in the Simpsons, twice! A rare honour, and mega-exposure, for good reason. Perry’s impeccably arranged chorus is irresistible. Rolie’s organ is the perfect accompaniment to keep in the realm of classic rock and roll. Of course Schon’s solo is also tasty as heck, but this song is know for its party-hardy chorus. For those who like to dig deeper, Ross Valory’s pulsing bassline goes underappreciated today, and Steve Smith’s smooth cymbal work is often taken for granted.
A surprising twist is taken on track two, the laid back blues pulse of “Walk Like A Lady”. Sounds like Smith is playing with brushes, and Neal really plays it classy. Then, a jab of organ and the players are off to indulge themselves. “Oooh yeah!” shouts Perry, as if enjoying the jamming himself. Soulful harmony vocals by the band really take this out on an authentic note.
Third song, third musical direction: power balladeering! Rolie sings a duet with Perry backing him on “Someday Soon”, a melancholy but punchy ballad. Though it was not a single, perhaps it should have been. There’s a cool, unique angelic vocal section near the end that nicely complements Steve Smith’s drum fills.
“People and Places” is like an exercise in creative vocal arrangements, if not showing off. Neal Schon sings lead with Steve Perry on this complex track. It’s more like the Dream, After Dream material than a lot of Departure. If only the modern Journey were unafraid to create more unique music like this. It still has room for a powerful melody and some warming cascades of guitar. This song moves directly into “Precious Time”, which has a vibe like the still-in-the-future track “Liberty”. Lyrically it foreshadows the “Line of Fire” on side two, and also has Rolie on harmonica. It turns into a more typical Journey rocker by the midpoint. Lots of tasty Schon guitars to be savoured here.
Unusually for an album of 1980, Departure had 12 tracks: five on the first side, and seven on the second. This is where we’d flip.
The big concert rocker “Where Were You” kicks off the back end of Departure. This one pounds the pavement with beats, riffs and boppin’ piano. It too could have been a single, though it did open their concerts on tour. Then, a completely different mood drops: “I’m Cryin'” hits like a cold wave of grief, though not without its musical thrills. Soon it’s over and the rockin’ “Line Of Fire” brings the party back. There’s no better way to describe it than a fast, good time rock and roll song. “So don’t go sayin’ Steve is a liar!” warns Perry to some young lady who done him wrong. “Bye bye bye Susie, so long girl!” (He sure got over what was bothering him on “I’m Cryin'” pretty fast.) Take note of Schon’s technical solo work here.
“Departure” / “Good Morning Girl” is softly progressive, with strings and light guitar, and little else. This is over quickly, and then it’s the ballad “Stay Awile”, one of the sweetest songs Steve Perry or Journey have ever done. Once again, listen to the bass and drums for a different perspective. Perhaps the only thing better than Perry’s lead vocals are when he does it live.
Fortunately, Journey had the wisdom to end the album on a rocker: “Homemade Love”. Some of Perry’s worst words accompany some of his most acrobatic singing. Still, at least it’s a good jam to go out on, with some fretboard burning fingerwork by Neal.
Interesting, the 8-track tape might have what would be called a bonus track here: a reprise of “Line of Fire”. It’s here mostly for timing reasons; there are no songs split between tracks anywhere on this album. So, 8-track buyers got an uninterrupted listen, plus a reprise of “Line of Fire”. Information is scarce, but it would be fun to hear the tape this way,
On remastered CD, we got some slightly more interesting bonus tracks than 8-track offered. “Natural Thing” is a bluesy B-side, which was later released as the B-side to “Don’t Stop Believin'”. Chronologically though, it is from this era and is as strong as any similar material on the album. Funny how some tracks don’t make the cut when others do. If you were told this was a standalone single, you wouldn’t have a reason to doubt it. The CD also includes “Little Girl” from Dream, After Dream which is a difficult album to find and Rolie’s studio farewell. It is a string-laden power ballad, very progressive, and far darker than anything on Departure.
Departure features an unusually rougher sound than other Journey albums. The production seems unpolished despite the complexities of some tracks, with the vocals sometimes occupying a strange space that’s not quite in front of the music. Still, a classic album is a classic album and there are so few flaws with Departure that it’s easy to dismiss them all.
Happy birthday to Jonathan Cain of JOURNEY, as we celebrate his discography today with Tim Durling on this very special episode of Grab A Stack of Rock! We look back at the entire discography of the legendary rock band, all the lineup changes, all the big songs, and a bunch of deep cuts as well. On six different formats, I show you the entire catalogue, with help from Tim to fill three holes in the official collection. (There’s still one or two essential things I need to get, but you’ll have to watch the video to find out.)
Tim Durling is what I would call a “Journey expert”. He knows the facts and the sales numbers and the singles, and he was essential in this video coming to be. Not just the live albums I’m still missing, but also the knowledge and personal history. I was late getting into the band, in the late 1990s. Tim had 10 years on me. Thank you Tim for helping me make this video!
Together we presented CDs, cassettes, vinyl, 8-tracks, Blu-rays and DVDs of all the essential Journey. We looked at imports from Japan, Europe, the US, and Mexico as well as different pressings with different bonus tracks. A wide variety of Journey CD editions are here for you to examine.
Thank you Tim and thank you Journey for the music!
Discography included:
Journey (1975)
Look Into the Future (1976)
Next (1977)
Infinity (1978)
Evolution (1979)
In The Beginning (1979)
Departure (1980)
Dream, After Dream (1980)
Captured (1981)
Escape (1981)
Frontiers (1983 and 2023 40th Anniversary editions)
Raised on Radio (1986)
Greatest Hits (1988)
Time3 (1992 boxed set)
Trial By Fire (1996)
Greatest Hits Live (1998)
Arrival (2000-2001)
The Essential Journey (2001)
Red 13 (2002)
Generations (2005)
Live In Houston 1981: The Escape Tour (2005)
Turn the Page (Live Bootleg w/ Jeff Scott Soto (2006)
Get well soon, Harrison! The Mad Metal Man was unable to co-host tonight’s show with Jex Russell, so what did Jex do? He grabbed the bull by the horns, the guitar by the neck, and the stack of rock by the stones! It was the historic first-ever episode of Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike and the Mad Metal Man…without Mike, or the Mad Metal Man.
Jex, you dapper handsome movie star. I admit, I had it coming. It was not unearned. But vengeance shall be mine. ;)
On with the show: Dressed to the nines, Jex pulled out all the stops tonight. Tonight’s musical physical media included:
Jex with buying tips, some psychedelic rock, Hard Rock Gold, Over 60 Minutes With…, some Vital Idol, Deep Purple, DEVO, Pat Benatar, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Squier, and Motley Crue ’94!
Jazz, soul & blues provided by Aaron “Mr. Books” of the KMA with: Tobin Sprout (only 1000 made), GBV, Hilliard Ensemble, John Lee Hooker, Prince, Ry Cooder, Simply Red, Gojira, Matt Costa, Oscar Peterson, Rheostatics, Kurt Vile, Live at Leeds, a live album in Toronto, the sound of Starbucks, Phil Collins, Blues Brothers, Hootie, Debussy, Yo-Yo Ma, Hans Zimmer, and dad memes. Sadly no opera and “y’all-ternative country” (with apologies).
John T. Snow from The Collection brought on the hard rock side of things. We had his early thoughts on the new Ace Frehley 10,000 Volts (red transparent vinyl and lentincular cover CD), KISS final show merch and memorabilia, new Collective Soul 8-track (!!), a metal gift from Deke, a Canadian gift from Aaron, and new Jeff Scott Soto.
Metal Roger on marital harmony, comedy relief, heavy metal and screamo. He brought some Metallica, Death Cab, Papa Roach, Queen, Guns N’ Roses, and books!
Thank you guys for doing the show and giving me a night to just watch and enjoy. I’ll be back Monday with Tim Durling for a special episode on the complete Journey discography!
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