The $4 Bin - Volume 2
Published October 10, 2002
Here are the most recent gold nuggets unearthed in the bargain racks of my local independent CD & record seller:
Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - The Gallagher brothers' towering masterpiece of Brit-pop. Sure, they're assholes. And yes, they shamelessly rip off the Beatles and other great Invasion bands with impugnity (they cop the plea with the title of their album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants). But they do it all so well. The barometer by which all current Brit Pop-ers (Coldplay, Travis, Blur, Radiohead) must be measured. A must-own for anyone who cares about rock and roll music. The person who sold this must have owed money to his bookie.
Bjork - Debut - Bjork's solo splash, meshing dance floor beats with her unmistakable voice and (at that time) irrepressible joy. I can't get the tympani of "Human Behavior" out of my head. Post is my favorite of her albums, and one of my favorite albums of the past decade, but this is a welcome addition to the collection that is sure to get frequent play.
Saint Etienne - Sound of Water - the 2000 release from the British cult and critic favorite is a mellow, ambient groove. Doesn't have the hooks or cutting edge qualities of their earlier work, but showed that while they may have mellowed with age, their collective sense of timing and touch had not diminished.
Casablanca Records Greatest Hits - Ok, you caught me. I bought a disco album. But check out the playlist:
1. Hot Stuff - Donna Summer
2. Bad Girls - Donna Summer
3. Y.M.C.A. - Village People
4. Thank God It's Friday - Love and Kisses
5. Funkytown - Lipps Inc.
6. On the Radio - Donna Summer
7. Star Wars Theme - Meco
8. Macho Man - Village People
9. Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give up the Funk) - Parliament
10. I Feel Love - Donna Summer
11. After Dark - Patti Brooks
12. Maniac - Michael Sembello
13. Chase - Giorgio Moroder
14. Music, Harmony and Rhythm - Brooklyn Dreams
15. In the Navy - Village People
16. Take Me Home - Cher
17. Dim All the Lights - Donna Summer
18. Yes, I'm Ready - Teri DeSario
19. Do That to Me One More Time - Captain & Tennille
20. Last Dance - Donna Summer
You get all of Donna Summer's big '70s hits, all of the Village People's biggest hits, a couple more must-have disco classics, the Captain & Tennille (fer cryin' out loud), and you get the disco-fied Star Wars Theme by Meco! I can't imagine that any self-respecting wedding DJ wouldn't want to own this record. The liner note photos of the artists - complete with coked-out expressions on their faces - was worth the price alone.
Plus, by having Casablanca Records Greatest Hits on your shelf, you don't have to suffer the embarrassment of someone scanning your record collection and discovering The Village People's Greatest Hits or Donna Summer's Greatest Hits. It's a sneaky way to feed your disco needs.
One caveat: Casablanca Records' biggest artist was KISS, and they do not appear on the album. So do as I do: pick up a copy of Double Platinum (the first album I ever owned).
- The $4 Bin - Volume 2
- Published: October 10, 2002
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Alternative Rock, Music: DJ, Music: Pop, Music: Rock
- Writer: Ross
- Ross's BC Writer page
- Ross's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Your guess is spot on. What we don't have in live music, restaurants, galleries, radio stations, book stores and clothes shopping, we make up for in good cheap CDs. A fair trade, wouldn't you say?
Well, no, I wouldn't. But I think you meant that as a joke, so I'll take it as such. Where do you live, anyway?
This reminds me, though, of the vast difference between Houston and Austin, two cities that occupy the same narrow stretch of coastal plain, but are culturally at odds with one another. I remember bringing a small stack of CDs (about 7 or 8) to the hippest indie CD store in the city, Soundwaves. They were considered good CDs circa 1998, and in perfect condition. They accepted three of them, and offered me $7 for the lot. No thanks. A week later, at Waterloo records in Austin, I got $27 for the same stack. Yes, I'll take that, thank you.
Of course the difference is salability, pure and simple. In Houston, even in the hippest college neighborhood it has to offer, nobody would pay ten cents for my least favorite Palace Brothers album. In Austin, seven dollars, easy. On a bad day. Some people, even some people I like and respect, think Houston is great. But my experience in the record stores there tells me everything I need to know about it.
Of course, if my mainstay was vinyl hip-hop, this would be a different discussion entirely...
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You found those recors for $4? I'm amazed. I can only guess that you don't live in a very music-intensive town, so the market value of good music is naturally lower. Here in Austin, the only thing you can buy for $4 is scratched MC Shan singles.