It's been a while since I've posted one of these, so a brief recap: here in my home town, where the arts culture tends to run to the bland and the mainstream, there's a decent record and CD store here in town that offers many of their used CDs for $4. I like to browse through the stacks about every two weeks to see what I can find, and then I occasionally post here to brag about my discoveries.

The last few weeks have been quite fruitful:

Blur - Parklife - Along with Radiohead's OK Computer, probably the biggest and most important album to come out of England during the 1990s. It's also probably the most British album since the Kinks' hey day, offering slice-of-life lyrics and a tour of music styles from all over the Isle over the past 30 years. Blur's latest comes out in a few weeks, you'd be well served to pick up this one first to see what all the fuss is about.

ELO - Greatest Hits - What's wrong with a little ultra-violins every once in a while? I'm a sucker for big bold, Beatles-influenced power pop, and you can't get much more of any of those things than Jeff Lynne and Electric Light Orchestra's Greatest Hits. "Evil Woman", "Livin' Thing", "Can't Get It Out Of My Head", "Turn To Stone", "Sweet Talkin' Woman", among others.

The Showdown: The Sugarhill Gang Vs. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - "Rapper's Delight", "The Message", "White Lines (Don't Do It)". The cornerstones of Old School rap. I could do without the Ice T & Chuck D play-by-play in between tracks, but since they don't talk over the music, that nonsense is easily avoidable.

Glenn Gould - The Well-Tempered Clavier I - This seminal recording is a double disc, so it cost me $8. Money well spent.