Monday, January 22, 2007

discs seven through ten

On Saturday I drove south to Checkered Records in Canton, a great little shop with plenty of used records and CDs, and scored the following used discs:

7. Kronos Quartet/Terry Riley -- Salome Dances for Peace
8. Mike Oldfield -- Boxed

The Oldfield set is a three-disc collection of his first three albums (Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, and Ommadawn), plus some rarities appended to the end of each disc. Tubular Bells is the album that everyone knows and talks about, but the next two albums are even better: long, pastoral compositions with lush arrangements and the occasional soul-piercing guitar solo.

I then went to CD Warehouse in Canton, a crappy little shop with plenty of wretched CDs, yet somehow managed to scavenge this used disc:

9. Blue Oyster Cult -- Extra-Terrestrial Live

I owned this one on vinyl back in high school. It has all the hits, plus killer versions of Joan Crawford and Veteran of the Psychic Wars. At $4.99, this find was a steal.

I arrived home to find the following mail parcel on the kitchen table:

10. Steven Wilson -- Cover Version IV

Known best for his band Porcupine Tree, SW has been releasing these two-song singles sporadically for the past couple years. The first track is always a cover version of an unnamed song, and the second track is an original song by SW that continues the mood of the first song. This is the first time that I did not recognize the cover song and had to Google the lyrics to learn the title and original artist. It's a creepy tune and a daring choice for SW (I won't spoil the surprise).

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