My recorded music collecting slowed to a near standstill the past few months. This was for a couple of reasons. First off, I've been struggling with what I even want to add to my couple hundred plus records. Between my vinyl and my CDs, I must have a thousand albums or more... a mere drip compared to some collections out there, but it's significant given my space limitations and spending budget.
So it's a always a bit tough to decide what to get next. I do have a list of stuff I'm interested in, but some of those albums are ones I already own on CD and simply want a vinyl version, while others are by bands I like, but I am not familiar (very much, or at all) enough with them to take the plunge. Therefore it's easy to put off those purchases until I can even give them test listens (hello, Youtube) to be sure I want them.
Add into that equation the fact that I do not have a bottomless budget for such things. Life is getting more expensive, between inflation and more day-to-day necessities. Sigh, sometimes the fun has to go on the back burner. There is a small handful of albums on my Wishlist that I'd love to get ASAP, but they aren't cheap, not old used copies, or even brand new reissues. So I'm kind of stuck.
Every once in a long while, I'll dig a bit deeper for a pricier record, just because it's one of very few I'll buy over a stretch of time... and because it's a more important addition to my collection. When I know I've been very restrained for months, picking up only cheapie vinyl at thrift shops, or nothing at all, I feel I can justify a $30-40 purchase - at intervals.
Anyway, all that to say that my buying power is at a low these days, so all the music I've gotten in the past couple months, and only very recently, are:
Lucifer II, by Lucifer - on vinyl, sealed, a 2018 German import. 70's retro-styled hard rock-doom that resonates with me. I hear a bit of Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Danzig, and even a touch of Ghost in their cool, tough, un-forced "light" occult metal, with smoky female vocals and cryptic ancient Egyptian themes here and there.
Lights, Camera, Revolution, by Suicidal Tendencies - seminal 1990 recording jam-packed with gems by this So-Cal band who pioneered crossover styles hardcore skate punk-thrash metal. Angry music with a message and primo musicianship, especially Rocky George's melodic yet stinging guitar soloing. Rare-ish on vinyl, unless you break the bank, so I opted for the CD.
Diary of a Madman, by Ozzy Osbourne - yes, this classic 1981 sophomore metal foray by our beloved ex-Sabbath frontman. I've been revisiting this over and over lately, rediscovering just how great and timeless the album is... much better than his debut, in my opinion (I'm sooo tired of Crazy Train). Rhoads' guitar tone was corrected to near-perfection here (unlike that weird, compressed, chunky, un-musical sound on Blizzard of Ozz) and his song ideas and playing are even more mind-bending. I'd ignored Ozzy's music, even his best stuff - these oldies - for ages, but coming back to it proved to me that I needed a proper copy of the album after all these years. After my tape days in the 80's, all I ever owned was a compilation mix of Diary and Blizzard, minus a few tracks, on homemade CD. Having learned that modern versions of Diary have been seriously tampered with sound and performance-wise, I sought out an older remaster on CD, which was highly recommended. Happy!
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