Hills & Dales Pt I

So, those reading the last post were probably thinking I was about to bow out of the game. Hang up the needles and call it a day. Little did you know I had a day trip planned with a few objectives but the spin-off was that I got to dig for records.

As Brother -M mentioned in a comment section, Tauranga is a good place for gems. I have never failed in Toe Rags, in fact when I was living in Nelson I dug in Tauranga and ended up sending 150 back by post. So I had high hopes for my trip. Here is a very quick run down of what I got in a Te Puke opp shop:

Peta Lowe - The Magic Of My Violin

Before Vanessa Mae was doing the sexy violin thing, there was Peta Lowe. This record is a bit of a dud although I did muck around with a sample from her version of 'Flight Of A Bumblebee' for about two hours, only to decide I couldn't make it work. This one is being chucked out.

Eric Jupp - The Romantic Magic

From the cover I was expecting great things. It looks like it'd either have some great open piano notes to be sampled, or, some spaced out piano riffs. Unfortunately, this was the only record I didn't check whether the platter matched the sleeve and got burnt. Instead I got Percy Faith's Latin Sounds for Lovers. Damn. Chuck out pile.

Chuck Girard - Take It Easy

I've got a few of Chuck's records and some of them are no joke. He took to using Prophets, Moogs and other weird synths in his later years. I was hoping for something from this but it was mostly bland Gospel Rock. Not entirely worthless but no where near as good as his other records.

Various - Inspiration '86

Three things about this record: 1) It's 'Contemporary Christian Music' which you'd expect on the Light or Word labels, but it's on A & M. That seems like a weird partnership to me. 2) Amy Grant is on this. For some reason I forget that Amy Grant was a huge Christian artist before she went mainstream. 3) This has an Al Green cut on it. It's pretty ill. He's singing about jeebiz but I'm not mad at it.

The Sharrett Brothers - The Sharrett Brothers

This is how much of a Christian Record Nerd I am. I picked this up because I recognised the song-writers. I had a feeling there was going to be something good in this but no dice. Oh well, there's always the chuck out pile.

Mike Hayward - My Cup Is Overflowing

This baaaaaangs. If Dam Funk was doing full on Christian Bop music in the 80's, it'd sound like this. Ridiculous drum program, 808 hand claps all over the show and all written, recorded, engineered and produced by Big Mike. This is a serious keeper slash trade piece for -M.

Laura Lee - Jesus Is The Light Of My Life

Why oh why would I buy a record called 'Jesus Is The Light Of My Life' with a cover ripped right over the corner? Four magic words: "Produced By Al Green". So I guess Rev. Green started producing young Gospel talent and made all their songs sound like Al Green knock-offs. For serious though, I get the feeling that if The RZA heard this he'd be making it into Wu-Tang songs. Same sound, same vintage as anything off Ghostface's Ironman. Pick up of the day.

Various - Rejoice Young One

For some reason, just by looking at the cover I knew this would be a New Zealand Christian record with a bunch of kids singing over it. Whaddaya know? The Kiwi accents are super thick on the solos. Love it. For some reason I got a David Cross piece on children, God and The Church in my head when I put this one and couldn't do it. Still figuring out what to do with this.

Henry Arland - Klarinette In Gold

Very strange Clarinet album produced in Germany. I don't know what they were going for with this album. Hope they achieved it. I was looking for open Clarinet notes or at least something different to sample. I've had a lot of luck with Clarinet records in the past but this one missed the mark. Maybe some German Clarinet fan will love it to pieces. Hope so.

Tune in tomorrow to see what else I picked up at the next shop.