7/24 1/2 price north lamar

So I needed some exercise so I decided I'd actually go through clearance at a half price. I've learned that austin stores know more than stores in the suburbs so they are less likely to throw you a bone (who puts a perfect copy of shaft in clearance?). Anyways

Records (non clearance)
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit -- 3
Pisces, aquarius, capricorn & jones ltd. by the monkees -- 6
Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 -- 6

Clearance Records (all 1 dollar)
Gumbo Millennium by 24-7 Spyz
Like a Version by Two Nice Girls
Ow! Ow! Ow! by Barrence Whitfield and the Savages
Belafonte at Carnegie Hall
Shh by Ten Years After
A Space in Time by Ten Years After
The sound of Boots
The Ways a Woman Can Be by Teresa Trull
The Sound of Music by The dB's

Ok... Let's start of with Mendes. This album is what introduced Brazilian music to American audiences. Don't get me wrong, I definitely prefer the tropicalia lot over mendes but if you're going to get a classic "Brazilian" record this is it.

The interesting thing about the Monkees is that they had a lot of great song writers behind them, namely Harry Nilson. This one's cool because it's supposed to be more psychedelic.

I bought spirit because it looked psychedelic (more on this later). I got a feeling I'll enjoy this one. There's horns on a couple of tracks!

Ok... There is no possible way to know if you'll like an album or not if you don't listen to it. But, there is a good chance that if you like the cover that you'll like the record in some way. What I look for in covers can be broken down into a couple of areas--- 1. Does it look like it's trying to be psychedelic or rip off the beatles? 2. Does it look like punk (not new wave)? 3. Is it absolutely hilarious? 4. Does it look like a weird singer/songwriter thing? 5. Do you actually know what it is and want it? So obviously #5 is what you're looking for but you know... beggars can't be choosers

24-7 Spyz looked like a De La Soul (in the 3ft high and rising era). I mean there are flowers everywhere and there's a map of the world, and they have hearts on the back. Well I was sorely mistaken. They're a Living Color rip off band. So yeah... hard rock 90's stuff.

When I saw OW! OW! OW! I thought what the hell is rerun doing on an album, why did someone choose to have this album look like a highlighter heart attack, and why is he so excited? Well, it's sort of a classic r&b thing going on.

The dB's looked sort of punkish on the back and (I realized this later) VAN DYKE PARKS PLAYS KEYBOARDS. Yeah... Van Dyke Parks is a bad ass. So they are supposed to be the link between Big Star (R.I.P.) and Rem. I think they live up to it. AMG says that their earlier albums are more interesting but this is still a nice slice of pop.

What can I say? I'll take any madonna pun. Like a version is a cover ep. It's got a sonic youth cover (cotton crown) so what's not to like. Apparently two nice girls were a lesbian country rock band, and it shows. They're definitely sporting the Rosie O'Donnell look on the back.

Harry Belafonte is real cool. Most people know him for Day O. This live concert is great because it has all of his good stuff from the first couple of lps.

I got two lps by Ten Years After. Both looked like the sort of typical psych stuff. So far I haven't been disappointed. Apparently they played at woodstock. AMG says that the lyrics are going to suck though... that sucks.

The sound of Boots looked like it was a rip off of a serious sort of jazz things. Turns out it's a white guy from Nashville. Still seems cool but it's really poppy for jazz.

Teresea Trull is really good. She's sort of like if laura nyro rocked harder. Apparently she's a lesbian (olivia, the record label was a part of the women's music movement in the 70's) as from the first lyric "I'd like to make love with you 'cause you're a woman and I am one too." It's really really cool that I found this record. Also everything is translated into spanish too.