Dig the Bargain Bin

Finally, Amoeba listens to its cheapest customers and offers a "Newest Arrivals Bargain Bin,"  an essential space for those who can seemingly only gain musical pleasure cheaply. Sure, once the wind blew you into the used bins and there the nuggets sat, but like all things to the old, those better days have passed. Anyway, I played hooky a few weeks back and here's some of the haul. It was about seven bucks for the eight records, which last time I checked cost less than half for a new record by some garage band in Wisconsin.

Ron Wood & Ronnie Lane- Mahoney's Last Stand- apparently, this is the soundtrack from some movie I have not seen, but having listened to these mostly instrumental grooves for a quiet morning, I'd like to. This came out in '76 after the Faces' prime, but they're having a hoedown on somebody's million dollar porch and having themselves a time. Worth your buck, hippie.

Eddie Money- Can't Hold Back- I can't make it through the whole thing- all right, I can't make it through Side 1, but with two radio hits in the first three overproduced spurts of schlock, who needs to? Worth a buck only if you overly romanticized Eddie Money's McNally's escapades beyond all subsequent hospital visits.

Van Halen- 1984- have you also forgotten the boys look futuristic on the back cover and that no Eagle regular has ever looked more flaming? Of course it's worth a buck, if only for "Hot for Teacher," which  rocks.

Miles Davis- Bitches Brew- I've had this on the ipod for years, but there it sat in all its gatefold glory, inside a shirtless smiling Miles and some Gleason liner notes doing the beat thing a decade late. I dig the new directions- purists can suck it.

Waylon Jennings- The One and Only- we're a long way from outlaw territory- this was an attempt at mainstream Nashville success before rebellion became marketable. Worth a buck only for the context, at least to this cheap bastard.

Dusty Springfield- Dusty in Memphis- send a big ballady English songstress to record with top Memphis studio dudes and let history write the story. I could listen to that voice all of Sunday morning, and somehow the demons keep their distance or nap their frolics off. I'd have paid top dollar for this, so drop your buck if you see one.

Doc & Merle Watson- Then and Now- this is a surprise winner, a Grammy-winning father-son effort that makes these long-covered tunes their own. Even the TVZ cover doesn't piss me off, which doesn't surprise me given the reverence the great one had for Watson.  Worth a bicentennial quarter, at the very least.

Willie Nelson- Phases and Stages- I can't tell one Willie Nelson record from the next, probably because I rarely play them more than once. Somehow they call out to me as soothing respites to the day-to-day when I'm trolling the record store, but nothing ever jumps out and screams 'play me' when I'm actually listening. Worth a buck if only for "Bloody Mary Morning," a song I can't remember but a sentiment I stand full-heartedly behind.