A Good Day Out...

...includes a learning session at the Apple store where the smart, friendly trainer gave me lots of good tips for making movies and storing music. And then I stopped at the CD Cellar to trade in a bag of unwanted discs. They rejected about half of them (times are tight all over) but I left with coffee money in my pocket and a small bag of new acquisitions.
BOB DYLAN - DYLAN (Columbia)
I’m a sucker for packaging. I had enough in-store credit to buy this 3-CD set in the red cloth box with the booklet and collectable postcards, still sealed, $23. Good deal.

The clearance section gets bigger all the time, $1.99 each or 10 discs for $15.99. So, once I’ve picked up four or five discs I’m curious about, I might as well go for the double handful. I wasn’t successful in my search of all the thin cases and cardboard envelopes for advance discs, but found some fun stuff anyway.
TOP of the POP HITS - Various Artists, Disc 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 (Collectables/SONY)
Where is Disc 2? Dunno, but these were al nestled together. A lot of stuff I already have, but some choice nuggets: Oliver’s “Good Morning Sunshine” (it’s a running joke that Hubby sings it in the morning when he wants to drive us mad), “Sugar and Spice” (name that band? The Cryin’ Shames), “Flowers on the Wall” (Statler Brothers), “Laugh Laugh” (Beau Brummels), “Who Put the Bomp?” (Barry Mann) and “1, 2, 3” (Len Barry.
As I rip the collection into mp3s so that I can recycle the discs back to the trade-in store or the thrift shop, I am struck by the wastefulness of these series. Only one disc (number 5) has more than 10 songs on it; Disc 4 has only 9 songs! It would be so easy to condense the whole lot down to three discs, and that’s exactly what I intend to do when I make oldies mixes for my family. The only reason to spread the music out so thinly is to make an excuse to charge more for the series. And it’s not like to money is gonna go to songwriters and artists. Bah.
DONNA REED’S DINNER PARTY - Various Artists (Nick at Nite/550 Music/Sony)
Pretty sure I have this already, but I was smitten by Andy Williams’ “Can’t Get Used to Losing You” (until I saw it was on one of the collections above) and Linda Scott’s “I’ve Told Every Little Star,” the obscure chestnut with which I used to bore the second grade class when I did my impromptu show-off performances. Add Shelley Fabares’ “Johnny Angel” and by the iTunes Rule (if there’s more than two songs you would buy for a buck each, an album for $2 is definitely worth it) and it’s a no-brainer.
BETTE MIDLER - S/T (Atlantic)
Back in the day when the Divine Miss M didn’t sing syrup like “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
TOM WAITS - Real Gone (Anti-)
I may have these songs already from a long-ago downloading, but I couldn’t resist the 4-panel fold-out digi-pack.
ERIN McCARLEY - S/T (Universal/Republic)
Generic plastic envelope advance. She’s opening for Matt Nathanson and Jack’s Mannequin on May 5th in Richmond and, on the off chance that I might be down there for the show/picking up College Girl, I want to know what she’s about.
SPIRITUALIZED - Meltdown Festival, Royal Albert Hall, July 1, 1998 (?)
Black slimline case, paper insert, not quite CD-R, not quite official. There was another live Spiritualized CD in the rack, a 2-disc set, but that one was marked as an audience recording, Grade A- whereas this one was “Quality: FM Broadcast, A.” No track listing.

And, from the freebie table:
TYRONE WELLS - Remain (Universal/Republic)
3-track sampler from the album, including the title track.
ANONYMOUS - The Handout (self-released)
5-tracks, including a cover of “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody).”
The band is performing at the State Theatre on May 8th (it says here on the sticker on the back).

YTD O/CD Tally: 122