December 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & Cds…& More…

I can’t believe 2022 is about to be behind us. Man, that year flew fast. Well, we ended with one of the biggest hauls we have ever had here at 2 Loud 2 Old Music. There are 38 albums purchased or gifted this month alone!! That is insane. Several of these purchases will be part of the new Review Series coming in 2023 after the Scorpions are done of course. Thanks for stopping by each and every day, week or month and I hope you all had a wonderful year. And I hope next year is even better for you. Let’s get started on a review of the December 2022 Vinyl & Cds…

First up is another Kiss record. I bought the 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Box Set but that doesn’t come with a vinyl. The 3-LP Deluxe Edition has such a pretty blue color vinyl, I had to have it as well. I didn’t make it in time for last months post as it should have but at least I have it now…

Then I picked up the new 4 CD Deluxe Edition 20th Anniversary Box Set of Robbie William’s debut solo album ‘Life Thru A Lens’. It has a remastered album, 2 bonus discs of rarities and a live show…Just perfect!!

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The Top Rock Albums of 2022

I can’t believe we are through with another year. And what a year it was, It saw me complete my goal of one post for every day of the year and it saw me start and still not finish the massive Jeff Scott Soto Series. I still have about 6 months to go on that one. Crazy. It saw some struggles as I had a minor surgery but the two week recovery was hard and then I got sick and was miserable for another two weeks and that put a massive damper on my enthusiasm for writing. For October, I barely wrote anything. Thankfully, I keep ahead so it had no impact on my readers, you probably didn’t even notice, but for me, it was hard. But we are way past that now and all is good.

With the Soto series and the Scorpions series, I actually didn’t spend much time with new releases, but I did have a bunch that I liked and wish I spent more time with. So, we are going to go through the Top 10 Rock Albums of 2022 and of course there will be some honorable mentions, a worst of album and some of my favorite Non-Rock albums. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee if it is morning, or a beer if it is any other time of day…and enjoy!!

TOP ROCK ALBUMS OF 2022:

#10 – HALESTORM – BACK FROM THE DEAD: Lzzy Hale and the boys are back from the dead and they are rocking the hell out of you with this one. With the title track, then “Wicked Ways” and “The Steeple”, they showed they mean business and are carrying the torch for rock. Listen to this and you know Rock Ain’t Dead!! And if you want more great ones, I really like “Psycho Crazy” and the ballad “Raise Your Horns”…oh sooooo good!!

#9 – H.E.A.T. – FORCE MAJEURE: I thought there last album was amazing with Erik Gronwell on vocals, but Erik left and is now with Skid Row who also released an album this year. Original H.E.A.T. lead singer, Kenny Leckremo, returned and they released another stellar release. I like it way better than the new Skid Row…sorry Erik. Such stellar tracks as “Back to the Rhythm”, “Nationwide”, “Tainted Blood” and “Demon Eyes” to only name a handful.

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September 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs & More

Another month gone by which is good news because it means more Vinyl, CDs, books and even a DVD have been added the collection. And we are kicking this month off a very pleasant surprise from a good friend of 2 Loud 2 Old Music. Mr. Books himself, Aaron, from KeepsMeAlive.com has sent yet another care package. The man believes in giving! This time around we got 2 books and 2 CDs all the way from the Great White North. Be careful what you say in the comments on his site as you are bound to wind up with it. Aaron knows my love for Idol and I have made comments before about the other 3 items…and now I have them. Thanks Aaron…and yes, he left a little note as usual!!

Now to start the month out, during labor day weekend, 2nd & Charles had their buy 5 get 5 free sale and so I hit up the CDs section and stuck to the 5 and 5 rule. Here is the 5 I bought…

And the five I got for free…or vice versa, however you want to look at it…

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Friday New Releases – September 9, 2022

Happy Friday and we have a ton of releases for you this week with over 50+ new releases. I have a few I want to hear and definitely have purchased one of these so far and it is the first one on the list. Scan through and let me know what you want to hear this week or what we may have missed out on. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  • kisssoundboarddesmoines  Kiss – Off the Soundboard: Des Moines 1977 – (UMe): Kiss on their 4th Soundboard release and I’m a little behind as I haven’t even listened to the last one and there is another one out…crazy. Maybe this will force me to open them both up and spin them. The other 3 have been from the reunion era or later. This is the first one with the classic line-up and I am excited to dive in to this one. Bring ’em on!
  • 51ERxmZexXL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Robbie Williams – XXV – (Robert Williams / Farrell Music Ltd): Robbie Williams is now on his 13th studio album and it his 25th Anniversary as a solo artist. It is full of re-recorded and orchestrated versions of his biggest hits. Plus with the deluxe edition you get three new songs. A must for my collection.
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January 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & Cds

Welcome to the first round of purchases for 2022. Yes, I know, it never seems to end…my wife and wallet keep telling me that, but I don’t listen…obviously. And this week was another stellar month and a few really good deals as well…at least I think so. The first set of purchases were from gift cards left over from Christmas that I hadn’t spent and it was tough to decide. First I went with a vinyl I had been wanting for awhile and finding an original vinyl pressing was going to be expense so I went withe re-issue from Music on Vinyl for Extreme!!

The other items I picked up on those gift cards were the studio albums I was missing for Robbie Williams…I figured no time better than to complete that collection so I did. There were four left and here they are… Now I just need to the rare stuff that I am missing…challenge accepted!!

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November 2021 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

Can you believe there is only one more month in the year? It has flown by so fast. And here we are again with another month end wrap-up of the purchases we have made here at 2 Loud 2 Old Music. It was a pretty decent month and another month where CDs outweighed the vinyl. There should’ve been a couple more vinyl in here, but with all the delays in vinyl pressing I have 3 that have been bought that will now not show up until 2022!! Thanks Adele!!!

First up this month are a couple that came in at the end of October after I had done my post. First is the John 5 & The Creatures release ‘Sinner’ and this one is signed. It is an awesome album and it will be interesting to see where this lands on our year-end countdown.

The other item that I received was another stellar box set from Whitesnake. This time around it is the 25th Anniversary of the album ‘Restless Heart’. It is full of demos, remixes and the always cool Evolutions disc that walks you through the evolution of the songs. Sadly, there was no live show added but that is being picky.

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January 2021 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

Welcome to the first Purchases post of 2021. After the crapload of items in December, I am so not going to be able to top that right out of the gate. This time, the focus is more on the CDs as I finally got back out to Manifest Discs which has a great used CD selection. I was able to get out by myself and take my time going through the racks. They have a deal where if you buy 2 you get 1 for a $1, so of course, I have to buy way more than 2. I ended up buying 11 and it worked out to <$5 per disc when it was all said and done.

The first batch is a band that doesn’t have much on vinyl as they are from the early 2000’s up to a few years ago so it is easier to go the CD route than the vinyl. That band is Lifehouse. I picked up 6 CDs. Now, I used to have all these before, but due to dumping the collection stupidly about 7-8 years ago, I didn’t have them anymore. Now I am going back and getting my favorite stuff again. Only need 1 more Lifehouse album.

The next couple of CDs are for a band, I never thought I’d like, but man, I really do. It is a rap rock band called Hollywood Undead. I picked up two CDs…again the vinyl is a mish-mash of do they or don’t they, but they do have CDs. These are their first two studio albums. I still have 6 more to go.

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Robbie Williams – ‘Sexed Up – Forever Texas’ (2003) – Album Review

There is nothing better than going through racks of CDs and finding something you’ve never seen before.  I was at 2nd & Charles in Mathews, NC with my wife (she was looking at books) and I started digging through the used CDs. I started in the “A” section and within 30 seconds I stumbled across this album…Robbie Williams “Sexed Up”.  Yes, in the “A” section as naturally that is where it would be instead of the “R” or “W” section.  Makes total sense.  It had Japanese or some Asian lettering on it so I snatched it up especially knowing that the price was only $3.50.

I did some research once I got home and all I could find out is that the CD is referred to as Robbie Williams – “Sexed Up/Forever Texas” and is an unofficial release.  As a result, Discogs won’t sell it.  I did see a copy on eBay for about $36 and Discogs had a single cd version on sale for over $100.  Either way, my $3.50 is looking like a pretty great deal.

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The packaging is great as the plastic CD case comes in this nice cardboard housing with a flap to open and remove your CD case.  The disc is also labeled as an HDCD whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.  I figured it was going to sound better, but it is CD, it already sounds good as a CD should. Continue reading “Robbie Williams – ‘Sexed Up – Forever Texas’ (2003) – Album Review”

July 2020 Purchases – Vinyl & CD

Another month gone by and a lot more purchases.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed but my CD purchases have skyrocketed over the last few months.  I have been to a bunch of shops that have CDs and have them cheap so I can’t help myself.  However, this first batch of CDs is not from a shop. They are mostly from Amazon as my kids gave me an Amazon gift card for Father’s Day as they weren’t sure what I didn’t have (which is a valid point).  So with these cards I continued my Jeff Scott Soto Collection and picked up 6 more discs (okay, one was from ebay).

I picked up Jeff Scott Soto – “Essential Ballads”; Soul Sirkus – “World Play”, W.E.T. – “W.E.T.” and “Earthrage”, SOTO – “Orgami” which is the last of the SOTO collection, and Talisman – “Talisman”.  This brings me up to over 20+ now in the JSS collection and still about 20+ more to go.

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Next up, my wife wanted to run back to 2nd & Charles as she needed  some books and I of course wanted to tag along as they have a great used CD collection and I always find something interesting and this time was no different.  I picked up a Bootleg Robbie Williams 2 CD compilation from Japan.  It is called Sexed Up and it has been outlawed for sale by Discogs, but I saw one an eBay for about $30+.  I payed about $3.  It is an HDCD, whatever that means.

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But that wasn’t the only thing I bought from there as they had a sale where you buy 2, get one free.  I picked up 8 more discs including 2 more Robbie Williams CDs, 3 Oasis CDs, Ozzy’s Just Say Ozzy E.P., Candlebox’s “Lucy” and Jude Cole’s “I Don’t Know Why I Act This Way”.  Not a bad haul.

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And on the way home, my wife saw Noble Records and asked if I wanted to stop in, and of course I said yes.  She is so awesome!!  I did a little damage there as well. I picked up 2 more CDs – Cheap Trick’s “At Budokon: The Complete Concert” CD set and Thriving Ivory’s “Through Yourself & Back Again”.

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I did get vinyl while I was there as well. I picked up Deep Purple’s ‘Machine Head’ and ZZ Top’s “La Futura” because I saw the documentary on Netflix and needed this album as I didn’t have it as I’m now on a ZZ Top kick.

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The next thing that was purchased was neither vinyl nor CD.  I have started my new obsession, Kiss Tour Books and first up is this one…not going to talk about it as I already have a post coming in August going in full detail…

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And that is it…until next month

June 2020 Purchases – Vinyls & CDs

Welcome to the June Purchases wrap-up and what a month it was.  After not visiting an actual record store in 2 months due to the Covid Stay at Home Orders, I was out in force when the opened back up.  And this time it wasn’t just vinyl and CDs, there were a couple other surprises that were music related.  And then there were a stack of albums I picked up that I didn’t have to buy which is always cool.  Let’s get started.

First up was my trip to Repo Records and Noble Records as they were two of the first to open. I wanted to spend a little at both to show my support and I did just that.  First up was Repo. I was worried we would have to wear masks and gloves, but thankfully neither store required but we could if we wanted to do it.  Which I didn’t because we left the masks at home on the counter.  I didn’t really find anything at Repo’s until I stumbled across a brand new copy of Tesla’s Psychotic Supper.  It was new and sealed so no real deal on it, but it was cheaper than what Amazon was offering and since it is on a list of albums I want, I got it.

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