Living Vicariously Through My Brother - Gifts And Purchases From Japan

With my brother running around abroad in Japan, he not only filled my text messages with photos, but questions of if I wanted him to pick up some things for me. Some were given as gifts. Others with the understanding that I was going to need to reimburse.

Upon his return, we met up in Baltimore, a nice little halfway point for both of us, where I handed him a check, and he in turn handed me three bags. Two were from Tower Records, and one from Nintendo Kyoto.

The first item was a pair of Monchhichi dolls, which he purchased for me and my sister as a gift. We had these as kids, and today I of course have the full cartoon series on DVD. He thought it would be a fun little surprise for us.

Next up was a used, but presumably complete, original Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo Famicon. Despite being used, it's sealed in shrink wrap to protect the contents inside. He actually picked up two, one of which he kept and opened. I think I'll leave mine sealed up.

He also gifted me an exclusive Nintendo Kyoto glass, which features a selection of Nintendo characters on it. I don't think I'll be drinking out of this. Instead, I'll add it to my Nintendo collection.

Lastly, he gave me a copy of Nintendo Magazine, which was available for free to customers at Ojamakan Fukakusa.

He also grabbed me a copy of the program / catalog from the Star Wars Galaxy In Shibuya event.

Then came the CD's. When my brother initially told me he was going to Japan, he asked if there was anything I would want him to hunt for. I told him that if he came across a Tower Records, that I'd love for him to find me a list of CD's which were exclusive to the country. I didn't expect he'd find and go to three different Tower Records, especially considering he was using his precious limited time abroad to do so.

Unfortunately, he didn't find many of the items on my list. In fact, he only found one. However, he did find a whole slew of other items that I asked him to pick up.

The biggest thing on the list was Queen. I put on my list, "Anything from Queen as long as it's exclusive to Japan." Well, he found a lot.

Unfortunately, the majority of these are bootlegs created by King Street and Coda Publishing. Admittedly, I was a bit surprised to see that Tower Record would allow these to be sold in their shops. Equally, I was disappointed in the sound quality on some of them. Frankly, there seems to be more quality put into the packaging and CD imprinting (artwork wise), than the actual content of the discs.

Fortunately, not everything was a bootleg, such as these two Prince CD's. I didn't necessarily need yet another copy of Purple Rain, and really only asked him to grab this as an afterthought we he returned to take (a lot of) photos of the first Tower Records location. The other Prince album, His Majesty's Pop Life, was the only CD on my list he actually found.

Also not bootlegs were these pressings of Europe's first and second albums. Granted, these were available in the USA, but definitely not as cheap. Though I definitely enjoyed hearing them, in hindsight, I maybe should have opted for US releases, and paid the upcharge to do so. However, the catch 22 to that is that I probably wouldn't have ever gotten them.

Next up was an official re-issue of Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet. This not only features the original intended cover for the album, but a handful of live bonus tracks. The second item is unfortunately a bootleg of their live show from 1990. The sound quality is pretty poor on it.

I was surprised, but all over it when he found this We Bop: Nippon Budokan CD from Cyndi Lauper. It's apparently just been "released", in quotations because it's yet another bootleg. It not only showcases Cyndi at her best in 1986, but the sound quality if phenomenal. The second Cyndi item is a legit release, but nothing more than a greatest hits, which is also available in the USA. In hindsight, I would have skipped on the latter had I know this prior to committing to him grabbing it. Frankly, I didn't even open it.

I so badly wanted him to find the original (and legit) Live From The Jungle CD from Guns 'N Roses, but sadly, he never came across one. He did, however, find two massive boxsets, and individual live album, all bootlegs, and their hard to find legit EP, and even harder to find legit single. Yes, please to all!

Two other CD's which I didn't necessarily need, but asked him to pick them up with the above note Purple Rain were Michael Jackson's Thriller and Bad. Much like Prince, I don't necessarily need more copies of these albums in my life, but opted for them because they're uniqueness.

He was also able to find on Jermaine Jackson studio album, which I asked him to grab. I don't know why, but Jermaine gets no love from Motown. The majority of his albums aren't available on CD. This one appears to be legit, released in Europe in 2022.

Last up was a couple of free gifts from Tower Records for purchasing Queen and Guns 'N Roses items. They appear to be cellophane folders, but they're pretty thin, and fragile.

Did I spend more than I should have? Yes. Do I have buyer's remorse? Well, considering the majority of these turned out to be bootlegs, kind of. I'll put it this way. If I had a bit more time to think about the purchases I was making, rather than frantic texts in the early hours of the morning, I probably would have passed on a lot of.....Ah, who am I kidding....I would have still gotten them all.

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Retro Spins: Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies

Guns N' Roses took the world by storm with their 1987 album, Appetite For Destruction, and since its release I wanted more. That more came in the form of 1988's G'N'R Lies. 

Lies took everything I loved about Appetite, shelved it, and then delivered a cash grab to this high school kid who barely had a nickle to his name most of the time. What was this live / acoustic album?

I didn't have a job in 1988. I barely got an allowance, and when those rare moments arrived that mom would allow us to buy a cassette, choices had to be heavily weighed. As such, when I ended up with what was the Lies album, I was ticked off. To me, it wasn't even worth listening to. I not only hated live music, but also didn't want to hear Guns N' Roses singing slow songs to acoustic guitars.

As time passed, and the age of the internet dawned, I would learn that the first half of the album was actually taken from G'N'R's Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide EP, which was in fact not a live album. Rather, the audience was overdubbed over the studio performances. While this didn't necessarily make me excited about the record, it did help me to look at it from a fresh perspective, and since then, it has grown on me a bit.

In fact, I've also become quite fond of the acoustic tracks, which actually stand out. I mean, how can you hate Patience? It's a staple crowd pleaser from the band. I do tend to favor One In A Million and Used To Love Her, but will pass on, You're Crazy. It was never my favorite on the Appetite album in all of its heavy metal glory.

Though Lies isn't my least favorite album from Guns and Roses, it certainly isn't my go to either. Despite growing on me over the years, it doesn't house the sheer power that Appetite or Illusion (I and II) delivered. At the end of the day, when I put on a G'N'R album, I don't want to be swooned to. I want someone screaming in my face.

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Retro Spins: Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction

It's kind of almost a "gimme" posting about this album. I honestly didn't even have to listen to it because I know it back to back.

I remember playing the album for the first time on cassette tape while sitting on my bedroom floor in front of a boombox. It blew my young mind away from that first howl of Axel all the way to the final guitar riff of Rocket Queen, and quickly became the soundtrack for many of my young teen days.

Truth be told, I don't know how I ended up lucking into getting Appetite For Destruction. As I mentioned before in a prior post, my mom wasn't big on us having albums with Parental Advisory stickers on them. Whether she just wasn't looking, or for whatever reason, didin't care that day, I ended up with this fantastic cassette. As I listened to it, I remember looking over my shoulder towards my bedroom door, waiting for my mom to burst in shouting, "What are you listening to!" Somehow, that never happened, and from there, I was hooked on Guns N' Roses.

When an album is crafted so perfectly, can one honestly pick "favorites" from it? In my youth, that would have been a resounding, "No. Not a chance." However, in my adult years, I have to admit, I've grown a little tired of some of the songs, and others have been shuffled off to the "skip" pile.

Tracks like Welcome To The Jungle, Paradise City and Sweet Child O' Mine will forever remain classics. However, at this point in my life, they're a bit overplayed for my tastes. Meanwhile, songs like Mr. Brownstone, My Michelle and Rocket Queen are my go to tracks these days. The rest of the songs on the album, yeah, I remember them and they'll always be affiliated with fond memories. However, I don't tend to listen to them much.

These days, rather than live in the past for Guns N' Roses, I actually find myself wondering what the band will do now that it has a successful reunion tour under its collective belts. As of this writing, January 2019, there have long been rumbles of a new album, but so far, no sign.

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