Top Recommendations From Shandi's Music
In the words of Casey Kasem, this is a "long distance request and dedication" for a few folks out at a record shop in Canton, IL. I made a trip to Shandi's with my friend Nick back in the summer of 2012 and I was hooked as a customer after purchasing a live Alice Cooper DVD/CD set that I didn't know existed. I returned for more Alice Cooper a few months later, but it wasn't until my purchase of a Union CD that I began to have a real bond with the guys behind the counter. Most of the bands making this week's list only released an album or two before they called it quits so it's difficult to actually list their own material, so this is a list of favorite songs that I've acquired through my Shandi's purchases. Thanks guys, and enjoy!
10. Alice Cooper "Fantasy Man" (Dragontown)
As I said my first purchase was an Alice Cooper live album, which I later returned for more. The next time was for the album Along Came A Spider and the guy behind the counter told me that since I have good taste, I'd be getting it "tax free", and also recommended Dragontown. I tracked it down, and though I'm not too big on the production of that album, there were a few gems. This one shows Cooper's trademark sense of humor, with lines like, "I don't read books, I don't French cook or stroll around in galleries. I hate opera, I hate Oprah, Don't fill my head with poetry."
9. Candy "Turn It Up Loud" (Whatever Happened To Fun)
The owner Bob sent me a message on Facebook and recommended a few bands to me but for some reason I overlooked those bands until I met Ryan Roxie before an Alice Cooper show. He told me I should've checked out his band Electric Angels, which used to be Candy before Ryan joined. I'm not nearly as much of a Candy fan as I am of the Angels, but there's still catchy tunes like this one.
After seeing Danger Danger perform in Pekin, another Shandi's employee Tad recommended the solo works of Ted Poley. It pretty much sounds like Danger Danger, with catchy hooks and cheesy lyrics, so I don't know why they couldn't just release this as an album with the full band. But I'll take more Ted Poley anyway.
The guys at Shandi's are all about customer service so much that they actually sold their store copies to me.
Bob will literally "go the extra mile for a customer" because he actually brought CDs I ordered all the way to a rock show and I was able to pay him there, rather than make another trek out to his store. He even gave me a burned copy of demos for the Angels unreleased second studio album, New York Times.
Blackfish was another band listed in that Facebook message and I later found the CD amongst the used section at his store. It's actually become one of my most played albums this year. The band only released one album but they seem to bridge the gap between the early 90's blues rock of bands like Cry of Love and the 90's alternative sound of bands like Soul Asylum and Candlebox. I think of them as 'Tesla if they were to go "alternative"', though Bob thinks that's a vulgar word.
Another Angels song and this one is my favorite from their only studio album. The early incarnation of Candy seemed to be a pop rock band, while Electric Angels were more like the hair metal of the late 80's, yet this track points ahead at their later sound when they became The Loveless.
On nearly every solo Alice Cooper album you're almost certain to find a ballad whether he's releasing a metal or glam album, it doesn't matter which genre. To me this sounds like Alice's take on writing a Beatles-styled song and the lyrics are typical Alice too.
I sought out the first album from Badlands after hearing a few tracks at a buddy's house during one of our nights of 'vinyl and alcohol', not knowing all of their albums were out of print. I really only wanted the first album since it had Eric Singer of KISS and Alice Cooper fame, although Bob would later burn the remaining albums for me. I was skeptical of Voodoo Highway, but its an entirely different beast than their self-titled debut, which isn't a bad thing at all.
Another album that wasn't something I purchased but Bob actually copied it for me and gave it to me among the batch of CDs I was getting from him at Rock N Skull last November. I really wanted the Angels at the time but ended up liking The Loveless much more despite it's lack of Ryan Roxie. This album really hits home for anyone who's went through a rough break-up and its among my favorites in the short time I've had it.
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