A trip (or two) to Best Buy.

We went to Best Buy to get the new Tool album and the new Neil Young album. Couldn't find the Neil Young album unfortunately. Perhaps it has been delayed. Neil wrote it only a month ago. (Actually I found out it is being shipped direct from the manufacturers as soon as a batch is complete, so Neil's website says to check with your local stores.)

Tool's new release comes with a book of stereo images and a pair of lenses that I couldn't get to work. Like many covers by Hipgnosis in the 1970s, this project looks like some kind of silly fine art that has nothing to do with the music inside. Makes it very hard to find the track listing or credits, which are buried in the booklet along with smallish pictures of the band members. They do appear to be humanoid in form.

While browsing around I found a Rhino Records reissue of the Todd Rundgren album Something/Anything? This is the double-disc set that got me into Todd in 1972. Fond memories washed over me, but I decided to skip it for now.

LWC said that I was talking about some artist last weekend and had said, "I never heard a song by the guy that I didn't like, I should buy an album some time." Neither of us could remember who this was. Somehow, after buying the Tool CD and in the parking lot, it all came together for me, and I remembered it was Billy Squier.

Back into Best Buy we go. I pick up the Rundgren album and get a Squier greatest hits disc. The Rhino reissue has all the original liner notes and photos, and the liner notes were pretty funny, so that is very cool indeed. The Squier album has all the good songs and a couple I didn't know which were not too bad. A little too much 80s synth pop on a couple, but all in all great solid rock and roll.