Back in the day… Way back… My best friend and I were always trying to one up each other with our vinyl purchases. We were always trying to find unknown bands that we had not heard of and present the album to each other hoping to impress 

My high school best friend, Bill, introduced me to a number of bands that I am still a fan of. Genesis and Judas Priest are two that stand out. We were always searching for the next great band.

Many times our searches would take us into “cut-out” bins. If you are unfamiliar with the term, a cutout bin is the bin or box where unsold items are sent for clearance as a last stop before the trash bin. You’ll find cut-out bins in comic book stores and book stores but the term cut-out is usually applied to vinyl album (record) stores because the album cover would get a notch cut out of the album cover to designate it was clearance. It pretty much declared the album was headed for the trash and ruining the album cover made it un-collectible.

Anyways. Powerhouse by American Tears was released in 1977. I believe I bought it during 1978. I don’t recall the store in Killeen Texas but I do recall it was in a cutout bin. I took a chance, a big chance, because the band had a keyboard player, and if you knew me back then, you knew I was not a fan of bands with keyboard players (Uriah Heep for example). I was.a straight ahead guitar guy so my bands were KISS and Aerosmith and Black Sabbath. Out of all the albums in the cutout bin, American Tears‘ Powerhouse looked to be the only rock oriented album. I think I bought it for less than a dollar, brand new with just a notch cut into the cover.

I listened to the album before presenting it to Bill and, surprisingly, I enjoyed the music. The songs were melodic and had catchy choruses. The album is still one of my go to albums to listen to on a Sunday morning. Bill didn’t really find it all that appealing. Bill had moved into bands like Budgie. Oh well. I still have the album and I still periodically put it on the turntable.

The band has put out additional albums with the latest being in 2020, but they never caught on. I’ve thought about many of the other bands Bill and I traded off on. always trying to impress each other. I plan to feature more of those albums in future Vinyl of the Month postings. For this month, reminding me of a fun time with a best friend that is no longer with us, I chose Powerhouse by American Tears for Vinyl of the Month.