Early last year I was delighted (though soon became very saddened) by the release of not one, not two, but three albums in those early months I was interested in.

The first to arrive, David Bowie’s Blackstar, was a delight but things got really sad really quickly when a couple of days after the release of the album Mr. Bowie passed away.

The other two albums I was interested in were released by heavy metal artists I’d been following many years, Megadeth’s Dystopia and Anthrax’s For All Kings.

I bought both albums and enjoyed them though I must admit neither album turned me on as much as some of the classic material either band released during their best years.

Nonetheless, I happily bought the product and was content to add them to my collection.

That is, until a friend pointed out Anthrax did a cover of Kansas’ hit song Carry On A Wayward Son…

I was intrigued with the son.  Anthrax did a damn good job of covering the song, IMHO, and I was interested in getting it.

Curious as to where I could pick it up I did a search of Anthrax tunes on Amazon, where I bought For All Kings and realized to my horror that this song, along with two others, was available on the deluxe version of For All Kings.

Now, why was this realization made to my “horror”?

Because I bought the “regular” version of the album through Amazon and was not aware a “deluxe” version was in the works or even released until a week or so ago, the purchase I made, which has 11 of the 14 songs on the “deluxe” version, is nonetheless considered by Amazon a completely separate entity from the “deluxe” edition.

Therefore, the three bonus songs on the “Deluxe” edition, Vice of the People, Carry On A Wayward Son, and Black Math, have to be bought separately.

Which would be OK except… you can’t do that.  Not all three songs, anyway.  Not through Amazon.

While I could -and did!- buy both Vice of the People and Carry On A Wayward Son for $1.29 a pop, the song Black Math is an “album only” exclusive.

In other words, if I want to get that last song, I need to buy the entire “Deluxe” album ($10.41 at this moment) to get it.  Which means I have to essentially re-purchase the entire “regular” album -and the two bonus songs I already purchased- to get that one extra song!

What kind of crap is that?!?

So I had to look around and found, to my delight, the song was available through iTunes.

So, its another $1.29 to spend…all in the pursuit of something I really wish had been made known back when the album was originally released in early 2016.

I know, I know…first world problems.