More CDs for me!

Using some of the rest of my Borders gift cards:

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Jimmy Smith - The Sermon
John Coltrane - Blue Train

All three of these are Blue Note-label jazz albums. BMG doesn't carry as much Blue Note as they do Impulse!. They do have the Blue Train, but Borders was selling it for $9.99, so I figured I'd buy that and use the BMG free selection on something else (just like I did with the Queensrÿche, mentioned earlier).

Genesis - Nursery Cryme: Decided I needed a real copy of this. Don't know why.

Neurosis - Times of Grace: Described by AllMusic as "Tool for extremists". Not a terrible description, though they're not derivative of Tool. This is a SanFran prog-metal band (though not prog-metal in the DT-clone sense), that does the Tribes of Neurot side projects, etc.

Also, bought used:
Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (3rd album): Supposedly his best. His 4th, (sometimes called Security) is really darn good.


Anyway, yesterday, I pulled out my copy of Deep Purple's Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple. Uhm, damn. They're good. Listening to this now, it's so obvious why classic prog-rock sounded so natural to me when I got into it. After cutting my teeth on Jon Lord's organ solos, it was just a natural step. Yet, Deep Purple are more than just a mere stepping stone. It's interesting to see how they melded prog-rock tendencies with rowdy, raunchy (in tone, not necessarily in content) rockers. "Speed King" is a perfect example of this. Ian Gillian's vocals come screaming in "GOOD GOLLY said little Miss Molly / when she was rockin' in the house of blue light / Tutti Fruity was OHHHHHHH so rooty" etc. etc. And then, later in the song, you get this Hammond solo that interplays along with Blackmore's guitar.

Now, for a complaint. This compilation disc sounds like ass. ASS, I say. I never noticed it before. It's strange at how much more sensitive my ears have gotten to sound quality. This CD is from like 1980, so I imagine the new 25th anniversary remasters are better. I'm getting the remasters of Machine Head and Made In Japan for sure, from BMG.

My CD collection has grown quite a bit. Between Christmas, some vacation pillaging, and just some purchases on my own, I have lots of new music to listen to.

Christmas gifts:

Beatles - Revolver: Pretty darn good. A few duff tracks ("Yellow Submarine" is blah, and "Good Day Sunshine" can go as well), but some great stuff as well.

Stravinsky - "Stravinsky" (3CD set, SFSO w/Michael Tilson Thomas conducting): Haven't yet listened to this, but it was at the top of my Christmas CDs list. Spposedly a breathtaking recording of some great performances of three Stravinsky pieces. Grammy-award winning recording, and I've heard that it was actually deserving of awards (you never know with the Grammy's these days, but the non-commercial awards appear less tainted than the headlining ones).

Radiohead - Amnesiac: Have had a CD-R made from MP3s up to this point. Asked for a real copy to replace it with. Got one.

McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy: A jazz album that I wanted that BMG doesn't have.

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Stuff I bought on vacation (all used CDs):

Yes - Magnification: Wasn't looking to buy this, but when I saw a copy in the used bin, I couldn't resist.

Mr. Bungle - California: I haven't even listened to Disco Volanté enough, but I have heard that this album is great, so I went ahead and got it.

Hawkwind - This Is Hawkwind Do Not Panic: My favorite album title of all time. Don't know how much I like Hawkwind yet, but it was cheap.

King Crimson - Thrak: A decent album that I've had as MP3s up until now, decided a real copy was worth having.

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10 cent CDs (yes, the record store I was at had a bin of used CDs that each cost 10 cents):

Stone Temple Pilots - Purple: I was glad to see this in the 10 cent bin. I had a copy a long time ago, but gave it to a friend. Glad to have one back, for so cheap. The hit songs are definitely the best material on here.

Econoline Crush - The Devil You Know: The music computer at the store listed them as "industrial pop" or "industrial metal". Any time I see "industrial", I am intrigued. For 10 cents, it seemed like something to grab.

Jewel - Spirit: Because, well, you never know when I'll have a girl over at my apartment that likes Jewel. Though I'm bummed there wasn't any Lisa Loeb there instead....

Second Coming - Second Coming: Well, the cover looked kinda cool. Listened to one song while on vacation, and was instantly reminded of Alice in Chains. Come home, look at AllMusic, and wouldn't ya know, the name "Alice in Chains" is mentioned everywhere in the band's info. :) Hey, an AiC ripoff isn't the worst thing in the world. Worth 10 cents.

Juliana Hatfield - Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure: Not sure why I grabbed this one. Seen her name tossed around here and there.

Jesus Lizard - Blue: Who can resist noise-rock? Not me! Unfortunately, this isn't one of JL's "classic" albums, but is still supposed to be good.

Tal Bachman - Tal Bachman: Yes, of Bachman Turner Overdrive fame! Well, actually, the son of Randy Bachman. This is basically a '70s-style pop album with Hammond B3 and Moog on it. For 10 cents, I'll take anything with a Hammond, even if it's just to hear how bad it is (this is supposed to be OK though). I'm not expecting greatness, so I won't be disappointed. :)

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Post-Christmas gift certificate purchases:

Autechre - Tri Repetae++: I'm getting into interesting electronic artists.

Future Sound of London - ISDN: See above. This one actually features a little Robert Fripp too! :)

Robert Rich - Trances/Drones: One of the pioneering ambient artists, and this is his classic two complementary albums (now sold together as a single 2CD set).

Penderecki - Orchestral Works: A good recording of some of the best work of this 20th century composer.


Post-Christmas money purchases:

Tool - Ænima: I needed a CD copy of this!

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime: I was planning on getting this as a BMG selection, but when I saw it for $9.99 at Best Buy, I decided to just buy it and use the BMG selection on something that I can't get so cheaply.

mu-Ziq - Royal Astronomy: See Autechre & FSOL above.


I still have over $80 left of Borders credit, so there will be more to come. Trying to decide if I should have them order some stuff for me (I want Orbital's In Sides! And maybe some Acid Mothers Temple).

Stuff I've been listening to lately:

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: DT's new album isn't officially out yet, but has been leaked to various newsgroups and places like AudioGalaxy. I've downloaded a copy and have listened to it a few times. A few songs, like "Misunderstood", have made an impact, but for the most part, it's been pretty yawn-inducing. It's a two-disc album, and the entire second disc is one 40 minute title track suite. So far, it's pretty boring. :(

Yes - Magnification: Here's another boring album. I don't much want to talk about it (let's put it this way - I've only made it to the end of the album once so far). I will say, though, that anyone that wants to hear what strings and horns in a prog-rock band can sound like when done WELL needs to hear Townscream's Nagyvárosi Ikonok.

Fates Warning - Disconnected: Surprisingly good. I liked A Pleasant Shade of Gray, of course. This one's different - a bit faster and louder. But it's still outstanding. Descriptions like "a less-dark Tool" would not be too far off the mark.

Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite: A naive, charming album. I actually like Charlie Dominici's "mini-Geddy" vocals. And while the whole band look like dorks in their pictures on the back of the CD, there's some cool tunes here. "Ytse Jam" is nice, of course, but "Status Seeker" kicks as well. Not a great album, but a decent one, and it's fun to listen to sometimes.

Halifax Pier - The Halifax Pier: Oy. I've been saying that Global Communication's 76:14 is the best CD I've bought this year, but maybe this one is. Violin, cello, and dual guitars create sweet, depressing soundscapes. Me likey.

Latest BMG grabs:

Art Blakey - A Night in Tunesia
Henryk Górecki - Symphony #3 (London Sinfonietta, Zinman conducting)
Fates Warning - Disconnected
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica

Currently listening to the Fates Warning. I wanted the four of those pretty much in the order they're listed. But the Blakey and Górecki are known quantities to me, while the Fates Warning I don't know much about (I've been told that it's supposed to be as good as A Pleasant Shade of Gray, and I ordered it on the strength of that recommendation, so we'll see). It's a bit more up-tempo and overtly metal than APSoG so far, but it's nice (which is more than I can say for the new Dream Theater album, though that needs more listens too). We'll see how it measures up to APSoG in the end, but it seems like a good album, and so I shouldn't regret buying it (this was one of my BMG full-price purchases... so more freebies coming soon!).

If people actually read this site, and e-mailed me, I imagine that I would get an e-mail much like this:

"Hey, Legion! So whatever happened to that daily workout thing of yours? You quit that weeks ago, didn't ya? BTW, Mogwai rocks. Later!"

Well, Mr. Imaginary Writer, you could not be more wrong. I continue to work out on a daily basis. In fact, in the two months that I've been doing so (started on October 9th, and today is December 11th), I have lost an additional 30 pounds. Oh yeah, biznatch. Furthermore, I got my Christmas present - a Soloflex - a month early. So, in addition to the stationary bike, I weightlift now. I also take a short jog to cap off my workout.

Funny thing is, my parents have been observing this (I drive down to their place usually once a weekend, so they've seen me get thinner week-by-week), and so they turned their former computer room (which was vacated after I left, because the computer went into the freshly-open bedroom) into a home gym. So now they're going to copy the Legion Super Duper Exercise Plan.

What is "the Legion Super Duper Exercise Plan", you ask? Well, an ultra-brief recap for those of you tuning in late:

The Plan:
(1) WORK OUT.
(2) EVERY DAY.

That's all there is to it. The extra daily workload will force your body to make some serious adjustments. You'll burn calories, get firmer, and all that good stuff. It's not hard. I started with just a 20 minute stationary bike ride, every day, and went from there. The first 10 pounds came off faster than I could count! Eventually, it gets harder, as your body gets in better shape and requires more to get the same effect. Still, results happen FAST, and as long as you keep it up, they keep happening. And if you can make improvements in your diet, even just slight ones, it helps too. I don't know why I didn't do this years ago.

It should then come as no surprise that I'm dating a bit more now than I was before. Of course, that's partially due to just being in town longer and meeting more people, but I know for a fact that getting in better shape has helped.

So, while this semester has been a nightmare academically, it has been pretty good on other fronts.

I know one thing - I'll be walking the beach with my shirt off this summer! Six-pack or bust! (erm, waitaminute...)

"With a hired plane,
And no names mentioned.
Tonight's the night of the flight.
Before you know,
I'll be over the water
Like a swallow.
There's no risk.
I'll whisk them up in no moonlight.
And though pigs can fly,
They'll never find us
Posing as the night,
And I'm home before the morning."

-- Kate Bush, "Night of the Swallow"

I need to review The Dreaming for Progweed.net. It just might be one of the finest albums I own. This is what prog/pop can be when it's not self-consciously trying to be "prog".

Speaking of Progweed, two new (and not very flattering!) reviews of mine have been posted... one for the mediocre Edera, and one for the atrocious Lyle Holdahl. Don't miss the Holdahl one. :)

Heh. I heard Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under" on a classic rock radio station today, while I was working out (with my Discman finally dead, I'm having to rely on radio until I can replace it).

This world is spinning around me!

Don't know if I've mentioned it here before, but a few months ago, I instituted a personal policy in my music listening, where I acted on any musical impulse without question. What this means is, if I think I want to listen to something, I do so immediately. Now, listening to what you want to listen to may not seem like something all that notable, or even unusual. But what I'm talking about is on a more impulsive level. Like, if I get a song in my head, I will listen to it, regardless of what the song is. For example, Journey's "Separate Ways" and Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" have both burned their way into my skull in recent weeks. As a result, I downloaded them, and listened to them numerous times. If, for some reason, I feel like listening to a Whitney Houston song, I reach for my Pop MP3s CDR and toss it into my computer, no questions asked.

I had more to say, but it has long been forgotten, as I have (a) a Calculus test to study for, and (b) the LA Kings game is now on my TV.

On my way to my evening class, I was programming in some radio stations on my car stereo (since I rarely listen to the radio - way too many CDs for that - I didn't have everything programmed in). Well, while scanning to get to a certain station, I heard a classical piece playing. I stopped, and immediately programmed that station in to the stereo.

When I got to the university's parking lot, the piece was still playing. I had my Discman next to me, which I had planned on listening to in class (I had Slint's Spiderland and Red Stars Theory's Life in a Bubble Can Be Beautiful with me). Well, my Discman has an AM/FM tuner built in (why don't ALL Discmen have this? At least the new generation of CD/MP3 hybrid players are all incorporating it - about time!). So, I tuned into that station. However, unlike my car stereo, my Discman radio was picking up two, perhaps three different stations on that frequency (there was the classical piece, and a rap/rasta piece.... I also heard some jazz flute that wasn't part of the classical piece... I'm not sure if it was part of the rap-ish song or not). Anyway, as I walked to class (and a walk to class at a high-enrollment campus like Fresno State is a walk, indeed), the rap song would phase in and out. I'd get a few seconds of just the classical piece, and then a few with both playing. After a while of trying to tilt the Discman at various angles to pick up only the classical piece (with little success - it would make a difference, but not enough), it hit me to switch it from "DX" to "Local". That got rid of the rap song, but the classical signal was weakened (so instead of phasing in and out of the rap song, it phased in and out of a static haze). Still, it was better than before.

Anyway, I got to class, turned in my assignment, decided that I didn't want to sit in class (it's been a brutal past 10 days, with two hard mid-terms... I'm done for the week!), and so I headed back to my car. I was tired of not being able to hear the radio, so I put the Slint album in to listen to on the way back.

When I got back to the car, the radio station was no longer playing classical music. It was news. Turns out that it wasn't a classical station, but rather it was NPR. Darn. You know what I want? XM radio. For those that don't know, XM is the next "type" of radio, like AM and FM. It uses satellites to broadcast the radio streams. It is near CD quality (better than FM), and the programming contains far less commercials than AM/FM radio. However, it's not free... it's $10 a month, and requires equipment capable of receiving the signal. Apparently there's even a prog-rock station on the XM band, though it apparently focuses on '70s English prog (in the words of someone at RMP: "Yes, Genesis, Tull, blah blah blah..."). If XM gets cheaper, and if your "purchase" allows you to listen to it on all your devices (car, home, portable, etc), then perhaps I'll get it (I primarily want the classical and jazz programming... the prog one won't do much for me).

ARGH! Someone was selling Area's Crac! on rec.music.progressive, but another buyer got to it before I could. (insert vulgar explitives here!!).
I really don't want to pay $18 for a 38 minute album, but I may have to (heck, I should consider myself lucky - a few months ago, it wasn't available at all! I tried to buy it for $18 before but the dealer couldn't fill the order).

Scored some Japanese avant-rock goodness, in the form of Tipographica and Bondage Fruit's self-titled debut albums. $20 a pop. Crikey. I also have Koenjihyakkei's II reserved at Wayside for the same price. Damn those Japanese taxes... I'm tired of paying $20 for a CD, but no domestic label is going to release the material. It's not the vendor's faults, since they have to pay the high price to get the CD, and that has to be passed onto the consumer (especially when you're talking about low-margin specialty retailers like Wayside - God bless you, Steve Feigenbaum).

Anyway, I'm cruising the BMG catalog to load up on some more jazz albums, as well as classical. I'm strongly thinking of declaring January to be "Jazz Month", and listen to almost only jazz albums. At the very least, I will have a "Jazz Week", and perhaps a "Jazz Two Weeks". Thing is, I could spend days just on the Miles Davis Complete Bitches Brew Sessions and the John Coltrane Complete Village Vanguard Recordings boxes themselves.

I was at Borders a couple of days ago, and listened to a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade on one of the listening stations. In particular, the second movement (I forget the name) was great. I will be getting a CD of that piece from BMG (I've been cross-referencing the performances on the BMG CDs with comments at rec.music.classical.recordings, in order to separate the gems from the crappy ones... up until now, I've tried to get into classical by buying the cheapy CDs, but have failed to enjoy them - they tend to sound like they were recorded in broom closets). Especially when it comes to classical music, quality matters.

I may need to re-name this blog to "Adventures in Sonic Exploration".

What I'm pursuing now:

(1) Minimalists - Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass... the "big three" of minimalism, so to speak. I have very little exposure to the first and last of these, and have only begun my listening of Reich. I'm thinking that the best approach I can take to "classical" music is to start from the modern era and work backwards.

(2) Ambient House - Or "ambient electronic" or "ambient techno" if you prefer. Global Communication rocked my world, and now I need more. Currently listening to Electric Skychurch's Knowoness, which is nice but has vocals that I would remove from the album in a heartbeat.

In other news...

I was at a small '50s theme resteraunt this afternoon... just wanted a good chocolate shake. When I got there, the music playing on the PA system was the Angels' song "My Boyfriend's Back". Which, OK, is definitely a good time-piece tune, even though it wasn't actually released until 1963 (it seems to be a '50s music staple regardless of that fact). So, that one was fine. But the next song was the Village People's "YMCA". Wha? Now we're not even close. We're talkin' being off the mark by a full generation (25 years). "YMCA" wasn't released until 1978 - we're talkin' LATE '70s here.

Oh well. I can't say that I'm much of a fan for the early rock-and-roll of the 1950's, so I'm not exactly complaining. Still, if your resteraunt is ostensibly '50s, I would expect the music to be at least within a deviation of +/- 5 years. (Well, since they're not likely to be digging up any late '40s music, let's add the -5 to the front end, and just say to "keep it before 1970").

I listened to some Yanni today at Borders. It was actually kinda good at first. Then, I realized that the nice sounds weren't just an intro or an interlude, but rather that the entire thing sounds like that. Yanni seems to milk a basic sound to such an extent that the whole affair becomes muzak. Even in ambient/environmental stuff, the music needs to change, to deviate, to branch out... to breathe. Yanni seems to stick with "sounding pretty". Whatever. The same complaint can be raised of techno music. Some techno is nothing but a single driving beat, repeated ad nauseum. While most electronic music (at least, in my experience) is reliant on loops, there is a need to do something with the repetition.

One of these days, I will buy that Stravinsky 3CD set. The one that's conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. The one that won a Grammy award (and, at least in that area, the Grammies still hold at least some clout). The thing is advertised as 3CDs for the price of 2, but it's really not. Well, maybe in the "two separate CDs" sense, but it's more expensive than 2CD sets. In fact, it's more expensive than the 3CD Heavy ConstruKction set of King Crimson's. If it was actually the price of a regular 2CD set, I would own it by now. I'll probably throw it on a Christmas list.

It's been about half a month since I last wrote something here. Hmmph.

What's happened in the meantime? Well, I am diving head-first into the realm of electronic music. I picked up what is apparently an "ambient house" classic, Global Communication's 76:14. This sucker's great. It finds a middle ground between Steve Roach-style ambience and modern electronica (not unlike the middle ground post-rock (at least the "drone-rock" contingent) often establishes between ambient and rock). I do enjoy Steve Roach, but ambient with a stronger rhythmic presence tends to have a stronger effect on me.

It's starting to seem that space/ambient music has the potential to be even more near and dear to me than more "busy" styles of music like jazz or prog-rock. I guess it shouldn't be surprising, given that the space rock bits in Pink Floyd are my favorite moments from that band's canon of music.

This new direction will eventually push me to the borders of both techno and New Age. At some point, I expect to eventually encounter stuff in those realms that repulses me - thus establishing the borders of where my tastes in this field run. What remains to be seen is whether these borders exist on the outskirts of these genres, or whether they're well into the heart of the genres (or perhaps the borders don't exist at all - in which case, Present and YETI can expect to be joined by Prodigy and Yanni in my CD case soon).

Oh, and the new Mogwai EP is good. Not quite Rock Action good or EP+2 good, but it's Young Team good.

Last night, I went on a quest: find a used copy of a Loreena McKennitt album (preferably The Mask and Mirror, but any of her three final full-length releases would have been acceptable). Three record stores later, I came home with no McKennitt in hand. I did come close to buying the new Mogwai EP, but I wasn't ready to drop $8 on a 20 minute EP without hearing it - even though the band's most recent album, Rock Action, has recently become my favorite release of theirs.

Upon arriving at home, I ended up firing up BearShare (which has replaced Morpheus as the first music client I go to for fairly "popular" music, and is second only to AudioGalaxy for overall use) and downloaded the various individual tracks that comprise The Mask and Mirror. Listening to it right now... while I find myself wishing for a warmer, less "overt" mix (i.e. not having vocals or the main instrumental melody slap you in the face and overpower the rest of the music), I do like what I hear, and will continue trying to find any of her last three albums in the used bins (I sure found a lot of Brian McKnight when I was looking... sheesh).

Music moment for the day: Sitting in a chair at the Health Center at the university, Discman headphones on, waiting for the results of some blood work from the lab, listening to Tarentel's The Order of Things (specifically, "Ghosty Head", a Rickie Lee James cover) while reading the college newspaper's story about the rape awareness rally a couple of nights ago, and some of the stories retold there. The song in question is a quiet, piano and (very soft) female vocals piece. When listening to the song last night while driving, it seemed beautiful. When listening in the doctor's office while reading that newspaper story, it seemed chilling, frightening. The vocals, which had seemed so pretty before, seemed woundedly brooding this time. While it may not be Tori Amos' "Me and a Gun", it sure was close. It invoked the same mood and feeling, at least at that moment in time. What remains to be seen is if the song will go back to sounding "pretty", or if it will remain locked in the context of today's listen.

On a more upbeat note, I have continued my exercise routine to the letter. Not a single day's ride has been missed. As a result, I have lost 15 pounds since starting the exercise routine (which, when added to the 10 that I lost before starting, brings me to a total of 25 pounds lost since moving away from my hometown). I took an old bathroom scale from my parents' house, and have been tracking my weight daily. It sure is encouraging to see the number go down every few days.

Currently downloading the new Mogwai EP. Will give it a chance to earn an $8 purchase. If it can manage to be as good as EP+2 or the most recent full-length album Rock Action, then I will not hesitate to grab it.

Also discovered a new band from AudioGalaxy downloads, Halifax Pier. Yet another band on the Temporary Residence label. I'm going to have to start checking out artists specifically because they're on that label, because I keep finding cool new "post-rock" and other bands that are on TR.

Oh, forgot to mention... while shopping, I bought a nice detachable massaging shower head...

.......


.......


... stop looking at me like that!

Cleanliness is next to godliness!

Wow. I went to one of the outdoor shopping places in town tonight, and it was bustling with activity. There were snack booths set up outside of the stores, a sound system was set up with a DJ (playing classic rock mostly... I picked out a Beatles song and an Eagles song), couples eating dinner in the various resteraunts' outdoor areas... and it's a Tuesday! I guess I'm just not used to living in something that resembles a real town, having grown up in a crappy farm worker town and all. I think I'll have fun when I have someone to take to these places. With luck, it won't be too soon. If all else fails, I can always go back to Quizno's. ;)

I am starting to warm up to "dream pop" (or "ambient pop") a bit. Stereolab's Dots and Loops and The Sea and Cake's Oui reverberated off my apartment's walls today, in-between some Don Caballero. The Sea and Cake is just very... pleasant to listen to. While I can't see eye-to-eye with people that think it's a resounding masterpiece, it is (as AllMusic puts it) a "sophisticated pop album". John McEntire (of Tortoise fame) plays in this band, playing percussions and doing all the studio tricks and stuff. Woodwind instruments (clarinet, flute, sax) and a trombone augment the core guitar-and-keyboards sound. Pleasantly. :)

Observations from today's use of home chemicals and cleaners:

(1) Round-Up works fast. Them weeds turn yellow within an hour.

(2) Woolite carpet cleaner foam spray is magic. It did wonders for my car's floor mats, as well as the carpet by my front door (the trees around my apartment drop sticky berries during the summer, and so they would often end up on the bottom of people's shoes and create stains on the carpet). It now joins an elite pantheon of chemicals/cleaners that I call "magic" (previously, the title was held solely by Armor All).

(3) Krazy Glue (not really a cleaner or chemical, but it's my bloody blog, so it's my rules) has the amazing property of sticking to skin approximately 6 times better than it sticks to anything else. I couldn't believe how much trouble I have had glueing cleanly-broken pieces of plastic back together... can't get them to stick for the life of me, but boy, are my fingers stuck together firmly during the entire process!

(4) Related to number 2... three things every car owner needs: car polish, carpet cleaner, and Armor All. Along with a simple wash and vacuum, a dirty car can become a clean and fresh and shiny car with these three items. To really put it over the top, add Febreze to the equation.

(5) Body soap is divine. Drop your manly tough-guy act and get with the program.

You know how people will stand and pass out Bibles (or mini-Bibles) outside of colleges, grocery stores, etc.?

Well, I think it's high time that someone started handing out copies of Faust's The Wümme Years: 1970-1973 box sets.

Wonder if Recommended Records would be interested in donating some copies of the set for such an endeavor? I know Chris Cutler would have to smile at the idea... :)

I got paid today!

That's actually not a lyric... that's just something I cheered to myself earlier today. I have a chunk of disposable income (finally!) and can get some cool stuff for my apartment (and perhaps a Game Boy Advance... I find that I'm paying too much attention in lecture hall classes, and could use a diversion).

The first thing I did buy, however, was a copy of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless (been living off of MP3s until now). It's a good thing I didn't stop at Tower Records... might have raided the indie racks for some Neurot label stuff. I'll probably order some CDs from Wayside in the days to come.

Interesting... I mentioned the fact that I've lost weight here at the blog. Well, I mentioned it to some family, expecting some of them to be kinda surprised. Well, everyone (when asked separately!) all said that they've noticed already. Gee, if I lost enough that it's been visible to everyone, how about someone saying "hey, you're dropping pounds!"? And here I thought I was probably gaining some pounds during all that time.

On a different, but perhaps not altogether unrelated note, I think the girl working at Quizno's (sub sandwitch store) was hitting on me this evening. Nothing overt, but a sort of "I want to cozy up to you as much as possible in the span of 2 minutes". The giveaway hints were the fact that she pretty much desperately said anything to keep a conversation going (at one point, stooping to ask "Where's Jacksonville?" upon observing my Jaguars T-shirt, and turning that into a conversation). It was past 8:30pm, her shift was almost over, and while someone would normally be just be gettin' the last customers out of there and preparing to leave, she did everything to keep me around as long as possible. Sorry, sweetheart, but there are other girls I have my eye on (one in particular). It was kinda nice, though... I sure didn't mind the attention.

Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?
Remember how she said that we would meet again....

Why the Pink Floyd reference? Err, I dunno. The only Floyd albums I've listened to in the last few months have been Atom Heart Mother and Obscured By Clouds, neither of which contain the song that the above is taken from (that's from The Wall). This is just a random lyric that appeared in my head.

Listened to Tortoise's Standards, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's Io Sono Nato Libero, Sigur Rós's Ágætis Byrjun, and Cul de Sac's Ecim. The Tortoise, Banco, and Sigur Rós are all known quantities to me. The Cul de Sac was a bit new. It's a CD I've had for a while, but have only listened to once. Second impressions? Good but very uneven. There are great moments of Krautrock-influenced stuff, but other parts are lame or annoying (couple songs with painful vocals). Their most recent album, Crashes to Light, Minutes to Its Fall is much better - at least, that's my opinion, based on my one listen to it and my two listens to Ecim. Cul de Sac certainly deserves some more listens, that's for sure...

The symphonic rock drought continues. I've started listening to La Torre dell'Alchimista's self-titled debut album. It's one of the most highly praised prog-rock albums of the year, but it's not doing anything for me. The instrumental sections of a few of the songs are cool, but the vocals (*sigh*) leave much to be desired. There's also a disconcerting lack of distinctness... it sounds like a prog formula. They get compared to Solaris, but only the best instrumental sections remind me of Solaris. I'll stick with the real Solaris.

Maybe more listens will bring on a change of heart. I kinda hope so, because it's unsettling to be this cold to a very well-liked new symph-rock album. Plus the band will be at NEARfest next year.

Hmm. Looking through some Fresno local band gig listings, I spy a band called Sleepover Disaster, who list My Bloody Valentine and other "shoegazer" artists among their prime influences. Also compare themselves to Radiohead. Naturally, name-checking done by the band themselves always has to be taken with a grain of salt. It's worth mentioning that Radiohead is the only "popular" artist they list (don't know that I would call Catherine Wheel "popular" in the same sense). They play a gig next Friday night. I would normally frown a bit at a $7 cover charge, but that charge includes a free copy of their new CD (which isn't *really* free - it's most certainly in the $7 charge - but it makes the charge much more acceptable). I'll be there next Friday. I hope they don't suck. Sure would be nice to have a good local band to see live on occasion.

Another band, called Brand X Savior, mentions Tool and Alice in Chains as influences, but also lists a number of other metal bands like Pantera, which worries me. Many other bands don't even have anyone like Tool listed, but rather Slipknot, Staind, etc. etc.

Whoa... a band called Superfluid Helium 3 from Fresno is a spacey/droney/indie-pop band. This could be cool. Listening to some MP3.com samples.... wish the vocals were better. The instrumental song (their only one, according to the description) was quite good. Guys, it's OK to be instrumental. Especially if your vocals aren't that great. I'll catch this band's show too.

This has been a rough week, but it's over now. Actually, it was basically "over" after the conclusion of my Calculus exam. After I got home, I threw some music on. I listened to Edera's self-titled demo CD (reviewing for Progweed.net) and then Yes's new album, Magnification. The two were similar in that neither were distinct enough tt break through my mental dissonance and capture my selective attention. After (not) listening to these, I needed something distinct, and fast. I reached for my Faust box set. Problem solved. The Faust Tapes managed to do what boring orchestrations and neo-progmetal could not. God bless you, Faust.

I did listen to Stereolab's Transient Random Noise-Bursts With Announcements in the car today. That was nice. For music that basically defines harmonic oversimplicity, it sure is fun to listen to. A lot more so than the Yes album, that's for sure.

The Rachel's Selenography is another very good album of note. It's virtually neo-classical. It's hard to believe that this group contains members from the Slint-clone Rodan. It's link to rock is tentative (found mostly in the near-constant presence of a drum kit), but that link does make it sound like the recent album that it is, as opposed to something composed in the Romantic era. Of course, "indie kids" will listen to this and love it, but will never touch a classical record, because, like, that's so uncool. Too bad for them. I like classical, and I like Rachel's.

My Bloody Valentine's Loveless is amazing. Call it noise-pop, dream-pop, "shoegazing", whatever... doesn't matter. All I know is that they get a wicked sound down on tape. I found out at the band's entry at AllMusic that Loveless cost $500,000 to record - nearly bankrupting their label Creation Records. The money was well-spent, though, because this album has a sound that I haven't heard anywhere else.

Interesting discovery from going to the doctor's office today - it appears that I have lost about 10 pounds since leaving my hometown and moving out on my own. The interesting part is that I was sure I had gained weight - I had stopped exercising (previously worked out at my junior college), and I haven't been eating any healthier. I think the key has been that I have been eating less... no more of those big home-cooked dinner's of my mothers, nor the snacks she would keep the house stocked with. I won't make those same sort of meals for myself, nor do I buy many snacks, so I have just sorta been getting by with less food. This is encouraging, because logically, I should be able to lose weight at a much more rapid rate with exercise and a less fattening diet.

Blogger foul-ups have deleted TWO posts of mine (yesterday's and today's). I'll try to hit the highlights as best I can:

Yesterday's post:

(1) I started an exercise regimen with my stationary bike (see 10/6 post). I'm going to ride the bike for 20 minutes, 7 days a week. No excuses offered, none accepted. I will also be augmenting this with two-to-three days per week of weightlifting, as soon as I can figure out how to integrate it into my schedule (CSU Fresno's gym is only open to the general student body for very limited hours each week, so it will be a bit tricky finding the time to get there). The stationary bike, however, is in my apartment's patio/yard area, so that's always available. After a few weeks, I will up the ride time to 25 minutes, then to 30.

(2) Listened to an Einstürzende Neubauten album for the first time yesterday. Einstürzende Neubauten are one of the pioneering artists in "industrial" music, and is my first exposure to the heart of that genre. Interesting stuff. I look forward to seeing what else industrial music has to offer.

Today's post:

Yesterday (yes, I begin today's post with a mention of yesterday), I bought a frilly, doily shower puff (think "but Ironhead, what's this thingie?"). And I'm no less a man for it! I need something nice to keep my bod clean with (and though you would think the thing would be soft, it's actually about two steps away from a steel wool - though I imagine it will soften up a bit after being used a while). I also bought a back brush... that thing's only one step away from the steel wool. Those of you laughing at me, well, let's face it, you're so staaanky that I can smell you from here.

It has now been 9 days of symph-rock sadness. I haven't really tried listening to any new symph in these last couple of days, though. I did listen to Latte E Miele's Passio Secundum Mattheum today. It's a good album, one of the second tier '70s Italian symph albums. Listened to it in the car, until I walked into Subway to get a sandwitch for dinner. While inside Subway, I heard Starship's "We Built This City" on the radio. Upon returning to my car, I scanned the FM radio frequencies to find the station playing the song, and sang along the rest of the way home. It's OK, the Latte E Miele was almost over anyway.

Latest music discovery: a German jazz-rock (in the Isotope 217° sense, as opposed to the Mahavishnu-esque fusion sense) group called Kammerflimmer Kollektief. Isotope 217° is the immediate comparison, though Rob Mazurek's cornet is nowhere to be found. Instead, analog synths, static noise, and saxophones play the melodies (when there are some). The music does have the same percussion-centric style that makes Isotope 217° so darn cool.

Test

Drove down to my parents' house today (since everyone came up to visit me, it was time for me to head down there m'self). Took a stack of CDs, as usual. Among them was Hands Palm Mystery. I didn't get into this the first time I heard it, so I wanted to give it another shot. The verdict? Errrrmm...... still not really digging it. I understand that their self-titled 2nd album is better. Still, this one seems just like the Yezda Urfa that I recently acquired (Sacred Baboon)... they just aren't appealing to me very much. Is symphonic rock losing it's grip on me? Good instrumental symph still appeals to me much (like Pulsar's Halloween and Shylock's Ile de Fievre). But stuff with vocals is failing to grab me, outside of some of the faves like Gentle Giant. Classic Italian symph seems to be exempt from this, but newer stuff (like La Torre dell'Alchimista) does not.

So, let's run a counter. It basically started when the Yezda Urfa failed to "0wn" me when I first listened to it, one week ago. Sooooo... it has been 7 days since a new-to-me, non-instrumental, non-fave, non-classic-Italian symphonic rock album has "0wned" me. Let's see what album manages to break this funk.

Of the other CDs that made the drive with me, Henry Cow Leg End (original mix), Ui The Iron Apple EP, and Weidorje's self-titled all were pleasing.

As someone that listens to rather, err, "unconventional" music, I often have to be mindful as to how people around me will react to the music I listen to. A lot of music that I listen to basically has "prerequisite" listening (i.e. you should hear *this* band and *this* style of music before exposing yourself to this), and without exposure to those "prerequisites", the music can be irritating or downright painful. As such, I try to be good about what I play while others are around.

My parents drove up to my place last night, to bring me an exercise bike (which I have been waiting on for weeks now) and take me to dinner (w00t). Since they came in a pickup truck, and scurrying around Fresno crammed three-to-a-bench-seat didn't sound like a good idea, we all got into my car instead. And of course, my car = my music. I was nice, though, and just grabbed an Ozric Tentacles disc (Erpland). After dinner, my father inquired (halfway interested) about the CD (well, he just asked "Who's this?", but when he asks any question about music I listen to without appending displeasure to the initial comment, it means he is intrigued (and perhaps even "likes") what is being played).

Today, my best friend from my hometown came to visit me. He wanted to do some shopping in town, so we got into my car and cruised around Fresno. I took Turing Machine's A New Machine For Living and TOOL's Lateralus with us. He had a few kind words for the Turing Machine. When the TOOL came 'round, he commented about how it "sounded mainstream" compared to what he usually hears out of my collection. He enjoyed both discs, so it was all good. But next time, I'm pulling out the Koenjihyakkei. :)

Yes, I am posting in my blog more, again. The reason is basically that I have begun listening to more music than I have been for the last few months. I have resumed my ritual of laying down on my couch and putting on a couple of albums per day. I have some promos from Prete (Progweed.net editor) to listen to and review - currently working on the Edera self-titled demo disc (dramatic prog-metal with an annoying tendency to fill every waking moment with sound - no space to be found). I listened to a Tribes of Neurot album today, too. It's basically industrual/post-rock played by a metal band (Neurosis). Naturally, they have a habit of making their drones a bit "harsher" sounding than someone like, say, Neurot Recordings label-mates Tarentel.

I also found a little "Industrial Primer" article online today. It's not terribly good, but it gave me some bands to check out. I have become increasingly distant from the "prog-centric" musical viewpoint that I held a couple of years ago. Pure symphonic rock does less for me now than it did before - I find the smooth dronings of post-rock to be more "beautiful". Zeuhl still interests me greatly, as does stuff that is "different" (like Azigza). But a Prog Band (tm) is not too likely to get me worked up in a frenzy. A lot of people love La Torre dell'Alchimista, and while I have only heard two songs from their album, there's nothing there that makes me want to rush out and buy it. I do look forward to seeing then at NEARfest 2002... maybe they can win me over there.

Right now, I'm listening to Halloween's Le Festin, which is held by many as one of the better prog-rock albums of 2001. Unfortunately, it's not doing much for me. My biggest complaint would be the same one I hold against the classic French prog band Ange - the music is too centered around vocals, drowning out everything behind it. I do like some of the instrumental passages, though. Maybe it's a grower... I dunno, I keep trying to grow to like Ange, but I keep failing miserably...

Hmm. A subscription to Wire Magazine costs $85 (for 12 issues). Buying it at Tower cost me $6.95.

$6.95 x 12 = $83.40

Of course, a subscription comes with some bonuses (either sampler CDs or four extra issues, buyer's choice). Still, I would think the markdown should be way more than that. I will probably keep buying issues from the newsstand - $83.40 spread out is less of a hit than $85 at once. If I keep really liking the mag, I may subscribe and take the free issues. We'll see. In the meantime, I need to subscribe to Exposé and Audion. THOSE I know I want. Still, I want something that gears less towards progressive rock and more towards the indie/electronic scenes, and Wire would fit that niche nicely.

What should we do today?

Listened to Tortoise's TNT on the way to work/school today. Haven't dug that out in a while, but it re-affirmed why it is still my favorite Tortoise disc.

Later, after classes, I drove around running a few errands, and had Miles Davis's Bitches Brew in the CD player. Actually, the Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, CD #1. You know, I might end up buying the regular 2CD version of that album, despite having the 4CD box set. It's great music to listen to while driving (good jazz/fusion tends to be), but the box packaging is not very convienent for the car. Same with Magma's Trilogie Au Trianon - despite being a compact box, it's still not convienent. I like jewel cases because I can open them up, take the CD out, and put the CD into my car stereo without ever taking my eyes off the road. And here's a safe driving trick: when you have a bunch of CDs in the car and need to find a certain one, just grab one and hold it up next to your view of the road, and glance at it. You can see what it is, and not take your eyes off the road for any longer than you do to glance at your rear-view mirrors and such. If it's not the right one, then put it down and grab the next one. Might take a few tries, but it's MUCH safer than looking down and digging through them and not paying attention to the road. Don't hit me with your car!

Anyway, after all that, I went home. I was tired, and the couch looked inviting. I took this opportunity to listen to Tarantel's From Bone To Satellite. I need to get my booty up to San Francisco and see these guys play live. I missed an opportunity to see them and Zoviet*France (and meet a friend from rec.music.progressive) because my job started that week. But Tarantel is located in SF, so I should get a chance to see them. I wasn't seeing anything while listening to From Bone To Satellite, though, as I dozed off on the couch. When I awoke, I looked at the clock and noticed that my Physics class had already started. Whoops. Oh well, it wasn't an important day of class, so no big deal.

After swinging by my boss's house to pick up her computer (doing some maintenance work on it), I went driving around town. I had Fates Warning's A Pleasant Shade of Gray in the car stereo. Damn, but that's a hell of an album. It's one of the indispensable discs in my collection. I didn't much like it when I first got it, but back then, my notion of "prog" was musical gymnastics a la Dream Theater. Over time, that perception eroded, and the Fates Warning disc was given it's chance to shine. I think I may have told this story here before, but too bad. You get to read it again.

So, while driving in town, listening to Fates, I stopped at Tower Records. I was distraught when I noticed that not even Tortoise were in their "rock" section. I tend to judge music stores by their "indie" stock (after all, you can get Fleetwood Mac CDs anywhere). Well, after not seeing anything at all, I started looking for the jazz section. Maybe they at least had the Art Blakey album I want. Well, I looked and looked, and did not find a jazz section anywhere (despite a number of jazz artists, like Louis Armstrong, appearing in the budget bins). While searching, however, I found an "indie" section to the store. And what do you know, there was the Tortoise and Mogwai, and more. The Sea and Cake, Tarantel, even some prog-metal (Therion, Symphony X, and Zero Hour) were there. Woo! Also some electronic artists like Isis. Lots of San Francisco indie band lovin' (like Tarantel and Neurosis, but no Sleepytime Gorilla Museum... *sigh*). The sections were divided up by genre (rock, industrial, spacerock, metal, etc.) Well, I grabbed the Tarantel (their new album, The Order of Things) as well as a copy of Wire magazine (with the Japanese psych-rock band that I just read about at Pitchfork and downloaded an album of - Acid Mothers Temple). I've wanted to read an issue of Wire for a while now, and since their cover story is a band that I am very freshly interested in, now seemed as good of a time as any.

So I'm home now, listening to Tarantel and opening up the Wire mag.

I like Anekdoten... don't get me wrong. HOWEVER, the vocals on a number of tracks on From Within convince me that I too could be a vocalist on a real album. I couldn't be any worse than some of these.

In the liners of King Crimson's The Nightwatch, the sound engineer (David Singleton) says that the 1973 Amsterdam show represented on this 2CD set might have actually began with "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part I" rather than "Easy Money" (which is where the CD starts). However, the master tapes apparently lacked Larks' Part I, so it couldn't be put on the CD. Total bummer. I would've loved to have heard that. Guess I'll have to wait until I get a copy of the Great Deceiver 4CD boxed set.

I will spend next week (Monday through Friday) at Pismo Beach. Much like my last Pismo trip, I will have a small army of CDs with me, and will get some quality listening time in. I think I'll hit Borders and Best Buy and Tower Records this week. At the same time, I have a number of CDs that I have barely listened to (or not even listened to at all), and need to get to those.

I live!

Damn, it's been a month! My approximately tri-weekly posts disappeared for a full month. Why is that, you ask? Well, pretty much for the same reasons as last month's post: moving, becoming acquainted with a new city, etc. etc.

Odd musical obsession for the week: Spiral Architect's A Sceptic's Universe has continuously found it's way into my various CD players after months of absence. As someone that doesn't much care for metal (prog or otherwise), it's odd to enjoy an album like this one as much as I do. Things that would normally bother me, like the lead singer's occasional (well, maybe a little more regular than occasional) screetches and howls, don't really phase me on this record. The mixing job on this album is something that I specifically like. The bass is mixed up-front and cleanly, and thus doesn't get lost behind the rhythm guitar wall-of-sound (something that seems to happen on a number of metal albums - I don't know the last time that I specifically heard John Myung in a non-bass-solo part). Maybe the bass up-front mixing would be considered amateurish by some seasoned studio wizards. All I can say for sure is that *I* find it preferable to the more typical "where's the bass? It's in there!" metal productions.

I can not sing. However, that never seems to stop me from trying.

King Crimson's The Nightwatch 2CD live set has been a regular in my stereos as well. I sure do enjoy a lot of the Starless & Bible Black material sans-overdubs.

I want a cello. Maybe when I find a job and begin earning some money, I might buy myself one.

Everyone's copy of NHL 2001 should have the Alamaailman Vasarat "dittie" that I have customized in my own. Only in my virtual NHL arenas can one hear Vasarat, Ratt, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Whitesnake, Kenso, Quiet Riot, Deus Ex Machina, and Night Ranger in the span of a few minutes.

"Motoring! What's your price for flight?"

If I were granted only one wish from a magic genie, I would use it to secure my financial future for life and for the lives of my future offspring (and their reproductive achievements, and so on). But if I had TWO wishes, I would use the second one to get a lock of Steve Wilson's hair!

I bought the new remaster of Leftoverture by Kansas. The quality is good, but the disc raises a complaint about the inclusion of bonus tracks. Now, while I am usually a strong "bonus track advocate", the two lackluster live tunes that have been grafted to the end of this rather nice album really rub me the wrong way. I mean, they bite. The vocal performances bring tears of pain to my eyes, and the eyes of anyone within earshot. Certainly not all live Kansas could have been this poor? Surely someone has soundboard tapes of really good performances locked away somewhere. These selections sound as if those responsible for the CD's production just grabbed the nearest Kansas live tape and ran with it.

"Cum on feel the noize! Girls rock your boyz!"

"vox estote Vos: principes muti eae com sint, leges vos loquentes. Eis ex principiis perpetuis omnes homimum easus et actiones dirigenda!"

I was going to type more, but NHL 2001 calls to me.

These last couple of weeks, pursuing young women has taken a back-seat (no pun intended!) to a score of more pressing concerns. To be precise, I now have a university to transfer to (California State University, Fresno), an apartment (a 1-bedroom loft about two minutes away from CSUF, which I will be completely moved into after finishing my finals next week), and the ever-nearing end of my 4th and final semester at Porterville. After I finish moving and dealing with all of that crap, I will resume my regularly scheduled getting-shot-down-repeatedly. :)

Some new music bits:

King Crimson's Heavy ConstruKction is surprisingly good. I picked up a copy after some of the #progrock chatters insisted that it was a strong release. It's a 3CD live set, with the 3rd CD consisting entirely of improvs. Good stuff.

Tortoise's Standards and Mogwai's Rock Action have grown on me quite a bit. I was pleasantly surprised to see both of these CDs featured at Borders. The Borders mini-blurb called Standards "... perhaps their most accessible offering to date", which I had to chuckle at, because it strikes me as being rather inaccessible compared to TNT or Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Not that I would call Standards "inaccessible" on it's own, but as it relates to those two, yeah.

Magma's Theusz Hamtaahk box set is a wonderful little package. I must shamefully admit that I don't own the studio Wurdah Itah, nor do I have Retrospectiw I-II for the first released performance of "Theusz Hamtaahk". I do, however, have Mekanik Destructiw Kommandah. The version from this box set seems to have rather weak brass hits, but the drumming is sufficiently powerful.

NeBeLNeST's self-titled album really does something for me. I guess I just have a thing for spacey jams, but a lot of bands in that vein fail to do it for me. Needless to say, I eagerly, eagerly, eagerly await NeBeLNeST's Bob Drake-produced sophomore effort.

Iona's Journey Into The Morn.... got it from BMG... y'know, I like this album a lot more than I ought to. I probably should hate it. But instead, I've walked around for entire days, singing "WiiiiiiiIIIIIIIiiiissdom!" to myself... (God descends over Legion, looks down, laughs, and shouts "All your soul are belong to me!")

Some recent grabs that I haven't listen much to yet:
Thinking Plague - Early Plague Years
King Crimson - Epitaph (2 CD)
The Science Group - A Mere Coincidence
... and about 5 more I can't think of right now. Right now, my room is a mess of boxes, papers, and more boxes (as mentioned above, I'm moving into my own apartment in Fresno, so I'm packing and moving most of my stuff now, and then will only have to move a few things after finals).

"WiiiiiiiIIIIIIIiiiissdom!"

An interesting side note: a group of us at rec.music.progressive have decided to start a prog concert bootlegs group. Basically, we're going to work with some serious prog show tape collectors, and transfer their tapes to CDR (cleaning them up in the process), and then distribute the CDRs among our group (as well as to the tape collectors). Anyone interested in possibly participating is urged to e-mail me (see "E-mail *Legion*" link to the left). We're setting it up so people without tape transfer or CD burning equipment can still participate.

This week has, for the most part, sucked. Of course, every week leading up to the end of a semester sucks. It's just straining, that's all. Anthropology test, Psychology paper, Creative Writing story, and Calculus. Not fun.

Music, however, has been great this week. I really "clicked" with Birdsongs of the Mesozoic's Petrophonics, Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s f#a#(infinity), and Supersister's Present From Nancy this week. I had liked each of them prior to this week, but they each took on a new and higher meaning after being listened to this week.

I've been downloading a lot of bootleg MP3s. Jaco Pastorius, Dream Theater, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Do Make Say Think, National Health, Miriodor, and A Silver Mt. Zion live bootlegs all now reside on my PC (soon to be archived to CD-R).

Currently listening to Magma's Mekanik Destructiw Kommandah. TOO COOL.

I bought five classical compilation CDs today. I wasn't looking to, but Wal-Mart had the audacity to sell them for only $1.96. One of them is a Tchaikovsky comp, one's a Beethoven comp, one's a Mozart comp, and the other two are piano comps with material from varying composers. I'll most likely replace them as soon as I become a "serious" classical collector, but they're welcome for now.

As for the girl mentioned last week... I'm thinking about biting the bullet and calling her up tomorrow.....

(this message was posted Saturday afternoon, but was written Friday night - all mentions of "today" mean Friday. Blogger's server was down when I tried to post this Friday, so I had to wait until the next day).

OK, today's morning ride music was Atlas's Blå Vardag, wonderful instrumental symphonic Swedish prog. Helped get me in a good mood, which got me through my Calculus exam that morning.

This evening, I attented a lecture at the college about forensic anthropology. I noticed when entering the lecture, there was a track meet going on at the stadium. It wasn't a college meet... it was a high school meet.

Now, let me rewind a few weeks. After an evening class a few weeks ago, my parents called me and told me to come to the stadium to see one of my cousins in the meet. I declined until they upped the offer to a good dinner as well. So, I go to the meet. I'm watching, bored, when this girl (one of my old high school's track team's members) comes up to me. She asks me if I remembered her....

Rewind two years. Senior year in high school. Trigonometry class. I sit next to this girl, who is a sophmore. I'm 17, she's 15. I think she's cute, but mostly she's just a real nice person that I consider a friend. Plus, she's not allowed to date until she turns 16 anyway (which is later that year, but perhaps too late). And I don't have a car yet.

Fast forward back to this year. My little brother is a freshman at that high school, and this girl is a senior. Both are involved in a "mock trial" club on campus, so she's sorta in touch with the family.

Fast forward back to the track meet. These last two years have treated her well. She was cute then, but she's much prettier now at 18 (she fared rather well, as I recall, in an area beauty pageant). She's asking if I "remember her" (like I could forget). I'm pre-occupied with thoughts of the other girl discussed here before (you know, the one that already had a boyfriend... boy, don't I pick 'em good). I have a friendly conversation with her, but my family (immediate and cousins) are right there too, so I'm not going to be saying too much. Plus, again, still planning on asking out that other girl. I was curious about the fact that she (the track girl) would come up to me out of the blue during her track meet to talk to me...

Fast forward back to today. I'm getting out of the car, and heading to the lecture. I hear the meet going on. I need to attend the lecture, but I bet that the meet will still be going on in an hour (when the lecture ends). So I go into the lecture, and plan on heading out to the stadium afterwards.

Lecture ends. It's raining outside now. The meet is still going, though. I enter the stadium. I hear the girl's name called out over the loudspeaker (reading off the results of an earlier event). However, try as I might, I couldn't find her. As I left the stadium, I noticed that many of the athletes were getting out of the cold by sitting in the school buses right outside the stadium. Considering that the two local school buses appear to be nearly full, I conjecture that she's on one of those buses. I'm in no position to go trampling through a school bus (especially since I'm not sure what I'd do when face-to-face with her... who knows, maybe she's just being friendly, she might have a boyfriend, but it's rare that I get that sort of treatment from a female friend that isn't interested in possibly being something more. But it could easily be nothing more than a "hi, we were friends, now I'm in a club with your punky little brother, how're you doing, been a couple of years, etc. etc." conversation. She is a very friendly person (which is kind of the whole appeal). I'm under no illusions that she's "definitely" interested, but I would like to get the chance that I robbed myself of by never saying anything to her... geez, I can't believe I hadn't thought of saying something sooner. Something unique about her is just the fact that she is so likable and honest that I'd trust her with pretty much anything. There are very few people on this planet that I will unreservedly trust... but I just don't see an ounce of deceit or dishonesty in her. A heart of pure gold).

Music Moment of the Day: Driving home from the college/stadium. It's nighttime now, and pouring rain. There's not much traffic, so it's a pretty easy ride. Listening to Atlas's Blå Vardag again. On track 5 (the last one of the album proper, before the bonus material). Left elbow against my car door, left hand propping up my chin. Wondering why the hell I didn't think about asking out this girl 1-2 years ago. In fact, I can think of no less than two (and perhaps as many as four) girls that I should have asked out but didn't. It wasn't that I was afraid to, or that I didn't know them well. On the contrary, it was because they were "friends" and I either was afraid of losing that, or simply didn't think of them "like that". It reminds me of that Survivor song, "The Search is Over":

I was always reachin', you were just a girl I knew / I took for granted the friend I have in you / [...] / the search is over / You were with me all the while"

That's just it. These were "just girls I knew". But, as I approach my departure from this place, I'm seeing some failures in my time here. Like, I can't possibly come up with a single reason why I would not want to date the track girl. Beautiful, intelligent, definitely fun to be around... nope, no reasons not to. Out of all the "friends" I could/should have considered asking out, this girl stands out.

(Of course, the question now arises... with perhaps as few as 6 weeks left in town, why consider pursuing her now? Well, at the least, I want to know where she's going to college next year. I might end up near her. I could be in San Jose, which would be near anything in the Bay Area. I could be in Pomona, which is Los Angeles. And I could be in Fresno, which is just an hour from here. Now, don't take that as meaning that I might base my decision on where she is. But I would like to know, because if I'm going to be near her, I won't waste any time. And, to answer the above question in another way, I guess I just feel like I screwed up and missed an opportunity, and want to correct the situation regardless of logistical issues).

ARGH! I almost hope that I get a chance to talk to her, and ask her out, and get shot down, just so I won't feel like I missed what could have been something good.

Amazing... I continue to find new and creative ways to make myself feel like s--t.

Hmm. Perhaps I should just stick to writing about music here.

I was reading an article that dissed "indie kids" (you know, the social misfits that dig "indie rock" bands and find themselves and their music superior to anything and everything played on the radio), and one of it's many slightly-tongue-in-cheek points was:

"Indie kids like experimentation, but not too much experimentation. They like extremity, but not too much extremity. They like songs, but they like them to be a bit shy and fuzzed-up and nervous and not too songish. Best of all they like bands which sound comfortingly like the other ones they already know are cool."

This could easily be applied to the "prog" community on the whole. I always shake my head at these fans that claim that they love prog because it's "complex", (and "different", and not chained to the strict pop-song format), and then list their favorite bands: Flower Kings, Spock's Beard, Pendragon, Cairo, Arena, Jadis, etc. Prompt these neo-prog fans to listen to some of the more avant-garde prog bands (not even RIO or zeuhl, but just something more "avant" than neo-prog), and they cover their ears and run. Why champion prog for it's "complexity" if you're only going to worship at the feet of those who create it's simplest music?

Actually listened to some classic rock radio yesterday. Among the highlights were Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine", a Jethro Tull song that I did not recognize (might have been an Ian Anderson solo release), and especially Van Halen's "I'll Wait". Here's a song that the Best Of.... Volume 1 compilation missed out on. I wonder, is Volume 2 ever going to be released? EVH claimed it was all lined up when they released the first one - it was just a matter of actually doing it. Given how well the first one sold, it's puzzling why the second one has yet to follow up.

Then again, in 2000, a Van Halen boxed set, Van Halen Box 1978-1984 was released, but it appears to be available only as an import. BMG doesn't have it (argh!), and the only one Amazon lists is as an "[IMPORT]" and is priced accordingly (Amazon's import pricing is terrible). [UPDATE: The boxed set is a Japanese only release.]

Like The Who, I'll have to load up on Van Halen single CDs instead of box sets. Too bad... I like box sets.

Been a while since I've posted. I've been on Spring Break, although I haven't gone anywhere. Rather, I have been catching up on some much-needed rest. By the week before break, I was pretty constantly fatigued. I'm feeling a bit better, and am ready to finish up the semester.

Let's see, new CDs... oh yes:

The Who - Who's Next
David Tohir and his Backbone - Angels Dancing in Virga
Deus Ex Machina - Equilibrismo da Insofferenza
NeBeLNeST - NeBeLNeST
Charles Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
Chick Corea and Return to Forever - Light as a Feather
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come

I have barely listened to these. You see, for the next week or so, I am instating a policy of only listening to MP3s when at home. I download so much, but a lot of it just sits there. So, for the time being, I am going to listen to MP3s when at home, and CDs when in the car and on foot.

Today, when sitting outside at a shopping center, I was drinking a Coke and listening to the radio that was being played for the seating area. The music mix was interesting. There was some pop, naturally, but then a Steely Dan tune played, and I didn't recognize which one. Furthermore, after that song, a Pink Floyd song played. That in itself was pretty interesting, but what caught my attention was the particular song. It wasn't one of the hits from Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here, or even A Momentary Lapse of Reason or The Division Bell. I was able to identify the song as being something on Meddle, of all albums. I couldn't figure out which one (until I got home, and found out that it was "San Tropaz"). Very interesting choice.

My brother handed me a CD today and said that he thought it my by "up my alley". The album, Grandaddy's The Sophtware Slump, is apparently one of the more hyped-up "indie" releases of the year. In essence, it's ambient pop (though not quite "ambient") with a clear Radiohead influence. They also at times reminded me of Stereolab, with digital sequencers in place of Stereolab's twinkly vibraphones. Imagine the Radiohead songs on OK Computer and Kid A where Thom Yorke comes the closest to actually "singing", and add distorted guitar (occasionally math-rock like) and the sequencers, and that's pretty close to this album. My biggest complaint is that the singer will just not shut up. The best moments on the disc are easily the ones when he's not singing. On some tracks, he's pleasant, but mostly I'm annoyed. I do have to say that I'm pleased with this in terms of how it applies to my brother - musically, it's far more substantial than Blink 182, Limp Dickz, or pretty much any of the bands mining the leftover ruins of grunge. It's also not 5 seconds of the same snippet of music repeating (as found in much of what's called "techno"). Pitchfork Media's review of the album was a little more positive than me (mostly they just bitched about it being similar to Radiohead - which is only partially true).

Hmm, this final track of the album sounds like it has mellotron on it. Probably a synth with a "strings" patch, but the mellotron effect is nice regardless.

Actually, it just got better. This last track, "So You'll Aim Toward The Sky", is probably the best one on the disc. I'm hearing a mellotron in the left channel (as well as perhaps some real strings? Maybe another synth effect), and a cello in the right. I doubt that either are "real" (though the cello sounds fairly authentic, although it's a bit low in the mix to tell), but it's an excellent effect regardless. The vocalist isn't overpowering the "mellotron" and "cello" in the mix, thus making him much more bearable. :)

Anyway, onto my new stuff. Species Being's Orgone Therapy is a 52 minute album consisting entirely of improvised instrumental prog-rock. Despite being entirely improvised (no overdubs, either), the music is very tight. Surprisingly, the band never treads into overly-wanky territory (too often the result of extended improv - see Liquid Tension Experiment's "Three Minute Warning"). It's a guitar/bass/keys/drums quartet from San Francisco, and I'm watching their show schedule for SF show dates. An improv band this good has to be amazing live.

Mogwai's Young Team, of course, is outstanding. Not that this is news, as I've had the entire album as MP3s for some time. But I had to have the album itself. While EP+2 is still my favorite Mogwai release, this one's not far behind. I look forward to the new disc, Rock Action.

And Miles, well, Miles owns. The first two discs of this Complete Bitches Brew Sessions box set are phenomenal. They contain most of the original Bitches Brew album, and the rest appears on the last two discs along with a bunch of stuff that was recorded along with the original album. It's wonderful. I haven't felt quite that strongly about the other two Miles Davis discs I just got, but then again, I've only heard each of those once (and I had Complete BB Sessions as MP3s for a while - though only listened a few times). Where once there was not a jazz collection, now there is one. I can only imagine what trying to listen to the 8 CD Coltrane set and the 6 CD Miles Davis set will be like. That'll probably happen over a period of months, which is just fine by me. It's going to be a mass swirl of jazz, progressive rock, and post-rock on my CD changer and car deck.

Oh, and while this isn't related to new CDs of mine (but I'm typing it here anyway, because this blog is written in stream-of-consciousness, whether you like it or not), Kenso's Ken-Son-Gu-Su is nothing short of amazing. The performances are incredibly tight, and the band does so well in tinkering with their compositions live. They'll take them on the edge of getting "out of hand", and then come slamming back. Very similar to their ProgFest 2000 performance (basically the same setlist, and this was recorded only a few months before the ProgFest show - and was first released domestically at that show). I'd kill to see them live again. I was completely unfamiliar with their material at ProgFest and it still knocked me on my ass and continued to kick me while I was down. This CD was easily worth the hefty $25 it cost.

Being a music collector makes the daily trek to the mailbox an adventure. Heck, these days when I go to the mailbox, the first thing on my mind is "any new music arriving today?", leaving "did I get accepted to (insert college here)" as a secondary concern. :)

More new stuff today:
Mogwai - Young Team
Species Being - Orgone Therapy
Miles Davis - The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions

I bought the Mogwai at Borders... I was very surprised and happy to see most of the band's catalog (including the earlier Jet Set Records releases) there. They lacked the new Rock Action album, but oh well. On a similar note, the new Tortoise album (Standards) was not only available at Borders, but was one of their featured albums... up on the top racks and hooked up to one of their headphone sets. Go post-rock!

Music moment of the day: Driving through a very heavy rainstorm, listening to Young Team. Mogwai, or at least early Mogwai, could be thought of as a metaphor for a rainstorm... the calm, serene drones juxtaposed against the fierce and violent climaxes. Oooh, there are the pretty clouds overhead... just passing by, no rain falling yet.... but uh oh, there's a drop... and now here's the dounpour! But eventually the downpour ends and the clouds still remain, and it's back to calm.

Currently listening to the Miles Davis - Disc 1. It's wicked cool. The packaging for the box set is similarly cool. The "box" is actually a sleeve for a mini-book, which houses the CDs as well as a ton of information and pictures. The booklet seems quite sturdy (hardcover, metal binding, etc), so it should last. I'm pretty pleased. Clearly, this set earned the Grammy that it won.

Music moment of the day: Pulling out of my driveway on my way to go workout, Thinking Plague's "Dead Silence" (from In Extremis) playing their oddly dissonant-yet-beautiful sounds that seem to have something in common with the gray clouds over my head (yes, another cloud-related moment). On a side note, I can't imagine an album having an album cover that more accurately depicts what's on the CD than In Extremis's cover: a desert twister over a dull (and not clearly defined) landscape. To download an MP3 of Dead Silence, click here: Thinking Plague - Dead Silence (4:00, 3.84MB)

A few new BMG arrivals today:
Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch

Only listened to In A Silent Way so far, but it was very nice. I'm also chewing my way through that four-disc Coltrane Complete '61 Village Vanguard Recordings set, and some of my Djangos order (particularly the Cuneiform discs: Birdsongs of the Mesozoic's Petrophonics and Volapük's Polyglöt, as well as the not-on-Cuneiform-but-the-band's-later-albums-are Thinking Plague's In This Life). Good stuff. Also revisiting some of my older Cuneiform discs (Univers Zero's 1313, Thinking Plague's In Extremis, Miriodor's Jongerlies Élastiques (Elastic Juggling), Djam Karet's The Devouring, and Boud Deun's The Stolen Bicycle). Cuneiform tends to focus on "avant-rock"... the more cutting-edge progressive rock bands. A lot of Cuneiform's bands are RIO (rock-in-opposition) bands, which often features dissonance, unusual instumentation, complex/unconventional song structures, and everything but the kitchen sink (and the best of it manages to stay beautiful and even melodic). Not all of their stuff is RIO, though... Djam Karet is more like instrumental Pink Floyd but with better players, and Boud Deun is strictly fusion. One thing that Cuneiform is almost universally, however, is "good". I can't think of another prog label that is as consistantly good as Cuneiform. Musea has a lot of good stuff, but lots of crap too. Inside Out and Magna Carta have more crap than good stuff. Mellow Records is probably in the same boat as Musea. Cyclops... I think Cyclops is 100% dreck. Maybe there's some good unknown bands on there, but the flagship bands are bleh. Hmm.... Vinyl Magic re-issued a lot of good Italian stuff, but re-issued some things best left untouched. Laser's Edge is underrated, but not quite Cuneiform. Hmm.... that's about it, everything else I can think of is either independant releases, big-label releases, or labels that only carry a handful of bands (and a good number of prog bands fall into one of those three). Regardless, Cuneiform deserves praise. I'm confident that I could buy random Cuneiform discs and not get something that was utter crap. Undoubtably I would like some more than others, and some I might not like at all, but nothing would be wretched. Way to go, Steve Feigenbaum (Cuneiform label head).

Music moment of the day: Driving home from my night class (well, more like late afternoon/dusk class since the time change), I was listening to Birdsongs of the Mesozoic's Petrophonics. As I drove on the rather light-traffic freeway, I noticed the clouds in the distance were a purple hue, and the few slivers of clear sky not obscured by the clouds were a light orange-ish color. Remarkably beautiful. In my rear-view mirror, I saw the clouds coming down over the mountains in the east - these clouds were much more darkly colored. As I turned off the now-somewhat-rural highway and headed back into town, I noticed the sky to the north was something of a balance between the two - moderately dark, blue clouds. The key to this whole light vibe was the Birdsongs music. Had I been listening to Yeti or Magma, I would not have been in the frame of mind to notice the colorful skies. What I would give to have some of those images captured and turned into a couple of small posters...

Yay! Lots of stuff arrived today!

New arrivals:
John Coltrane - The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (4 CD)
Soft Machine - Volume 2
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Petrophonics
Faust - Faust IV
Faust - Faust / So Far (2-on-1)
Thinking Plague - In This Life
Volapük - Polyglöt

The Coltrane is, of course, the first of my BMG CDs. I'm listening to Disc 1, and so far it rocks (jazzes?). I think I'm really going to dig this. Haven't listened to the other new acquisitions yet. I'll have lots of music listening notes in the next few days. :)

OK, I've figured out my BMG plan of attack (items that have already been ordered are in italics).

Account #1:
First 7 free:

John Coltrane - The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (4 CD)

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Miles Davis - In A Silent Way

Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch

Pay for one:

Cream - Those Were The Days (4 CD)

Last 4 free:

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin Remasters (4 CD)


Account #2:
First 7 free:

Miles Davis - The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (4 CD)

Chick Corea - Light as a Feather

Charles Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus

Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come

Pay for one:

Deep Purple - Made in Japan (2 CD deluxe edition)

Last 4 free:

Led Zeppelin - Boxed Set II (2 CD)

Deep Purple - Machine Head (2 CD deluxe edition)


Account #3:
First one free:

Miles Davis - The Complete Birth Of The Cool

Pay for one:

The Who - Who's Next

Last 9 free:

John Coltrane - The Classic Quartet: Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings (8 CD)

The Who - The Who Sell Out


Account #4:
First 7 free:

Alice Cooper - The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper (4 CD)

Jeff Beck - Beckology (3 CD)

Pay for one:

The Who - The Who By Numbers

Last 4 free:

Eric Clapton - Crossroads (4 CD)


Account #5:
First 7 free:

Miles Davis Quintet - The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (6 CD)

The Who - Live at Leeds

Pay for one:

Jethro Tull - A Passion Play

Final 4 free:

The Police - Message in a Box (4 CD)


You'll note that in one of my purchases, I'm actually buying the Cream box set instead of a single CD. Why? Well, the set is only $22.49 - a few bucks more than a $16.98 single CD selection. Rather than have the Cream set take up four "free" selections, why not pay $5 more and retain those free selections for something else? Likewise, I saved an additional "free" selection by making one of the Deep Purple 2CDs a "purchase". I could save an additional selection by making the other DP 2CD a "buy", but I'm very much stretching my budget as it is. But the end result will be a music collection that's 63 CDs larger. Hopefully, no unexpected price changes or changes in availability occur over the course of this. I'm going to swiftly order everything, make those purchase selections, and order the final freebies, in hopes that I can pull it off as outlined here.

Upon further research, it turns out that the 4 CD Led Zeppelin Remasters set and the 2 CD Boxed Set II include all of the studio material that appeared on Zeppelin's albums. This would provide a wonderful alternative to getting each album individually and in less-than-excellent remastered forms. Sadly, these do not have the songs in the original albums' track orders. However, Jimmy Page claims that he put a lot of thought into the track orders and made the songs flow smoothly like an album. It turns out that BMG carries the Boxed Set II as well as the 4 CD Remasters set. Sooooooo.... I think I'll get these.

Ooh, BMG also has the Cream Those Were The Days 4CD box set! That set is like the ideal box set. It features each of the albums in their original order, with non-album singles ("Wrapping Paper") and some alternate and unreleased tracks splitting the albums up. This strikes me as an interesting way of doing a box set. I'm not sure if it's preferable to just putting all the bonus material at the end, but as long as the original albums are presented in their original (complete) form, I don't have a problem with it.
The first two CDs present all the studio material from the band's albums (and also the bonus material). The second two CDs are live tracks segued together to, as AllMusic put it, "attempt to recreate the "ideal" Cream concert". Sounds interesting to me! I almost picked up this box set from Wal-Mart once, but lacked the cash. I'd say this is now one of my top BMG box set priorities.

Hmm... what else might BMG have to offer? They have the Santana 3CD box set, but I already have that baby. BMG has the 2CD deluxe editions of Deep Purple's Made In Japan and Machine Head..... hmmmmmm..... those would be cool. Oh, and they also have the excellent Jeff Beck Beckology 3CD box set. There are a couple of Doors box sets, but The Complete Studio Recordings is 7 CDs (too much - I won't dedicate that much of my BMG resources to the Doors) and Box Set is 4 CDs but mostly made up of "rarities" and live tracks - in other words, for completists only. The Grateful Dead What a Long Strange Trip It's Been 2 CD set looks cool, as does Europe '72. No Beatles or Hendrix sets, which is a total bummer. I thought for sure that The Jimi Hendrix Experience or The Experience Collection 4 CD sets would be available, but noooooo. The Moody Blues Time Traveller 5CD set is available, but not good enough for devoting 5 freebie selections to. I would like a good Moodies 3 CD set but there does not appear to be one.

Hmm... do I really want the Journey Time 3 3 CD set? Hmmmmm.... maybe, despite the fact that the 3 CDs are not in fact 180 minutes of alternate takes of "Open Arms".

I think I want the Cream, Beck, and two Deep Purple sets (and maybe one of the Dead), in addition to the ones I listed in my other entries for today. I'll get them all between the rest of my BMG memberships at this address, and the ones I'll get when I move. These box sets - not to mention the LPs I'm buying - will give my classic rock collection a much-needed shot in the arm.

Hmm... looking more closely at the Who box, I think I might do better getting other Who items instead. Who's Next, The Who Sell Out, The Who By Numbers, A Quick One, Live at Leeds, Live at the Isle of Wight, and even the BBC Sessions, among ones I already have (Tommy, Quadrophenia, and a compilation) and ones I am not super interested in (Who Are You, etc).

Getting The Who Sell Out, Live at Leeds, Who's Next, and The Who By Numbers would probably be a better 4 CD snag than the box set. Maybe A Quick One (Happy Jack) instead of Numbers, or perhaps in addition to. I could do a lot worse than filling out any extra single-CD needs with Who material.

Led Zeppelin is a different story. As it turns out, there have not been Zeppelin albums that have been given the quality of remastering that the "Remaster" 2 CD and 4 CD box sets have. I quote someone from r.m.p.:

"There's another advantage to the two boxed sets (4 and 2 CDs
resepectively): they have the best sound of any of the Zeppelin CDs.
The subsequent 10-CD "complete studio recordings" box have been
further compressed and dicked about with, and have a ragged edge to
them. I've not heard the individual remastered CDs, but my
understanding is that they are the same as the 10-CD set. The problem
this leaves is that the 4 and 2 CD sets don't have the correct running
order, and there are very subtle cross-fades between some of the
tracks that make it impossible to properly reconstruct the original
albums onto CDR. In other words, you can't get the original album
layouts in the best available sound. Scandalous."

Getting the 10 CD box set is out of the question - I can't get that by using free CD selections from BMG (you have to have enough free CDs to get the whole item, and the BMG deals never give you 10 free CDs at one time). I could get some of the individual albums... but the sound quality issue concerns me. I pulled out my copy of IV, and "Black Dog" most certainly sounded muddier than it does on my friend's 2 CD Remasters set. It doesn't sound terrible, but I have to wonder: will the entire Zeppelin catalog end up getting the top-notch remaster treatment that the 2 CD and 4 CD box sets got? If so, getting all of these (comparatively) inferior remastered albums would not be a prudent move. I'm thinking perhaps the 4 CD remasters set would be a nice "for now" alternative until the entire album catalogue gets a serious remaster job. I'm listening to IV right now, and it's definitely not as clear as it ought to be. I have some small-label foreign 1971 releases that are clearer than this. Some company is doing new remasters in LP format, and charging a boatload for them. No thanks. I just want a quality CD remaster.

I started thinking about what else BMG music club might have to offer me. After all, I have three accounts open right now. I'll need to choose 5 more CDs for each of the first two, and 2 more CDs for the last one (actually 10 more CDs, but I've decided on 8 of them in the form of Coltrane's Classic Quartet - Complete Impulse! set). Plus I could open up two more accounts from this address. So, I figured I should check out what box sets BMG has. I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of ones that I would want. Check these out:

Rock:
The Police - Message in a Box (4 CDs)
Eric Clapton - Crossroads (4 CDs)
Alice Cooper - Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper (4 CDs)
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin remastered (4 CDs)
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Lynyrd Skynyrd (3 CDs)
The Who - 30 Years of Maximum R&B (4 CDs)

Jazz:
Miles Davis Quintet - Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (6 CDs)

Classical:
Complete Works of Bach Vol. 1 (5 CDs)
Beethoven, The Five Piano Concertos (3 CDs)
The Complete Chamber Music Of Claude Debussy (3 CDs)
Brahms, Piano Trios Nos. 1-3; Piano Quartets Nos. 1-3 (3 CD)
Dvorák, Stabat Mater (2 CDs)
Godowsky, The Complete Studies On Chopin's Études (2 CDs)

I need to check on the quality of the performances of the classical sets, but the rock ones and the Miles Davis one are definite "wants". For my first two accounts, I now need to buy one CD and then take four more free. So I'll find a couple of single CDs to get, and then pick two of the 4 CD sets (I'll probably start with the Alice Cooper and The Who sets). Then, I could start a 4th account with the Skynyrd and Police sets as my first 7 free, then buy one CD, and then get either the Clapton or Zeppelin box sets as the final 4 freebies.

The classical sets are interesting. Some of them actually sell for less than $20. So, instead of buying a single CD to meet the requirements for my other accounts, I could buy one of these sets instead for only a few dollars more. Why take up 3 freebies for the Debussey set when it only costs $16.99 (the same amount of money I would spend for a single CD to meet my membership requirements)?

BMG kicks ass.

While they have a 5 membership per household per address limitation, I could soon do 5 more accounts. Why? Well, I will be moving during the summer as I transfer to a university. New address = new memberships. Woohoo!

Yeah, they scalp on shipping. But look at it this way. Each CD costs about $2.50 to ship. Plus you have to pay full price for one CD (which ranges from $13-17, let's just say $17 for a conservative estimate). So:

$2.50 x 12 CDs = $30
$17 x 1 = $17
$30 + $17 = $47 approximate grand total for 12 CD shipped and the one required non-freebie paid for.

If I could walk into a store and pay $47 and walk out with the Who, Cooper, Skynyrd, and Debussey box sets, would I? You bet your arse! This is exactly the same thing, except that you have to wait a week or three (or five) to get them. So what? I'm not impatient (of course, I'm constantly getting new music, as you can see here in my near-daily entries). What a deal. Most of these box sets eclipse $30 each.

Well, the ProgAndOther soap opera kinda fizzled out... I've been placed on the moderated list (meaning, all my posts go through an approval process before showing up). I'm fairly disappointed... I thought I might earn a full ban. Alas, Bice had some pretty weak arguments that he sent via email, and he simply quit replying to me after I continued to shoot down his ever-changing logic. It's sad, too, as I was having fun.

I headed to the old vinyl store near me. Here's what I snagged:

Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die (CD)
Alice Cooper - School's Out
Foreigner - Agent Provocateur
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play

The Alice Cooper and Jethro Tull need no explanation. I was going to get Foreigner's 4, but it was $3 and Agent Provocateur was just $1. Maybe if I dig it, I'll get 4 next time. My mother owns the Frampton album, but she really likes it (and so there's no way I'll be able to keep it). And finally, the Fleetwood Mac got a 5 star rating from (the ever wise, all-knowing) AllMusic, and since Rumours was nowhere to be found, it seemed like an interesting thing to check out for a buck. The fact that it's fairly lacking in hit singles but still highly regarded is interesting.

Djangos is having a sale - 25% off all new CDs - so I ordered some of the stuff I was going to order from Wayside and a few more.

My Djangos order:
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Petrophonics
Present - Triskaidekaphobie / La Poison Qui Rend Fou (2-on-1 CD)
Faust - Faust / So Far (2-on-1 CD)
Faust - IV
Volapük - Polyglöt
Thinking Plague - In This Life

I was looking for the Faust Wumme Years box set, hoping to find it less than $60. But alas, Djangos didn't have it. So I decided to just get the Faust/So Far 2-on-1, and perhaps get the box set at a later date.

I'm involved in a little spat on the ProgAndOther mailing list. Here's the idea behind the argument: NEARFest (a progrock festival) instituted a "Patron" program in which the best seating at the venue was reserved for a higher price. Bob Eichler ("Bice") has taken issue with this. He would rather see all ticket prices increased instead of this Patron program (which exists because NEARFest needs the extra money afforded by it). I have taken issue with Bice's idea, as it seems like sour grapes - he won't get a front-row seat because he wasn't willing to pay for them, so now he seems to be scorning those that could.

But don't take this little description's word for it. Read it yourself!

Post #1: Bice replying to Jerry Keller, stating his unhappiness with the Patron program and it's "golden circle" seating.
Post #2: Noah Lesgold replying to Bice, making some very keen statements about the Patron program and the ridiculous nature of Bice's complaints
Post #3: Jim B. replying to Noah Lesgold, somewhat echoing Bice
Post #4: Noah replying to Jim B., still shooting down complaints
Post #5: *Legion* in reply to Noah, agreeing about the silliness of complaining about the patron program
Post #6: Bice replying to *Legion*, portraying his concern as being for everyone, the "general principle"
Post #7: *Legion* replying to Bice, stating how Bice's idea seems to ignore those on the low end of the money scale, thus contradicting the "spreading the wealth" stance that he has spoken of in previous messages
Post #8: Bice back to *Legion*, rationalizing his idea and giving a thinly veiled "I'll ban you" threat
Post #9: *Legion* back to Bice, obviously unimpressed with the "threat" and takes further issue with Bice's "no tiered seating at all costs" stance.

Side-posts of interest:
Side Post #1: Brandon Wu replying to Post #8
Side Post #2: Jerry Keller replying to Post #9

Tune in tomorrow! More to come!