Five Stars

March 14, 2008

I never had much inclination to go through and rate all my songs via the iTunes feature. I did try it for the early eighties stuff, but it kept getting removed when I’d be juggling the tracks around, and besides - my opinions of some of that stuff changed constantly.  Eventually I started to use it as a kind of shorthand to remind myself of tasks that needed to be performed. Remember, all of the 80s project was recorded from vinyl and took a lot of work to get each song sounding decent relative to the other 543 tracks.

One star: The whole track is a disaster and a new source record should probably be found
Two stars: Track too quiet and needs to be boosted.
Three stars: Excessive pops to fix up in Audition.
Four stars: Track too loud and distorting.
Five stars: Done, leave it alone.

As the eighties project came to a close this system fell by the wayside, but I’ve come to realize that iTunes Library / iPod maintenance is a daily struggle. For those of you who don’t know this (it isn’t very well documented), if you apply an EQ setting in iTunes it will carry over to your iPod - and if you leave the iPod EQ in the “off” setting, it will apply the setting that you specified back in iTunes. (used to be that “off” really meant off and “flat” acknowledged the track’s EQ setting, but at some point those swapped)

Of course, one EQ setting does not fit all and I am constantly adjusting tracks to get the best sound out of them. Decisions about putting tracks on playlists, new discoveries that I want to hear more often, and the most time-consuming activity ever: album art. How to keep track of this all?

One star: Track is old, tired, and needs to be removed from whatever playlist is causing it to be in such heavy rotation.
Two stars: Too bass-y. Change to a milder EQ setting.
Three stars: Album art needs to be addressed in some way.
Four stars: Not bass-y enough. Boost EQ.
Five stars: Needs to be added to one or more playlists.

You just can’t be too careful with the presentation of your music.

Posted in: sound, tech-y nerd stuff No Comments »

10 Albums

March 4, 2008

The formatting of this post did not make the blogger-to-wordpress transition very well, and if you’ve never tried it before, rest assured that trying to undo all of blogger’s weird code is not a project that you really want to take on. So I’m redoing it here. Enjoy. (again)

The idea here is to come up with your ten favorite albums that you could listen to front to back without skipping tracks or getting bored. In fact, you often have to fight the urge to just start it right back at the beginning when it is done.

In no particular order, except alphabetical. Also subject to change. In fact, this has already changed slightly from one I posted to my old blog about a year back.

Fickle.

A-Z Colin Newman

My photographing soundtrack. I picked this up on cassette back in college and haven’t stopped listening to it since. Still dialed up on the ‘Pod to this day whenever I’m out shooting.
Highlight: “I’ve Waited Ages”

 

Aja Steely Dan

An album best savored with a bottle of wine and a quiet, warm evening. Staring vacantly off into space completes the experience.
Highlight: “I Got the News”

 

A Bell is a Cup Until it is Struck Wire

There are those who would argue that this album pales in comparison with the holy trinity of the first three (Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, 154). There’s a certain logic to that. However, this was my first Wire album and still a remarkable document. I could listen to this one all day long.
Highlight: “The Queen of Ur and the King of Um”

Copper Blue Sugar

Busy, distorted guitar work always kind of annoyed me until I heard this record. Now I appreciate it much more.
Highlight: “The Act We Act”

 

Innervisions Stevie Wonder

Stevie’s made some wonderful albums. This one, though, not only makes my top ten, but should probably have some kind of place in the top ten albums of all time.
Highlight: “Livin’ for the City”

 

Night and Day Joe Jackson

I don’t give this album nearly enough credit on a day-to-day (night-to-night?) basis. Great to put on… well… whenever.
Highlight: “Another World”

 

Official Version Front 242

The Art of Noise and Depeche Mode got me off the Billboard Top 40 charts and onto more adventurous music (although there are those who would debate Depeche Mode’s role in “adventurous”). Front 242 improved on those themes and gave me a little clanky computerized area of modern recording to call my very own. Seemingly political, but what’s the message? Who knows. Oddly emotional, but about what? Search me. Ominously angry, but why? Haven’t the faintest.

I know the feeling.
Highlight: “Rerun Time”

 

Satyagraha Philip Glass

The opera that really marks the transition from the early Ensemble days to the more grand orchestral style of his later years - an exhausting yet highly invigorating experience from beginning to end.
Highlight: “Indian Opinion”

 

Scenes Michael Galasso

A wonderful album for sleeping.
Or riding in a bus, late at night, watching the snow fall.
Highlight: “Scene VI”

 

Tusk Fleetwood Mac

What can I say? As the band goes off the rails (due to over-reaching artistic ambitions, or cocaine, or band politics, or all three) they produce 20 outstanding songs that range from old fashioned bar rock to nutty Lindsey weirdness. As I grow older I find myself warming to well-played basic rock. It’s a nice contrast to some of my more oddball choices.
Highlight: “I Know I’m Not Wrong”

There’s always room for honorable mentions:

 

Music For Fruit / Insiding Bruce Gilbert
Wire’s guitarist makes fascinating ambient noise epics. Both records are rather short, so they always get merged in a playlist.

 

Bookends Simon and Garfunkel
Also my favorite album cover ever. I love that the “purists” get upset about the Moog synthesizer being used on this record.

 

Foxtrot Genesis
A smidge boggy in places, but easily the best Genesis album (in my book).

 

I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You Aretha Franklin
I’m sick to death of “Respect”, but the rest of the album is completely amazing.

 

Rubber Soul The Beatles
If not for the tired “Run For Your Life”, this album would be in the top ten.

 

Scoundrel Days a-ha
I make no apologies for my a-ha fetish.

 

Security Peter Gabriel
A slightly flawed classic, and what is up with that cover?

 

Te Deum Arvo Part
Brilliant and beautiful. If there’s a god, s/he’s speaking through Pärt.

 

Warm Leatherette Grace Jones
Slave to the Rhythm.

 

Who’s Afraid of The Art of Noise?
I’m not.
Well… not very often.
Ethan might be.
Just a little bit.

Posted in: distractions, sound, wonderful things No Comments »

Ow!

February 1, 2008

My little portable headphones bit the dust. A freaky accident involving the edge of a door severed the cable and left them completely useless. It is a sad state of affairs.

When Santa’s elves built me a swanky new iPod “Classic” (the whole planet is conspiring to make me feel perpetually obsolete, or old-fashioned, or both) it of course came with a pair of those dreadful white headphones. Almost tossed ‘em. Glad I didn’t.

Sort of.

The sound is OK, all things considered, but the shocking thing is how transparent they are. All kinds of outside sounds were permitted to just waft right through them.

I’ve been listening to headphones for almost 25 years. I can remember my first portable, a simple radio, from at least 23 years ago - I got it when I was still living in Enfield, CT. What a long, strange trip its been since then: countless cassette walkmans, discmans, a few iPods, and more different kinds of headphones than I could possibly recall.

I am, believe it or not, very concerned about what that has meant for my ears.

However, I have clear confirmation that at the very least the headphone style I use now - the closed-ear type with the little ear canal gaskets - has been blocking out amazing amounts of everyday noise. Riding the subway this morning with the regular headphones I couldn’t believe how loud the blue line is! I almost feel like the Apple headphones made everything worse. I eventually gave up.

But I was intrigued by the intensity of the sounds around me and the cross-the-frontal-lobe tightness that I felt until I was above ground again. That never happens on my commute, even with music. Am I suggesting that I am in fact protecting my hearing by using the ‘Pod? Well, no, but… sort of. There’s no question that I have to carefully monitor the volume level, as it is so easy to forget where you are and crank it up a bit too much.

However, coming in to work this morning I could feel the difference. The blue line tunnel under the harbor is always a noisy affair - today it felt like thunder - and Government Center with its sharp corners leaves you wincing in agony as you savor the tones of shrieking steel-on-steel. It was horrible and oppressive - and that’s no way for sound to be.

I was going to wait - I didn’t really want to spend the money right now - but I think my lunch hour today will see me paying a visit to Audio Lab in Harvard Square to see if they still sell my headphones.

The health of my ears is at stake!

Posted in: sound 1 Comment »

All In A Mouse’s Night

July 2, 2007

I did it. I bought a really expensive ticket to go see Genesis in September.

You can pick on Phil Collins, you can pick on “Invisible Touch”, you can pick on the fact that yes, they once did a song as irritating and sad as “Illegal Alien”. At least one of those gripes is totally justified. No, Genesis never plays “Sussudio” at their concerts, so you can’t pick on that.

But there is a flipside - or, there is for me anyway. They have a body of work that I enjoy a tremendous amount, and despite the setlist being steeped towards their later hits, there is an interesting dose of older stuff. Yes, Phil has been responsible for a few songs that drive me completely insane, but that does not negate the fact that he co-wrote “Blood On The Rooftops”. Enough said.

I may never get a chance to see this stuff performed again. There hasn’t been any mention of “last tour ever”, and I rarely believe bands when they say that anyway, but what if? There is also the persistent rumor of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett doing a one-off set of dates with them in the future, but no one is really expecting Gabriel to actually commit.

It might be now or never.

I choose now.

(Yes, I backed out of a plan to go see The Police due to high ticket cost concerns, thereby indicating that Genesis is more worth it in my book. There’s nothing I can really say to that, I guess, except that Phil’s goofy guy-next-door stage antics sit better with me that Sting’s I’m-an-artiste posturing. Whatever, it’s gonna be a great show, although I may be wishing to be surrounded by The Police’s audience rather than Genesis’… yikes!)

Posted in: sound 18 Comments »

Methodology Revision

June 4, 2007

Something was bothering me about my iTunes library.

Basically, I had separated my music into two groups: CDs I wanted to keep, and CDs I wanted to get rid of. The CDs I kept I ripped into iTunes as 128k MP4 files. The CDs I got rid of came in as Apple Lossless.

The problem, of course, is that should I want anything on the iPod from discarded CDs, the Lossless files would have to be re-ripped into 128k unless I wanted to constantly drain my battery with big files. This meant redundant files and all sorts of weird Library nonsense.

So I decided to re-rip everything into 224k, except for classical entries which were jacked up to 320k. Lossless files were downsampled to 224k, 128k files were redone from the CDs (yes, it took a long time and was quite tedious). This left me with files good enough that I didn’t care about throwing out the Lossless files, and small enough to not torture the iPod.

There is a noticeable sound improvement. You may not believe me, but there is. I also recovered about 50GB of my hard drive space, bringing the total down to 85GB - much easier to back up onto DVDs.

Also through this process it has also come to my attention that Wire’s Send is the most poorly mastered, most horrifying-sounding pile that I’ve ever heard. Shame, really, as underneath the screaming, distortion-causing “loud is good” mastering job is a great album.

This is my nerdy minutiae-obsessed entry for the month. Stay tuned for further neurotic behavior.

Posted in: distractions, sound 2 Comments »

Tales of Turntables

March 28, 2007

I don’t yet know if there is actual audio coming out of the connections (nowhere to plug it in here at work), but the Pioneer PU-41 turntable is up and running!

My solution to the thrust plate problem was pretty basic, not very audiophile, and will probably induce howls of horror from any turntable geek who reads this - I tossed a nickel into the spindle assembly and slathered it with oil. It works fine, the turntable spins freely and at something approximating the proper height. Whatever. Someday I’ll replace it with something fancy and impressive that absorbs vibration and lord knows what else.

The belt I installed also has a marginal problem - it does not appear to be the right width to accomodate the mechanical 33/45 switchover. So I will order one online from the 800 places that offer replacement belts, and in the meantime pretend I don’t have any 45s. Big deal.

I have polished up the wood cabinet and all metal parts to a high shine. It looks so wonderful I simply can not get over it. I’d post a picture, but my camera is at home!

Now the Philips is in considerable peril. I stripped off my good ol’ Grado Green cartridge and transferred it to the Pioneer. If the Philips were anything approximating an attractive turntable I’d hold onto it, but what for? I’m sticking with the Pioneer until it runs - there are solutions for any big problems that I might have all over the net.

I had thought about dumping one of the 12″ formats (vinyl, LaserDisc, SelectaVision) that I have stuck myself with, but I still don’t think I can do it. Oh well.

Posted in: distractions, sound 2 Comments »

Record Rehab

March 27, 2007

A few years ago I was nosing around Goodwill and spotted a beautiful old Pioneer turntable. Huge, heavy (~25 lbs!), with a wonderful solid Lucite cover and a platter that could kill someone if you smacked them over the head with it.

It didn’t really surprise me that it was not functional. The belt was missing, as was the headshell, and the platter scraped alarmingly against the plinth when gently turned by hand.

At the time there was precious little material about this deck on line, so I crammed it under my desk and forgot about it.

Today I eyed it once again and decided that it was time to figure out if I was going to resurrect this one or keep the Philips I bought during the Early Eighties Project.

A search yielded much more interesting information this time around. The belt is easy enough to locate, and amazingly a search on “pioneer pl-41 scraping platter” revealed my exact problem in the first hit!

Unfortunately, one of the screws holding the spindle assembly to the plinth was badly stripped, so I impressed myself by drilling out the screw and freeing the assembly. Success!

I won’t bore you with the details of the problem, but suffice to say once I get someone to help me figure out a good replacement for an ill-advised plastic bearing that cracked and then gooed itself all over the spindle assembly, this turntable is in business! (stay tuned for news of a free Philips turntable to whomever comes and gets it fastest…)

Posted in: sound No Comments »

Sound

March 22, 2007

I received an email from Helms today announcing a show tonight at Great Scott. Embedded in the email was another absolutely beautiful image from drummer/visual artist Dan McCarthy, which should be reason enough to go.

Having had the pleasure of witnessing them only once, I am rather tempted. Unfortunately, they are so well-regarded that they usually headline and go on fairly late. It is not cheap to get from Allston to Chelsea at that hour.

Complicating matters is the fact that I am moving all my junk out from my storage bin with the generous assistance of Melissa and Baha. If I do that, then go to a show, I’ll be dead in the water tomorrow. When I work from 8AM to 10PM.

But I can sleep in on Saturday, I suppose.

Every time I look at the wonderful image above I think “how could I not go to a show that is promoted with such amazing work? what the hell is the matter with me? will I regret being such a wimp later in life?”

Actually, I’m regretting it right now.

I’m there.

p.s. I just spent some time prowling around Dan’s site - his work is so incredible that I am having trouble breathing. I highly encourage all of you to go check it out. Immediately. Then acquire some of it. Great art will look fantastic in your place, and it will impress your friends.

the above image is meant to promote the work of Dan McCarthy and/or Helms, and has been placed here with the best of intentions.
please respect all artists’ work and livelihoods by not shamelessly ripping off our efforts for your own purposes! thanks!

Posted in: sound 6 Comments »

Early Eighties Top 20!

March 15, 2007

Last night while I was scanning some of the flower pictures I shot in Buffalo (and pondering the reality that I’ll have to spend $75 for a better negative carrier for the scanner - ugh) I remembered my post about the eighties project and decided to take a look and see how these songs were rating in iTunes.

The results are in some ways totally bizarre, but on further review seem to make some sense in a weird way.

1. “Turn Your Love Around”, George Benson, The George Benson Collection
This is kind of a surprise. I like the song and all, but it is odd that it has received so much play.

2. “Trouble”, Lindsey Buckingham, Law and Order
Having this on one of my playlists boosted its count, certainly, but it is still a pretty cool little song.

3. “Holiday Road”, Lindsey Buckingham, Vacation Soundtrack
National Lampoon associations aside, I think this song is great. Classic Buckingham construction, just short enough (just over 2 minutes) to not make you nuts.

4. “Overkill”, Men at Work, Cargo
Men at Work will always be regarded as something of a novelty band due to “Down Under” and “Who Can It Be Now?”, which is a shame really because some of their songs were exceedingly well constructed. This one, for example.

5. “Automatic”, Pointer Sisters, Break Out
Huh? Well, I have no problem with the Pointer Sisters, but before I dug this one out for the Project I couldn’t even have told you how it went - I guess that was a bonus, for hearing it often now seems to always be a good thing.

6. “Love Plus One”, Haircut One Hundred, Pelican West
This is such a summer song. Just, well… nice. Brilliant, crystal-clear engineering.

7. “Tom Sawyer”, Rush, Moving Pictures
Bought this LP for a dollar at Nuggets in Boston. Remembered the song more fondly than I thought I would.

8. “Gypsy”, Fleetwood Mac, Mirage
Really the last gasp of mid-period Fleetwood Mac. For me, the culmination of everything they had developed over the previous three albums. Outstanding. I know it seems like adult contemporary fluff sometimes, but listen a little bit closer.

9. “Empty Garden”, Elton John, Jump Up!
The best of the John Lennon tributes in my book.

10. “She’s a Bad Mama Jama”, Carl Carlton, 45
What can I say? The song is hilarious, and the grinding synth bass lines are too damn cool.

11. “Are We Ourselves”, The Fixx, Phantoms
The Fixx is one of those bands that I always wanted to like much more than I really do. When they let a great song fly, though, I was all over it.

12. “Don’t Ask Me Why”, Billy Joel, Glass Houses
Another mystery. I like Billy Joel to a certain degree, but… I don’t know. Weird. Don’t ask me why.

13. “Controversy”, Prince, 12″
One of Prince’s all-time greats. The lyric is priceless, and it is always fascinating knowing that he is playing every last instrument.

14. “Ain’t Nobody”, Rufus, Breakin’ Soundtrack
It appears that I am a sucker for a good early eighties R&B track with nice synth bass lines. That, plus Chaka Khan was always a fantastic singer.

15. “Nightshift”, The Commodores, Nightshift
Part of the reason for this one’s high count is that I think it is easily the best sounding recording I made for the project - the record had been unplayed, so that helped, and it just came out great. There’s those great bass-y synths again!

16. “I.G.Y.”, Donald Fagen, The Nightfly
There’s a tremendous amount going on in this seemingly-simple song. Outstanding.

17. “Human Nature”, Michael Jackson, Thriller
I still really enjoy half (Billie Jean, PYT, Human Nature) of the big hits while the other half (Beat It, Thriller, Wanna Be Startin’…), well, not so much. I won’t even get into my opinion of that “The Girl is Mine” travesty.

18. “Don’t Stop Believin’”, Journey, Escape
My cousin’s partner Glenn used to comment that it was impossible to cross the state line into CT and not be able to find either a Journey or a Lionel Richie song on the radio somewhere. I don’t have much to say about Lionel, but I do enjoy Journey now and again. Must be nostalgia.

19. “Baby Jane”, Rod Stewart, Body Wishes
Rod made a few great 80s singles - this one and “Young Turks” were both fantastic. The same can not be said for “Love Touch” or “Some Guys Have All the Luck”, unfortunately.

20. “Everything She Wants”, Wham, Make it Big
I used to point to this song as an example of George Michael really being a great pop songwriter. Then I learned that the arrangement was completely handed over to Anne Dudley of the Art of Noise, and it all made perfect sense.

I always say that my favorite song from the Early Eighties Project is “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, and that’s still true. There are also a lot of other songs that are notably absent from this count, but I think all of this can be chalked up to the fact the bulk of the songs listed above were recorded very late in the game, and therefore were not a part of the endless listening that the others were.

Posted in: distractions, sound 5 Comments »

Who Dunnit?

January 24, 2007

It’s not easy being a Genesis fan.

We have “Invisible Touch” and “Sussudio” to live down, even though the latter was Phil solo. I don’t think either of those are bad songs necessarily… but yes, like you, I don’t think I ever need to hear them again.

Or “In Too Deep” for that matter. Or “I Can’t Dance”.

On the other hand, there is a back catalog of all kinds of great stuff. If you can stay afloat through the massive Progressive Rock production and detailed lyrics of the very early stuff, you may find that the combination of Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, and the core Genesis folks yielded some very, very interesting results.

Maybe that kind of thing isn’t your cup of tea, though. No big deal.

During 1986 you couldn’t escape them, and that ended up being a bad thing. However, I always enjoyed the stuff leading up to that period (”Misunderstanding”, “Abacab”, “No Reply At All”, “That’s All”), and they were all off albums that held some nice surprises for the curious (”Duchess”, “Keep It Dark”, “Mama”).

Yesterday I contacted my oldest friend Brian to share with him the news that their were rumors floating: the Genesis reunion tour might possibly hit North America after all. Brian and I both became Genesis fans much the same way - via the Abacab album. We’ve been suffering the slings and arrows of Phil Collins jokes ever since.

(Which brings us to an interesting point - why do those who get such abuse have so many friggin’ hit records?)

Needless to say, we’ve concluded that if this reunion tour really happens, we are so there. We live on opposite sides of the country, but I think for something like this we’ll both be willing to find a common ground.

Now, since you were dying to know, here are my thoughts on the back catalog:

From Genesis to Revelation - D
A tough one. Peter Gabriel’s voice is the only saving grace, although there are hints of things to come here and there. Otherwise, the album mostly sounds like The Moody Blues gone bad. “A Winter’s Tale” - a single - is the highlight.

Trespass - B+
This is more like it. Things are still a little flowery at this point, fairy dust floats about the proceedings and lands in gentle, mystical clouds on a few of the songs, but tracks like “Looking For Someone” and “The Knife” are big moves forward. “White Mountain” is a classic.

Nursery Cryme - A-
Definitely on the right path. “Fountain of Salmacis”, “The Return of the Giant Hogweed”, “The Musical Box” are all terrific, with “Harold the Barrel” and “For Absent Friends” balancing the giant productions with small, fascinating sketches.

Foxtrot - A+
Unbelievable. That’s all I’m gonna say.

Selling England By the Pound - B+
For each masterful track - “Dancing with the Moonlit Knight”, “Firth of Fifth” - there is a companion clunker, overdeveloped and toppled by its own vastness (”Battle of Epping Forest”, “The Cinema Show”). There are a couple of neat little bits though - “I Know What I Like” is a fun single, and “More Fool Me” a great early Phil ballad with not even a hint of his giant, sometimes disruptive drums. “Aisle of Plenty”, a quiet epilogue to the proceedings, is the most evocative.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - A
Pete starts to get itchy. Like many a double album, this could have been scaled back a bit, although one vinyl LP wouldn’t have been enough to hold the good stuff. The most disappointing parts are some extended bits of studio noise. Otherwise, talking about New York rather than England brought about some interesting variations in their tone - definitely worth investigating.

A Trick of the Tail - B+
Definitely proved that Peter wasn’t the only talent in this band. The big showy pieces like “Dance on a Volcano” are cool, but it appears that Tony Banks had some irritating keyboard solos that he had been sitting on that were just dying to get out. On the other hand, “A Trick of the Tail” is one of the most pleasant little songs they’ve ever done.

Wind and Wuthering - B-
In which Tony Banks goes completely out of control. There are bits here that are extraordinary, but they often go on too long or shift gears too violently (”One For The Vine”) to really hold together. On the other hand, “Blood on the Rooftops” is one of the most gloriously amazing things they’ve ever done. Sadly, the rest often sums up exactly what people hate about progressive rock.

…And Then There Were Three - C-
Heavy-handed, in a bad way. “Follow You Follow Me” is pleasant enough, and “Many Too Many” is nicely atmospheric, but the rest is just so cumbersome. No fun, although “The Lady Lies” shows some of the old spark.

Duke - A-
A lot of good stuff here, and some of the songs get shorter and more chart-friendly. Nevertheless, there are some reminders of the old days that are a bit more polished and less sprawling. The intro of “Behind the Lines” leading into “Duchess” is spectacular, and “Heathaze” is wonderful.

Abacab - A+
I have a soft spot for Abacab, even the ridiculous “Who Dunnit?”. There are three old-days-worthy extended pieces, some pleasant hits… overall, a nice little album that you can either listen closely to or just put on and forget about. “Keep It Dark” is an underrated classic, and if you work at it the lyrics tell the other side of the “A Trick of the Tail” story. Sort of. OK, it’s a stretch.

Genesis - C+
They lose a whole letter grade for “Illegal Alien”. Horrid. On the other hand, this is the record that contains “That’s All”, “Mama”, and “Home by the Sea”, so it’s not all bad. But “Illegal Alien” sure is wretched.

Invisible Touch - B-
If I didn’t hear three of the big hits (invisible, in too, throwing it all) every other day on Mall Radio, I’d have more respect for this album. “Tonight Tonight Tonight” is a great classic Genesis track, “Land of Confusion” is a pleasant enough mid-80s indignant we-are-the-world piece, but the other three hits? Sorry, can’t stand them anymore. The rest of the album contains some great stuff lurking here and there, but I couldn’t sit through the whole record. No way.

We Can’t Dance - B-
Well, what can I say. Things are moving a bit too adult contemporary for me. The hits were even significantly less interesting than I though they could be, although “No Son of Mine” isn’t bad. Tony Banks still flexes his complexity once in a while, and I know musician-types consistently look to their music as being finely constructed even though it may sound like a smooth jazz track with lyrics (Hold On My Heart), but I don’t really care. This record just isn’t that much fun.

Calling All Stations - ?
I’ll admit it. I avoided this record. I don’t know if I’ll ever listen to it - I did catch “Congo” from the hits disc, and it did not encourage me to investigate further.

There you have it. There’s other stuff - live albums, compilations - but honestly, if you stayed with me this long, your curiosity will lead you there without my help…

Posted in: sound 3 Comments »