it's a gas

Had a little extra cash to burn (huzzah 60 hour weeks) so I went to the local used music peddler. I wasn't really looking for anything, but it's usually those kind of trips were you find the best stuff.

Vinyl:
AC/DC- For Those About to Rock...: It was there, and it was in really nice condition for being an original pressing. Since I've just about finished my Kiss and Metallica vinyl collections, I've set my sights on this band now. It would have been Pearl Jam, but that stuff is really expensive.

Ace Frehley- Trouble Walkin': To whomever bought this album twenty-one years ago: shame on you for not busting it out of its shrinkwrap and listening to it. But, thank you for taking it to the store so I could buy it for $2.99. This is said to be the strongest of all Ace's solo efforts, but I'll just have to take someone else's word for it.

CD:
Radiohead- The Bends Deluxe edition: Has all the b-sides that are really hard to find on this side of the pond, plus it was amazingly cheap. Reminds me that I really need to track down the OK Computer release, since that has the best b-sides.

Also popped over to Barnes & Noble and picked up the latest issues of Classic Rock and Rolling Stone. CR has a feature on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, which I guess is worth reading. RS had something on Roger Waters and The Wall, a subject that will probably always fascinate me.

Been digging on lots of live Pearl Jam lately, since I rediscovered all those 2000/2003 live CDs I have. And do I have a lot of them. The last show of the 2000 tour was in Seattle, and it possibly one of the finest documents of this band live. I was listening to that pretty much all week, which was great. I'm actually listening to the Katowice, Poland show from the 2000 tour right now.

Bought a new stereo last weekend. It plays vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and has a line in for mp3 players. It makes me happy. The sound for the vinyl could be a little better, but this little box will do until I can afford to build the ridiculous stereo I want.

Portnoy leaves Dream Theater

Dubya. Tee. Eff.

This is a sincere shock. That band was such his baby that I couldn't imagine him ever giving it up, but sometimes you have to do what's right for you, even if people think you're nuts.

let's face it...

This could be the coolest album cover art of the year.

And hey! A new album from The Sword! Always awesome.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #9

Jeez, long time no post.

So anyway, here's a band I discovered by way of Classic Rock magazine back in 2008. They're a band out of Chicago called Bible of the Devil, and here they are playing a really, really bitchin' song called "Ol' Girl."

selling out

So, I finally have myself an iPod. I owned a little Philips 2G mp3 player, but 2 gigs isn't anywhere near enough space for my eclectic music tastes. A couple weeks ago, I upgraded to an iPod Touch with 8 gigs. I have it half full already. I do wish now I'd have spent the extra $150 for the 32 gig deal. Why is it I couldn't find a Touch with 16 gigs? This is why I resisted an iPod- I'm not exactly keen on the way Apple does business.

But I sold out anyway. I purged my messy iTunes library and started fresh. Pearl Jam's 'Backspacer' was the first album on there.

People keep telling me I need apps on this thing. Why, exactly? It plays music, and occasionally surfs the interwebs. That's what this does for me.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #8

U2- Lemon. I like this tune, and some people don't really know it exists. It comes from 1993's Zooropa, the companion piece to Achtung Baby. So clearly, it's from U2's creative height.

should have done this years ago

Universal Announces Plan to Lower CD Prices to $10 or Less

That's great. Trouble is, who do you have to sell them wholesale to?

I was just thinking the other day about how many record stores there used to be in this town about ten years ago. Now, there's only one plus the big box stores like Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy. Plus, this store seems to be phasing music out in favor of DVDs and video games. :(

But it's great to see at least one label finally understand a cardinal lesson from Economics 101- when demand goes down, so does price.

count 'em up

I wanted to know, once and for all, how many individual albums I owned. So I counted them up this evening. The results will follow.

I counted double albums as one, so something like Kiss Alive or Metallica's Garage Inc. would only count as one. I'm not counting the number of CDs, I'm basically counting the packages. However, a box set such as Pearl Jam Live at the Gorge would count as three (even though there are 9 CDs in the box), and Kiss' box set would be five. LPs, where many of the pieces I own are spread across two albums like Pearl Jam's Riot Act, only count as one. CDs I burned from live shows I've been to were left off, as were blank cassettes I dubbed. I hope all this makes sense.

The numbers, as of 3/16/2010:
342 CDs
65 33 1/3rpm LPs
7 45rpm singles
50 cassettes

I'll be honest, I thought I owned a lot more CDs than that, but still, moving around almost 350 CDs is no easy task, and storing them these days is a pain since all the record stores no longer exist, henceforth, things like easily finding CD storage are a thing of the past, as is LP storage. Hell, so is cassette storage. Mine are just in a cardboard box except for the copy of Van Halen's first in my car.

Now, I suppose I'll be sorting things out by genre and band next. Total dorks like me do that.

recent gets

Haven't done one of these in, like, forever it feels. So I'll be going back all the way to December, because I can.

Pink Floyd- The Wall: I am, of course, familiar with Pink Floyd, but I've never taken the time to properly get into them. It really struck me, since I never listened to the whole thing at once. It also inspired a series of short stories from me, the first of which you can readhere.

The Doors-The Future Starts Here- The Essential Doors Hits: Yet again, another band I was more than aware of. I had their first album, but must have gotten rid of it. So I picked this nice package up for $10 and regularly rock it in the car.

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Californication: I owned this on cassette, since that's what my car had for a music player at the time. Finally picked it up on CD, and it almost instantly transported me back to the summer of 1999, when I was 18 years old and still had hope.

Leonard Cohen- The Essential Leonard Cohen: It was an attempt to expand my horizons a little bit. Well, this must not be my power. John Cale's cover of 'Hallelujah' is one of my all-time favorite songs, but Cohen's original just isn't my bag, I'm afraid. However, when I was first getting into Tom Waits, I didn't get into it right away, and a few months later, I listened to Waits again, and it clicked. I'm hoping that's the case here. The songwriting is brilliant, but it's pretty tough to listen to Cohen's singing, which is monotone.

Regina Spektor- Far: Again, horizon-expanding purchase. I own her previous album, and thoroughly enjoyed it, and this new one is equally enjoyable. Spektor's songwriting is absolutely stellar.

The Beatles- A whole shitload of the Remasters: I've been waiting for these elegant remasters forever so I could finally score the Beatles catalog. So far- Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the White Album. I only ever owned greatest hits packages from the Beatles, and a few stolen tunes, since these remasters have been years in the making. The more I dig into their catalog, the more I love this band. I'm working on scoring the rest of them, but it's hard for me to care about anything before Help!, since most of the stuff before that was pretty teenage. To be fair, Help has a bunch of songs in that same vein, but it also features 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away', one of my favorite songs of all time. I don't really have to explain the rest- those four are what any self-respecting rock fan must own.

The Rolling Stones- Forty Licks: Another thing like Pink Floyd and the Doors- very much aware of their work, but I wanted to know more. So this. Man, did the Stones have some, well, stones. Now I need to find myself copies of Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. See how this works? Though I should totally get that new turntable I found before I buy anything else. I have neglected any new vinyl purchases since my last phonograph bit the dust last summer. Good thing vinyl doesn't biodegrade.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #7

Pearl Jam on SNL this past weekend, rocking 'Just Breathe' (the current single) and what I think is the best (well, second-best) tune on 'Backspacer,' 'Unthought Known.'

Enjoy! This is all I get as well, since I won't be able to go to the St. Louis show in May. Sad faces.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #6

A tremendous version of one of my favorite Pearl Jam tunes, 'Present Tense'. I humbly suggest looking up the lyrics while you're listening to it.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #5

Howzabout some Pink Floyd? Live at Pompeii, rocking out to 'A Saucerful of Secrets.' Check it out, if you have ten minutes.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #4

I've been on a Megadeth kick, so I present one of those lesser-known kick-ass tunes, 'A Secret Place.'

This is the promo video. I wonder if that's Jake Gyllenhaal being hanged at the beginning there.

worst top 10 ever

The Top 10 Classic Albums That Accidentally Ruined Music

Ladies and gentlemen: I present, for your consideration, the WORST top 10 list about music ever composed! It's on Spike's website, and I have to deal with people who watch that channel every fucking day, so it's basically a site for dipshits to gather, compose lists, and have people who actually have some taste shoot holes in said lists.

The reason I link it is so you can read the leaps of logic on their site instead of me copying and pasting them here. About the only one I can agree with is #1, which is true that that album gave labels a blockbuster mentality even worse than they were already saddled with.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #3

This is my favorite Metallica song, 'The Outlaw Torn.' Check it out, yeah?

Lifetime movie or Megadeth song?

A quiz for you.

I got 10/10. I totally guessed on more than one, though.