Entries from November 2010 ↓

I seriously don’t get what the big deal is. Sure it’s nice that you can buy digital copies of the songs but it’s not like you couldn’t buy a physical copy and rip it to your iPod. NPR’s story about this (and really NPR I expect better out of you) said this was more a symbolic victory for Steve Jobs and that’s fine, but why is Apple treating this like some kind of huge event?

The iTunes page for this is big and if you didn’t know better you would think that the Beatles’ songs were completely unavailable up until this point.  I guess Apple feels the need to play this up but it just seems a bit silly.  Buy the physical album or just swipe them online if you just want a single song,

Just like every other year Kansas City has two radio stations playing continuous Christmas music.  Unlike every other year I don’t find myself as irritated with it.    Two possible reasons:

• My oldest is four years old now and really likes Christmas music, specifically the older stuff like “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” and “Here Comes Santa Claus”
• It may be my imagination but the playlists seems to focus less on the usual limp-dick lite rock stuff and more on standards or at least stuff with some energy behind it.  That being said, I’m hearing Neil Diamond’s “Merry Cherry Christmas” (or something like that) a lot and I would probably rather listen to his covers album than hear that song again.

But I got to thinking about this – Christmas is the only time you hear people like Perry Como, Dean Martin, and Gene Autry on terrestrial/commercial radio.  Obviously these aren’t the only good songs that these people have but you never hear them the rest of the year.  I wonder if eventually some artists’ only legacy will be their holiday music (although Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra’s songs will always be around as long as there are Italian restaurants).

One other thing too…this could be my imagination also, but terrestrial radio stations play a shitload of commercials.  I had XM several years back and listen to NPR a lot since I canceled my service so that my impact my view of this.  I just find these stations unlistenable due to the frequency and length of their commercial break.  Kansas city has a great local political talk show but it seems like between the commercials, traffic, news, and weather you only get about 20 minutes of actual show per hour.  Of course I’m too lazy to actually time it so that’s just a baseless guess.

Several interesting releases that appear to be exclusives for indie record stores will be available on Friday.  I have no idea if this happened last year or not, but this is something I’m looking forward to.  The entire list is available on the Record Store Day site, but here’s a few that I’m interested in.

Metallica, Live at Grimey’s

A live album (obviously) of the set they played for 150 people prior to Bonaroo.  I’ve already got a bunch of live Metallica stuff but it still sounds interesting.

Anthrax, Live at the Sonisphere

This one I have to think about.  I’m a big Anthrax fan but I wasn’t impressed with their set on The Big Four and I’m concerned that this might be more of the same.

Frank Sinatra, Jolly Christmas (vinyl reissue)

Jimi Hendrix, “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” single

Crap.  If I buy these two that will make three Christmas albums I bought this year when I vowed that I wouldn’t buy any.

The Black Keys, Brothers Double

A 12 inch of the album and a 10 inch of live tracks.  This may be too good to resist.

I’ll be going to the fabulous Love Garden Sounds here in Lawrence to see what they have.  It’s going to be tough making it between Half Price Books’ usual sale and a possible used CD sale as Hastings.

Why new releases on a Monday this week?  Does the holiday really impact sales?

My Chemical Romance, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

i’ve got high hopes for this one since I loved The Black Parade.  I haven’t heard anything off it yet and I’m a little concerned that this will pale in comparison to its predecessor.  Regardless, I’m picking it up.

Jay-Z, The Hits Collection Volume 1

I may wait a little bit on this one since I’m getting a lot of other stuff this week.  The track listing looks solid, although five unreleased songs really isn’t enough to get me excited about the deluxe edition.

Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine: 2010 Remaster

This is a tough one.  I already own this but I would love to hear it remastered, plus I can pick it up for eight bucks so this one is probably a go.

Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

I liked 808s and Heartbreak and this one is getting great reviews from all the usual suspects so I may end up picking this up instead of waiting until I see it used.

Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday

I could be wrong but this reeks of someone the publicity machine is trying to cram down the throats of The Kids.

I love this picture. It’s from the album Frances Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim and shows (from the left) arranger Claus Ogerman, Sinatra, and Jobim during the recording of the album.  The first thing I noticed was that everyone is wearing a tie.  I can count on my hand the number of times each year I wear a tie, but there’s something great about the past when men would wear ties whenever they went out.  To me everyone looks like they’re exhausted but even then  the ties stay on and give an air of professionalism to the whole thing.

The other thing is Sinatra’s expression along with his body language.  I’ve read several accounts about how seriously he took the creation of the music on his albums and this picture sums it up perfectly.  I get the vibe that he knows what he is aiming for and is struggling to express it to Jobim and Ogerman.  The album itself is my favorite of Sinatra’s and seeing a picture like this makes me appreciate it all the more.