2016 Comeback special

I used to be into music in a big way.

I would spend a lot of money on albums and play them over and over until I knew every word in every song.  I still know a lot of lyrics and I often find myself ‘helping’ others when they sing the incorrect lyrics. It’s just something I do. Not everyone is a fan, but never mind.

I would always flick through the inlay card and find out who played on the individual tracks and find out who was credited with writing the songs. Something else that I helpfully bring up in conversation.    

Maybe because I had time on my hands when I was younger, maybe because I had less worries and commitments, maybe because I was just less of a lethargic procrastinator

Whatever the reason, this year I’m actually making time for myself to listen to music again.

I thought that, as it was January, I’d review the new music as it was released.

They release singles & albums now on Fridays, who knew?  

I’m getting back into listening to the entire album and then adding the ones I like to a Spotify playlist.

(I’ll add links later)

I think we have lost the art of listening to an album from start to finish as everybody’s lives exist in shuffle now. Subsequently the bands themselves make punchier individual tracks and have drifted away from albums that have a beginning, middle and end.  I like albums that flow from track 1 through to the end.  I’m sure that albums used to have a ‘kick ass’ opening track then a massive crescendo at the end. I’m immediately thinking of ‘What’s the story, morning glory by Oasis. ‘Hello’ blasts out getting you ready for the rest of the album (the Gary Glitter sample was an odd choice even then) then we arrive finally at ‘Champagne Supernova’ an epic and fitting finale to the experience.

What’s the story also houses those, much missed and now always skipped, linking tracks. Not specifically a song just a flow from one track to the next, not even given a name originally and now both awkwardly coined ‘The Swamp song’ as they play for 44 secs and 40 seconds between ‘Hey now’ & ‘Some might say’ and ‘Morning glory’ & Champagne Supernova respectively.

Radiohead’s ‘The Bends’ is another, slightly different, example of a beginning middle and end album that springs to mind.

I still get annoyed when songs are played incorrectly. By that I mean out of the original album order. I had gotten to a point of starting the next track on the album, in my head, as the previous one finishes.  But then ‘Greatest Hits’ had to come along and spoil everything.  And don’t get me started on bands releasing their new song as part of a deluxe hits album packaged with photos and previous unheard/unreleased tracks. Lazy bastards!

Hopefully you can understand or relate to some of these ‘isms’. Music has always been an important lifeline for me and a massive icebreaker

Music can instantly remind me of another place and time and can inspire and delight.

My Dad has a great taste in music with some oddities thrown in; he tends to hang around in 60’s pop with occasional dips into old show tunes and comedy records.  My mum is much harder to pin down musically; I want to say Abba and Andrew Lloyd Webber but I believe that is only scratching the surface.

With their combined music collections available to me I quickly had an opinion on what I did and didn’t like.

Then I started to discover my only tastes that included current music. My parents probably ceased to have ‘new music knowledge in the early 80’s. My new music knowledge is probably good up to the year 2000, at a push.

So I’d like to change that, I will still be quite selective about the music I listen too but at least I’ll keep up with some new things which can only be a good thing.

The new releases so far in 2016 have set the bar quite high. 

Looking forward to this

Whatever your tastes, turn it up guys!