The Great Re-Listen of 2011
I'm a bit of a magpie and I confess to having over 20,000 songs in my iTunes. The vast majority of which are listed as un-played in this install of iTunes. Admittedly that only happened last December but even so in the history of my computerised listening, I estimate that at least half of them have gone unheard...shameful.
I was browsing through this afternoon and realised that I have no idea how a lot of them even sound so I've resolved that from today, when I want to listen to music, I'm only going to listen to stuff showing as not played and in a tribute to The AV Club's Noel Murray who did a similar thing in 2008, http://www.avclub.com/features/popless/2/ I'm going to blog about it. So come with me as I explore the darkest recesses of my collection, while I find both gems and turds because I'm sure both are there in equal measures. It's going to be a ride!
A - Teen Dance Ordinance I picked this up in HMV on the back of one of their display write-ups. Not really my thing, I think I played it once properly until now. I have to give them points for their band name, thus ensuring their presence at the top of any alphabetised list. (I know it racked up several accidental plays in previous iTunes installations.) It's a bit teenage rock, well it would be with that title... Not quite as awful as I was anticipating, perfectly acceptable within its limited genre and even showing some nice guitar work in places. Can't say I'll come back to it though, too ordinary.
A.C.T - The Early Recordings/ Imaginary Friends/ Last Epic/ Silence/ Today's Report A Swedish Prog Band, I remember seeing them at The Astoria (RIP) supporting Saga, it was quite theatrical or at the very least, there were a lot of hats used as props. This should be right up my alley being in a prog/pop art-rock vein but for some reason they never really gelled with me. Listening now I'm getting a shedload of It Bites, a good chunk of one of my great under-appreciated bands, City Boy and an awful lot of Queen. I'm also hearing a large dollop of pure 70s pop over and above the aforementioned Queen/City Boy references. I'm not totally sure where I stand with this, sometimes I think, 'hey, I'll listen to this again!' but then some of it is a bit shite. All in all, I'd say, if you don't know them, check out Last Epic but leave the early stuff alone.
I was browsing through this afternoon and realised that I have no idea how a lot of them even sound so I've resolved that from today, when I want to listen to music, I'm only going to listen to stuff showing as not played and in a tribute to The AV Club's Noel Murray who did a similar thing in 2008, http://www.avclub.com/features/popless/2/ I'm going to blog about it. So come with me as I explore the darkest recesses of my collection, while I find both gems and turds because I'm sure both are there in equal measures. It's going to be a ride!
A - Teen Dance Ordinance I picked this up in HMV on the back of one of their display write-ups. Not really my thing, I think I played it once properly until now. I have to give them points for their band name, thus ensuring their presence at the top of any alphabetised list. (I know it racked up several accidental plays in previous iTunes installations.) It's a bit teenage rock, well it would be with that title... Not quite as awful as I was anticipating, perfectly acceptable within its limited genre and even showing some nice guitar work in places. Can't say I'll come back to it though, too ordinary.
A.C.T - The Early Recordings/ Imaginary Friends/ Last Epic/ Silence/ Today's Report A Swedish Prog Band, I remember seeing them at The Astoria (RIP) supporting Saga, it was quite theatrical or at the very least, there were a lot of hats used as props. This should be right up my alley being in a prog/pop art-rock vein but for some reason they never really gelled with me. Listening now I'm getting a shedload of It Bites, a good chunk of one of my great under-appreciated bands, City Boy and an awful lot of Queen. I'm also hearing a large dollop of pure 70s pop over and above the aforementioned Queen/City Boy references. I'm not totally sure where I stand with this, sometimes I think, 'hey, I'll listen to this again!' but then some of it is a bit shite. All in all, I'd say, if you don't know them, check out Last Epic but leave the early stuff alone.