Morning, Bob!

Couldn't agree more- the Cap'n has a point re access to the tracks, certainly much easier than LP or tape, and we can all now build up compilations of our favourites and cut out the fillers... it's not the artists that I think are to blame, often they don't seem to have much control over what goes out, especially when the back catalogue is raided.. imho I enjoy the careful placing of songs to build a whole performance over shoehorning. I think of Packie Byrne, if that's how you spell him, who is a master at accentuating the tougher songs by giving his audience a cheerful ditty first... much more powerful than battering the audience over the head...

and then there's the issue of 'warmer' sound on analogue recordings...

and yes, countess, I do believe in where possible cutting out the middle man, because again imho that's where things often go agly...
not so much nowadays where the artist can go indie, but for those whose best work is locked up in a vault somewhere... with a Gollum...
Some of the best is still missing...

yan tan tantethra...