Random Music

Subject: Random Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 04:40 PM

Go over to your CDs, pick one out at random, without looking at it. Place it in your CD palyer (no peeking.) And listen.

Most of us have more music than we're likely to listen to in our lifetime, and yet we buy more CDs. Pride of ownership, I guess. Meanwhile, beautiful music lies a wastin' in our CD racks. I figure if I haven't given it away, it's something I'd like to hear again.
So, that's what I did this afternoon. And was very happy that I did.

The CD I pulled out?

Seven and Seven by Howard Alden and George Van Epps. The title refers to their both playing 7 string guitars. If you haven't heard George Van Epps, you have a treat in store for you. His Father Fred was one of the premier plectrum, ragtime banjo payers in the teens and twenties. George plays finger-picked seven string guitar, and that seventh string carries the most wonderful bass lines. Howard Alden is carrying on the style, and they compliment each other beautifully.

So, go ahead... pick a CD at random, without looking, and put it on to play. And then, let me know what you picked and if it still sounded good to you. (No fair picking out one that's still sitting on your desk from playing it yesterday.)

Enjoy..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 08:29 PM

Benton Flippen, old time new times , Rounder 0326. (Two FREE tracks from the album at Amazon by the way)

Yep, it's still good. Haven't played it in at least 2 or 3 years.

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 08:57 PM

Good shot, Guest:

I took a second CD out of my jazz collection and came up with Dave Brubeck, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Probably haven't listened to that in at least 2 or 3 years, either.

Think I'll wander over into another section and see what I come up with.

(I haven't heard Benton Flippen... what's he sound like?)

The blindfold, please...

Jerry

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Cluin
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 09:46 PM

Steve Reich "The Desert Music".

Been a few years since I put that on. Used to be one of my preferred painting recordings.

Reminds me of a program I saw S.R. on years ago where he described a performance of one of his all-vocal pieces that involved discordant notes in a round, adding a new element each time. It was composed to really get on the nerves and under your skin (not in a good way). He described the audience getting more and more irritated under an old lady went storming down the aisle and started screaming and banging her cane on the stage.

This CD is not like that however.

I should randomly pull out an old vinyl recording. Haven't spun the turntable in ages.

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: GUEST,pavane
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 07:41 AM

I met a girl, many years ago, who also played a 7 string guitar (professionally). Her name was Jill, or Gill, I think but I can't remember her other name. She had it specially built (well, which shop can you BUY one in?) and used it for traditional tunes.

I can't remember exactly how it was tuned, but I think it was as standard but with an extra treble string tuned higher than E

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:03 AM

Wow, what a wonderful idea Jerry, it must be at least 4 years since I listened to some of the CDs I have downstairs. As soon as I log off here I'm going to go and try it.

(Although knowing my luck, I'll end up with 'A Box and Banjo at Christmas', a dire CD bought as a joke; Christmas tunes played on a concertina and a banjo.... shudderrrrrrrrr!)

LTS

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Ernest
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:02 AM

It is Planxty`s "The well below the valley" for me...nice idea, Jerry
Best
Ernest

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: GUEST,Pavane
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:07 AM

If it would help me find my missing copy of Liege & Lief, I am all for it

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 10:46 AM

Hey, Pavane: I have Liege & Lief. First bought it on one of those, black, shiny looking things with a hole in the center. Now I have it on CD... be happy to share it..

This morning, I took another spin on my large CD tower. One side is gospel and blues, one is rock and rhythm and blues, one is folk, blues and country, and my classical and "World music" is in there, too. I have a large tower just of jazz, so I know what kind of music I'll get if I sample from there. My folk music is in the rotating tower, so I have a one in four chance of pulling out a folk CD. If I don't hit it by chance soon, I'll see which side is folk, and then pick something at random without reading the cover.

The CD I pulled out this morning was from my rock side, and it's a good one I haven't listened to in ages: Murmur by R.E.M. I think that it's one of the best of their early albums. I overdosed on R.E.M. two or three years ago, when they were in heavy rotation in my CD player. It's been a long time since I listened to any of their stuff, but like Police, they are one of my favorite groups. I'm looking forward to putting this CD on when I get off the computer.

Later today, I'll find the folk section and pull something out without looking. Who knows what great, forgotten stuff I'll find.

I enjoy reading about the CD that you pulled out... introduces me to new music..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: C-flat
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:05 PM

I've just drawn "Counting Crows" - "August and Everything After"

Haven't heard it for a couple of years at least but I still love it!

They seem to have disappeared recently although I don't think they managed to better their first hit.

I wish I could put all my CD's on "random" play. I might remember why I bought them!

C-flat

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:09 PM

Hey, C-flat: Good to see you. I actually pulled out a gospel CD this morning and had to do just that... try to figure out why I bought it. It was easy to figure out why I hadn't listened to it since I bought it. I bought it in the momentary excitement of an outdoor event where the CD was playing over loudspeakers. After the first five or six tracks, I couldn't believe I bought it because it's the kind of contemporary gospel that does nothing for me. Then, there were three tracks that sounded African... one with a reggae beat, with horns. They really are exciting, but I think I'll pass the CD along to someone who might enjoy all the other tracks that I don't.

Today, I listened to the R.E.M. Murmur album (their first) and really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow, I'll pull out and listen to a folk or blues CD.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: gnomad
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:53 PM

About 18 months ago I encountered a similar problem, but tackled it a different way.

Told myself I could have no new CDs until I had worked my way through every recording I already had, LPs and cassettes included. It took quite a while, but it was interesting to do, and some of them I could have been hearing for the first time, though of course I wasn't.

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Celtaddict
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:19 PM

Mine are not as random as they could be, since a year or so ago I actually got a cabinet big enough (goodbye dining room wall) and have them in alphabetical order. But I have been scanning along nabbing a handful of ones I do not recall hearing in a long time, putting them in the car, and pulling those out at random as I drive.
But currently I am still working my way through the haul from Getaway. Wow.

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 10:05 PM

gnomad: I'm impressed! It probably would take me 18 months to listen to everything that I have. My only saving grace is that I have given away far more lps, cassettes and CDs than I own. My philosophy (which I bend on occasion) is all the music that fits. I have a problem with DVDs, too, and spent tonight going through them and pulling out ones I know I won't want to watch again. I'll pass them on, or trade them in. I've done the same with books over the years, too.

Just not friends..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: C-flat
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 02:55 AM

In keeping with the "Rasmussen-Random-Selection-System" I have blind-picked a handful of CD's to put in the car for drive-time listening.

Tracy Chapman's album of the same name came out first. Some good tracks there; Fast car, talkin' bout a revolution, etc.

Energy Orchard-"Shinola" Hmmmm. Can't remember what I liked about this one.

Stevie Wonder-"Hotter Than July". I've been a fan for years and seen him in concert half a dozen times, including the "Hotter Than July" tour. Excellent.

Finally, Ray Charles-"Genius Loves company". Bought for me as a Christmas present, I felt a little under-whelmed at the time. I think I expected more after reading the stunning list of collaboraters but for all the talent on show the tracks mostly sounded detatched as if there were many miles and many years between the pairings.
Some work better than others and I owe it another listening at least.

C-flat.

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Tootler
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 06:37 PM

An interesting idea. My new car has an MP3 player in - no need for a CD changer. Maybe I should pick half a dozen CD's at random and compile them into a collection.

Another suggestion. A friend of mine (RIP - cancer got him before his time) used to select books in alphabetical order by author. He said he read some interesting books he would not otherwise have considered using this system. May be worth a try if your CD collection is big enough

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Kaleea
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 07:53 PM

Just prior to moving halfway across the country, I decided to weed through my recordings-now all tapes & cd's, having given away all my vinyl. I was brutal! I pulled out everything I had not listened to in over one year. Then I took them with me to a fund raiser for a local Traditional Music organization I was involved with, & auctioned them all off. Most of my Traditional Music pals were absolutely shocked at the wide variety of Music. The one which garnished the most $$? Not the bootleg Beatles tape, or the tapes I made back in the early 70's of no longer available Jazz from library recordings, or the CD's which were some of the first pressed by what used to be the Musical Heritage Society, but a CD of traditional Tibetan Music & chants, with traditional Tibetan drums & horns from little shawm-like things to alpine horn type things.

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Celtaddict
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 08:21 PM

I tend to scatter CDs like overgrown confetti too, though from me it is usually in the form of buying a fistful of CDs from a singer I enjoy (usually someone I know or am seeing live) and passing them on to other people I think will enjoy them, usually people I think are not likely to hear them otherwise.
There are definitely a few expendables in my collection, though. I have always found it hard to get rid of a few things, no matter how bad. Books, recordings, photographs, and any plant that still shows green....
But even though there are a number of singers I go back to quite often, one year of non-listening would definitely be too short for me; I take a good deal of joy in re-reading a book I read years ago and loved, and listening again to a CD I have not heard in some time. It also amazes me how often I will go back to a CD that has been unheard for some time and "discover" a song that did not strike me the first time I heard it. Since I make my own compilations for the car, this happens even with favorites, when I have excerpted a couple of favorite tracks for a compilation, but later go back to the full album and some other song becomes a favorite.
My brother used to have a huge CD player/storage system that held his entire collection, and he could play a particular album, or a mix from a particular genre, or effectively "shuffle" and have random tracks from anywhere in the collection. (This might have been made or marketed some years ago by Sharper Image or Hamacher-Schlemmer.)
When he died, his widow was completely baffled as she could not figure out how to get the hundreds of CDs out of the thing, which was about the size of a classic jukebox.

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 08:48 PM

And for my first random folk music CD? Random Promises by Mary McCaslin. How weird to have the first folk album I pick have "random" in the title.... Ooooweeeeeooooh! Talk about overlooking music. I didn't even remember that I had this one. I booked Mary McCaslin in a concert series I was running many years ago and thought she was mezmerizing. Somehow, I always associate her with Jim Ringer with whom she sang, and unless my memory is faulty, was married to. Jim was another favorite singer of mine.

And I don't even have his Folk Legacy CD... still have it on vinyl, and it was one of my favorite albums from the folks up in Sharon, Connecticut.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 11:24 PM

For those who have collections so random that some of it raises abhorent images at the thought of touching certain parts of it, I'll note that I recently discoverd that those old 5.25" Floppy Storage drawers down in the basement are a close-enough fit to CDs to be useful for sorting, and maybe even storage, purposes. I'm not sure mine's all straigtened and shined to the point of being able to reach into it at random in all places, but I'll try to screw up some courage.

John

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 01:24 AM

Cat Mother And the All Night Newsboys CD

"The Street Giveth... and the Street Taketh Away"


forgot i had it..



.. that was fun

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: GUEST,pavane
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 08:27 AM

Jerry,
Thanks for the offer, but I know I have it SOMEWHERE. I blame Mrs Pavane - she stuffs CDs in any old case which happens to be handy, so I expect it will be in one of hers.

I first bought it on that brown stringy stuff that you see festooning trees beside the roads. I still have that, but it does sound a bit muffled, and I can't jam it into that thin slot in the player anyway.

Subject: RE: Random Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 10:45 AM

Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys! Wow! I have always loved Albion Doowah, and last year picked up a second album of theirs on vinyl through eBay, which has a wonderful recording of Boston Burglar. I didn't know anything was available on CD. Last time I checked, it wasn't.

That's exciting news, punkfolkrocker!

The Mary McCaslin CD is wonderful... how could I not even remember having it? It's one of those cases where you buy a CD from a performer after a concert and it gets tucked away into the nether regions of Hell, I guess.

Jerry