love on the rocks with no ice
12.22.03 @ 11:30 p.m.
"She's playin' all night, and the music's all right..."
I adore my new CDs. And that includes the purchases I made today on a bit of a spree despite having not listened to them yet.
It was delightful, really. We (Mom and I) were on a mission to find a Bob Dylan CD, World Gone Wrong, for Dad for Christmas. I was not surprised that we had a hard time finding it, as any Bob Dylan album my dad doesn't have must be somewhat obscure. (One wonders how there can be such a thing as an obscure Dylan album.) No luck at the Wherehouse. No luck at Borders. It was a little independent shop, Everyday Music, that had a copy. And used, so it was on the cheap. At Borders I bought lots of things. At first I was only going to spend my giftcard and the ten bucks I got from my grandma, but by the time I got to the checkout, I had spent $60. $20 of that was picking out a Rolling Stones album (Between the Buttons) for Mom to give me for Christmas. Otherwise, I got a Harry Chapin CD for her (because we were listening to a tape of hers in the car that was almost totally worn out), the Darkness' Permission To Land for myself, a copy of Terry Pratchett's Night Watch (still haven't read Monsterous Regiment, though), and a copy of Uncut magazine focusing on the Clash. I'm actually listening to the tribute CD that came with it. The cover of "Janie Jones" is... I don't know if it's bad or not. I can't decide. My mind is too blown by someone balladizing that song. I would say the major plus to these songs is that I can understand every word of the lyrics, whereas when I sing along with the Clash I slur more than Strummer himself because I don't understand all the words. Originally I was going to give the magazine to Martha, and I might still, except I told her about it in an email. And I'd feel bad about giving something to her and no one else. For now, I'm going to keep it, partly as source material because I'm going to make her that Clash box for her birthday in March.
I am vindicating in keeping the magazine because since writing the above, I've learned that Martha bought the same issue today. Hah.
I still haven't listened to all of Who Are You. With all these new albums, I'm still on my initial listen-throughs of most of them, and I don't really start to absorb an album until I've listened to it several times. The first few times it's mostly so much sound unless I want to devote myself entirely to music for a day. Mostly I'm not ready to do that. "Blue, Red, And Grey" is absolutely stunning, though. I am eternally surprised and pleased by Townshend and the beauty he can produce. And it's so much more stunning and lovely by bringing "I love every minute of every day" into an album that's mostly alcoholic self-pity and regret. Feeling trapped and helpless and like a shell of a person, this is a sad album. It's possibly the most depressing Who album. Quad is frustration, By Numbers is depression. And both are so lovely that manages to simultaneously feed me and tear me up at the same time.
It kind of amuses me that I'm trying to express this deep emotional connection to music and this new album and be serious about how I feel about music in general and Townshend's writing in particular, but I'm just feeling very cheery listening to the Darkness. They're great. Almost every song on this album uses the word 'fuck' liberally in the lyrics. And, well, the Darkness are great and amusing at the same time. I adore their videos. How can you not? Later this week I'm trading it to Martha for the Jet album for a while. Probably a few days because I've also been invited to see Big Fish with Martha and Andrew.
Lastly, I want to say thanks to everyone who said "Happy Birthday..." This year has made me feel all warm and fuzzy, and especial thanks to Liz and Candace! All my friends rock, and I appreciate the attention. :)
Previously
fuck it @ 08.01.05
fanciful imaginary sea voyages to come @ 07.20.05
*dies* @ 07.19.05
more ootp @ 07.17.05
harry potter: driving our children into devil worship @ 07.17.05
