Friday Music Day

Friday Music Day

44 Comments

What is your attitude on deleting songs from an album on your song library? With I-tunes, it’s so simple to eliminate the songs you don’t like that you can basically re-create any album to your liking. Don’t think Yellow Submarine belongs on Revolver? One key stroke and it’s gone. Me? I’m an album guy and for the most part I don’t eliminate songs from albums. If I want to listen to an album, then I have to listen to the way the artist/producer envisioned it (doesn’t mean I don’t use the skip button if I want to). If an album only has one or two songs I like and the rest has no interest I will take those good songs and put them on some “greatest hits” collection. I will admit that in a few cases I have found a song so odious that I’ve had to delete it; but that’s very rare.

This, of course, brings me to Guided By Voices. Robert Pollard has penned, recorded, and released thousands of songs. Even if he batted a phenomenal .600, that’s literally hundreds of songs that are crap. And believe me, even a freak like me will admit there’s a lot of crap GBV songs out there -- dude could seriously use an editor. But then who knows? One person’s garbage song is another’s treasure.

The album Propeller is a great example of this. Released on 1992, this was the album that finally caught the eye of some record company swell from NYC and Guided By Voices got invited to play in the big City with a resulting record contract. It’s the record that propelled (my pun) GBV from obscure Dayton, OH band to at least a cultish indie-darling band. The album is pretty damn good, but as I mentioned above, there’s some just awful songs on it too. I’ve kept all the GBV songs on I-tunes by album but I’ve also created playlists of their best songs (still way into the multi-hundreds) and sometimes created albums that are all killer, no filler. Propeller is one album that is a go to. If interested below is a playlist for Propeller that in my opinion is much more listenable. Perhaps create it on Spotify and give it a listen.

So drop your lists, and share your attitude about changing albums on your personal song library, do you create albums based on how they should have been released?

Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox
Weedking
Quality of Armor
Metal Mothers
Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy
Red Gas Circle
Exit Flagger
14 Cheerleader Coldfront
Ergo Space Pig
Circus World
On the Tundra

44 thoughts on “Friday Music Day”

  1. I'm with free. I'm an album guy (and a compiler ... and, sigh, a bit of a completionist) so I keep damn near everything.* My solution, induced primarily by space limitations, is to only sync albums or songs that I absolutely have to have, up to the 80GB my iPod will hold. I then adjust as necessary. Those items, as well as the remainder of my music, is on a music-dedicated external HD.

    1. The Ballad Of Johnny Butt – Sublime
    2. Life Of Sin – Sturgill Simpson
    3. DND – Semisonic
    4. Baby’s Arms – Kurt Vile
    5. Radio/Video – System Of A Down

    6. Love Vigilantes – Iron & Wine
    7. Rain – Rusted Root
    8. For Aragorn and Arwen – Enya
    9. The Rain Song – Led Zeppelin
    10. Full Moon – The Black Ghosts

    B1. Le Disko – Shiny Toy Guns

    *As such, the annual (& biannual) discussion of "purges" always strike me as heresy.

    1. I used to be more completionist than I was, but space on an old HD started to become an issue. My tastes have also changed quite a bit since college. I don't really listen to Korn or SOAD any more, so why keep them? Especially with Spotify, if I have an itch to hear "Toxicity" I can just pull it up on there instead of clog my iPod.

      1. My problem with that sort of thinking is that the itch is often created by stumbling upon something, via shuffle, or looking at my shelves and drawers and boxes, or by a search that's imprecise and gives me a few more things than I was really looking for.

  2. 1. Gregory Isaacs “Material Man” Night Nurse
    2. A Winged Victory for the Sullen “Atomos I” Atomos
    3. Meat Puppets “Comin' Down”* Varsity Theater, Nov 10, 2007*
    4. Kalafina “Heavenly Blue (TV Size)”* Heavenly Blue
        a. Northern Saw-whet Owl* “Calls” (Cornell Essential Set)
        b. Townsend's Solitaire* “Longer Song” (Cornell Master Set)
    5. The Field “Arpeggiated Love” Looping State of Mind

        c. Cerulean Warbler “Song” (Cornell Essential Set)
        d. Wilson's Snipe “Flush Calls” (Cornell Essential Set)
    6. Palace Music “Work Hard/Play Hard” Viva Last Blues
    7. Patty Griffin “Gunpowder” Servant of Love*
    8. Underworld “Cowgirl”* Dubnobasswithmyheadman
    9. DJ Food* “Full Bleed” Kaleidoscope
    T. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy* “It's Time to Be Clear” Singer's Grave – A Sea of Tongues
        e. Capercaille “Cock Display Calls” (Geoff Sample's 'Bird Song and Calls of Britain and Northern Ireland')

    *Notes:
    3. This song saved my life.

    3. Ha Ha Tonka was the opening act for this show. It was the first time I had ever seen or heard of them. It doesn't look like a bootleg recording of their set exists.

    4. Opening theme from season one of "Aldnoah.Zero". This is pretty fantastic and meshes up well with the visuals used. Apparently, Kalafina is restrictive in letting streams of their song out on the internet availability, so here's a pitch-shifted version. The full song is good, too.

        a. In my house, each of the kids has a plush owl, each of a different species. So then, in our house that species is also known as "XZR's Owl":
        Great Horned Owl: CER's Owl
        Great Gray Owl: HPR's Owl
        Snowy Owl: AJR's Owl
        Barred Owl: LBR's Owl
        While there's no plush to go along with it (I'm still looking), the Saw-whet Owl is EAR's owl. Because it's cute.
        Likewise, the American Kestrel is her falcon (equally cute). HPR's falcon is the Peregrine. I've claimed the Merlin.
        None of the falcons have plushes associated with them, as plush falcons don't seem particularly falcon-y.
        HPR does have a nice plush Turkey Vulture with floppy wings, and I want to learn how to sew so I can translate the pattern
        into a life-sized one for myself. Made in the same way, it might work like a scarf or shrug. Only morbid.

        b. I got my lifer back in late November. I went looking for the same bird on Monday and couldn't find it.

    7. I haven't quite figured this album out. EAR's generally a big fan, but I'm not sure if she'll like it. Fewer hooks, maybe?

    8. I just watched "Hackers" like a week or two ago. ("It's got Mr. Knightley!") The soundtrack took me back. I don't think I've come across another movie for which I've owned more of the soundtrack music independently of the movie. This was one of the songs. All-time ambiguous lyrics: "An Eraser of Love" or "And a Razor of Love"?

    9. As in "Food for DJs", not "A DJ named Food".

    10. Hey! A new BPB album released today! (Collected BBC sessions from 1995, 2001, and 2002.)

    1. HPR does have a nice plush Turkey Vulture with floppy wings, and I want to learn how to sew so I can translate the pattern
      into a life-sized one for myself. Made in the same way, it might work like a scarf or shrug. Only morbid.

      ...

      1. Here.
        One thing about it though: TUVU's feet do not have very large toes in back. There's a little something there, but just three forward toes would be more accurate.
        There's a similar problem with plush owls. Owls are well known to have zygodactyl feet (two toes forward and two to the back), but all the plushes I've found have anisodactyl feel (three forward, one back).

            1. When I was 10-12 or so, I made a bunch of things out of plastic canvas and yarn.
              I started buying a book with animals. All squeeze-my-cheeks-and-I'll-give-you-a-kiss things.
              I quickly got tired of those patterns (and couldn't execute a French knot for anything). I was dissatisfied with the cartoonishness of the animals (the turkey had a brown head with just a red wattle! What kind of turkey is that?!??!).
              So I took the ideas from the book but expanded on it and made dinosaurs. Like about 15 of them, freehand.
              I based them on the illustrations from my favorite book on dinosaurs, by Dr. David Norman, with Illustrations by John Sibbick. I think I found Ceratopsids and Hadrosaurids fit the medium the best. I don't think I made any therapods.
              Looking at the book now, I know I made Parasaurolophus. Corythosaurus, Tsingtaosaurus, Saurolophus, Triceratops, Styracosaurus, Chasmosaurus, and Torosaurus. So maybe it was just eight. On a completely new structure, I started making a more-realistic full-body Stegosaurus, but lost wind after getting the head and neck finished. (Also, I figured that I'd figure out the plan for the rest of the body later but I didn't.

              1. I . . . uh . . . wow. At that age I think my main craft-related hobby was cross-stitch. I made some of my own patterns, but none were dinosaurs.

                1. I got curious to whether these things were in my house or still at my parents'. Answer: my house.

                  I overstated the Ceratopsids: Just one. Something shaped like a Chasmosaurus, but with Pentaceratops' nodules lining the frill.
                  I'm now pretty sure that the Styracosaurus was only in the idea stage.
                  I did have the correct four Hadrosaurids from memory: Parasaurolophus, Corythosaurus, Tsingtaosaurus, and Saurolophus.
                  I also have three self-designed birds: Common Nighthawk, Osprey, and Baikal Teal (WTF?... I guess it was in both the Golden and NatGeo bird books.)
                  So, plus the zebra and feather-headed turkey as found in the patterns book (and with only one googly-eye remaining. I didn't use googly-eyes in my own creations).
                  And the Stegosaurus head and neck that was not from the "squeeze-my-cheeks-and-I'll-give-you-a-kiss" style.

                  So that's eleven in total. I should take photos and post them to facebook someday. I'll make them public and share a link from here.
                  The Osprey is pretty cruddy. All four Hadrosaurids and the nighthawk are pretty awesome. The nighthawks has felt eyes glued flush with the yarn. All of the others just have stitch eyes. Yarn wasn't cheap, especially when you need to buy a whole skein for less than a yard of a color. So I worked mostly with what my mom had on hand. Leftovers from making some Afghans or something.

          2. That's some sort of old-world vulture (the ones with long snakey necks like Beaky Buzzard, or Trigger and Nutsy from Disney's Robin Hood).
            New World Vutures are a completely different family and have a different look. There are seven: Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, King Vulture, two Yellow-headed Vultures, and the two Condors.

            Anyways, I don't imagine that I will learn to crochet or knit. I've got a male role model who can sew.
            My dad spent time as a haberdasher and has made many different outdoorsy items:
            Giant duffels (for Boy Scout Camping or Hunting: you put everything in it including sleeping bag , cot, coats, boots)
            Mushroom-hunting bags (camo pattern: line with paper grocery bags. Dad didn't like how the paper bags fell apart when wet or handles would tear on their own)
            Hunting jacket (blaze orange with pillow pockets, he made it for himself but he grew out of it and I love it)

            1. For me, knitting has the advantage of portability. And when I am working with pointy sticks on my bus commute, the other passengers often accord me extra space.

  3. I'm really hesitant to "drop" songs; I wish there was another option besides "favorite" on Zune, so I could tag songs to be less often played but remain in the collection. I probably should just archive them.

    For being prog metal band, Polish band Riverside can sure write some pretty stuff. "Time Travellers" from Love, Fear, and Time Travel
    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_QZzb9WONg

  4. 1. “Lively” Waxahatchee Cerulean Salt
    2. “Midway” Bad Bad Hats Psychic Reader
    3. “Dixon’s Girl” Dessa A Badly Broken Code
    4. “Noccalula” Waxahatchee American Weekend
    5. “Lady Marlene” Katzenjammer A Kiss Before You Go
    6. “Morning High” La Luz It’s Alive
    7. “Head” Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else
    8. “Land of Confusion” Katzenjammer A Kiss Before You Go
    9. “How Long?” Julia Holter Have You in My Wilderness
    T. “Riverswim” The Decemberists Florasongs

    1. Answering my own question, yes #8 is a cover.
      And for some reason I'm hearing the Dixie Chicks playing ragtime.
      And then I look at the video (I had it in the background) and I see three women, the lead singer shorter and with dark hair pulled up who might have been blonde, while the other two are blonde and have their hair down.

      However, the two blondes don't appear to be sisters.
      Further reading leads me to believe that there was a fourth as drummer or keyboardist that I missed.

      1. A glorious cover, no less. And yes, there are four members. Collectively, they play a lot of different instruments and seem to switch off frequently. I don't spend much time viewing/listening to music on YouTube, but for a while last summer, this was in regular rotation:

          1. Yup, that was awesome.

            Also, I've been missing that show lately... Might need to pull up a few episodes tonight.

            1. I just started Season 5

              'Spoiler' SelectShow

              I watched some DS9 when I when growing up, but I think it was a little too sophisticated (ermm boring) to a 14 year old me.

              1. 'Spoiler' SelectShow
                  1. 'Spoiler' SelectShow
                    2. 'Spoiler' SelectShow

  5. I created a Sky Blue Sky/Wilco (the album) hybrid. I like it much better than either on their own.

    I also edited out the feedback at the end of 2 of the songs on GIB.

    I fully expect this to horrify Free!

    2. Sky Blue Sky is a perfect album, I couldn't even conceive altering that. I can accept editing out the feedback on Ghost is Born however.

  6. Full albums all the way, though I didn't start on that line of thinking until about 5 years ago. There are way too many holes in my library from when I only digitized/downloaded parts of albums instead of whole ones.

    1. I've been pretty completist/full album for a long time.* At one point I had a singles playlist that had every non-full album track in my collection that was down to 15 songs. That has grown again to 40-50 now, but will probably be trimmed sometime in the near future (it's a New Year and the organizational itch needs a scratch).

      * A glaring exception is Tool - AEnima where I took out all the interludes when I digitized and then got rid of my CD collection. Now I'm in a position where if I ever want to complete that album I have to buy a copy (because Tool doesn't do digital) purely for the interludes.

  7. 1. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart -- Al Green -- 14 Greatest Hits
    2. Bad Seeds -- Beat Happening -- Beat Happening
    3. Off The Record -- My Morning Jacket -- Okonokos
    4. Dance Of The Seven Veils -- Liz Phair -- Exile in Guyville
    5. Help Me -- Johnny Cash -- A Hundred Highways
    6. I Can't Stand It -- The Velvet Underground -- VU
    7. I Want To Be Your One Night Stand -- Jeremy Messersmith -- Heart Murmurs
    8. 1999 -- Prince -- 1999
    9. Daisy Glaze -- Big Star -- Radio City
    10. I Would Hurt a Fly -- Built to Spill -- Perfect From Now On

    B1. Better Man -- Pearl Jam -- Vitalogy
    B2. Chief Barrel Belly -- Guided By Voices -- Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

  8. * Time Away - Andy Stott - Faith in Strangers
    * Hooker With a Penis - Tool - AEnima
    * The Noose - A Perfect Circle - The Thirteenth Step**
    * Stars - Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witnesses
    * Siamese - Wye Oak - The Knot
    * Green Valley - Puscifer - Conditions of My Parole**
    * Night Crawler - Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin
    * Cardiff Giant - MewithoutYou - Ten Stories
    * Bats - The Joy Formidable - Wolf's Law
    * Dvrk Wvrld - Speedy Ortiz - Foil Deer

    ** Songs that I inevitably turn up to full volume by the end.

    My Disco - Severe is my current obsession. (Link) Self-described as a "minimalist approach to maximal sound" it actually has vocals (very droning dark vocals, but vocals) and a repetitive gloom that seems to fit winter pretty well.

    1. My Disco - Severe is my current obsession.

      I was going to give this a listen last night, but got tired before I was able to get some good listening time in. I'll probably give it a go tonight.

  9. I'm not hurting for space in iTunes, and I only have my iPod Nano (so I'm always hurting for space there).
    In my main playlist, I'll put full albums if that's what I want and "greatest hits" if that's all I want.

    When I was a teenager, I had to tape my CDs to play them in my vehicle. Almost always full albums (plus "bonus tracks" to fill out space).
    I did not put "Foxy Mop" on my tape of Pearl Jam's Vitalogy . (Similarly, my dad skipped "Voices of Old People" when he recorded his LP of Bookends.)
    If there are truly hated tracks like those, I try to remove them.

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