4 posts tagged “collection”
The Big Chill: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Rating=$$$
[ Support the Artist ]
How I Got This CD: Bought used while I was in college because I wanted 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' and the price was right on the CD.
Note: To stream the sample tracks, click on the thumbnail image in this post.
Ahhhhh, The Big Chill. Love the soundtrack. Hate the
movie. In fact, the soundtrack is the only reason to watch the movie.
Actually, skip the movie and just get the soundtrack.
That said, much as I do love slapping this puppy on the CD player, I can't in good conscience give this a higher rating. Not because of the song choices — they're excellent — or the artists — they're top notch — or the fact that all the tunes are from Motown during the years when Motown was the king. If I take these elements into consideration, The Big Chill soundtrack would get a double-thumbs-up-with-grin from me.
The reason why this is rated $$$ is for purely economic reasons. There are so many used copies of this blasted soundtrack floating all over the world that I'm very sure we could use the unsold used CDs as heat-reflective shielding on the next U.S. space shuttle. You can easily find this soundtrack anywhere in the U.S. for $5. You can randomly walk down the street and trip over a used copy of this soundtrack for $6. A $7 used copy will chase you down the street, tackle you, and beg you take it home.
I think you get the picture.
Why pay new or full-price when all you have to do is walk into the closest used record store to get it? Chances are it'll even still be shrink-wrapped.
Best of Folk Music: Contemporary Folk Rating=$$$$
[Support the Artists; Support Putumayo World Music]
How I Got This CD: Paid full price for it at an indy record/book store when I lived in New Hampshire.
Note: To stream the sample tracks, click on the thumbnail image in this post.
Narrowing
down the MP3 sample tracks from this CD was just impossible. What makes
it doubly tempting to upload the whole thing is that this CD is long
out of print (I checked). However, many of the artists included on this
collection are still working musicians, so it's possible to invest in
each one individually if you're so inclined. Say what you will about
the crunchy-ness that is Putumayo, one thing they excell at is putting
together striking compilations that give the listener a flava of the
theme without overwhelming them to the point of being terrifying. This
doesn't just hold true on the company's world music offerings, but also
on the folk/Celtic collections.
Like all good compilation albums, the artists on the The Best of Folk Music range from the big pop names (Indigo Girls); big names in Celtic music (Mary Black; Dougie Maclean); and big names among folk fans (Catie Curtis; Christine Lavin; John Stewart; John Gorka; Cliff Eberhardt). Most of songs included are also "signature songs" for these artists (or at least they were the signature songs when this CD was initially released in 1993).
The MP3s I've chosen for streaming include one from the marvelous Irish singer Mary Black with a cajun-flavored 'Past the Point of Rescue' from her album No Frontiers, which, ironically was part of Black's attempt to move out of what we used to jokingly call the Celtic Music ghetto during my Bordersverse Daze.
The second MP3, 'Irresistable Targets' off John Stewart's 1984 album Trancas, is a classic case of audio disconnect. Listen to the tune and the music and you think the song is about one thing. Listen to the words and you realize that the subject matter is much darker than you realize. Give me a song like this, and I'm so there.
No folk collection is complete without Joan Baez. This one includes 'Play Me Backwards' from the 1992 CD of the same name. There's darkness in them-thar words and Baez's normally sweet voice manages to actually growl in such a way that it gives you shivers.
The next MP3 is a one-of-a-kind get. Bostonian Catie Curtis is another "must have" for any folk music collection. Her contribution to this one is the blues-flavored 'Mine Fields (from Years to Hours)' and it's exclusive to this CD alone. You won't be finding this song on any Curtis or folk compilation CD.
'My Father's Shoes' come from Cliff Eberhardt's 1990 debut album The Long Road
(which I bought after I saw him perform in a small club in New
Hampshire). The studio version of the song is slightly
over-orchestrated to my taste, although it's funny that his live
performance of this same song was so powerful when I saw him that
even to this day I can still hear it overlaid on the MP3 I've included here.
Best of Diva, Vol. 1: Female Vocal House Rating=$$
[Support the Artist]
How I Got This CD: Freebie demo from my Bordersverse Daze
Note: To stream the sample tracks, click on the thumbnail image in this post.
I
like dance music...when I'm at an actual dance club or doing cardio at
the gym. Sitting in my cube while working? Not so much. Doing
housework? More likely to throw on the Ramones to get the blood
pumping. The CD is easily forgettable (in fact, I had forgotten that I
had this until I put it in my CD wallet last night), and the dance
tunes on it are completely disposable.
The only reason why this gets a rating that's as high as it does is because it reminds me of the days when I'd occassionally go to a gay/bi dance club with a co-worker and dance the night away. That's probably why the inclusion of 'This Joy,' which is so obviously a Gospel song that's been run through a sythesizer and sexed up for the dance club, amuses the hell out of me. Another amusing as hell track is the dance-remake of Garth Brooks's 'The Dance' by Rockell.
Buy cheap and used if you're looking for halfway decent tunes to use in a workout/cardio mix or to slap into a Queer as Folk fan soundtrack. Otherwise, use the CD as a drinks coaster and satisfy yourself by listening to the files I've got here. Actually, I'll be honest: both 'Yes' by Amber and 'To Be Able to Love' by Jessica Folker are actually fairly decent tunes to have just for the sake of having them.
Best of Backtrax USA with Kid Kelly Rating=$
[Support the Artist]
How I Got This CD: Picked up for less than $1 at a used CD store.
Note: To stream the sample tracks, click on the thumbnail image in this post.
This
CD comes from the cheese-tastic end of late 80s pop music, which means
it is a perfect representation of Kid Kelly's weekly radio show, Backtrax USA.
(Confession: I always prefered Barry Scott's Lost 45s weekly show, which at one time aired directly opposite Backtrax USA on Sunday nights in the Boston area.)
What makes this compilation truly unusual among compilations is that there isn't a single track on this CD that's rare or difficult to find, and yet it still manages to miss the boat as a representative sample of early- to mid-80s music. Most compilation CDs usually have at least one track that takes you by surprise because it's either not well-known or it came from somewhere other than the pop scene. Not so here. This collection is safe, safe, safe. It's so safe, that your brain will go numb. Then you'll fall asleep.
Save your pennies. There are better 80s music compilations out there with far more interesting track picks. I guarantee that if you've got an 80s music compilation anywhere in your collection, you've got every track on this CD already.
How can I sum up this CD in a single sentence?
This CD is exactly the kind of weak-ass K-Tel style compilation that you'd find in the collection of your friends with tragically bad taste in music.
(Please note: I make fun because I love. I dated
one of these people all through college. It's no wonder we had a stormy
relationship. While I was kicking it back the Ramones, Dead Kennedys,
Dropkick Murphys, Marshall Crenshaw, Elvis Costello, 10,000 Maniacs,
The Church, The Smithereens, Yaz and so on, he was into...whatever
Casey Kasem said was hot. I'm still bitter about the INXS concert he
dragged me to. I should've known it was hopeless as soon as I saw his
CD collection.)
