Years ago, on a dark stormy night, there was a monstrous crack of thunder and the heavens opened. I’d finally had enough of reading the drivel churned out by all these music publications. These were magazines that I grew up loving and had grown to despair at their demise of quality.
It’s a hard climate at the moment in these crazy modern times where people don’t really like to own a physical medium. Whether that’s paper or CDs. For a generation X-er like me, I just can’t get my head around a music collection that exists on a cloud or saved into my profile page. A music collection is something I can browse through; tangible and physical.
I do have a Spotify account, but I just can’t choose something to listen to without actually looking through my physical collection first. Besides, Spotify is missing a lot of tracks from my favourite albums as I’m a sucker for special editions and not to mention streaming's highly controversial remuneration model (another post me-thinks).
The decline in shops selling CDs is depressing and it’s a very sorry time when I’m browsing my local HMV, bemoaning the fact that I can’t find the special edition of Manic Street Preachers ‘Gold Against The Soul’.
This blog was meant to be launched years ago. It was meant to be about me writing and relating to music personally. Reviews from current publications tend to appease advertisers and, in my view, are never from the heart or court any potential controversy.
I don’t intend to be on the pulse and post about new albums in a timely fashion. I have responsibilities now (a very hungry baby born June 2021!). I will however, post some of my older reviews as ‘retrospective reviews’. A great way to put a spin on not having the time to formally launch this blog or keep up with the times!
For those of you reading who are younger than me and only know of this concept of owning music virtually through ‘saving’ or ‘downloading’. Please do me a favour: take a tenner and pop in one of those music exchange places and pick up a used copy on CD/vinyl/8 track of your favourite album ever. Or go nuts and buy it brand new from FOPP, Roughtrade, or HMV. Open the accompanying booklet. Smell it. Read it. Feel it. Love it. Own it.
‘Gold erodes the soul...’
Soundtrack to this blog post:
Gold Against the Soul - the song on spotify (opens in new window)
Gold Against the Soul - the song on youtube (opens in new window)
