PART 2: The CD Conundrum: Coasters or Collectors Items (What to do with my 1,000+ CDs?!?)

Back in November of 2009 I wrote a post about what to do with all of the CDs I own. In that post I talked about why I needed a solution and what the possible ideas were. You can have a read of that post here: 

Part One of The CD Conundrum: Coasters or Collectors Items (What the hell should I do with my 1,000+ CDs?!?)

Since then, my physical CDs purchases have been next to nil. I am buying primarily downloads, save for my now growing vinyl collection (which is my fave format). I'm not sure I will ever buy another physical CD again (sorry my old friend, liner notes...I'll just have to rely on websites and PDFs when they are available). 

I just found this picture today. This is my music collection circa 2002. This is the first apartment my wife and I lived in together. I had to fight to steal this closet space (still paying for it today).

CDs are just dead. Shit, I don't even have a CD player anymore. I bought a killer Yamaha tuner a while back and when I did, I decided that the CD player was not needed. My thinking then (and now) was that I would just rip the CDs to my hard-drive and stream it via Air Tunes throughout the house. If I had a house that I owned today rather than all of this global transient apartment living, I would trick that casa out with the top of the line audio with all the super geeky tech stuff. I digress...

In a recent post, The Rise of the Streamers, I questioned the notion of streaming versus owning your music. There was some healthy debate on the topic. I did miss the mark on taking a deeper look at another angle: still owning your music (CDs) and transferring it al into the cloud. This tangent is more in line with my first post on this subject, what to do with the music...all those damn CDs...that I now own.

I have come to a decision on what I will do with all of my CDs. 

When I replaced all of my cassettes with CDs I threw the tapes away. We were talking about two different beasts then. There was no relationship between the two. CDs and digital files are another matter. I can turn water in to wine with these.

My music collection, Judd's Juke Joint, totals 1,515 albums. The collection is comprised of 1,065 CD (box sets included) and 450 downloads. Whew...that's a lot of plastic and paper. I also have 107 pieces of vinyl...but they aren't going anywhere. 

So this is the plan:
  • This winter I will rip the rest of my collection to external hard-drives. I have over 25,000 songs dumped into iTunes as of today. That is not my entire collection, but it is a larger portion of it.
  • Once I have my entire collection in bits & bytes, I will make a few back-ups of the hard-drives with one master that I can add to as I buy new stuff. Each month I will clone it over to my back-ups. 
  • I am going to find a cloud storage service to put the entire thing in. Dropbox, Google Docs...not sure what yet. If there was an option that had a player that I could use/stream with or take my own songs and embed playlists with or share to social sites, etc...I would prefer that. Not sure what the cloud solution is yet, but will research it heavily. 
  • @dopeburger and I were talking about uploading to the cloud in Part One of this post-series. We were envisioning a 'bandwidth-bar' or someplace you could go to rent screeching-fast upload speeds to upload mass file-age. Uploading 1,500+ albums to the cloud is going to be costly. I want to do it right once, make it as inexpensive as possible and simple. Very simple. I think that I brought up a retail chain, like Costco, that would sell a wide pipe and warp speeds on the cheap to make this happen. Cool idea.
  • I'm going to dismantle my entire CD collection...separate the CD & liner nots from the pastic.
  • I will buy some simple storage solution to catalog all of the CDs in. I think I can get that down to a couple/few boxes. If anything, this makes me feel better knowing that at least 70% of my collection is backed up by "hard copies". 
Once I get this done, I will invest in the latest and greatest technology to trick out my flat or house so that my music is always ready to play anytime and in any room. I also want to be able to play my stuff anywhere...the cloud service I end up using will be key here. 

For the past eight months I have only been buying downloads and vinyl. That is the way forward. With downloads, where possible, I will buy higher quality files (as I did with Arcade Fire's new album & offerings...they nailed that execution...and their interactive album is cool, too). 

I will continue to buy vinyl...old and new. I will carefully curate my collection so that I focus on top vinyl-album-experiences (Layla, Pet Sounds, etc.). the new vinyl will be in two forms...new albums on high quality vinyl (i.e. 180 grams) and special re-releases of killer classic albums.  The new albums refers to new shit such as The Black Keys, "Brothers" (love this album) and Tom Petty & The Ass-Kickers, "Mojo". If new release albums come with download codes...all the better.  

The Old-New releases come in flavors such as the limited edition Neil Young 4 album set and the re-release of the Stones, "Exile on Main St.".  The Neil set is fucking bow-down. He has plans to release more classic and lost album on the black beauties and I will buy them all. 

OK...sounds like a good plan. I have a few months still before I kick out the jams on this project. Am I missing something? Anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve my master plan? 

Tagged CDs Cloud Downloads Judd's Juke Joint Music Streaming Vinyl

Ass Sniffers and Record Collectors: Sound Hounds are the purest of breeds

Why is it that when dogs first greet each other that they stick their noses right up the other dog's ass and take a good whiff?  I have two dogs. They are always doing this. 

We're out in the park playing fetch or taking a walk and we run into another dog. Like a fucking thin, red laser beam, my dogs zero in on the other dog's asshole. This is the gut reaction, the centuries old knee-jerk response...dogs are natural born shit sniffers.
 
Yeah, they could smell the other dog's face, they could sniff the other dog's coat, but to really find out what that other dog is all about, to really get a feel for how they roll, they've got to get a good snort of that other dog's shitter. 
 
Record collectors are natural born shit sniffers, too. 
 
That's right. We ain't no dogs, but we are shit sniffers of a high order...evolved, upright, thumbs. I'll admit it, I've sniffed a lot of shit in my days, and I bet you have, too. We can't help it either; it's just what we do.
 
Record collectors. Music lovers. Sound hounds. When we meet people, there is only one way to find out what they are all about and that is to stick our noses as far up the other person's record collection as possible. Case in point...
 
Take my new friend, George. George and I just met recently. I had heard about George through a friend. George has worked in the record / radio industry for a number of years. From what I was told, George knows his music (confirmed). So, when we were introducing ourselves I passed him a link to my record collection that I have stored in an online doc. 
 
What better way for George to know where I am coming from than to have virtual finger flip through my collection. I am my collection. It says a lot about me. I am happy if George, or anyone else, makes their first impression of me based on it. Shit, I have been curating that now for close to twenty-years. As I tell my wife: "sorry baby, but my first love and longest lasting relationship has been with my music". Oh yeah, she loves that one.
 
After he had a look through my list, George said something that made me smile. He said when visiting some one's home for the first time, he heads straight for their record collection (like a thin, red laser beam). I laughed because I do exactly the same thing. Other people don't want you looking  through their fridge, they don't want you pawing through their underwear drawer, but they certainly don't mind if you flip their records.
 
(As George rightly pointed out...not many people have records anymore. Now we have to spin their CD rack, or worse, scroll through their iTunes)
 
George had good things to say about my collection (mustard officially passed). One thing he did notice was the "total lack of any punk". Good eye, George...I am not a punk fan.  He was cool with that (personal taste), but what he could not tolerate was me having no Clash records in my collection at all. 
 
Before I go any further, let me say that my preconceived notions about the Clash and their music was completely misguided. I disobeyed a cardinal rule of one my heroes, Boo Diddley: You can't judge a book by looking at it's cover.
 
I am a blues man. Punk just never resonated with me. As far as I knew, the Clash was punk. I didn't even take the time to validate that judgement. Fuck it, I have Otis Rush and Charley Patton...who needs the Clash. 
 
I stand corrected. There is definitely room in my predominantly 12 bar collection for the Clash. 
 
After getting berated by George for my Clash oversight, I went head first into "London Calling". Yes there is punk in there, but there is so, so much more, too. There's R&B, rock, Bo Diddley's beat, jazzy shit, ska...you name it, its in there. There are rockers, slow ones, aggressive ones and flat out ball-busters. The best thing about it is that it sounds different and not contrived. 
 
The band put themselves and their scene into the sound and what came out was a true and honest representation of who they were at that point in time. Like all true classics, that point in time has the legs to live on forever. 
 
As always, I was interested in the story behind the album. I watched the docco on the making of it: "The Last Testament".  I was hooked after that. I LOVE the back story.  It adds so much depth and richness to the listening experience. Have you seen it? If not, have a go...it is well worth it. 
 
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So, thanks to George's sniffing around my record collection, I am now knee deep in learning about the Clash...and a better man for it. Hopefully I get a change to flip through George's collection when we meet. Who knows, I may be able to turn him on to something that I think he is missing in his collection...? 

We shit sniffers need to stick together. 
_____

If you haven't looked at my collection before, please do so. I call it Judd's Juke Joint (click that link). I'm always updating it. You can even subscribe to it and get emails on when I feed the dragon and buy new sounds. There are a few tabs at the bottom of it: CDs & Downloads, Vinyl, DVDs and "The Honour Roll". Have a look at all of them.

You'll find a note atop Judd's Juke Joint. It reads: I do not believe in conventional genres. Genres are used to sell records.  I believe in music that is deeply engraved in the background of the music makers; all of of whom are connected by a shared experience that links them inextricably; music with a message and a literal truth.  Everything else is a product of the record labels.

Damn straight.
 
Special note on Judd's Juke Joint: While living in Sydney, Australia, my collection grew not just in numbers but in sheer quality. I owe most all of that to my good mate, Nev...The Kingfish. I've written about Nev many times on The 6149. Nev is the owner and resident keeper of the independent record store chain in Sydney Australia. He taught me more about the blues than I ever could have learned on my own.

Six days of the week you can find him hanging at his shop, Mojo Records, bestowing bits of blues wisdom on bow-down tracks and albums that are ball-tearer's.  Stop in and tell him Judd sent you...
 
Roust on, Kingfish. Long live "Nev's Nuggets"!
Tagged Bo Diddley Beat Dogs George Judd's Juke Joint mojo Music pics Record Collection riffs Sound Hounds Sydney The Clash The Kingfish vids

My morning commute and my music collection...too easy and too much: a perfect combo

 

Listen!

via AudioBoo
Tagged commute Judd's Juke Joint London Music poorman's podcast R.L. Burnisde The Tube

A Judd's Juke Joint Xmas: A Holiday Happening from the Hills of Ol' N.H.

 

Here we go again...it is the time of year for sitting around the fireplace with family and reciting time tested tales of holiday cheer and christmas joy...unless you spend your xmas eves at Judd's Juke Joint!

Judd's Juke Joint:

Where we don't go caroling...we go carousing.
Where spreading cheer and drinking beer go hand-in-hand.
Where naughty and nice are our kind of girls.

That's right...Judd's Juke Joint is the place where all those who didn't make Santa's list go on xmas eve. Good kids gone bad; saints turned to sinners; losers and winners; everyone is invited and that means you.

About five or six years ago, I wrote a little story about what goes on during xmas eve at Judd's Juke Joint. Each year I share this with good friends who embody the JJJ spirit. We are a little family of freaks, weasels and Champions of Fun. This year, is different.  This year I am sharing that with everyone....the extended 6149 family.

And why, not eh?  Tradition is best when shared. What says tradition more than a time of year when we feed the capitalist retail pigs all the sludge they can eat from the trough by buying presents and flowers and trees for the wife and kiddies...and jewelry, crotchless panties and exotic trips for the mistress.  Load up on gifts and then load up on the booze.  A time honored tradition for sure.

Are you familiar with Judd's Juke Joint?  It is a real-fake place that currently only exists in my mind. Someday soon, I will build it and you will come. Have a read here of what Judd's Juke Joint is all about (see you soon).
____

On with the show!

This is a tall tale, but one not too far from the truth.  Some of the Juke Joint's regulars are called out by name: these people have true grit; charter members. Sure I copped the rhythm and the roll for this ditty from the famous "A Night before Christmas", but that is what makes it special and warms our hearts (and it is a qick gimmick, too).

The setting is a backwoods bar in the hills of Ol' New Hampshire where the state motto is "Live Free or Die"...and that is exactly what we do at Judd's Juke Joint.

Pull up a chair by the fire, snuggle up next a love one, pull the tab off another Pabst Blue Ribbon 16 oz'er and enjoy another Judd's Juke Joint Xmas (remember: you gotta read this as you would the "night before christmas").


"A Judd's Juke Joint Xmas"


Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the Joint
The beer was a flowing, let’s get right to the point.
The bar tabs were hanging by the register with care,
In hopes that the regulars would soon pay their share.

The patrons were nestled all snug in their booth,
While a couple of strippers danced for their loot.
Sweet mammas in G-strings, pranced in dude’s laps,
Maybe someone will get lucky, just maybe, perhaps.

When up on the stage there arose such a clatter,
The blues band tuned up, the windows did rattle.
Away to bathroom, someone flew like a flash,
Tore open his baggie and laid out his stash.

The goon rolled a heater, of green sticky griff.
Old habits die hard when the band plays a riff.
When, what to his wondering eyes did he see?
Well, not much, since there was, such a thick could of weed.

With a count-off from the drummer, so lively and quick,
The guitarman done played a nasty blues lick.
Judd's Juke Joint was jumpin’, the place was insane,
The singer was rousting all the locals by name!

"Hey Gilly! Hey, Huntely! Hey, Tony and Mini!
Yo, Erik! Yo, Zucco! Yo, J.P. and Quinny!
Raise up your mugs! This here tunes for y’all!
At the Juke Joint we never, shout out ‘last call’.


The owner he pulled down, from top o’the shelf,
A bottle of hooch he had saved for himself.
That shit was strong, he made it in his shed,
He passed out some shots; three people fell dead.

He stood on the bar and to the crowd he did yell,
"Might as well get rowdy ‘cause were all goin’ to hell!"
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
He huffed up three lines of some fresh-fallen snow.


The people all partied ‘til the sun came along,
And the band kept on playin’, song after song.
Judd's Juke Joint keeps open ‘til the last person stays,
Who knew that would not be, for almost four days.


As the last person left and the front door was shut,
We looked over our shoulders, ‘fore the ‘lectricity was cut.
In the window, a message, in bright neon lights,
"Live Free or Die”, to all you New Hampshire-ites.
Tagged blues Champions of Fun holidays JuddsJukeJoint Keene Music N.H. The Blues Tradition xmas

"It Might Get LOUD" (it damn well better be)

I just scored tix to see the UK premier of "It Might Get Loud".  It is going to be at the, star-studded, mind you, Hammersmith Apollo on the 15th December. 

Do you know of it?  It is a documentary about three guitar players from three generation and three very different backgrounds. Maybe you heard of these guys: Jimmy Page, The Edge & Jack White. The scene is set for these three gun slingers to meet on an empty sound stage, start talking about their own story about how got into the guitar and then, [cue the spontaneity] hopefully a three-pronged jam will breakout.

Here is the trailer:

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I like rock documentaries much better than I like straight-up rock concert films. I want to learn something when I watch music. I love the stories behind songs and albums and artists. I sued to love the Behind the Music series on VH1. Even when they had an artist on I didn't particularly like, I still watched for the story.  Too bad it got drunk on hubris. I kept watching until I could no longer stand to see its show formula dry hump the legs of the performers until it turned into a parody of its former self.

Rock-Docco best done by someone who is passionate about the subject. Taylor Hackford is a great rock-docco/film director. He did Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll, the biting look the life and (fucked up) times of Chuck Berry.  He did his best to make a glory film about Chuck even thought Chuck gave him a shit fight of a time. The deluxe version has loads of great interviews with rock and blues legends.  

There is a GREAT interview with a very, very drunk...absolutely shitfaced...Jerry Lee Lewis on the deluxe version that is worth the extra bread (couldn't find it anywhere on the web).

Scorsese is another one. While I didn't really like all that he did with his latest on the Stones ("Shine a Light"), he has done some damn good work, a la The Last Waltz" and  the Bob Dylan docco, "No Direction Home".

If you want to see a PHENOMENAL music documentary, watch "Respect Yourself: The Story of Stax Records" RIGHT NOW! If you don't fall in love with this, you have no soul. Here is a promo clip for it.  When I saw Steve Cropper & Duck Dunn (remaining MGs) in Sydney two years ago, they played this clip from the movie before the show. The MGs were opening for this young Aussie wanker-pop-star. He went to Memphis to blood suck the soul music legacy to supplement his lack of creative song-writing talent. Cropper produced his album and was supporting it on this punk's Aussie tour. 

I guess you know who I was there to see.

They showed this to make sure the Aussie audience knew that they knew just who the hell was up there...MUSIC LEGENDS. My old buddy Nev, owner of Mojo Music in Sydney, used to say about Cropper (one of his heroes): "Steve Cropper...never played a bumb note in his life. Agreed, Nev.

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Here is a list of all of my music DVDs. You'll see that the majority of them are rock-doccos:

(download)
Tagged Chuck Berry Hammersmith Apollo It Might Get Loud Jack White Jerry Lee Lewis Jimmy Page Judds Juke Joint mojo Music Rock Docco Stax Steve Cropper Sydney Taylor Hackford The Edge

The CD Conundrum: Coasters or Collectors Items (What the hell should I do with my 1,000+ CDs?!?)

           
Click here to download:
The_CD_Conundrum_Coasters_or_C.zip (7913 KB)

Images of me unpacking and resorting my CD collection in my new London flat.

For those of you who do not know, I have been on my own World Tour of sorts as of late. In 1996 I lived in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1998 I moved up to Boston, where I met my wife (at a Tom Petty concert: find out how here). In 2002 we moved from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In 2005, we made the big move around the globe to Sydney, Australia. This past September we relocated to London; ironically we now live on Sydney Street.

There are two things I have always traveled with no matter where I have rambled: my wife and my music collection.  Arguably these are the two most important things in my life; I couldn't do without either. Funny though, I have had a longer relationship with my music collection than my wife (she and I have been together over 10 years). My wife is not the jealous type, nor should ever have reason to be: I am an extremely loyal and dedicated man.  Which is why she shouldn't be surprised at my resistance to want to shed my vast collection of CDs.

My collection is 1,419 albums and box sets strong, consisting of both CDs and downloads. Recently I have converted back to vinyl (75 albums and growing) after decades of turning a deaf ear on their sonic brilliance. You can read through it all here in a live-list I created in a Google Doc: Judd's Juke Joint. I update this whenever I add to it. There is also a tab for my music related DVD material as well. 

Before I go any further, let me say this: as far as I am concerned my collection is 99% fat free. While I do think that size matters, quality is of most importance. 

As you can see in the spreadsheet I am in the process of highlighting which albums are physical CDs and which are downloaded bits and bytes. In my rough estimate, just under 1,110 of my collection is in CD format (including box sets).  That is a quite a load to haul around the world with me. I am thinking of making a move that scares the shit out of me: junking all of my physical CDs.

I am entertaining this thought for a few reasons:
  1. The sheer volume of CDs is cumbersome to move (around the world or otherwise)
  2. The majority of the CDs are on my two Macbooks. One of which is dedicated to just play music wirelessly around my flat.
  3. Because of #2, I hardly ever go to pull a CD off the racks to play it...I do only if I haven't already ripped it to my laptop
  4. My taste for vinyl.  
Why am I keeping all of these CDs?  I don't know, really.  Part of it is that it is tangible. I love seeing this tower of CDs everyday. A lot of work and play (and $$$) went into amassing this collection. Yes, I am emotionally attached to all of that polycarbonate plastic.

Conversely, I LOVE sifting through my vinyl collection and physically playing and flipping records...which is not easier nor is it more convenient. This of course, is because the sound and the experience from vinyl is worth the effort. The CD experience in comparison is shit. Having to get up and move across the floor to flip the record is exciting...I am actively participating in the music. Yes, I am now emotionally attached to all of that beautiful black lacquer.

So, what is poor music fan to do, 'cept to play some ol' rock and roll bands...899.html">heh heh.

Here is what I am thinking about doing if I decide to do anything at all:
  • Rip my entire physical CD collection to hard drives. I would put as much on my Macbooks as I can and the rest, in its combined CD and download glory, would be stored on external drives. I would back it up to as many as necessary until I feel secure. I could keep two on hand, get a safe deposit book for one and send one to my parents in New Hampshire for extra safe keeping.  And If all fails, I can bury one under a rock in Buxton, Maine for Red to dig up when he gets out of prison. 
  • I would then take all of the CD inserts/liner notes from each case and store them in a photo-album or something similar. This way I can have the info if I ever need it (this sounds like madness, doesn't it...).
  • I could hook up my external drive to the computer and play everything and anything through my wireless network set up throughout my flat. This is also very convenient for mobile-music
  • I would find some young, deserving music fans and donate my CD collection to them. I would divvy it up into assorted chunks so that the recipients would get a good mix of blues, soul, country, etc.  If I do this, I might have to forgo keeping the CD inserts. 
This would leave me with all digital files, vinyl and box sets (I would keep those in physical form). I think...think...I could live with that.  But how would I buy music?  

Let's use the last Bob Dylan album, "Together Through Life", as a test case. I bought that on vinyl and it came with a CD of the tunes sans CD packaging fanfare. This is best of both worlds: my preferred vinyl in 180 gram goodness and a CD to rip to my digital collection...and I get to give the CD to a deserving music fan/friend. If the album had come with a code for download that would have been just as good.

Anyhow, this is where I am at with my collection. I am not in a hurry to decide. All I know is that my collection will only grow.  While I LOVE the thought that it will get out of hand, it could get physically unmanageable as I move from place to place. 

Are any of you in the same situation? What are your thoughts? How have you/would you act on this...if at all? How do you buy your music? What are the holes in my potential plan?

Tune Tags

I chose "Sparks" by The Who as the tune tag for this post. This was the song playing in the movie Almost Famous when a young William Miller was flipping through the vinyl collection left to him (...to liberate him!) by his sister.


 

Tagged Bow-Down Post CDs Collection DVDs hard drive Judd'sJukeJoint Moving riffs The Who Tom Petty travel Tune Tags Vinyl

Judd's Juke Joint: 1,400 hundred albums and counting... (and I ain't done yet)

Check out Judd's Juke Joint: 98% Fat Free.

  • 1,400 CDs & downloads
  • 59 pieces of pure black gold vinyl

This is my Music Manifesto: I do not believe in conventional genres. Genres are used to sell records. I believe in music that is deeply engraved in the background of the music makers; all of of whom are connected by a shared experience that links them inextricably; music with a message and a literal truth. Everything else is a product of the record labels.

This has been both my method and madness in pursuit of assembling a massive collection of bow-down music.
_____

Excuse me while I kiss the sky. Today I hit the 1,400 album mark in my music collection.  "Judd's Juke Joint" has been a work in progress for some years now.  This collection is my mirror. When I look at it, I look back at me. 

I have made many acquaintances, business contacts, happenstances, life-long connections, international contacts, true friends and a wife (!) because of it.  It has been fun and it ain't over yet.  What a great passion in life to love music and to love to learn about it, share it and listen to it...incessantly. I am in awe of it and what it is capable of. 

I won't say anymore except thank you to all who have been a part of this.  Here it is, Judd's Juke Joint in all it's glory. Oh the stories it could tell...

p.s. the 1,400th album?  George Jones - "Step Right Up: 1973-1979, A Critical Anthology".  Heh heh.  Perfect...

* A special thanks to Nev Seargent, A.K.A "The Kingfish".  Without Nev, I wouldn't know half I do about the stuff that matters.  Nev is the owner of Mojo Music where they specialize in "The Best of the Fringe and All of the Backbone".  Thanks, Brother Nev. You got That Feel, mate.

(download)
Tagged Judd's Juke Joint riffs

Black Beauties: New Vinyl at Judd's Juke Joint - Hathaway, Zevon, Carr, Neil & The Brothers...Oh My!

Here is the full truckload of music at Judd's Juke Joint

  • 1,384 CDs & Bits & Bytes (downloads)
  • 50 Black Beauties (vinyl)
  • 47 killer DVDs
  • And the "Roll Call"

_____

   
Click here to download:
Black_Beauties_New_Vinyl_at_Ju.zip (2413 KB)

The new vinyl addiction has gloriously manifested itself again, resulting in some fine new members of Judd's Juke Joint.  This time around I picked up some new and used stuff.  My Vinyl Buying Manifesto still rings true: choose rich classic albums, collect a lot and make it diverse. When I drop a record on the turntable, I want it to be from a well rounded collection of vinyl , I want it to be a great experience and I want it to be a repeat offender.

I don't think I have to worry about these suspects subjects; they are all repeat offenders.

The New (and by new I mean new reissues):

  • Donny Hathaway: "Everything is Everything".  This is album is Donny's statement on himself in reflection of the (then current) times, and how he is trying to help with a message of soing and music. "Young, Gifted and Black" is both defiant and defining. Love that track!
  • Warren Zevon: "Warren Zevon".  I can't stop listening to this.  I have it on CD, but it always fell victim to the dreaded "shuffle".  This once thought friend, developed into a parasite that drained the "album" from the record. Since I picked this up, I have really been into the album of it all...the dark, witty, cocky mood of it all: Awesome (in the truest sense of that word).  I'll let the snarling lyric from "The French Inhaler" speak on behalf of this brilliant set:
But tell me 
How're you going to make your way in the world, woman
When you weren't cut out for working 
And you just can't concentrate 
And you always show up late

You said you were an actress 
Yes, I believe you are 
I thought you'd be a star 
So I drank up all the money,
Yes, I drank up all the money,
With these phonies in this Hollywood bar,
These friends of mine in this Hollywood bar

Loneliness and frustration 
We both came down with an acute case 
And when the lights came up at two
I caught a glimpse of you
And your face looked like something 
Death brought with him in his suitcase

Your pretty face
It looked so wasted 
Another pretty face 
Devastated 
The French Inhaler 
He stamped and mailed her 
"So long, Norman" 
She said, "So long, Norman" 

The Old (and by old I mean used ):

  • Neil Young: "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere".  My fave Neil album.  His first with The Horse and a real gone classic.  First...listen to "Cowgirl".  Let it blow your mind and then listen again. The ups and downs, stretches and fuzz assaults and jagged melodies...that song and solo(s) is indicative of the flow of the entire album. Danny Whitten knew how to play with Neil. 
  • Allman Brothers: "Eat a Peach".  Brother Duane ldied before this one came out. It is a bit of this and that from studio cuts with and without him to classic live material.  The collection and range of the sounds is immense and serves as a cold reminder that one of the greatest ever was lost too soon. "Blue Sky" NEVER fails to make me smile and want to take a ride down an old dirt road, window down, elbow out the window and volume on "ear splitter". "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" is one of my fave studio cuts: "You don't need no gypsy to tell you whhyyyy. You can't let one precious day slip on by..."
Tagged Judd's Juke Joint Riffs Vinyl

Black Beauties: New Vinyl at Judd's Juke Joint (the Rolling Thunder of Pic/Vid Posts)

Once you go black...

The new vinyl addiction has gloriously manifested itself again, resulting in some fine new members of Judd's Juke Joint.  My Vinyl Buying Manifesto still rings true: choose rich classic albums, collect a lot and make it diverse. When I drop a record on the turntable, I want it to be from a well rounded collection of vinyl , I want it to be a great experience and I want it to be a repeat offender.

Each update will have a pic or two of the album, it's contents and maybe a vid or two.  

Here is the complete Judd's Juke Joint list of music. Click on the "vinyl" tab to see what we stock in Black Beauties...

                                                                                     
Click here to download:
black-beauties-new-vinyl-at-judd-s-juke-joint-the-rolling-thunder-of-pic-vid-posts-AAcndcynBbeaauxAcuGI.zip (41296 KB)

(download)

Tagged Judd's Juke Joint riffs Rolling Thunder Vinyl

Judd's Juke Joint: New Music in 2009 - Black Beauties & Bits and Bites

Judd's Juke Joint

What's new in Judd's Juke Joint?  In 2009, I have been busy buying music like I was stocking a bomb shelter.  So far I am heavy on the Blues buying (just the way I like it) and there are heavy doses of classic Soul & R&B, too. 

My Compilation of the Year?  It is a serious toss up between the unreal Charley Patton set, "Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues" and Neil's Acrhives Volume I. The depth and breadth in both is massive...both in music and materials. The most intersting thing between the two is that one uses the most advanced technology to deliver the goods (Neil) and the other used primative tools (by today's standards) to capture the sounds.  Which one is more rich and real?

Lookee here! Here is a month by month screen grab from my iTunes of all of the albums I have added thus far.  There are also a few other  pieces of video and audio in there as well.
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Now I didn't just buy music in digital bits and bytes this year.  This year was the year I found vinyl...again.  It had been so long since I thought about vinyl...and now that is primarily all I play (just the way Iike it).  Try as I may, I just can't seem to stuff the record in the macbook's CD slot.  So the vinyl cannot be displayed in iTunes.

Here are the all of The Black Beauties I bought this year:

ALBERT KING                           BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN

ALBERT KING                           LIVE WIRE/BLUES POWER

ARETHA FRANKLIN                  SPIRIT IN THE DARK

BB KING                                   LIVE AT THE REGAL

BO DIDDLEY                            HAVE GUITAR WILL TRAVEL

BOB DYLAN                             TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE

BOB DYLAN                             BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

BOB DYLAN                             JOHN WESLEY HARDING

BOB MARLEY                           LIVE!

DEREK & THE DOMINOES       LAYLA

DEREK TRUCKS BAND            ALREADY FREE

GENE CLARK                           GENE CLARK

JAMES BROWN                        LIVE AT THE APPOLLO

JIMI HENDRIX                           BAND OF GYPSIES

JIMMY CLIFF                            THE HARDER THEY COME

JOHN LEE HOOKER                 NEVER GET OUT OF THESE BLUES ALIVE

JOHN MAYHAL                         BLUES BREAKERS W/ERIC CLAPTON

JUNIOR WELLS                        HOODOO MAN BLUES

LEVON HELM                           DIRT FARMER

LEVON HELM                           ELECTRIC DIRT

NEIL YOUNG                            DECADE

NEIL YOUNG                            CHROME DREAMS II

NEIL YOUNG                            LIVE AT THE FILMORE 1971

NEIL YOUNG                            LIVE AT MASSEY HALL

OTIS REDDING                         THE SOUL ALBUM

PAUL BUTTERFIELD                 EAST WEST

R.L. BURNSIDE                        MR. WIZARD

ROLLING STONES                    LET IT BLEED

ROLLING STONES                    12X5

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS         LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST

THE BAND                                THE BAND

THE BAND                                MUSIC FROM BIG PINK

THE FACES                              A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK

THE FLYING BURRITO BROS.   BURRITO DELUXE

THE FLYING BURRITO BROS.   THE GILDED PALACE OF SIN

THE WHO                                 QUADRAPHRENIA

THE WHO                                 WHO'S NEXT

TOM WAITS                              SWORDFISHTROMBONE

TOOTS & THE MAYTALS           FUNKY KINGSTOWN

TRAFFIC                                   MR. FANTASY

VAN MORISSON                       ASTRAL WEEKS LIVE


             
Click here to download:
Judds_Juke_Joint_New_Music_in_.zip (4917 KB)

Tagged Judd's Juke Joint riffs vinyl
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