There’s more? »

While I can readily rattle off a couple without thinking about it, I had to look at my meager CD collection to remind myself what’s in it. It was enlightening and yet pretty depressing given how dated it is - but my moral outrage at the RIAA is to blame for that. As I mentioned to Jim, New Order’s “Waiting for the Sirens’ Call” was the first (and last) new CD I bought for myself in I can’t even remember when, with Crowded House’s “Woodface” and The Finn Brothers’ “Everyone is Here” picked up used at Amoeba a couple of months ago being my last purchase.

Of course, going through my iTunes library is an interesting exercise. Every once and a while I’ll have an overwhelming need for random songs that I’ll buy from the iTunes Music Store - in fact, I just bought Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” last night after watching the latest episode of Supernatural (is anyone else getting into this X-Files-ish show that has arguably the best soundtrack on TV right now?).

So all that said, I’m not sure if the following list is a “Top 10″, rather than a “Weird Nostalgic Top 10 Because I Haven’t Bought New Music In Who Knows When”. In no particular order:

	“The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” - Genesis To be honest, I’m really just referring to Disc 1. I love it so much, I rarely if ever listen to Disc 2 - heck, if someone played #2 for me, chances are I wouldn’t recognize it. The dexterity - for lack of a better word - of both the lyrics (”The cheerleader waves her cyanide wand, there’s a smell of peach blossom and bitter almond” always gets me, for instance) and the music - hard to beat, especially by today’s standards.
	“Big Generator” - Yes OK, this is a weird one - almost 100% nostalgia here people. Coincidentally, this was a gift from Jim back in middle school. I put my trusty Discman on repeat for the longest time listening to this one. While there are much better examples of Yes music out there, there’s just something about the crispness of the sound to the 90125 follow-up that I continue to find alluring.
	“Berlin Cabaret Songs” - Ute Lemper Yes, another curiosity. I had read about the English version about this in some snooty magazine (no Sean, it wasn’t Keyboard Magazine) back in 2000 I think and tripped over the German version when I was in Dallas both for work and visiting a friend. Pretty cool album - and it’s nice for another reason: I don’t get to hear much German these days…
	“Itaipu • The Canyon” - Philip Glass Lord knows a lot of people would debate that Philip Glass would be the odd duck (I still crack up when thinking of The Simpsons’ gag on Glass). While Jim introduced me to Glass, Chris pointed me to this particular CD if I recall correctly. I don’t have nearly the depth of appreciation either of my friends have for Glass’s work, but I have liked what little I’ve heard. The choral performance always sends chills up my spine. (Jim, I was debating on putting Koyaanisqatsi on the list, with an affectionate nod to your threat to pour molasses into my speakers when I pushed my little Bose 201’s to their limit that night at NMH - but Itaipu won out in the end)
	Eponymous - Peter Gabriel This one was a hard one. I was debating primarily between “So” (yes, it’s pop, but still all-good), “OVO” (a lot of really interesting and funky stuff - although disqualified because of the first track) and “Us” (mostly due to memories of Berlin). “Passion” was also a strong contender, but I guess the strong links to his Genesis roots in his first solo effort somehow won me over.
	“Get Ready” - New Order Honestly, this is a cheat since “Rock the Shack” does have me reaching for the skip forward button, but I listened to the rest of the album incessantly for weeks on end. Still can (with the aforementioned exception).
	“Exit Stage Left” - Rush Maybe a cheat since it’s a live album (I’m thinking we can all agree that a greatest hits collection should not find its way onto a list like this), but classics played really well live should get the respect they deserve.
	“Title of Record” - Filter This is kind of a surprise - well, it’s always been a surprise, I suppose. Maybe it just taps into some wellspring of rage or something, but I always feel a little better after listening to it. Cheap therapy I suppose.
	“Heavier Things” - John Mayer Also a bit of a shocker to be on the list - but no surprise that it was a gift from a female (Teresa). All the same, I have to admit that there isn’t one clunker on there. Maybe the “in touch with your feminine, sensitive side” yin to Filter’s angry yang?
	“Volume 3: Further in Time” - Afro Celt Sound System You know, when having an intellectual conversation about music and my tastes, I would’ve never thought I would include anything that had bagpipes in it. That said, they do a lot of very interesting things - with a funky edge no less. Yes, it was Peter Gabriel’s guest appearance that caused me to buy it, but the rest of the album - including Robert Plant’s contribution - certainly keeps me listening.

Honorable Mentions:

• “Doppelgänger - Curve
• “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy” - Sarah McLachlan
• “The Sensual World” - Kate Bush
• “Life on Planet Groove” - Maceo Parker
• “Achtung Baby” - U2
• “The Soul Cages” - Sting
• “Karma” - Delirium
• “Lemon Parade” - Tonic
• “The Yes Album” - Yes
• “Hell’s Ditch” - The Pogues

Of course, there are always others - for instance, any Led Zeppelin album it seems. Can’t go wrong with The Beatles or Bob Marley (although I have to confess a burn-out on Bob recently). Oh, and I reserve the right to change this list at any time. Especially if I ever do get around to doing a proper “Top 10″.

« OK, I’m done

There’s more? »

The other reason why I’m posting about these articles is that all of this is a bit coincidental in another manner - I’m getting a little bored of my site’s design. So going back to Lea’s series of articles on the art of self-branding, I’m thinking it would be an interesting exercise to go through in preparation of a big change.

And here’s the real point behind this post: I’d like your help in Step 1, the word association game. If you please, email me (first name at this domain) or post a comment with three adjectives that come to mind when you think of me. By all means, honesty is the name of the game here. Some of you know me really well, some are acquaintances, some just happened to trip over my blog as they surfed the internets - it’s all good; getting as broad a range of samples can only help!

Now, of course, the biggest question is at what point am I going to have the time to do the change…

« OK, I’m done

There’s more? »

I’ve been behind the times on a lot of these different sites - mostly due to my complete disappointment in my experience with the different “we’ll give you value in who you are, your interests and what/who you know” sites I’ve tried (Friendster, Orkut, Ryze, etc.). I usually wait for someone I know to try something out and actually find undisputed value before bothering to create yet another password to keep track of.

In my wanderings online today, I came across an interesting blog article (blogticle? blarticle? blorticle?) comparing two different off-shoots: Pandora and Last.fm (although I suppose one could debate that they’re something completely different - especially in the case of Pandora). Given Sean’s test-run he’s giving on Last.fm, I was interested in seeing if someone has found the intangible catalyst I sensed was missing from all these other sites. After all, nothing’s worse than the hangover-effect of coming to the realization that you wasted way too much of your time in your enthusiastic adoption of a site that really did nothing for you.

While it’s an interesting read, I guess I have to say I’m unconvinced as of yet. So what do you think Sean? Have you ponied up for Last.fm’s paid service?

« OK, I’m done