WHAT I'M LISTENING TO (MAY 5, 2014) GIN BLOSSOMS-MICHAEL JACKSON-JOHN WAITE

When a CD collection as large as mine comes up in conversation, one silly question that almost everyone asks is, “do you listen to all of them?”

Well obviously not all at once.

If I played them around the clock, it would take roughly two years and forty-five days to get through them all. That assumes an hour each, and does not factor in multiple-disc sets, but I also have duplicate titles (when they reissue certain artists, I am a sucker for the bonus tracks), so those two factors probably offset each other.

But it does raise an interesting point-how do I make sure each CD has a fair chance of making it into the CD player?

After all, a lot of artists may simply not be noteworthy enough to strike my mood-even if I loved their album, there’s a good chance that I’d forget about Four Way Street (a Philly band with ties to other bands I like a lot), for example.

This would in no way be a reflection on the artist-it would simply be a function of numbers.

And in the numbers lies the solution to my problem!

I decided to pick a handful of discs at random each week (or so), in an effort to make sure I get to some of the titles I may not otherwise pick up.

And like a true accountant, those numbers are randomly generated in Microsoft Excel-this selection could stand up to a Price-Waterhouse Cooper's audit!

And at the end of the week, I would post about what I have been listening to. Hence the title.

So here's what I'm listening to...

Gin Blossoms Live In Concert

A band from Tempe, Arizona I discovered while living in Philadelphia. Back in those days, record companies promoted bands, and I got a sampler cassette in the mail that I wore out prior to purchasing the New Miserable Experience album.

I moved to Arizona in 1995, but have never managed to see the band live. 

This recording is a "warts and all" affair from 2008, and features most of their hits from the early 90's as well as songs from their reunion CD.

This is not from the live album, but was their first hit single, reaching number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Michael Jackson-Got To Be There/Forever Michael

This was a recent purchase, although I owned Got To Be There on vinyl and CD, I'd never seen Forever Michael on either format and picked up this two-fer import.

Wow, does GTBT bring back memories. I played my copy of this vinyl record to death back in 1972, although soon after that I graduated to rock and roll and did not revisit Motown until after high school.

Fortunately, the Michael Jackson music that resonates with me is from this era, before his downward spiral, allegations of child molestation and untimely death.

The music was young and innocent, Michael seemed young and innocent, and I was eleven. And boy does this album take me back! 

JOHN WAITE-BEST

This did not come up as a random number-this is a new one that arrived in the mail Friday.

John Waite does not produce a lot of material-many of his albums have a couple of phenomenal songs and a lot of filler. 

Waite’s new greatest hits album is a thrilling retrospective of more than 40 years in rock and roll, 

From re-recorded versions of signature classics (“Back on My Feet Again,” “Isn’t It Time” and “Missing You”), hard-hitting live renditions (“Head First,” “Saturday Night” and “Change”) to more recent introspective fare (“Suicide Life,” “Downtown” and “Bluebird Cafe”), Best goes a long way in proving there’s many miles to go before he sleeps.