Friday 29 April 2016

Digital Art / The CD Revival / Beyonce vs Aretha /



Meet Me At The Morgue (detail) full picture here

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Q: What's the point of blogging?
A: I dunno

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The CD Revival....


                                                                            ...a friend came 'round the other day and we chatted about music buying, him saying he still preferred CDs, me thinking 'Ah, yes, a child of the 80s' whilst feeling all modern with my choice of MP3s. Then, as I was compiling my 10 Essential Jazz Albums, listening to Thelonious Monk on YouTube, fucking adverts came on after every track. Now, I could set about trying to download Monk but instead it struck me that I really should get more of him on CD. We know the sound's better. So I did; a cheap box set containing 9 albums. That's better. Although ideally I'd rather have the individual albums I think more of space-saving, these days. In Fopp the poster proudly proclaimed: 'Vinyl Is Killing MP3s' - well how about 'CDs Are Killing Vinyl'? I love vinyl, of course, but was reminded of its failings by a hi-fi buff at a party last year who said he was totally digital now. I'm not about to go on about that particular subject. Enough's been said. 

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Q: What's the point of Beyonce?
A: I dunno



                                                                             ...she annoys me. Am I the only person on the planet to feel that way? The Guardian has been promoting her like she's the new Aretha Franklin-meets-Marvin Gaye circa What's Going On meets-Stevie Wonder...such genius! Bollocks. I watched some of a new video. She dances in it - you know - that sort of choreographed shit, but here I must bite my tongue instead of making derogatory comments about her 'ass' although...it seems to be a feature she's keen to promote. Mostly it's the posturing I can't stand...those faux 'street' gestures, the high gloss 'attitude'...and as loath as I am to come on like an fart enamoured only with old music, if you watch Aretha performing in her heyday...


...I rest my case. I only put the case because having heard a fair bit of music context is inescapable, history is inescapable, for those of us belonging to a certain generation. We can't help but make comparisons. Sometimes I even pity those young YouTube commentators who, regarding a classic piece of reggae, Funk, Punk or whatever, say things like 'Music's shit today, I wish I'd been around in those days'. I was. It's some consolation for the ageing process...

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