Personal Listenings

Aaron Shurtleff | September 1, 2005
I was driving down the road today (an hour late for work, but that's not important), and I started thinking about what a weird mix of CDs I have in my CD player. So, I wondered what other people currently had in their rotation. What's everyone listening to right now? It doesn't have to be in your car, necessarily, but just at home, in your walkman at the gym, whereever, whenever.

Since I started this, I might as well be the first to embarrass myself. :) I currently am listening to:

Def Leppard "Rock of Ages" -- I am crazy retarded for Def Leppard, and their recent best of album has a lot of their hits mixed in with the occasional lesser-known gem of a song. Plus, there's a cover of Badfinger's "No Matter What". It's a 2 CD compilation. I love every song, so I won't list individual songs, because they all rock!!

Ministry "Greatest Fits" -- I was turned on to Ministry in high school, but I never bought any of the albums. When I saw the best of album, I thought it would be perfect. I'm torn to be honest. There's quite a few songs I like, but the absence of "Angel" (my favorite song) is telling. Plus, the original version of "Stigmata" on the album is nowhere near the energy of the live version from their album "In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up" (or at least my faulty memory thinks that's the name of the album).

Type O Negative "Least Worst of" -- Yes, I have all best of albums! I really only bought this to have a copy of "Unsuccessfully Coping With the Beauty of Infidelity", but I am overall pleased with the purchase. "Black No. 1" is shortened, which is disappointing to me, since I like the longer original version. I can't admit to being a huge Type O fan (although I was subjected to the Playgirl pictorial of Peter Steele by a friend who was. No comment.), but there are times when I have the desire to hear these songs. "Hey, Pete", which is a quasi-cover of "Hey, Joe" by J. Hendrix, is, IMHO, worth the price of the album on its own.

The Pixies "Wave of Mutilation" -- Many moons ago, a friend of mine played this album during a road trip, and I've wanted to have this album ever since. I don't pretend to be a big Pixies fan, but I know what I like, and I like this album. Oh, it's a best of album, by the way! :) The only songs I really knew when I bought it were "Wave of Mutilation", "Monkey Gone to Heaven", and "Here Comes Your Man", but I'm getting liking a lot of what I'm hearing! "Where Is My Mind", in particular, is running through my head a lot.

Amy Austin | September 1, 2005
Hahaha... "Rock of Ages"... cool. Rock on, Aaron! ;-D (No need to be embarassed by the admission twice, you know... ;-DDD)

Well, I am notorious for going really long periods of time without buying *or* listening to any "new" (to me, or otherwise) music -- I have too many other purchase priorities, it seems, and even though I do like music, I always sort of "forget" about it and tend to only really appreciate it in spells or when the mood strikes. I guess I only really crave it in the car and have been fairly satisfied with the availability of one radio station or another that plays what I like (a good mix of 80s/90s retro-alternative and some current -- there is a station here that seems to play this, with a Dave Matthews song thrown in every half-hour or so... which, for me, is perfect ;-DDD).

But what is in my 5-disc "home stereo system" right now??? Hmm... I know that it's the same 5 discs that I put in there over a year ago! But they are still some faves, and I would turn them on right this minute, if I felt like it:

1) Tim McGraw's Greatest Hits (shut up... I won it from a radio station -- yes, a country one -- and I like it!)
2) Patsy Cline "All Time Hits" (I don't care who you are -- country fan or no -- Patsy and Johnny Cash rule!)
3) Southern Culture on the Skids (SCOTS), "Dirt Track Date" -- love this redneck rockabilly music and cannot help but think of them whenever I see title "Firefly" on here!
4) Barenaked Ladies, "stunt" -- love the whole thing
5) "City of Angels" sountrack -- great instrumentals, Jimi, Alanis, & U2... one of my favorite soundtracks of all time!

Before that, I know that Talking Heads "Sand in the Vaseline" (a "greatest hits" collection) Disc 2 was definitely in there... LOVE David Byrne and his crazy moves.

This is kind of just a weird sampling, though... but I guess that's what you wanted, huh.

I like the Pixies, too, and I was pretty sore to be leaving WA just as (before) they were to be performing at Bumbershoot last September... first performance in about 10 years. Fuck... thanks for the memory, Aaron! ;-p

Scott Horowitz | September 1, 2005
I imported a shitload of Journey into my ipod this week, does that count?

Lori Lancaster | September 1, 2005
[hidden by request]

Scott Horowitz | September 1, 2005
BTW, Lori, how is the baby doing? Have you posted any recent pics?

Aaron Shurtleff | September 1, 2005
Ha! I'm more embarrassed by the Type O Negative, actually. :)

And I have Sand in the Vasoline, too. I do have CDs that aren't best of, I swear! :P Now that I think on it, I have three Def Leppard best of CDs. That might be excessive. :)

Amy Austin | September 1, 2005
Hey, nothing wrong with "Best of" CDs... I'm a big fan myself -- have many! But not one Def Leppard... let alone three... 8-p ("might be"...? C'mon, Aaron!) ;-D

Scott Horowitz | September 1, 2005
Hey, Hysteria kicked ass. Pour Some Sugar on Me was the first song I knew all the words to.

Amy Austin | September 1, 2005
Hmm... why do I not find this information surprising. Tell me, though... is it on the He-Man/She-Ra Christmas soundtrack? ;-DDDDD

Scott Horowitz | September 1, 2005
Oh snap.... at least it wasn't a giant dreidel comment :)

Amy Austin | September 1, 2005
Hehehe...

Lori Lancaster | September 1, 2005
[hidden by request]

Scott Horowitz | September 1, 2005
Aww, she's adorable Lori. Congrats

Scott Hardie | September 2, 2005
Big fan of the aforementioned "Dirt Track Date" and "Stigmata" here. Lately I've been enjoying the hell out of "Long Gone Before Daylight" by the Cardigans - bland second half but brilliant first half, some of their best work in over a decade. As I write this I'm listening to "Kiss & Tell" by Sahara Hotnights, since I can only enjoy it at home in my CD player (it won't play in a computer elsewhere). Fun if repetitive. I've also been enjoying older stuff by Cibo Matto, Kinky, Galactic, and REM.

Aaron Shurtleff | September 2, 2005
Oh yeah, Scott (Ha, not Ho)? Did you know that Nina Persson of the Cardigans and myself same share the same birthday? Did you? Huh? :P It's also the day that the GREAT Akira Kurosawa passed away, as did Harry Goz.

I love Wikipedia! :)

Edited for mispellings misspellings mispelings screw-ups. :(

Lori Lancaster | September 2, 2005
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | September 2, 2005
No, I'm pretty sure he was a real person.

</sarcasm>

Aaron, is your latest comment (or even this whole discussion) an attempt to remind us about your birthday next week?

Lori Lancaster | September 2, 2005
[hidden by request]

Amy Austin | September 2, 2005
No sarcasm tag there... must be true. And Lori must not get out much, either.

Lori Lancaster | September 3, 2005
[hidden by request]

Amy Austin | September 3, 2005
Yeah, me too... ;-)

Aaron Shurtleff | September 6, 2005
Not at all. Just playing around on Wikipedia, and sharing my newly found knowledge! :) Incidentally, in honor (?) of Harry Goz, I pulled out the old Chess soundtrack, and it's in the rotation now. Of course, now Ministry and Type O are out. Updates to follow! :P

Amy Austin | September 6, 2005
Mm hmm... well, "Happy Birthday" anyway, Aaron! ;-)