My COVID-19 Project - My Music Library

On April 13^th, on Day 30 of the COVID I started a project, a review of my music library, the vinyl and CDs I have purchased for the past 40 years.  I would post on my Facebook page my comments on each of the albums I listened to.  Working from home, it has afforded me the opportunity to listen while I work. This time when I listen it is a revisit of every artist I have a disc for, not every disc I have.  

As of Friday June 12^th I have listened to 119 CDs and listened to artists in the library from A to E.  The idea of the project was to relisten to the music and decide if I felt the purchase was a worthwhile one and ask myself, ‘would I buy that Lp today?’  

Here I present to top five Lps of the 119 I have listened and the comments I made on my Facebook page.  I will also share the two albums that made me cringe the most.

The best five (so far) are:

The Band  - The Band

This second Lp from The Band continues where #SongsfromtheBigPink left off. The Band was on a roll. This set includes 'Up on Cripple Creek', 'Rag Mama Rag' and 'The Night the Drove Old Dixie Down'.

 

Barenaked Ladies and the Persuasions "Ladies and Gentleman: Barenaked Ladies and the Persuasions

What the Barenaked Ladies are good at is doing different music and having a wonderful result. This collaboration with the Persuasions is a perfect example of that. This is what happens when catchy pop songs meet up with amazing harmony.

 

Leon Bridges - Good Thing

The future of R&B is the hands of two people, The Weeknd and Leon Bridges. Leon Bridges is your Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Sam Cooke and put together.  

 

Rosanne Cash - The List

"The List" features 12 songs of a list that her father, Johnny Cash, gave Ms. Cash as a lesson in great American songs that every artist should know. Her take on these songs makes us long for additional Lps that features songs from the remainder 88 songs.

 

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

I am late to the "Dylan Party", but thanks to my friend Jim McQuaid I am fully up to speed. We went and saw Dylan a couple years back in Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Centre. It was a great experience for me.

Blonde on Blonde was the third of his rock trilogy recorded between 1965-68; it was preceded by 'Bringing it all back Home' and 'Highway 61 Revisited'. My purchase was a 2CD set with Hwy 61 included in it. Blonde on Blobde was also one of the first double disc albums sets. There's so much to say how good this is; all I can recommend is listen to it from start to finish and understand master craftsmanship of Dylan.

…these two make 59-year-old me cringe to think I bought these CDs.

Miley Cyrus - Breakout

Yea, this was a purchase when I DJ'ed; I wouldn't buy this again. The terrible remake of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is one of 11 reasons to pass on this.

 

Hillary Duff - Metamorphosis

Yes, I bought this at one time as well. Sorry that I did, but maybe the grandkids will think I am cool when they see I have this.

 

Please visit my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/rob.dekker.54 for the reviews Monday to Friday as I work through my library.  If the 119 albums I have listened to I found that I would not purchase 18 if them. According to those numbers I have an 85% approval rate for the music I buy.    

Coming up next in my next post, part 2 of my projects, the birth of a podcast.