🎧 Downbeat.fm Vol. 5 Track 7

I'd bet that most of the money I've spent on non-life-sustaining needs (food, shelter, medicine, etc.) has been on music. First, buying CDs as a teenager and in my 20s, then digital and streaming music in my 30s, and then vinyl from my late 30s to my present-day early 40s. I'm not even taking into account all of the concerts that I go to.

When I was young (including before my first job), I only got new CDs around my birthday or holidays, or whenever I had some money, I would have a tough decision to make. Money was sparse, so I had to make purchases that would give me the most bang for my buck. Nothing was worse than dropping $16 on a CD and then listening to it to find that you only liked two or three songs - or worse.
While I listened to a lot of modern rock, I was a big fan of classic rock. But buying every Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd album would be too costly, and at that point, I really only knew "the hits." So back then, best-of or live compilations were the best way in my eyes to obtain "new" music, with the most songs that I knew and loved.

As I worked more in my middle and later teen years and well into my 20s, I had more disposable income, and buying mostly compilations was not as much of a necessity. In fact, I thought it was an insult to the artistry of "the Album." Talk about pretentiousness. 🧐

In a streaming world, albums are of little importance - for better or worse. Each major service has an "essentials" playlist for almost every artist.

When I first started collecting physical media again (records), I went crazy buying up anything that I saw in the second-hand stores that I liked. I wanted my collection to be big, so I bought a lot. Ten years later, storage space is limited, so I am more choosier when buying records. My wife will scoff at that statement, but I think more now when buying records. Ali is very accepting of my record collecting, and we both enjoy listening to records when we're cooking or playing games. But I know my record collection has to stay within a certain number to fit in the room where we keep it. To achieve this, I am choosey when buying, as I mentioned, but I also regularly go through my collection to resell albums that we don't listen to anymore.

I have also re-embraced buying best of compilations. I still have all of Led Zeppelin's discography on vinyl, but I only need a best of for a band like Chicago, Bill Withers, or Motown bands. For example, when I was a kid, they were a great way to collect the songs you liked without as much as the skippable tracks a full album may bring. I'll continue to avoid live compilations, though, unless they are for a top-tier favorite band.

What do you think about best of or live compilation albums?

July's Playlist

This month’s playlist features Rosemary, Clutch, Porridge Radio, Massive Attack, Curtis Harding, Touché Amoré, Sidney Gish, and more!

Listen to this month's playlist on:

Quick Listening and Other Links

This one hits very close to home: Why Venues Are Struggling to Stay Open in the Live Music Capital of the World (Austin, TX). Spoilers: gentrification, real estate investors, and unchecked capitalism. Artists and "outcasts" make an area of town cool and desirable, and then the rich Karens and Chads move in to expensive high rises, and complain about the noise from art and music venues that existed way before their $7,000 a month condo did.

Does your washing machine or dishwasher play an incredibly long and annoying song when the cycle is done? Mine does, but I wouldn't mind if they played this song.

Rolling Stone put together a list of 50 Worst Album Covers of All Time. I think one or two of them are fine, but yeah, most of these are bad.