The Collection : Ghost's Best of 1955 - 2009
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Artist:
Mogger Eric 5776 has been painstakingly going through his... (Pain..stakin...steak..stak..stac... screw it close enough) entire collection alphabetically. And that has inspired me to take a look at my entire collection (Not the boxes in the attack, but the library on my computer) and consider; just how big of an undertaking would it be for me to go from A to Z.
So the story began in 2006; I purged my entire collection and only kept the songs I honestly liked listening too. Like being defined as "I like this enough to sing along too" not neccessarily "I am familiar with this", or "it was popular, and need to keep it for relevance or street cred".
When the dust settled, there was a pile of about 3-4 thousand CD's (as a bartender you collect alot of music.... alot) and about 1500 songs. It is amazing how many CD's simply did not make the cut at all, not to mention the compilation and sound track CD's that had but one or two songs on them.
So in lieu of dragging on about the ins and outs of the collection, I have narrowed it down to some liner notes for you viewing pleasure. Ladies and Gentlemen... and "Anna" (She is a bot by the way), I present the Digital Library of "Ghost In You":
Earlierst Song: 1955 Harry Belafonte's "Day-O Bannana Boat Song"
Total # of Artist/groups/bands : 527
Total # of Bands with only 1 track in library: 42
Bands with most tracks in library: Sting (35), Billy Joel (32), Electronic (25), Seal (24), Coldplay (23), DJ Shadow (22), Jimmy Buffett (20), The Cure (19), Elton John(18)
Most skipped over bands: Elton John, Billy Joel, Sting, Seal, Jimmy Buffett (Hmmmmm)
Total # of Elvis Tracks: 0
Total # of Elvis Vinyl albums in collection in the attic: (13)
Total # of Led Zepplin Tracks : 6
Total # of Radiohead Tracks : 2
Total # of WHO Tracks : 1
Total # of Culture Club Tracks : 9
Collection by Decade
50's : 1
60's :45 Some things you have to have
70's :314 Product of 3 older siblings
80's :446 High School Years
90's :631 Bartending Years
00's : 253 Got Married, had kids, stopped going out.....
Total # of Tracks in Library now: 1807
Thats 1,807 songs that when I hear them, I do not reach for the FF button. (Minus those listed above under the skipped catagory.. Billy Joel.. bleeeech). Granted, most of that is broken down by play list which match moods of mine more than the charcteristics of the music itself.
Now if I where to count the # of tracks on Vinyl, Disc and Tapes up stairs in the attic, well, we are looking at probably 40,000 tracks give or take a few thousand.
So roughly 1.5% of my collection is on the computer/iPod.
I admire Eric and his dedication to his edeavor, but for me, I took control in 2006, and at the cost of potentially throwing away a song that would "grow on me" as I grew older... I ran it all through the filter of headphones........ and only kept my best. The songs that moved me, grooved me, made me get jiggy and the ones that made me reflect.
So what is my "Best of" song list?
And as much as I want to change the facts. According to iTunes, the top ten played songs since it last was reset (January of 2009) are:
1. Smile by Olive (72)
2. Summer Breeze by Seals & Crofts (63 64)
3. Don't you Forget about me by Simple Minds (54)
4. Mexican Moon(light) by Concrete Blond (53)
5. I Still Believe by The Call (51)
6. Rain in the Summertime by The Alarm (50)
7. Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty (47)
8. Mummurs Dance by Lorena McKennit (47)
9. Boulevard of Broken Dreams by The Pickin on Series (Cover - Original by Green Day) (47) Sorry CodyB, I just like it.
10. Cry Little Sister by G Tom Mac (44)
Enjoy the peek inside my world
Ghost~
Locating MOG account...
Comments (17)
I am looking forward to the new player, when this type of post is someting to be enjoyed as well as read.
Yeah. That's going to be GREAT (the player and sharing current favs)
Considering that there's always still a limit on space - both physical, on line and on the hard drive, there have always been serious strides to keep it high on quality.
This post reminds me that 100% quality will make the listening experience a little more enjoyable. I download way too many free songs that get lost in the shuffle (literally), although my Single Songs Playlist is up to 150.
Going out on a limb - roughly 20% of my collection is on the computer, but there needs to be more purging for sure.
Gotta start somewhere I suppose. Baby steps.
As great as I try and make it sound however, I often times find myself very boored with my music collection.
I listen to my iPod all day at work (10 hours a day 4 days a week), and in the car to and from work (2 hours a day).
And my only real source of new music is NPR, XM Sattelite stations and MOG.
But I buy music like I buy anything else. If I want it, I walk away.... If I still want it a week later and haven't been able to stop thinking about it, I consider buying it.
Interesting.
When your collection is whittled down to 1,500ish songs, that's what happens - boredom naturally comes upon us. I still have too many random songs (sucker for cover songs) to bore myself with but I feel a song really needs about 7-10 listens to "grow" on me or essentially for me to know whether it's good or not.
I don't get to listen to the Pod at all during the day and my commute is via bike (very risky for ear buds), so iTunes is on all of the time at the house and on rare travel occasions.
I physically buy only the staples - I've got about 30-50 artists of whom when an album is released, I buy it, hands down -at the local indie store. The other newer acts or internet buzz bands or NPR features come via eMusic or the Amazon daily deals. Never iTunes and never the big box stores. Rarely through CD burns either or file sharing (actually never through file sharing).
Never got into XM - still feel like it's too much "ok I've heard this before" or "eh...not my thing, let's switch the channel" There's that ADD twitch again.
Then Media Monkey is your answer... since you do not use iTunes, you will love how Media Monkey organizes to your liking.
just ran into my friend Joe Henry the other night. if you haven't heard Joe's stuff, you should. He's now working with Harry Belafonte producing new tracks and having a blast. leave a little blank space on your hard drives for it. gonna be quite a cool combination of talents.
25 Electronic's, 22 DJ Shadow's, and Rain in the Summertime is good for me.
I would like to complain, however, about the 19 Cure tracks. Not nearly enough, if you were in high school in the '80s. (:
Robin: According to Joe Henry.. He loves me madly. And man does he need help with a good web designer. I look forward to getting home this evening and listening to his stuff.
Peobegone: Glad to see another Electronic fan, I was 21 and living in England when I first discovered them (1992) and have been a fan ever since. I really like Benard's latest effort "Bad Lieutenant", you can read my write up here. The DJ Shadow collection is its own playlist. I really like his morose sound, very ambient. And whats not to like about Alarm's standard "Rain in the Summertime"... it screams college summers....
The Cure.. granted, I like more than 19, but the 19 I have on my hard drive, are the ones that I do not have to be in the mood for. They are playable in all moods and all situations. "Trust" and "Letters to Elise" being my all time favorites.. but who doesn't like "The Singles".
For the record.. Bad Lieutenant, considering the amount of New Order and Electronic I own, most would have bought on the first listen if they liked it.
I do like it, but like all my music/clothes/electronics/purchases in general, I am waiting a month or so. If I still want it, I will buy it (The album). If not, then I will just grab a single or two that hook me.
And another note, there are some "Albums" that are not on my computer, since they deserve to be played from beggining to end. Some examples:
1. U2 Joshua Tree
2. Pink Floyd The Wall
3. Moody Blues Days of Futures Past
I just listen to them via the CD player at work/car or home.
Oh, and for those dying to know, 67 yards ...... thats how far you can fling the "Ok Computer" disc across a field, which is about the only use I can find for that album.
It represents EVERYTHING that is wrong with media and the blind faith kids these days give to it when deciding what is good music.
I was proud to be a featured Mogger of the week a few weeks back, but today I see I am on the "Overheard" list on the front page... thats got me even more pleased..
"Well I hung out with Lady Gaga, Kanye and whats her name last night.."
Ghost, our differences notwithstanding, Wish is my favorite Cure album as a grown-up (it was Pornography as a teenager), and Trust and Letter to Elise happen to be my favorite tracks on there. I will admit I've been constantly a little disappointed since Wild Mood Swings (even with 4:13 Dream, unfortunately) but, back in the '80s, with the whole juvenile Cure vs Smiths vs New Order among kids, I was Cure all the way. (Needless to say, I love those other two a whole lot.)
Yep, I love me some Electronic and DJ Shadow.
YES on Joshua Tree (and also a yes on The Wall) needing to be played from beginning to end.
Thanks for the honest feedback Poe. Both of those songs, like just about every cure track, are timeless and specifically those two songs are very haunting as well as solid pieces of music.
And your right about the "Class Struggle" between the 3 bands back in the day, depending on which school you came from, and what your part of town was known for defined which band they called their own.
For us, the Rich kids in the west end where all about New Order, the private school kids loved the Smiths, and the rest where alone on an island of Rednecks/Inner City kids/Hair Band dorks and the only band that reached them, understood them and talked to them.. was the Cure.
Sad little puppies we where :)
And of course you had REM and U2 floating above it all....
This is since July of 2007 all are between 25 and 16 plays..
This is only my computer listening and does not include the week where I played 13 songs over and over during a certain MOG event which will remain nameless.
During that time I listened to 127,827 songs from 11,596 different artists. I just crossed over the 90,000 songs barrier in total itunes tracks. I stay busy...listening.
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