CornellWatch: Day 12; LEAVE CHRIS ALONE!!!

(Note: I tried to find video of the PandaWatch clip from Anchorman, but no such luck.)

Nearly two weeks after the irritating Ryan Seacrest rip of Chris Cornell's new song debuted, we now have firm proof that Chris Cornell and Timbaland have not gone into hiding. "Long Gone" still hasn't been officially released as a single and can't be purchased via iTunes or AmazonMP3, but earlier today Planet Radio 107.3 out of Jacksonville posted some new material. I've listened to all five tracks that are released and am going through the interview material now, but I'll get to that in a minute. First, I need to get something off my chest to all the people who are taking a massive flaming crap on the new stuff.

Look, grunge music as children of the '90s knew it is dead. Soundgarden is NOT getting back together. Not now, and probably not ever. Likewise with Rage Against the Machine reunited and the way in which Audioslave disbanded, that reunion is dead in the water. Chris Cornell is going to be a solo artist for the remainder of his career. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Euphoria Morning has great material on it, provided you're not expecting Soundgarden throwaways. Carry On had some great stuff on it, but there wasn't much of a tying thread to it. It felt like a lot of ideas jumbled together. By introducing Timbaland as a producer, Cornell showed he was picking a direction now, and not the worst direction either. Maybe Scream won't be the rave success fans are hoping for, and it may not even be as successful commercially as Cornell hopes either, but he deserves props for taking a risk and giving it a try.

This is why I hate mainstream music haters out there; if an artist takes a risk and it flops, said artist gets ripped to shreds and the snobs declare the artist irrelevant or out of touch. But if that same artist takes a safer, tried-and-true route, now the artist is accused of lack of originality or being a one-trick pony, or worse, playing to try to sell records or get a song on the radio. It's a no-win situation (unless of course you choose to buck the system and go it alone, and now if you do that you're just copying off of Radiohead). So yes, Scream may not be a return to what we hope Chris Cornell will be, but at least he's doing it on his terms.

Which brings up another thing; based on the interview portions I heard, Cornell truly doesn't seem to give a shit about what initial reactions to the Timbaland announcement were. He thought it was a cool idea to take his music in that direction, so he did, and fuck anyone who thought it was a bad idea. By the same token, he seems a bit unaware of how much fans are hating "Long Gone", but give him props for sticking by it and not scrapping the project and recording something new.

Phew. OK I'm done ranting. Now onto the music.

Four new tracks debuted today (in addition to "Long Gone"). "Watch Out" shows some of the most evidence of Cornell's songwriting contribution. Cornell just seems more comfortable singing this song than he did "Long Gone" (which was co-written by Ryan Tedder). This song has some real potential to be a single that could please both rock and rap fans. The chorus sounds like something you might hear on typical mainstream rap, while Cornell's raspy, meaty voice reminds us that this is in fact still the guy from Soundgarden. Timbaland's beats and production on "Watch Out" are a bit more tasteful (think Linkin Park's "Bleed It Out"), which means this track is probably the second best of the five songs we've heard thus far.

Next came the title track "Scream". At first listen, it's got the instrumentals of "Apologize", so strike one against Tim. Lyrically it drifts back into the adult contemporary region of Carry On, but isn't a totally spineless venture. The venture is more or less on par with the rest of the material. Not completely forgettable, but also far from extraordinary.

Third is "Long Gone". Having now heard it a dozen or so times, I think it's better than it was the first time I heard it. That said, it's the worst track in this set. Balladry never quite works for solo Cornell. That and the fact that it sounds like a mix between a scrapped OneRepublic track and a leftover from Justin Timberlake's last album, and this song crosses out of meh territory and into flat-out ugh. Upon further review, Timbaland can have this track for his next solo album.

After that it's "Never Far Away". The verses remind me of early Audioslave, which no matter your thoughts on Audioslave as a whole, is a plus here. Another track that could work well as an R&B hit with appeal for people who like Cornell. If anyone will give Scream the time of day, "Never Far Away" could be a club hit. I think this track also shows off Timbaland's best work out of everything on this set. I know they're entirely electronic, but I think the drums on this one are fantastic.

"Ground Zero" is the last track introduced, the shortest one, and most certainly the most enjoyable. The beatboxing is terrific, Chris seems really at ease singing this song, and it meshes together the best. It reminds me a lot of "Original Fire", just without Tom Morello's guitar solo. Instead you get a ridiculous, inspired turntable solo to close out the song. If Cornell had debuted this song before "Long Gone" I think we'd be singing a much different tune about Scream.

MP3s are below, as is a link to Planet Radio's site. Be advised that a) these are webrips, and thus a bit glitchy, but not as bad as the Seacrest rip from last week, and b) since this is meant to be a gapless album, and these tracks are essentially radio edits, we're still missing material from this album. With those facts in mind, here you go:

Chris Cornell - Watch Out
Chris Cornell - Scream
Chris Cornell - Long Gone
Chris Cornell - Never Far Away
Chris Cornell - Ground Zero
Planet Zero's interview with Chris Cornell

==TJ==

But WAIT, There's MORE!!!

As promised a second update today. I present you with the Top 20 artists from my last.fm, and a favorite (though not necessarily the absolute favorite) song from each.

1. Foo Fighters (579)
My Hero [iTunes]

2. Linkin Park (343)
Numb [iTunes]

3. Pearl Jam (340)
Love Boat Captain [iTunes]

4. Jimmy Eat World (294)
Splash, Turn and Twist [iTunes]

5. The Beatles (288)
In My Life [iTunes]

6. Dashboard Confessional (274)
Stolen [iTunes]

7. Radiohead (257)
There There (The Boney King Of Nowhere) [iTunes]

8. Nine Inch Nails (191)
Head Like A Hole

9. Gin Blossoms (173)
Found Out About You [iTunes]

10. Green Day (129)
Whatsername [iTunes]

11. Paramore (127)
When It Rains [iTunes]

12. Snow Patrol (125)
Hands Open [iTunes]

13. My Chemical Romance (115)
Famous Last Words [iTunes]

14. 3 Doors Down (114)
Citizen/Soldier [iTunes]

15. Nirvana (110)
Rape Me [iTunes]

16. Chris Cornell (106)
Arms Around Your Love [iTunes]

17. The Crash Motive (105)
Waiting (Save Your Life) [iTunes]*

18. Red Hot Chili Peppers (94)
Californication [iTunes]

19. The Killers (92)
All These Things That I've Done [iTunes]

20. Coldplay (89)
Viva La Vida

Enjoy.

==TJ==

*The Crash Motive's album is DRMed and I don't have time to fix it if I'm gonna get this up in time. Sorry!

Take Out the Trash Day

The Chris Cornell song doesn't officially drop until this Tuesday, so I'll have a HQ copy of it then. However, adding evidence to my Timbaland is a thief conspiracy, Tim just announced plans for a follow up to Shock Value. Odds "Long Gone w/ Chris Cornell" shows up on it; 10:1.

In the meantime, some other goodies to make up for my weeklong absence.

Micro-Buttered Popcorn will have a new post later tonight, pretty much centered on the Watchmen trailer that debuted in front of Dark Knight. In conjunction with that, the song that is featured in the trailer.

The Smashing Pumpkins - The End is the Beginning is the End

(Trivia Question of the Day: "TEITBITE" was originally on the soundtrack for what other superhero movie?)

Coldplay currently has a track left off Viva La Vida available for download on their website. "Death Will Never Conquer" is pretty much meant as an exit for the album a la the outro from The Killers' Sam's Town.

Coldplay - Death Will Never Conquer

Last.fm updated their site, and now scrobbling/adding to charts and stats takes place in real time, rather than whatever system they used previously that added things as needed. Thus I can say with certainty that (thanks to another goofy glitch shortly before the update), the Gin Blossoms are the newest entrant in my Top 10 Artists.

Gin Blossoms - Soul Deep [iTunes]

This means I'll be doing last.fm related posts more frequently, including one later today/tomorrow if I get lazy.

I'm posting this reluctantly since it's my primary source of music income right now, but JamsBio is hosting a contest where you can win $10 iTunes gift cards and enter to win an iTouch. I'm already up 30 bucks in gift cards and thanks to unlimited entry probably have like 15 entries to win an iTouch. Go check it out.

Back later.

==TJ==

The Who Get Their Due At VH1's Rock Honors

Last night VH1 aired the newest installment of it's Rock Honors series, in which bands paid tribute to The Who. Said bands included the Foo Fighters (showing a bit of class allowing Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes to fill in for the temporarily vocally impaired Dave Grohl), Pearl Jam, Tenacious D and the Flaming Lips. Video from performances are below, and MP3s will be coming soon.

Pearl Jam - Love Reign O'er Me
<a href="www.vh1.com" target="_blank">Pearl Jam - Love Reign O'er Me Tribute Live From Rock Honors</a>

Pearl Jam - Love Reign O'er Me Tribute Live From Rock Honors

Foo Fighters - Bargain
<a href="www.vh1.com" target="_blank">Foo Fighters - Bargain Tribute Live From Rock Honors</a>

Foo Fighters - Bargain Tribute Live From Rock Honors

Tenacious D - Squeeze Box
<a href="www.vh1.com" target="_blank">Tenacious D - Squeeze Box Tribute Live From Rock Honors</a>

Tenacious D - Squeeze Box Tribute Live From Rock Honors

The Who - Baba O'Riley
<a href="www.vh1.com" target="_blank">The Who -Baba O'Riley Live from Rock Honors</a>

The Who -Baba O'Riley Live from Rock Honors

That's all. Back later.

VLMTV: New Clips from Radiohead, Buckcherry

I generally avoid music videos simply because they don't interest me all that much. But two came out in the last week worth talking about, so here we go:

Since simply putting a camera on images that might have been relevant to the vision for the song would be far too pedestrian, Thom Yorke decided that the video for Radiohead's "House of Cards" should be shot using lasers (or "lasers", for those who are still Mike Myers fans). The quote from the press release has far too much techno-babble in it, but Radiohead more or less looks like one part screensaver, one part test Visual FX from White Noise. The video itself is below, and here is a link to the making-of featurette.




Radiohead - House of Cards [iTunes]

On the polar opposite end of the musical spectrum, Buckcherry put out information about the release of its new album, the follow up to 2006's 15. The new album, entitled Black Butterfly, drops September 23rd, and the lead single, "Too Drunk To Fuck", will go to radio stations in the not-too-distant future, and is available for download both on their MySpace, and at the end of this entry. The song (NOT a cover of the Dead Kennedys song) is pretty much what we've come to expect from Buckcherry; raunchy, yet fun-as-hell sleaze rock with lyrics that should make you cringe, but ultimately don't. The "viral" video (not sure what makes this a viral vid) features Buckcherry straddling the line between Aerosmith and Alice Cooper at a house party, and in addition to serving as the promotional video for Black Butterfly, also works as a backhanded Public Service Announcement advising Buckcherry fans to enjoy both alcohol and the band itself responsibly.



Buckcherry - Too Drunk To Fuck

==TJ==

A Taste of What David Cook's post-Idol album WON'T Sound Like

After David Cook beat the fix odds to win American Idol this year, two things happened. First, a large number of people began to wonder if perhaps this was the beginning of Idol's return to actually giving a crap about music. Shortly after that (and even before if you knew where to look), material from Cook's self-released solo album and his pre-Idol band Axium found its way onto the internet.

Let's make sure we're all on the same page right now; There's no way in hell that David Cook's next album sounds anything like Axium. Based on his looks and apparent liking for 90s alt. rock music, you'd expect Axium to sound like a mishmash of guilty pleasure rock bands (i.e. Creed, Nickelback, Hinder). That might be the case from the waist up. But from the waist down Cook and Axium have more in common with Avenged Sevenfold than they do Nickelback. If that went over your head, I'm trying to say that Axium has balls. Songs like "Truth is a Gun" are raw, pure rock. There's nothing hiding the growl in Cook's voice, and the guitars are completely unleashed, as only those of a rock and roll band not on FM radio can be. On top of the great, surprisingly refreshing sound, Cook's songwriting isn't half bad, perhaps even better than Chris Daughtry's was during his Absent Element years.

Cook's solo album Analog Heart is a slightly different story. It's still got a sense of urgency and purity lacking in some of Cook's more famous contemporaries, but it's decidedly more uplifting and clean-cut. The closest analogy in terms of songwriting and production would be Collective Soul, both for better and for worse. Still, you have to hand it to David Cook on Analog Heart for writing music that's very nearly radio ready without showing any signs of the jadedness and greed that most of the Active Rock chart shows now (Looking at you, Seether and Puddle of Mudd).

Unfortunately, though, you're not going to hear any of that raw emotion and power and Cook's next solo album. Even though Cook could pick between another solo album or getting back together with Axium, record the album guaranteed him by the Idol win and he'd probably score huge on the Rock charts and possibly get some crossover love, Sony BMG* will NEVER let that fly. No, they're gonna go for the huge prize, meaning you're gonna get something safe, mindless, but frustratingly catchy. Meaning Cook can write all he wants, but odds are the label (and whoever took Clive Davis' place) will play it safe. Reports suggest Ryan Tedder (lead singer for OneRepublic) and Jesse McCartney are helping write the album. I'm guessing that might be one of the better scenarios. Imagine if Daughtry's album was written entirely by the folks who write Clay Aiken's stuff. Yeah. Are you terrified yet?

We saw what happened when Kelly Clarkson wrote decent material only to have the label squash it. David Cook has already proven he can write worth a damn. If Sony BMG* has any sense at all they'll give Cook some free range on this album. If not, then the best thing that can happen to Cook is to have the album tank so he can go it alone again. I hope it doesn't come to that, but then again, that's asking for a record label to employ common sense.

Axium - Truth is a Gun
David Cook - Don't Say A Word
David Cook - Time of My Life [iTunes]

==TJ==

*CORRECTION: As reader Henry was kind enough to point out, Cook signed to RCA, not Sony BMG. My bad. Henry also notes (shortly after calling my writing 'mindless dribble') that Cook has said in interviews that he wants to include some of his older material on the new album. Might be true, but what an artist wants and what a label will give can be two different things. See also: recent albums (and the botched releases thereof) by Kelly Clarkson, Fuel...even Jimmy Eat World. All albums that should have been huge for one reason or another that suffered disappointing sales. Cook can talk about his vision all he wants and I hope he does and I kinda hope I'm wrong, but there's plenty of evidence to suggest someone else will have a hand in David Cook's album.

Best Of 2008: Midyear Edition

We're just over the halfway mark for the year, so I figure now is a good time to break out a preliminary Best Of post. Since we're only halfway through 2008 and there are still (hopefully) some very good albums to come, instead of doing the ten best so far, we're only gonna take this to five in the hopes that maybe some stuff still to come will fill out the list come December.

Best Albums of 2008 (So Far)

5. Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs
Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Posess Your Heart [iTunes]

4. REM, Accelerate
REM - Supernatural Superserious [iTunes]

3. Nine Inch Nails, The Slip
Nine Inch Nails - Echoplex

2. Duffy, Rockferry
Duffy - Mercy [iTunes]

1. Coldplay, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Coldplay - Lost! [iTunes]


Coldplay was in some sense a foregone conclusion at #1 as I went through this list. In my mind no one has put out an album quite as impressive as Coldplay yet this year. All the albums here are excellent and demand at least a second listen, but Viva La Vida and Rockferry have both been playing on a pretty constant run since I first heard them. Nine Inch Nails may well end up with two albums (The Slip and Ghosts) on the Best Of if things turn out badly in the second half of the year. Also note that this is the list I generated having not heard a number of albums that have gained some praise this year (Tha Carter III, Santogold, etc.). I'm gonna try to have a complete view in time for the REAL Best Of, but for now that should suit fine.

Oh yeah, and right now the frontrunner for worst album of the year goes to Weezer's "Red Album". Ugh.

Back later.

==TJ==

19 Awesome Albums From the Life of a 19 Year Old

I wasn't originally planning to take the holiday weekend off. Quite the contrary, I had a bunch of huge posts lined up. But the mixture of a revitalized social life, laziness, and other aspects of real life meant that said posts have not yet happened. So over the next 36 hours or so keep checking back 'cause there'll be a bunch of new stuff coming.

On Friday Idolator offered up a fascinating, yet difficult to put together meme; the objective? List the albums you like most from every year you've been alive. Obviously this is subject to debate and interpretation (Album you liked most then or now? Shouldn't the album you like most be the best album?). I had to take a long hard look before making a final call; a difference in how I read it could mean the difference between the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Creed. But after several days of looking it over, I present to you my list, with the occasional commentary. I apologize in advance to readers who feel old after seeing my list begins in 1988.

1988: Metallica, ..And Justice For All
Full disclosure; I didn't listen to this album in full until I started work on this list. That should tell you how bad music in '88 was. On the other hand, the two preceding years were brilliant. I chalk this up to the fact that 1988 is pretty much the bridge between hair metal and grunge, as you'll see in the subsequent bits.

1989: Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine
The more NIN I listen to the more I love it. I remember hearing "Head Like A Hole" ages ago when the old Y100 was doing one of its countdowns of the best umpteenth songs in history, but never knew what it was until a roommate gave me a bunch of NIN a few months ago. Suffice it to say, I like what I heard.

1990: Alice in Chains, Facelift
Don't have much to say on this one...just a really good album.

1991: Pearl Jam, Ten
There were three albums that could have easily taken this spot: Ten, Nevermind and The Black Album. It basically came down to which band I liked most and which album, given those choices, would I opt to put in my CD player. Yeah, I know there's the fact that Nevermind is so iconic and whatnot, but while I like the songs on Nevermind, I always thought Ten was a better album. Once I listen to one track from it, I feel the urge to hear more.

1992: Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience
I went over my reasons for this in the last post, and yes, this album has REALLY gained that much popularity for me in this short a timespan.

1993: Counting Crows, August and Everything After
Again this came to a toss-up between this and Radiohead's Pablo Honey. Both are excellent albums, but in the end it went to Counting Crows because I've considered myself a Crows fan longer than I've been a Radiohead fan. Not the best criteria, but it was my thought process nonetheless.

1994: Pearl Jam, Vitalogy
Surprisingly enough, 1994 wasn't that great a year for music. Lots of good albums, but nothing sticks out as spectacular. Not even sure I can tell you what led me to pick this over the other options.

1995: Oasis, What's the Story, Morning Glory?
Again came down to this or Radiohead, and taking it one step further, "Wonderwall" or "Fake Plastic Trees". Again, a very tough call, but I gave the advantage to Oasis simply on the grounds of personal preference.

(Note: I'm listening to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins right now, and it's making a case to take this spot)

1996: Original Broadway Cast Recording, Rent
This isn't because of a lack of good music from 1996, this is genuinely because I love this album. Soundtracks tend to get forgotten in lists like this, and as much as I blame Rent on the influx of young, naive, "scene" theater kids (i.e. kids who are only into shows after seeing the film adaptation or because it's the cool thing to like at the time), it's still one of those things I'll put in to listen to just for the hell of it.

1997: Foo Fighters, The Colour and the Shape
In many ways this is a truly great album, simply because I have such a hard time listening to singles from it, but when I start at track 1, I have to go all the way through. That's a real feat these days, and for that reason it earned its spot here.

1998: Fuel, Sunburn
Easily the band's best album and the most fun to listen to, but also the one that's been a part of my collection the shortest. That had zero relevance on its appearance here, but it's still true.

1999: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication
In 1999 my musical tastes consisted of borrowing my older brother's CDs, which meant that I listened to a lot of Smash Mouth and Creed (both of which were actually cool to listen to back then). In fact, Human Clay almost made this list as a sentimental favorite, but after listening to Californication again I couldn't in good faith let it get snubbed.

2000: Eve 6, Horrorscope
A true sentimental favorite. I've owned this album pretty much since it came out, and within a year of owning it I burned a hole in the disc from playing it so often. Even though albums like Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park might have been better and more relevant, Horrorscope still remains a classic in my collection. And since this list is about albums I liked best, that's enough to punch its ticket here.

2001: Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American
Even though fans tend to call Clarity the band's best work, this album is the one that turned me on to the band. It's also one of the leading albums that made pop-punk cool in the early 00s, even though the album isn't exactly what we'd consider a part of that genre.

2002: Bruce Springsteen, The Rising
I was surprised by the lack of really good albums from this year. Decent artists put out albums, but none of the albums were that good. Amazingly enough, if I were to award a second place, it would go to Avril Lavigne's debut.

2003: Blink 182, Blink 182
The band's last album and by far their best work. In a year that saw great albums by Linkin Park, Radiohead and Dashboard, Blink were on a totally different level. Gone were the foul-mouthed potty humor tracks, and in its place were something thoughtful and real. Too bad egos got in the way and put a brick wall in the way of this huge step in a new direction.

2004: Green Day, American Idiot
One of the few albums on this list that were totally uncontested. I'm a bit reluctant to make this statement, but American Idiot is going to be the defining album for people just a little bit younger than me (folks who have less claim to Nirvana than I do, and I was 3 when Nevermind came out). It spawned a ton of hits and summed up the better part of a decade into 60 brilliant minutes of music.

2005: Jack's Mannequin, Everything In Transit
Believe it or not, but this was nearly brought down by Nickelback's All The Right Reasons. However the fact that JM is more musically talented, and Nickelback suffers from both American Idiot syndrome and a crappy opening two tracks killed it in the end. But I'm not ashamed to admit that I think All The Right Reasons is a very good album when you take radio play out of the equation.

2006: My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade
A great album that did it all in some ways; it was a gigantic step forward for MCR, brought a massive, arena ready sound, and it had a (uplifting, if you were willing to really listen to the lyrics) point.

2007: Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
This time the best album and my favorite are both the same. I'm pretty sure I raved about this album enough when it came out. And yes, I do still think it's fantastic

I'm holding off on 2008 because a) the year isn't over yet, and b) I'm holding out for a midyear Best Of post in the not-too-distant future.

I was gonna post MP3s, but SaveFile is acting up and I'm kinda lazy. Check back tomorrow.

==TJ==

Searching...

[TJ's Note: I know, it's been a minute since anything new has popped up here. Getting a job (or something resembling one) means that suddenly the balance of free time shifts, hence the brief disappearance. I promise to have some new stuff later tonight/tomorrow, but until then I'm gonna post here a piece I just wrote over at JamsBio. I don't remember if I ever linked to them before, but nonetheless, I have now, and below is the true meat of this entry]

This is less about a single song and more about an album, and as the title would suggest, the search for said album. With the advent of iPods and digital music stores where nearly every song and album one would want is available with a few keystrokes, the act of actually going out and looking for music has become sadly antiquated. This story is about the meeting of past and present, and the joy of holding the fruits of a long search for that one special album.

I first heard the song "Hey Jealousy" in January of this year, when a colleague of mine at school gave me several hundred songs, among them some tracks by the Gin Blossoms. It might have been because I was going through a breakup at the time, or perhaps because I was in a period where I was drawn to 90s music, but I latched onto the song almost immediately, playing it several times in a single day, hardly ever daring to unconsciously press the skip button on it. But for some time that was the extent of my relationship with the Gin Blossoms; like so many of their fans now 'I just like that one song...'.

It wasn't till I was reviewing a deluxe edition of another album and briefly referenced the special edition of the Gin Blossoms' New Miserable Experience that I would consider it again. A fellow blogger left me a comment, saying that I had it all wrong, and this special edition of New Miserable Experience was a great recording worthy of every possible listen, and if I were to truly appreciate the band I needed to hear this collection. And so my search began.

So, with a healthy amount of iTunes credit saved for a rainy day, I did the new traditional thing to do and went to buy the two discs digitally. But alas, iTunes didn't have the rights to the whole collection, and thus marked the item as a "Partial Album". Not only would buying the album via iTunes mean I was missing the full collection, but it would also cost significantly more than I had to spare. So if I was going to have this album, I would need to work a bit harder. And of course none of the traditional big-box stores had the album. That would make the story too easy. No I would certainly need to dig deeper than that. Searches of my local used record shop came up empty, save for the old original release of the album. But no, the mission before me was quite clear; I needed to hear the Deluxe Edition.

My next step was to the seedier parts of the world; Amazon's used CD store and the dreaded eBay. Dealers on Amazon wanted a staggering 60 bucks to part with their copies (I didn't know this at the time, but the Deluxe Edition had been out of print for a number of years). I was flabbergasted, but it made clear just how valuable my quarry was. eBay was a bit more forgiving, but the item was more difficult to find. I spent two weeks searching under every binary rock, in every HTML-driven hole, often trying to contact buyers listing the item, only to find a glitch on the site meant I'd be looking at the wrong item. Finally I thought I found my prize, shelled out 15 bucks to bypass the auction, and waited patiently...only to find that I had been inadvertently gipped; again, a glitch meant that I paid 15 bucks for a single disc worth a quarter of that. I shipped the item back and never did get the refund promised (Buyer beware the username AkratzertHe paid me back after all. Sorry!). Several weeks passed and I had all but abandoned my hunt, knowing that it would probably be some time before success would come, and that my efforts were better spent elsewhere.

Until another few weeks passed, nearly two months after the search began, when a casual search yielded a used copy at a non-offensive price (with my bank account balance in freefall, it would have been difficult to find any price reasonable, let alone a bargain). Without hesitation my mouse pointer dove on the purchase button, claiming the mythical disc lest some other collector try to snatch it away or the item magically fade away. Within a week I came home and found a package sitting at my desk. Upon tearing the package opened, I found my two month long hunt at an end. Both discs were there and playable, the only damage some wear and tear on the packaging.

Normally this is the part in the story where I realize that I was not as impressed as I would have hoped, and the moral would be that sometimes the greatest joy is in the hunt. Not so. Everything I had heard and read was right. On the first listen I was drawn into every song, every note and every lyric. The search was just the beginning. Now came the part where the same attachment that came with one song, came with the whole package. If there's a lesson to be taken away, it is that sometimes music is best appreciated when it is not simply laid down at one's feet.

Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy [iTunes]

==TJ==