Rain

It's always strange to think that that first vinyl cost me approximately $13 back in the days. In 1983, the minimum wage was $4 back home. Besides the price, one could factor in the long walk to and from the mall in the freezing cold of the Canadian winter, the time spent browsing and choosing the record you wanted to spend all that money on, the anticipation, and everything that made getting a new album such a fantastic experience. You were committing to that album in many ways, often without the option of even hearing it before you purchased it. Back home, anyway... 40 years later, you can order the CD for the same price I paid the vinyl back then (less than an hour's wage in 2023) and have it delivered to your doorstep the next day. Or you can just buy it for even less on iTunes - that is, if you're one of the few people who still buys music.

40 years ago almost to the day I bought Diary of a Madman, my very first LP - and my life was changed. Since then, I have purchased more copies of that album than any other, in almost every format, the more recent being the Legacy Edition CD, 10 years ago, and again, coincidentally, almost to the day (11/27). Tonight, I logged in to work and found a gift card in my inbox. My first thought was: vinyl. The second was: Diary of a Madman. The O in OCD stands for Ozzy I guess.

I call this one a study in contrasts: James Taylor > Corey Taylor, singer for Slipknot Slipknot: People = Sh*t

Back OT. James Taylor - Blossom

I second the feeling. Can't stand that guy. Admittedly, he's aged a little more gracefully, but Robert Smith still RULES. Who else could have delivered us from Mecha-Streisand? Certainly not Morrissey.

One of the most important words in the English vocabulary.

I wholeheartedly agree! In my experience, total artistic freedom is probably the worst thing that can happen to some of us. I think Peter Gabriel once said something along those lines, too.

If there are guitar parts, unless there is a solid deadline, I NEVER finish it, although I may abandon it at some point. I can spend 2 or 3 hours recording the same verse. Come back the next session, scrap everything and start over. And again the next night. Whether it’s because the sound doesn’t seem to work or whatever else - there’s always something. And believe it or not, it used to be worse, because I used to feel compelled to record each guitar in a single take. I have at least managed to convince myself that I should “divide and conquer”. That being said, I cannot bring myself to do a comp out of multiple takes. Each part for each section must be one take. I punched into a track ONCE, the first time I went into a recording studio and was simply obeying whatever the engineer told me to do. And I still feel dirty about using that trick over 25 years later. (That and the fact that he “forced” me to record a solo using a high gain amp because my own setup just wasn’t working). I still cannot bring myself to re-amp. If I record using a plugin, listen to the playback and decide to adjust the sound even just a little and add a little gain or something, I re-record everything. Until, at some point, I give up. And then I come back a few years later, listen to the song and wonder - what the heck was wrong with me? These guitars are alright. The mix sucks for sure, but the guitars aren’t the problem. Then I decide to have a go at the project and soon enough find myself going down that same rabbit hole. The funny thing is that I’ve recorded some rather sloppy players, but since it’s not me, the perspective is entirely different - I become very imaginative in terms of how I can salvage things and put together an adequate performance out of a few questionable takes or handle problematic sounding ones. I just cannot bring myself to do the same for my stuff. I guess that’s one of the many reasons why I don’t write guitar music that often.

Goldfrapp - Lovely Head

The Tea Party - Fire in the Head

That's not Billy that's mini-Bapu!

Chris Cornell - Pillow of your Bones

Alice In Chains - Them Bones

Took this picture of Ophelia a few years ago. She reminded me of something but it took me months to finally figure it out. She's giving me Blue Steel, and totally pulling it off.

I cannot speak for every manufacturer, but there are indeed mechanisms in place that allow to remotely disable ignition. Contrarily to the common misconception, it is not possible to stop the car (for obvious reasons). Not that the technology isn't there to do that, I would assume. In my experience however, here in the US, there are three absolute imperatives that must be met before a vehicle is disabled: first and foremost, the owner must file a stolen vehicle report with the police. He must then communicate the report information to the manufacturer, and finally, a federal officer must request that the vehicle be immobilized - which very rarely happens in fact. In most cases, the police only want the car to be tracked - something which also can only be done when requested by a police officer, incidentally. At least in my experience. Likewise, information concerning the vehicle's whereabouts can only be provided to a federal officer. Each request needs to be thoroughly documented, with the name of everyone involved, from the precinct dispatcher's to the name and badge number of every officer working the case. So yes, the technology is there, but, at this time at least, there are vast quantities of legal ramifications.

Tin Machine - Big Hurt

SITD - Hurt

Elvis Presley - Hurt

Inure - Sick

Cinderella - Sick for the Cure

Metallica - Cure

Very nice!

I'm keeping my eyes on this one too. I've had the opportunity to work with it way back in the days, and I've been keeping the essential version up to date for several years but I'm thinking of upgrading to Pro, as I do like to have a back up DAW, and it's either Cubase, Pro Tools, or Studio One. And TBH, it really is between Cubase and Studio One. My Pro Tools license has lapsed and I don't really care to renew it.

Glad to hear it's not just me. I never thought of giving up, but it seems to just happen - maybe in part because the music I write rarely features any guitar, and I don't really write on that instrument either. But I like playing, and it keeps my hands and fingers in shape. And I really like to work on improving the little things that I didn't pay as much attention to as I should have when I was younger, like my vibrato and such. Almost as if playing guitar and making music were two very distinct activities. But I enjoy both very much.