Live Albums???

When I was a wee lad, my brother and I begged our folks for a stereo for the rec room.  Pleaded, badgered really until they finally took pity on us and got one to replace the lame excuses for music delivery systems we had until then.  It was one of those all in one silver Citizen numbers.  You remember the type.  It had a cassette deck, 8-track deck, tuner and phono all rolled into one.  We were over the moon.  We couldn't wait to blast the tunes, and back then what we blasted more often than not was Kiss.  My aunt used to buy me 8-tracks of them and a friend of mine gave me a bunch of albums that he had inherited from his brother.  We would get dressed up, paint our faces and rock out to Kiss Alive 1 and 2.  I even made a little Kiss sign with my Lite-Brite.  Listening to the crowds we would pretend we were in Detroit, playing all the songs.  My bro' was the Space-Ace, my friend was the Demon and I was the Star-Child.


Fast forward a decade or two and my son was digging through grandpa's garage and found my old Kiss albums.  Let me tell you they were thrashed.  Played out.  Fallen soldiers who had served the Kiss Army well.


Today I managed to score a pretty good copy of Kiss Alive 1 to replace it's fallen comrade, but it got me thinking about the 'Live' part of Kiss Alive.  See the truth of it is it's not live.  They overdubbed and replaced a lot of what was considered live at the time.  It has slowly, over time, come to light that not a lot of what is left on the album is live.  Rumour is they even added the crowds later.  Not live, memorex.  So can you really call it a 'live' album, can you include it in the lists of great live rock statements.  No I don't think you can, but then again it's called Kiss Alive not Kiss Live.

Mad Dogs and MTV

Maybe The Buggles were right.  Me and a buddy of mine were watching a youtube video of some old concert footage and he mentioned that 'this kind of stuff wouldn't fly anymore' and it got me thinking.  Videos not only 'killed the radio star' they also changed music for the worst.  It was the start of a slippery slide to where we are now, manufactured music.  Stuff created in studios with producers and labels that are more concerned with how things look than any sort of musicianship.  Case in point:

We used to have this.

Now we have this.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Duran Duran, but the progression that MTV created started it off.  Now we have the Kei$ha's and Gaga's of the world, that may or may not have talent, dominating things.  Back in the day showmanship meant something, but it took a backseat for the most part.  The music was in the forefront where it should be.  

Now there are plenty of examples of exceptions to the previous statement, but watch this and tell me if this would make it into the rotation of what is left of video stations.

Confession

So, I have a confession.  I haven't always made collecting vinyl a priority.  Growing up

in Ukee, the local stereo shop stocked mostly tapes and cd’s so it was easier to get 

them over records.  Then when I was in university, I went down to the local

record haunts and bought some vinyl now and then but I also bought a hell of a lot of

cd's.  They’re really easy.  Portable and small, these are things you think about when

you are on the go.  I always had a walkman or discman of some sort with me wherever

I went.  Because it really should be about the music right?  Not the medium.  And 

when you are on the go, traveling between school and home, Victoria, Ucluelet and

Vancouver, I figured it was more important to have the music with me.  It was.  Music

means a hell of a lot to me, so making it portable was a priority.

Then, when I settled down and started my career, I still purchased the occasional

album, but I still bought CD's.  They were great in the car.  Nothing finer than cruisin'

around, tunes cranked, enjoying the drive.  The portable factor was still important.

Soon, the whole mp3 thing started and I followed.  I spent many hours digitizing my

CD collection.  Organizing, getting cover art, making sure everything was perfect.  I

amassed umpteen gigs of music, all stored as convenient 1's and 0's.  Oh yeah and

they were even more portable!  Instead of carrying around a few cd's with me I now

could carry an artist's entire catalogue on a machine smaller than a cassette case. 

Crazy really.  I had THOUSANDS of songs at the touch of my fingers, instant access,

everything a music obsessed person like myself would want.

Wrong.

I found that the music became impersonal.  I wasn't getting the same thrill I used to

get when I was buying physical things.  The 1's and 0's became what they really

were.... data.  I would sit in front of the iTunes store, clicking, trying to find something

to buy and I just wasn't getting excited.  CD's felt the same, no thrill, no buzz, just

data that had to be brought home and ripped into my neatly organized collection.  It

became more about the collection.  And that bothered me.

So finally what happened was I started looking at my vinyl collection more and more. 

Pulling the albums out and really looking at them again.  Then a bunch of us at work

got together and started to listen to vinyl.  As a group.  And it was great.  I started

getting that buzz back.  I started going out and buying music.  I would buy vinyl and

bring it home and play it.  Look at the albums, read the liner notes.  It was good to feel

the records, place them on the turntable.  The whole experience felt right.

Now I'm not saying that I'm done with CD's and mp3's.  The convenience still has it's

place.  But right now vinyl seems more real to me.  So that is where I'm headed.

You should give it a try.