When you love a song, do you always?

I do.

I horde favorite songs. I retain sentimental affection.

I think without exception.

"Kinky Afro" by Happy Mondays

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Just an ear worm, today.

But it’s loaded.

This dates from my days working for a former retail chain called Spec’s Music and Movies in the 1990s. It was a family-owned chain, based in Miami, Florida, USA. I worked in a regionally successful location on NW 13th Street in Gainesville, Florida. The manager of the store was fond of playing the Happy Monday’s album Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches in store when it was au current. We got new promotional cassettes and CDs from the record labels weekly, and some would last on the play stack for a while.

The first song on the album, Kinky Afro has been stuck in ear-worm mode in my brain for the last several days.

Another song from the same album that I liked more at the time was Step On, but Kinky Afro hits better today and that’s my CrucialTrack.

I have some import vinyl that man gave me before he took his own life. So I have been thinking about him a little bit, too.

Boom.

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"Eyes of the World (Live)" by Grateful Dead

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Share a song that changed your perspective on music.

I never saw them with Jerry Garcia. I did see "The Dead" play at an outdoor concert in a very uptight community that put a significant damper on fan activities. I have also seen Rat Dog play at First Avenue.

My first exposure to the music of The Grateful Dead was via a group called Dark Star Orchestra. They're a tribute band that picks a known set list from one of the Grateful Dead's shows, and they play it straight through. They probably play less loosely than the real band themselves might have played, if you can imagine.

Up to a certain point in my life, I had been a tee-totaler. I had only recently begun to drink beer at social events. My spouse at the time was not at all convinced this was a good idea.

So.

I was invited by an excellent friend to a place called Harmony Park, in Southern Minnesota. Dark Star Orchestra was headlining a night at the venue, which is also a camp ground. I met my friend's family and some others there for an overnight event.

I went by myself, armed with a sleeping bag and a very small tent I borrowed from another friend. I probably brought along some Guiness.

I was encouraged to do it the right way. This was the music of The 'Dead, after all. It was really interesting to watch other campers around the park in the hour before Dark Star Orchestra took the stage. Costumes changed. Treats were distributed. Lights were hung from poles and from the trees.

I, too, had some tea and a hit from the bat.

As the evening wore on, perhaps an hour into the show, I was asked about how I was feeling. There was a lot of discussion about what I should notice. As a complete neophyte, I could only shrug and shake my head. I didn't think I felt different. I was given some additional pieces and folks were going to check in on me later.

It wasn't long after that that I began to notice that it felt really good to look at the stage lights as they moved across the crowd. I also noticed how all of the notes of music fit together into this great cosmic scheme.

Later, I became terrified I was broken. There was no way I should be feeling this good and that certainly there was no way back from the sky. I began to mourn for my life as it had been.

After the show I walked around and around the grounds. I watched the fire spinners and listened to the drum circles. I was transfixed by the gently pulsing lights some more experienced campers had hung at their camp sites. I listened to the laughter of campers and the music they had playing. I couldn't believe smoke from a camp fire could smell so good. I didn't know that pine forests could small so amazing. I didn't know there were kaleidoscopes behind my eyelids.

And I started to understand popular music and how and why it sounds the way it does just a little bit more.

I love Eyes of the World by The Grateful Dead. I've heard several live versions from the Dick's Picks collections I've picked up since then. I'm partial to one version that's about 15 minutes long. No one would ever call me a Dead Head, but I have knowledge from an experience that resonates to this day.

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"Highwire Days" by The Psychedelic Furs

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Hopefully I don't stay stuck in 80s references! I got to see Psychedelic Furs live once at the University of Florida Bandshell, back in the early 1990s. My first exposure to them was on a local radio show in the Minneapolis radio market circa 1982, and I borrowed the Mirror Moves vinyl from an acquaintance and taped it. My favorite song of theirs is still probably High Wire Days, which is another track that energizes me when I hear it.

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"Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds

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What was your favorite song in high school? Why did it resonate?

There are way too many songs from this period of my life to pick just one. As a result of this prompt, my brain decided to latch onto Simple Minds’ song Don’t You (Forget About Me). The song was written for the movie The Breakfast Club, which was released in February of 1985, when I would have been a Junior in high school. I was working part-time and for the first time in my life I was feeling connected with my same age peers and feeling seen in my culture. Still today I don’t mind hearing this song even though it was everywhere and relentless on the radio at the time.

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"Reload" by Rob Zombie

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I have a playlist called "Amphetamine" I constructed to help me chase the dragon at a point in my life when I was running on treadmills in the morning before work. One of my favorite tracks on it (and one of the few songs that I can stand to play on repeat) is a remix of Reload by Rob Zombie.

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"Get Together" by The Youngbloods

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Trying to think of my first musical memory. I'm not sure if this is it, but Get Together by The Youngbloods stands out. I was born in 1968. My uncle was serving a tour of duty as a Marine in Vietnam. This song made me think of him when I was a child. And boy does it feel appropriate today.

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Recently, I learned that John Philip Sousa is the composer of The Liberty Bell. Many of us know this as the theme music for Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

He has a tie to my Mid-Western region of the USA, having composed a Foshay Tower March for the self-same Foshay Tower in Minneapolis. According to legend, his orchestra played it the one time at the grand opening celebration. The check from Mr. Foshay bounced, and he never played nor published the march for the rest of his life.

But the reason I researched Sousa reveals a part of my psyche I have tried to keep hidden. You see, I have John Philip Sousa ear worms. Seriously. And frequently. And Stars and Stripes Forever figures largely here, as there are many distinct sections that all come together at the end. I listened to the whole piece just a few days ago. I forgot about the Piccolo. I smiled.

You see, I needed to be able to name the terror. Then, perhaps, I can come to terms with the ear worm.

So I found the Wikipedia page. The one with all 137 of his known Marches. One by one, where there are linked audio files, I listened to the intros. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not that one either. I’m far less familiar with John Philip Sousa’s œuvre than I would have guessed. With the exception of just the two marches that my grey matter seems to adore, and the one pop culture gave to me, I thought perhaps two or three more had more familiar themes than the rest.

Anyway, my brain also loves to fire snippets of The Washington Post my way from time to time, as well.

So, which comes first? The John Philip Sousa or the dissociation?

There is one more ear worm. One in a similar vein. I know its name.

It’s not Sousa. But it is The Star Spangled Banner.

I noticed earlier today that some of my Apple Music library changes weren’t showing on my Apple TV. After attempting to initiate a cloud sync, Apple Music told me there was an error and it didn’t recognize my library. What? So the fix allegedly is to turn sync off and back on. No big deal, only 42,927 items.

I was going to continue the re-rip project but instead I’m waiting to see if the re-sync to the cloud actually works. No idea how long it will take. No progress bar nor item count.

UPDATE:

I was on pins and needles for about two hours. Nothing on screen that indicates “Success,” but everything I was hoping to see synchronized appears to have done so.

I made the “iCloud Sync Status” column visible in the Songs view. Eventually I will need to look into the large number marked “Duplicate” and a not as large number marked “Ineligible” or “Removed”

One of the issues I have already mentioned is track duplication. Many albums that I have replaced with a re-rip had included one or more duplicate tracks. It feels good to clean those out. I will have gone one by one for each CD, but that does not account for items purchased from Apple or from other sources that were imported.

As an incorrigible collector, I have music from many, many sources. There is some work that will continue once the CDs are all back in. In the case of cassettes or vinyl, should I try to find this music digitally? Or, should I find a way to record these in real time?

Not going to decide today, but I know it would involve “recording” a side at a time, taking those files and separating them into tracks, possibly compressing to a lossless format, and adding meta data and cover art. Maybe after I retire? Or maybe not at all. I really do enjoy having everything easily available and potentially much more portable. No idea what the future may hold.

Gil Scott-Heron The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Echodrone Gravity

Builds slowly. A little bombastic. A favorite track of mine. I hope you enjoy.

In a completely different vein: Come for the wall of sound. Stay for the vocal harmonies.

A Shoreline Dream New York (2018 Remaster)

Another fave from The Trip Hop Test, Part 1

Dubeliscious Groove by The Crystal Method

The Aloof, Society

A track I originally found on a compilation called The Trip Hop Test, Part 1, circa 1994

Santa Claus Is Back In Town sung by Elvis Presley

I’ve talked a lot about how music is a time-travel machine.

Today what hit me while working The Re-Rip Project and the compilations of various EDM genres is how long I spent preferring electronic music at 120 BPM or faster. For about 15 years it was my thing. It seemed like a reasonable place to end up after listening to 80’s synth-pop, and a little Acid House, New Beat and Industrial.

From my contemporary reading of Mondo 2000, Rolling Stone, and Wired, I was aware of the developing Rave Culture and Club Kids. But it wasn’t until the Cool World movie exposed me to a few early Moby tracks that I dove in head first.

It was probably the one time in my life when I felt in tune with something cool happening in pop culture. Before long the record store I worked at had a Techno section next to the Imports. Techno came and went, Acid Jazz and Trip-hop and Chillout all tried to happen. The term Electronica gave way to EDM. I passed through Trance and Jungle and Breakbeat and Garage and Dubstep sub-genres before I found Chill and Downtempo. Then I stopped working at places that carried music and major retail stores stopped carrying anything but Top 200 charting artists.

I still enjoy electronic music in doses, but I have no idea what the kids think is cool anymore, or if it’s even a thing.

Also I signed up on Discogs. They have cover art for all of the obscure stuff I own.

Forgive me if I remember stuff wrong. Also Douglas Coupland is way overrated.

All Of Us from Spoke’s album “Done”. Also appears on the album All We Need Of Hell

Watching The Song Remains The Same for the first time. I was 8 when it was released theatrically.

Darling Buds So Close

When your shuffled playlist brings back something you forgot you loved. From the Crawdaddy album released circa 1990.

Cornflake Girl by Tori Amos

I’m deeply annoyed by the metadata now supplied from Apple when you go to convert a CD. Either an album is now put into the Various Artists ghetto, or the same album is listed in parts because of partnered artists even when the album itself and the liner notes make no such distinction.

1. Eternal Lover — Moonwater
2. Karmic Light — Tetsu Inoue
3. They Come in Peace — Tranquility Bass
4. Plateau — Orb
5. A Study of Six Guitars — Amorphous Androgynous
6. Session 3: Wien in E — Tosca
7. Anthropomorphic — Qubism
8. No One in the World [Edit] — W.F.O.
9. Fat Chair — Terra Thaemlitz
10. edit:one — DJ Iri
11. Creatures Made Of Light Glide Softly Across The Slowly Ever-rotating Homeworld In Gentle Undulations Of Warm Dub Through The Encircling Golden Ether Common To System 35 — Mysteries of Science
12. #19 — Aphex Twin
13. Tranquility Base — Omicron
14. A Stream With Bright Fish — Brian Eno & Harold Budd
15. Expanding — Young American Primitive

A mix CD gift from Caleb, circa 2019.

1. Premonition — YukaKita Mura
2. Phoenix — WolfMother
3. Space Cruise — Ben Prunty
4. Abyss Watchers — Yuka Kitamura
5. Vignette: Panacea — Disasterpeace
6. Vordt of the Boreal Valley — Motoi Sakuraba
7. Mind’s Eye — WolfMother
8. Excerpt from The Tribulation — Michael Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, Martin O’Donnell, Paul McCartney
9. End of the Line — Michael Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, Martin O’Donnell, Paul McCartney
10. Odyssey — Home
11. Far Away — WolfMother
12. Siege Dancers — Michael Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, Martin O’Donnell, Paul McCartney
13. Excerpt from The Union — Michael Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, Martin O’Donnell, Paul McCartney
14. God? — Alec Holowka
15. Aldritch, Devourer of Gods — Motoi Sakuraba
16. Guardians Lost — Michael Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, Martin O’Donnell, Paul McCartney
17. Where Eagles Have Been — WolfMother
18. The Alien — Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow
19. Soul of Cinder — Yuka Kitamura
20. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) — Eurythmics

From a Maxell XLII 90 cassette given to me by my friend Chuck. Side A dated 6/20/94, Missing songs: Marion Diez, Half the Time. Side B dated 6/21/94

1. Get Enough — Ivy
2. You Bite My Tongue — Unwound
3. Our Caballero — Don Caballero
4. Blade of Grass — Versus
5. A Mouthful Of Exhaust — Man Or Astro-Man?
6. Sweet Pea — Seam
7. All Set to Go — Hard-Ons
8. Suki — Unrest
9. Rebound — Sebadoh
10. Alison — Slowdive
11. Bronx Cheer — Mercury Rev
12. Bricks — Crain
13. Solitary Set — Polvo

A mix tape reconstruction: Selections by Chuck Horne. He didn’t make it for me, but it’s beautiful. What a gift!

1. Main Sequence Diffusion / Photon / Lajolla — Füxa
2. A Stream With Bright Fish — Brian Eno & Harold Budd
3. Untitled — Jason Falkner
4. (untitled)4 — Bundy K. Brown, Doug Scharin, and James Warden
5. Cry, Cry — Mazzy Star
6. Untitled — Brian Eno
7. Bible Silver Corner — Rodan
8. Jacking the Ball — The Sea and Cake
9. Gymnopedie No.1 — Pascal Rogé
10. On Fire — Sebadoh
11. Cello — Slowdive
12. Untitled (Check and Double Check) — Stereolab
13. Barely Real — Codeine
14. I Love You — John Coltrane
15. Survival — Yes
16. Come Home — Placebo
17. Song In 3 — Galaxie 500
18. Crystal Shade — Flying Saucer Attack
19. Delta Rain Dream — Jon Hassel and Brian Eno
20. You’re Beautiful — Mojave 3
21. No Name #3 — Elliott Smith
22. Tin Cans & Twine — Tortoise
23. Rhine & Courtesan — Rachel’s
24. Touched — My Bloody Valentine