False Horizons

Been poddin' it quite a bit lately. Getting stuff onto the pod.

Problem with the Kraftwerk's Minimum-Maximum (which I downloaded the other night from itunes for a good at the time looking bargain price of £7.99) is the fact that the sequenced tracks have been chopped to pieces. This is because itunes sell the tracks individually for 79p a throw and therefore chop 'em up despite the fact that with a group like Kraftwerk a lot of their tracks are programmed to run seamlessly run into each other. Listening to the download on my pod, this has come as a very unpleasant surprise. It means that for a couple of seconds the music disappears only to come back again in what the pod thinks is the following track. Irritating beyond words and if I had known that was what it was going to be like then there is no way I would have downloaded it. That is why it is available at £7.99 I guess.

The only plus about the whole damn experience had been the fact that Minimum-Maximum is a great album and one that I would probably have never got round to ever buying on cd so in that way at least it has been good to listen to. Not that I want to now go out and buy the cd as that would mean I would be spending over £20 on it when the download is taken into consideration. There is little chance that an album like Minimum-Maximum will end up at a bargain price in the cd stores, those kind of ones never do.

No, I'll just have to learn to live with the chopped to pieces download version. It is annoying that on fuckin' itunes no mention of this is made to the would be customer before they press the magic button. In fact I feel like letting itunes know exactly how I feel about it which is saying something as when all is said and done I don't really think I am the kind of person who goes and complains about things like that. Usually I just kinda sit back an' shrug my shoulders; take it like a sucker in other words. On this occasion however I really feel strongly about it. Yeah, itunes should at least tell people that although they will be getting Minimum -Maximum as a download at a very good price they will not in fact be getting it in the way that it was intended. Takin' liberties, that's what it is. Butchery. If I knew before...then I would have never, never, never. If ya know what I mean.

But aint life great though when my only worries are the state of my downloads. Yeah well, I know things aint quite as simple as that but let's face it, life is good.

Started writing this blog edition on Fri I think. Sunday now. Sun pm. Showery kind of day. Nice when the sun is out but when not then full of dark cloud and frequent bursts of rain. Temps a little above average for this time of year which is now coming up to end of Feb. Winter just hasn't happened this year. No prolonged cold. Might as well get used to it, that is how it is going to be. Summer should be a hot one which is OK with me.

Dropped Tamdin off in Islington earlier on for her Tibetan Community dance practice. I then carried on into town and parked just off Holborn. There were a couple of cds I was after, just for completion's sake you understand. Skylarking by XTC and Speaking in Tongues by Talking Heads. Was tempted to download them but after my Minimum-Maximum experience I am rather put off for the moment. The Heads cd was £10.99 at the Virgin Meg which was 2 & 1/2 quid more than the download but you get the artwork of course and a DVD as well. A DVD which I will probably never play but the hell. Got a few other Heads albums as they all came out remastered a year or so ago. Seriously remastered. But I think I will stop with the ones I've got now as they are the best of the bunch in my 'umble opinion, and for the record they are -

More Songs About Buildings and Food
Fear of Music
Remain in Light
Speaking in Tongues

Roughly they cover the period '78 - '82 or '83 and for the Heads these were their golden years. Four great albums and of course I'm already making plans in my head for what their playlist is gonna shape up like, when I get round ta poddin' it with them, which of course I will. Aint no doubt about that.

Got XTC's Skylarking for pretty much the same reasons. Have a number of the XTC remasters and that was the main one I hadn't got round to getting but now I have and I have to say I did quite well as it was £6.99 at the Virgin Meg which was cheaper than the download and cheaper than Amazon. Chuffed about that. So my XTC collection runs like this with the releases listed in chronological order of course.

Drums and Wires
Black Sea
English Settlement
Mummer
The Big Express
Skylarking
Oranges and Lemons
Mummer
Apple Venus
Wasp Star

Still aint got the first albums White Music and Go2 and I guess we shall just have to see about whether I ever get round to buying them. The price is gonna have to be right. Just can't imagine I would listen to them that much, both being raw late '70s new wave generation XTC but then again sometimes whether they get listened to or not is hardly the point when you talking about having an' maintaining a collection.

Town was wrapped in grey when I was there soI only hung round long enough to make my purchases from the Virgin Meg and to check out the Bose ipod docking sound system which, for a cool £249 quid, I am seriously tempted to buy at the moment. Why not eh? I've got the money and who knows I might be dead by this time next week so why hang back? Seems to be the next step. Sounded good I have to say and although I didn't bite today I think it is only going to be a matter of time before I get one. The offer is just too good to miss. The one I saw in Tottenham Court Road came with a free carry back whilst if you order online from the Bose website you get 20 free itunes downloads worth 79p a pop.Decisions, decisions. The online option sounds best I think. But then again maybe not if things ever get mobile and I want to pack all the kit away with me and take someplace down the road in a handy little bag.

Headed back east after ponderin' whether or not to go for the Bose outside the hi-fi shop on Totty Crt Rd. Back east through the City, round Minories and on to the Highway through the Limehouse Link Tunnel and onto the A13. Went that way 'coz I wanted to check out some ladders at B&Q in Beckton. Need to paint the landing and am looking for ladders you can use on stairs. Multi-purpose combination ones are the ones I need to go for. I found them but they ain't cheap coming in at £89. Tamdin suggested the other day it would be better to hire one and I think she's right. When I got back to Woodford I checked on the Net and they are available at HSS Hire Shops for around 20 quid a day and I think a day is all I'm probably gonna need. So I think I'll hire when the time comes. Guess the time will come around Spring time when giving things a fresh lick of paint is well in order and fundamentally the right thing to do... to herald the stretching out of the daylight hours and decent level temperatures.

Need to know I have to get a grip on this poddin'. Been burning a lot of wedge and I think it would for me good just to take a step back and have a six month break from buying any new music whatsoever. Discipline. Easier said than down I know but at the end of the day it is only music we are talking about. Enlightened people can live their whole lives without ever having to go out and buy a single tune. Seems like all I've done for years now is worry about music. Worry about gettin' this or gettin' that. Need to give it a rest. Move on to other things. Expand my mind. Try something different.

Guess we need to have a hobby, have an interest, something to keep us still connected to the wheel but all the same there has to come a time when you can put your hands up and say "OK enough is enough, think I've mined this one as far as it can go." Hope so anyway. Think I'll just hang on and get this Bose docking station then I'll be satisfied. No more desire for music. Maybe or two, but not much.

Yeah, this has to be my resolution. To take a break from spending money on music for a while. I've got more than enough to keep me going. Just use what I have. Got so much to be getting on with. Don't need any more. Guess the nagging question I always have when I look at my music cds is that someone will come along and say "Oh, don't you have that one?" That one of course, the one that I don't have, being the most vital of the lot. That is the feeling I get. So there is always that feeling of incompleteness. I continually buy into the illusion that the next one I buy will satiate my desire to ever buy another one again. Somehow all those things are just false horizons. Never in reality works like that. I buy, I try and then you see something else that I want. So it goes on.