What music have you bought lately?

[Steve Roby]

Kind of odd that TrekBBS doesn't have a dedicated music area the way that Gallifrey Base does, but here we are.

Am I hopelessly out of touch for thinking there are still people buying rather than streaming music? We'll see. Maybe people will list a new purchase or two, maybe people will start conversations inspired by a particular band or album being mentioned, so I'll start with a bunch. Or maybe this will be another zero replies topic.

I got a bit carried away over the last few weeks, partly to make up for having Covid again.

EXTC: Live USA Vol.1. XTC stopped touring decades ago, so, with his bandmates' agreement, the band's drummer started EXTC with a couple of other musicians to play classic XTC songs live. Saw them a few weeks ago and it was a fun show, so I bought a CD.

Julee Cruise: Fall - Float - Love. Double CD reissue of the two albums the original Twin Peaks chanteuse did with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, with a few bonus tracks (mostly remixes).

Lene Lovich: Toy Box box set. Four albums and lots of bonus tracks from the new wave era.

The Dream Syndicate: The Days of Wine and Roses 40th Anniversary Edition box set. The original 1983 album plus lots of EP and singles tracks, demos, and live recordings by one of the leaders of the LA psychedelic postpunk Paisley Underground scene (see also: the Bangles, the Rain Parade, the Three O'Clock, etc).

The Primitives: Bloom box set. Three albums and lots of bonus tracks on five CDs from the first of the essential late '80s bands to get called "blonde pop," mixing the influences of Blondie, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and '60s pop and psychedelia.

The Darling Buds: Killing for Love. Three albums and lots of bonus tracks on five CDs from another of the essential late '80s bands to get called "blonde pop," mixing the influences of Blondie, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and '60s pop and psychedelia.

All the above are on CD. Also purchased recently on iTunes or Bandcamp: albums or EPs by Howard Shore, Nanci Griffith, Brian Eno, Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barratt, Miranda Ceara and the Odd Fellows Orchestra, and Fuck You, Tammy!

Next?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Most recently, I turned in my Hollywood Bowl tickets for the Mozart Requiem and a Thursday evening all-Rachmaninoff concert that was half-redundant with the Tuesday evening concert that week (different piano concerto but the same symphony), and picked up "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony," the Tchaikovsky Spectacular, John Williams Night, and Yo-Yo Ma's one Bowl appearance this year.

 

[Steve Roby]

Closest thing I've come to a live classical music performance in the last few decades was Howard Shore's performance version of the Crash soundtrack, with harps, electric guitars, and prepared piano at the National Arts Centre here in Ottawa. He reworked it to flow as a piece of music and not just as soundtrack cues. Pretty darn good. I was at the NAC recently while they had a Sibelius/Stravinsky concert, which sounded tempting, but I was in one of the other concert halls watching Rosanne Cash.

I bought the original Bugs Bunny at the Symphony CD when it came out but wasn't aware of the big anniversary to-do about it. Sounds like fun.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I think the last physical album I bought was Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department: Anthology Edition.

I did recently buy two albums digitally, which was a first for me. One was the soundtrack to the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott; the composer Nick Bicat (who lives in the UK) sells it directly through his own website. The other was the soundtrack to the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War. Varese did put out a CD at some point in the past, but it's out of print and typically goes for anywhere between $25 and $50 on eBay, which is more than I felt like spending. I have the soundtrack to the sequel miniseries, 1988's War and Remembrance, which came as a bonus disc in the DVD collector's set.