I came home from work and was clearing around somewhere when I made the discovery. I don't want to con you into thinking I'm some sort of hero "Tidying after work", I was just shuffling mess really. And then it caught my eye. I moved a CD case (A rare find in a world of iTunes and MP3s) and something didn't quite make sense. You see the CD was unopened. "Not that unusual" I hear you say, Until, that is, you hear that it was in fact "Stunt" by Barenaked Ladies.
Now this revelation shocked me slightly. You see Stunt lived in the Technics SL-PS670a (That's one of these) which adorned my bedroom for most of my 3 years at university and, to be honest, when it wasn't in there it was probably in my car. Stunt was my first introduction to the wonderful melodic sound of those ultra talented musicians form Canada the Barenaked Ladies. The album I had purchased was the UK Special Edition. It had the album and a bonus disc of live content. A unique bonus disc, insofar as it was genuinely good.
Now in these times of smartphones, multiple devices and Apple TVs I listen to most of my music from an iTunes library. The wonderful iTunes Match means that I can access any one of the 12,000+ songs in my library from anywhere. I still have CDs. I have lots of CDs. On top of a bookshelf in the lounge there are 4 cases, each containing over 200 CDs. Occasionally Joni and I might flick through these books and find some classics. I'm fairly sure if we did today (Look in the widest one, containing my favourites) we would find a copy of Stunt, resolutely out of it's case and most likely accompanied by it's little brother bonus CD.
Having contemplated the possibilities (Magic, act of the music gods, etc) I gave up and asked if anyone knew why there was an unopened copy of one of my favourite ever albums. The answer was actually quite simple and, you might argue, even better than divine music-god intervention. The father-in-law had seen the CD in a bargain shelf somewhere, remembered that I quite liked those Canadian dudes with the silly name and thought he'd take the punt.
The CD remains unopened. Not in a collector-investment-protection way, but in a it-doesn't-need-to-be-out-of-the-box-to-prove-its-point way. You see the magic of music to me is what it does to awaken memories. It's the image I get of routing through another persons collection, finding "(What's the Story) Morning Glory" and playing it on the most crisp stereo I'd ever heard, every time I hear "Champagne Supernova". It's getting the same spine-tingling feeling I felt when I first heard "Kiss From A Rose" on my new Technics SL-PS670a which was part of the setup to replicate (poorly) that original crisp sound, every time I play anything from "Seal II (1994)". It's the awe I felt when I heard "Now I'm Here" on my dad's friend's walk-in-stereo that made me truly understand stereo, and a feeling I still get when I hear anything from "Sheer Heart Attack".
This week my father-in-law gave me the same feeling. As I hold the unopened box I'm hearing "When I Fall" (actually a live track from the bonus CD See here, I had to look it up to be sure) and I'm back at Uni, I'm in the car or I'm even sitting at my friends house with the most beautiful woman I've ever met trying to teach me how to play "$1,000,000, for the hundredth time! And the feeling is beautiful, so thank you Mr Rees.
I couldn't say that in 140 characters... I tried, but I couldn't even come close!
PS If you want a head start on the next post, it will almost certainly be about my bike, my new love for cycling and the challenge of riding 100 miles in a day for charity! For now make do with a link to my fundraising page, because before I can ride the route, I have to raise the cash! http://www.justgiving.com/JasonRide100
