I love my purdy-pod (p-pod) shuffle.
It's like having my own eccentric radio station, filled with all the music that I love.
I know that's a no brainer I chose all the music from my collection, and I know it contradicts one of my pet peeves of the moment - that creating a coherent album of songs is a lost art. Why is it no one is making coherent albums anymore? Two reasons - 1) records gave way to CDs and 2) CDs gave way to downloads of single songs.
Yes I love the record format - two sides (or four or six) that were sequenced with care and diligence. Alas - no longer. CDs became bloated and indistinct in form - one (sometimes really long) side.
But the kids aren't buying CDs. Their attention span is such that they can't comprehend the length of imagination required to strap on headphones and listen to Dark Side of the Moon anymore. and therefore I suffer because the redundant record companies
But I'm loving the contrasts that the shuffle draws out. From one musical genre to another in an instant. One second it can be a Paul Desmond cool jazz track then it can swing into the Norwegian metal of Opeth and then maybe Dwight Yokam's country vibe. It's so cool!
I'll show you what I mean - I'm going to type out this entry to the next 10 songs to give you a snapshot of Radio Wozza.
The first up is The Mars Volta with L'Via L'Viaquez. A crazy spiky lope of a song that acts like it's fixing to end at any second. In fact it sounds like about four different songs mashed together and left to marinate in the sun. It is quite brilliant.
It's followed by The Casuals Jesamine - all summery gloss and glimmer. A pretty perfect pop song that makes me (butterfly) smile. When the horns and strings swoop in it builds and then falls away and then I realise it's like candy floss. There is no substance to the lyric. A butterfly child? What the hey? It ends...
Now it's Ozric Tentacles' Afroclonk - quasi African drums/percussion and pipes conjure up images of the high veld. That mixes with synth squirts of hippy colour, until some rock guitar fades in with the drums and rhythm comes back. Great groove going on in this one.
Track four is The Cult with Edie (Caio Baby) - a straightforward rawk song in ballad form. I love the Cult's retro cool. Here they latch onto one of Andy Warhols acolytes and pay her some kind of homage (I think).
Five - Herbie Hancock Live and Awake - cool jazz sax piano and drums combo. I'm a late comer to the Herbie canon. But I'm catching up fast.
Six - Catarock song #5 (it has a Thai title that the p-pod can't read). This is a band from Thailand. I bought their CD in Bangkok and I love all the barking mad songs on it. Each track is very different in style - heavy metal, melodic pop, hard rock or smooth ballad are the four prevalent styles. This one is of the last variety. It has a gorgeous melody and the lyrics are of course in Thai so lord knows what he is on about but I love it. A 30 sec clip contains bits of the album.
Seven - The Datsuns Freeze Sucker = some good old fashion high pitched vocals on a seventies style hard rock base. Perfecto from the New Zealand band who have not yet bettered that first album.
Eight - in Belfast now for Van Morrison's Real Gone. Effortless swing. A brilliant combination of his relaxed van the man vocal with bushed stabs on the drums, horns and a solid organ bedrock. Mmmm - one of my favs! Great for bopping around the room (which I'm going to do,,,now).
Nine - Bob Dylan Things Have Changed. A cheerful beat and dark lyrics about a man with his head in the noose. Dylan sings in his Travelin Wilbury mode - which I like. After a while you notice that the beat doesn't deviate and it takes on a persistent heart beat. If it was on a Dylan album it wouldn't stand out in the same way. Some beautiful guitar gives a hint of pathos that suits the song's underlying mood.
Finally, track ten is back to weirdsville -Jack Bruce Mickey the Fiddler. I'm a big fan of Jack's post Cream songs. They play around with structure and his voice is glorious. He can convey so much with just a slight vocal nuance.
So there you go - Radio Wozza!! Unique and all mine!
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