I hope that yesterday's post didn't come across as sounding a bit too needy, but I am genuinely interested in hearing what people think of what I post here, so that I know whether to keep posting that kind of thing or to scale it back. This was borne out by the reply from Anotherone Bitthe Dust, who mentioned that I seem to be posting a lot more pop stuff recently, and it would be nice to go back to the more rockier stuff. I entirely agree, as rock is my first love, but it just happens to be the case that the pop scene of the 2000's/2010's was very volatile, with artists having all their hard work dumped by their labels if just one single wasn't a huge hit, of if the labels were amalgamated and their rostas trimmed, and so I've discovered a huge stash of unreleased albums from that period, and they all seem to be pop/R&B stuff. I wouldn't say that I'm a huge fan of the genre, and don't know who most of them are, but I listen to them and read the comments on Youtube to see if they have a fanbase, and if I vaguely like what I hear then I assume actual fans of the artists would like to hear it as well, so I'm working my way through them. However, rest assured that I will try to post at least one or two 'rock' albums a week, as long as I can keep finding them, and there are a few crackers coming up.
I'm also glad to hear that the Hitmaker series is fairly popular. That all started as a one-off post for a Tony Hazzard album, where nearly every track had been a hit single for another artist, so 'Hitmakers' was a valid title, but when it then became a series, not all of the covers have been hits, but it was too late to change the title. I admit that I sometimes have to trawl Youtube to find that elusive final cover, so some albums could include up to half the covers by completely unknown artists, but when this happened to the recent Bruce Springsteen one I thought that even though I didn't know the artists, their covers were excellent, so hits or not I still really enjoyed listening to them.
And finally, I'm curious to know how many people who heard the 'Oasis' album actually thought that I'd discovered a stash of rare demos, as even I have to admit that they were very convincing.
And finally, I'm curious to know how many people who heard the 'Oasis' album actually thought that I'd discovered a stash of rare demos, as even I have to admit that they were very convincing.
pj
Sorry to say I didn't downoald the Oasis april's fool post ... but i will do so now, too late to be fooled, but it should be fun anyway
ReplyDeleteI was quite tempted by the 'Oasis' tracks but had an idea it was a joke! I have had some wonderful downloads from you and just wanted to say a big thank you.
ReplyDeleteI did download them, and was wondering why I couldn't find those tracks elsewhere in my usual haunts.
ReplyDeleteI haven't listened to them yet, so we'll never know whether I'd have been fooled or not. Probably would have, as I want to believe....
I'm generally not a fan of April Fools. After having downloaded many of your offerings, there is a trust built up, so if you post something and call it Oasis - and I don't know them well enough to know the difference - then you've broken that trust for me. Mileage may vary for others, but that's my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThat same trust is broken on April fool with news stations, government establishments and many more, it's done in the spirit of fun.
DeleteI personally don't enjoy being pranked, but I do appreciate April fool jokes and this was a nicely done one. It's a once a year thing and I suggest to take it lightly.
I appreciate all the hard work that you do. I may not like it all but you have introduced me to some new that I do like.. as for the Oasis joke. I haven't downloaded it yet but will give it a listen as unfortunately that's where music is headed. So thanx for creating all of these albums and the hope is that you will continue to do so... for there is a lot of undiscovered gems out there.. be it rock, pop, R&B, rap or whatever... I look forward to our journey together wherever it may take us.
ReplyDeleteI don't come here as often as I used to. There simply isn't enough time to listen to all the music I've already downloaded. That said, when I decided to cut back I only kept links to two sites and this is one of them. I love the type of albums you put together.
ReplyDeleteJust in general I like your blog very much. I've been puzzled by the presence of all of the contemporary pop stuff; not to my taste at all.
ReplyDeleteThe Hitmakers series is, by contrast, very appealing and I liked the Hall/Fripp album. The video series has been syndicated on American TV, by the way.
There have been a few comments in this vein about the contemporary pop stuff, and although I wouldn't say that all of it appeals to me either, the aim of the blog is to post unreleased albums, and these are cancelled/unreleased albums, so I feel that they need to be here. I must admit that I have been surprised at how many I do actually like after giving them a chance, and there is some quality control, so I don't post any that are complete rubbish, and I try to limit them to a couple a week.
ReplyDeletePop is a very funny beast and one's reaction is always highly subjective. The cultural forces shaping the taste of contemporary pop listeners is vastly different from my own experience and that's just how it is. I'm too busy exploring areas that are of interest to worry about falling behind. I do see a disturbing trend towards greater conformity in it, though.
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