Written 10 January 2014, 11.07pm.
Discovered this through the Frontline Records Facebook page last week. I clicked the link they posted and stuck one earbud in, expecting some decent background-music rock. Within the first twenty seconds of the song, I put in the second earbud.
This thing rocks hard, but it's melodic. It's kind of like a heavier version of White Heart, or a less over-the-top version of '80s Stryper. Think White Heart's Dr Jekyll And Mr Christian with a little more muscle (and slightly less stellar vocals, but that's only because nobody can top Rick Florian). Also, turns out these guys are Canadian, which makes them even better.
Their guitarist is awesome. His playing makes me think of Oz Fox (Stryper). It's some seriously good stuff. Usually I kind of zone out a song's guitar work (Daniel Amos and Prodigal being the only exceptions), but not with what I've heard of this band so far. This is really compelling. I can't put my finger on it, but it's darn good.
Title: Walkin' In Faith
Artist: Angelica
Album: Walkin' In Faith
Year: 1991
Label: Frontline Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.
Showing posts with label Canadians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canadians. Show all posts
25 September 2015
13 February 2014
Music Day - O Canada
In honour of our Canadian athletes in the Olympics... O Canada like you've never heard it before.
Title: O Canada
Artist: Angelica
Album: Rock, Stock, And Barrel
Year: 1991
Label: Intense Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.
I'm hoping to post something more than music day soon... it won't be this weekend (this weekend is a total writeoff), but maybe the week after or something. I miss posting.
Title: O Canada
Artist: Angelica
Album: Rock, Stock, And Barrel
Year: 1991
Label: Intense Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.
I'm hoping to post something more than music day soon... it won't be this weekend (this weekend is a total writeoff), but maybe the week after or something. I miss posting.
23 May 2013
Alone In The Music World...
They need a 'Forever Alone' meme for DA fans. Especially us Canadian ones. Who were born after the '80's. Nobody understands us (or, more accurately, me).
I know a few White Heart fans, but nobody even tries to understand the sheer genius of Daniel Amos. I explain it and they say 'That sounds cool! I want to hear it,' but then I play for them and they say, 'I didn't understand it.' Hello? You understood it perfectly when I, in my bumbling horrid way of speaking, explained it to you, but listen to the actual unfiltered genius and you suddenly don't get it? What even?
P.S. -- Big huge screaming-deal exciting post coming up!
I know a few White Heart fans, but nobody even tries to understand the sheer genius of Daniel Amos. I explain it and they say 'That sounds cool! I want to hear it,' but then I play for them and they say, 'I didn't understand it.' Hello? You understood it perfectly when I, in my bumbling horrid way of speaking, explained it to you, but listen to the actual unfiltered genius and you suddenly don't get it? What even?
P.S. -- Big huge screaming-deal exciting post coming up!
12 October 2012
Music Day
So last night our church hosted a Fraser Campbell concert. So, of course, I went, even though I really only knew one song. (In this province, you take what you can get.)
It was good. I liked the first half especially, where they put out all the rock stuff (no surprise). They played some stuff from their album and rocked up a few old 'church-y' songs. They're pretty good with a crowd, and then they pulled a couple volunteers from the audience to drum up some more excitement for the one song. Actually, it was a contest between the two volunteers who got the most out of their half of the crowd, and the winner would get a prize.
Never underestimate the youth groups in this town, and especially don't underestimate those specific volunteers. Both the lead singer and the drummer said later that they'd never seen a conga line in a church before (to say nothing of the fact that said conga line included willing participants in their sixties).
Personally I enjoyed watching the bassist, introduced only as Dan. He had that Bob Hartman head-bob thing going on and for some reason that fascinates me (mostly how they can move their heads side to side while moving their hand up and down). The drummer was pretty phenomenal too.
Fraser Campbell himself reminded me of Peter Furler -- maybe it was the bald head and the guitar, but his singing voice was similar and the lyrics are definitely in line with Peter Furler's style.
All in all, it was a good concert. I'd definitely go again, even if it wasn't free.
And just listen to the passion in this song...
Title: Arms Of Love
Artist: Fraser Campbell
Album: We Love You
Year: 2009
Independent release.
iTunes here; YouTube here.
Website: frasercampbellmusic.com
Today I listened to the album we picked up after the show... it's rather more low-key (in fact, I think I enjoyed the concert more than the album), but it's still worth a listen. Like I said earlier, he's got a very Peter-Furler-like writing style (I'd put this album on about the same level as Newsboys' Devotion), but there's also a definite Delirious? vibe on it.
And they're Canadian -- what could be better?
It was good. I liked the first half especially, where they put out all the rock stuff (no surprise). They played some stuff from their album and rocked up a few old 'church-y' songs. They're pretty good with a crowd, and then they pulled a couple volunteers from the audience to drum up some more excitement for the one song. Actually, it was a contest between the two volunteers who got the most out of their half of the crowd, and the winner would get a prize.
Never underestimate the youth groups in this town, and especially don't underestimate those specific volunteers. Both the lead singer and the drummer said later that they'd never seen a conga line in a church before (to say nothing of the fact that said conga line included willing participants in their sixties).
Personally I enjoyed watching the bassist, introduced only as Dan. He had that Bob Hartman head-bob thing going on and for some reason that fascinates me (mostly how they can move their heads side to side while moving their hand up and down). The drummer was pretty phenomenal too.
Fraser Campbell himself reminded me of Peter Furler -- maybe it was the bald head and the guitar, but his singing voice was similar and the lyrics are definitely in line with Peter Furler's style.
All in all, it was a good concert. I'd definitely go again, even if it wasn't free.
And just listen to the passion in this song...
Title: Arms Of Love
Artist: Fraser Campbell
Album: We Love You
Year: 2009
Independent release.
iTunes here; YouTube here.
Website: frasercampbellmusic.com
Today I listened to the album we picked up after the show... it's rather more low-key (in fact, I think I enjoyed the concert more than the album), but it's still worth a listen. Like I said earlier, he's got a very Peter-Furler-like writing style (I'd put this album on about the same level as Newsboys' Devotion), but there's also a definite Delirious? vibe on it.
And they're Canadian -- what could be better?
08 June 2012
Music Lately (Brought To You By Music Day)
Some music I've discovered recently (you know, aside from the new John Schlitt album):
New Earth (Single)
Never heard of this guy until the other Sunday night. I was almost home and the PFR CD had reached the end of the song. There wasn't time enough for the next song, so I switched to radio and hoped the station wasn't playing Mandisa, tobyMac, or Phillips Craig and Dean's disgustingly-overplayed Revelation Song.
And it wasn't. It was playing this song.
It made me think of the Kimberlites, though not as heavy in the style (the Kimberlites are good, but you can only take so much). It was happy (come on, there's whistling!), the bass was perfect, and it was a fast beat... so not typical for the local 'Christian' music station. I was hooked right away. One day there will be a tap dance to this.
(Also, apparently he's Canadian -- in fact, it sounds as if he's from the same area I am.)
(Also, apparently he's Canadian -- in fact, it sounds as if he's from the same area I am.)
Your Great Name
I'd heard this before on the radio, but kind of ignored it. After all, if you weren't paying attention (and I usually wasn't), it sounded like standard 'inspirational' radio fare. Everyone who listens to these stations knows Natalie Grant without realising that they know Natalie Grant -- she's played constantly, but somehow slips beneath our consciousness.
A few Sundays ago, though, our pastor played this song -- the full six minutes of it -- before communion. I dimmed the lights (for I was on lights/PowerPoint), the sound guy cranked it, and we all sat and soaked in the song for six minutes. It had been a pretty slow service, and this really brought it back around. Even the slightly compromised YouTube quality added to the experience.
This song is totally different to me now. I recommend blasting this at top volume. Connect high quality speakers to your computer if you have some, and close your eyes as you listen. It will make all the difference.
Liquidity
Kerry Livgren
Odyssey Into The Mind's Eye (1996 Kerygmatic Music)
iTunes here.
I heard this one on classicchristian247.com. Normally I don't get into instrumental stuff, but this one got my attention. (Probably the synth -- I'm a total sucker for a synthesizer.) The song seems to go on for quite a long time, yet as it starts to wrap up one starts to feel sad that it's over already -- it's so beautiful. And Liquidity is the perfect name for it -- it all flows and sinks and blends and eddies and drapes itself nonchalantly over everything and yet the underlying beat keeps the silky quality from slowing it to a stall. It's fantastic.
I listened to this the other day at about 2 am and accidentally choreographed most of the ending before I realised it. So then, of course, I stayed up till 3 am writing down the choreography so I wouldn't forget it. (I think it was even a dance night too -- meaning I had to be up at 7.30 the next morning for dance class.)
Sometimes this song almost makes me think of White Heart -- something Mark Gersmehl might have come up with (and come on, can you not see Billy Smiley rocking that guitar interlude?).
Liquidity
Kerry Livgren
Odyssey Into The Mind's Eye (1996 Kerygmatic Music)
iTunes here.
I heard this one on classicchristian247.com. Normally I don't get into instrumental stuff, but this one got my attention. (Probably the synth -- I'm a total sucker for a synthesizer.) The song seems to go on for quite a long time, yet as it starts to wrap up one starts to feel sad that it's over already -- it's so beautiful. And Liquidity is the perfect name for it -- it all flows and sinks and blends and eddies and drapes itself nonchalantly over everything and yet the underlying beat keeps the silky quality from slowing it to a stall. It's fantastic.
I listened to this the other day at about 2 am and accidentally choreographed most of the ending before I realised it. So then, of course, I stayed up till 3 am writing down the choreography so I wouldn't forget it. (I think it was even a dance night too -- meaning I had to be up at 7.30 the next morning for dance class.)
Sometimes this song almost makes me think of White Heart -- something Mark Gersmehl might have come up with (and come on, can you not see Billy Smiley rocking that guitar interlude?).
22 February 2012
Today's Commute (As Chronicled By The iPod)
Today's two-hour commute to and from dance went as follows:
(Backstory: A friend from church ended up with a second iPod car adapter he didn't need and gave it to me. I decided to put my 2 GB nano back to work (it had been kind of forgotten since my library outgrew it). I loaded it with a bunch of random songs and took it for a spin today.)
I started it off myself with The Devil Is Bad by the W's. It was the first song that caught my attention as I was scrolling through the song list and I thought, 'Hey, why not?' (It was also peppy enough to get me through the first few minutes of the drive when I'm still tired and not really alert.)
Then I set it to shuffle.
I didn't recognise the second song at first... but when I did I started laughing. The only Christmas song on the iPod (and, I had noticed after syncing, the *gasp!* only White Heart song). It seemed quite fitting as the clouds hung thick and white in the sky, heavy with glorious snow so rare.
We were off to a very good start.
Next up, the analogue recording of PFR's Name (even though the dragging is awful, I couldn't part with the analogue tracks even after getting the CD).
After that, Petra's More Power To Ya, followed immediately by Adonai.
That right there, my friends, is a good commute song. Actually it's good for pretty much anything. (Have I ever mentioned that I love this song?)
It was kind of a downer when the best rock praise song ever recorded (says me) was followed by Switchfoot's More Than Fine. Not a lot of tracks can easily follow Adonai, and that wasn't one of them.
Then came Frontlynaz's Addicted (a random hip hop song I heard once and kind of liked so I downloaded it. You know, back when I had money for that kind of frivolous stuff).
Then the iPod abruptly changed gears and put out two early Amy Grant tracks in a row -- Love Can Do and Angels (eerily appropriate for driving that highway at times).
Then it apparently tired of the '80s and moved on to R&B/Soul-type stuff (Nicole C Mullen's Witness and Mary Mary's Shackles (Praise You)).
Midway through that last track we arrived at the studio and the iPod was put on hold for several hours in favour of piano music.
Upon returning to the rattletrap and finishing the Mary Mary song, it pulled out Owl City's Fireflies, much to my sister's delight, then, as we came off the overpass onto the main highway, one of my favourite Newsboys tracks, Praises.
Following that, Fisherman Song by Boxtree -- a sweet little flashback to my childhood. Such a cute cheerful song. Stylistically it's like PFR's Great Lengths, only nobody's ever heard of it.
Then came the ultimate in modern pop (as modern pop as one gets on my iPod, anyway), the remixed version of ZOEgirl's Even If. This is definitely a song you blast from the speakers as you rock down the highway. (At least that's what I did.)
And the ultimate in BeeGee-esque late '70s rock (as far as that goes on my iPod -- see previous paragraph) Petra's Angel Of Light. It was a bit of a jump, but hey, Petra is always fitting. Always.
We pulled into Tim Horton's just as Angel Of Light finished and paused it while I went in and ordered our weekly pair of small iced capps. (Yes, non-Canadian readers, that's 'capps' with two p's. It takes less time for the weather to change around here than it does for us to say 'iced cappuccino' and we just don't have that kind of time to mess with because the hockey game starts in ten minutes and we have to hurry up and get back to home sweet igloo before the face-off.)
Anyway, the trip from Tim Horton's to the next lights followed the soundtrack to Phil Joel's Strangely Normal, and the trip from those lights to the next were underscored by PFR's Goldie's Last Day. (Is it just me or did I drive really really slowly through town? Wow. Two songs seems a bit excessive. Apologies to the people stuck behind me.)
The Newsboys' Joy carried us out of town and back onto the highway, followed by Steven Curtis Chapman's This Day and Jasmin Gibb's Come To Jesus.
As I made the left onto the gravel road to our house, the final leg of the journey, and the last note ofCome To Jesus faded into a mere echo in the short-term memory, I began to seriously hope the next song wouldn't be a dud. Years of living in the same house, taking the same road over and over and over again has taught me that from the turn onto the gravel to our house is four and a half minutes -- just enough for one more song.
What would it be? Which should I hope for?
Come on, don't pick a lame one, don't pick a lame one...
Drum beat. Drum beat. Three more, successive.
Yes. (*insert mental fist pump here* I couldn't do a real one because if I took my hand off the wheel the wind would have swept us neatly into the ditch.)
People In A Box.
Just a little bit of eighties to stick in my head for the rest of the afternoon. (Okay okay, maybe a lot of eighties to stick in my head for the rest of the afternoon.)
And then once I got in the house it was too quiet so I put on some DeGarmo & Key. So much for that other plan.
(Yes, I know I need a life.)
(Backstory: A friend from church ended up with a second iPod car adapter he didn't need and gave it to me. I decided to put my 2 GB nano back to work (it had been kind of forgotten since my library outgrew it). I loaded it with a bunch of random songs and took it for a spin today.)
I started it off myself with The Devil Is Bad by the W's. It was the first song that caught my attention as I was scrolling through the song list and I thought, 'Hey, why not?' (It was also peppy enough to get me through the first few minutes of the drive when I'm still tired and not really alert.)
Then I set it to shuffle.
I didn't recognise the second song at first... but when I did I started laughing. The only Christmas song on the iPod (and, I had noticed after syncing, the *gasp!* only White Heart song). It seemed quite fitting as the clouds hung thick and white in the sky, heavy with glorious snow so rare.
We were off to a very good start.
Next up, the analogue recording of PFR's Name (even though the dragging is awful, I couldn't part with the analogue tracks even after getting the CD).
After that, Petra's More Power To Ya, followed immediately by Adonai.
That right there, my friends, is a good commute song. Actually it's good for pretty much anything. (Have I ever mentioned that I love this song?)
It was kind of a downer when the best rock praise song ever recorded (says me) was followed by Switchfoot's More Than Fine. Not a lot of tracks can easily follow Adonai, and that wasn't one of them.
Then came Frontlynaz's Addicted (a random hip hop song I heard once and kind of liked so I downloaded it. You know, back when I had money for that kind of frivolous stuff).
Then the iPod abruptly changed gears and put out two early Amy Grant tracks in a row -- Love Can Do and Angels (eerily appropriate for driving that highway at times).
Then it apparently tired of the '80s and moved on to R&B/Soul-type stuff (Nicole C Mullen's Witness and Mary Mary's Shackles (Praise You)).
Midway through that last track we arrived at the studio and the iPod was put on hold for several hours in favour of piano music.
Upon returning to the rattletrap and finishing the Mary Mary song, it pulled out Owl City's Fireflies, much to my sister's delight, then, as we came off the overpass onto the main highway, one of my favourite Newsboys tracks, Praises.
Following that, Fisherman Song by Boxtree -- a sweet little flashback to my childhood. Such a cute cheerful song. Stylistically it's like PFR's Great Lengths, only nobody's ever heard of it.
Then came the ultimate in modern pop (as modern pop as one gets on my iPod, anyway), the remixed version of ZOEgirl's Even If. This is definitely a song you blast from the speakers as you rock down the highway. (At least that's what I did.)
And the ultimate in BeeGee-esque late '70s rock (as far as that goes on my iPod -- see previous paragraph) Petra's Angel Of Light. It was a bit of a jump, but hey, Petra is always fitting. Always.
We pulled into Tim Horton's just as Angel Of Light finished and paused it while I went in and ordered our weekly pair of small iced capps. (Yes, non-Canadian readers, that's 'capps' with two p's. It takes less time for the weather to change around here than it does for us to say 'iced cappuccino' and we just don't have that kind of time to mess with because the hockey game starts in ten minutes and we have to hurry up and get back to home sweet igloo before the face-off.)
Anyway, the trip from Tim Horton's to the next lights followed the soundtrack to Phil Joel's Strangely Normal, and the trip from those lights to the next were underscored by PFR's Goldie's Last Day. (Is it just me or did I drive really really slowly through town? Wow. Two songs seems a bit excessive. Apologies to the people stuck behind me.)
The Newsboys' Joy carried us out of town and back onto the highway, followed by Steven Curtis Chapman's This Day and Jasmin Gibb's Come To Jesus.
As I made the left onto the gravel road to our house, the final leg of the journey, and the last note ofCome To Jesus faded into a mere echo in the short-term memory, I began to seriously hope the next song wouldn't be a dud. Years of living in the same house, taking the same road over and over and over again has taught me that from the turn onto the gravel to our house is four and a half minutes -- just enough for one more song.
What would it be? Which should I hope for?
Come on, don't pick a lame one, don't pick a lame one...
Drum beat. Drum beat. Three more, successive.
Yes. (*insert mental fist pump here* I couldn't do a real one because if I took my hand off the wheel the wind would have swept us neatly into the ditch.)
People In A Box.
Just a little bit of eighties to stick in my head for the rest of the afternoon. (Okay okay, maybe a lot of eighties to stick in my head for the rest of the afternoon.)
And then once I got in the house it was too quiet so I put on some DeGarmo & Key. So much for that other plan.
(Yes, I know I need a life.)
23 December 2011
Music Day
Seeing as Christmas Eve is tomorrow I thought this song would be appropriate.
Title: O Holy Night
Artist: Connie Scott
Album: Christmas In Your Heart
Year: 1988
Label: Image 7 Records
iTunes here; YouTube here (the song starts at about 0.05).
In case I don't post before then, Merry Christmas!
Title: O Holy Night
Artist: Connie Scott
Album: Christmas In Your Heart
Year: 1988
Label: Image 7 Records
iTunes here; YouTube here (the song starts at about 0.05).
In case I don't post before then, Merry Christmas!
 |
| Photo by Kate |
01 July 2011
Music Day
Since it's Canada Day and Canada is my native land, I thought it would be appropriate to feature a Canadian artist for this week's music day.
It's been a challenge though... I can only think of two Canadian artists that I like. One of them I'm not really that familiar with, and the other, my favourite, barely makes an appearance on the iTunes Store.
Key word: barely.
I never thought I would say this, but thank goodness for greatest hits albums. I searched this artist on the Store and aside from her (amazing) Christmas album, iTunes also carries one greatest hits album. Unfortunately for me it contains mostly her earlier material and until I get my hands on a decent record player I can't listen to the full versions that we already own of those songs so I don't even know what they're like. There were a couple of songs I do know (from cassettes) but though they're excellent songs, they weren't quite what I had in mind for today's post.
Then, as I was previewing the album to see if I recognised some from the mix tapes my father makes; it came to one song whose title I didn't recognise... but the song I most definitely did.
I don't know if it was mislabeled on the Store (which wouldn't surprise me), or if the artist/label themselves changed the track's name sometime (which isn't likely), but either way I give you:
Title: The World's Last Night (original title; labeled The World's For You on iTunes)
Artist: Connie Scott
Album: Forever Young
Year: 1989
Label: Image 7 Records
It's here on iTunes, and can you believe it's not on YouTube?
This is an amazing song. I know I say that almost every week, but seriously, this time it's true. Connie Scott has a beautiful voice and this song really makes use of it. The children's choir at the end is a nice touch too.
In fact, my plan is that once I've finished the rough-sketch choreography of Michael Card's The Edge, this song is next.
03 June 2011
Music Day
This song was acquired through what could only be a miracle in the radio industry.
A few months ago I had turned on the radio for some odd reason and they were playing one of these weekend countdown shows (which I usually don't listen to because really, who in their right mind wants to listen to Chris August's already mediocre Starry Night for the 4,786,978,492nd time since you decided you hated it with every bone in your body?).
But the song sounded different, unlike anything I'd ever heard before on a Christian station. Try as I might, I couldn't pick out the words (my usual method of locating songs -- Google the lyrics and hopefully be led to the title and artist). But it sounded like a fun song so I kept listening.
And then it happened. A miracle to end all miracles (well, almost). It will never happen again to anyone.
They gave the song title and band name.
I know. It shocked me too. But I somehow had the presence of mind to repeat the information to myself over and over as I rushed for a notepad and wrote it down.
And I'm glad I did. I have never heard this song anywhere else ever again and, in fact, I haven't heard anything of this band anywhere before or since.
Title: Music
Artist: Manic Drive
Album: Blue
Year: 2009
Label: Whiplash Records
It's on iTunes here and YouTube here.
And as I'm looking it up on YouTube I just totally found out they're Canadian! Finally a potentially decent Canadian band!
A few months ago I had turned on the radio for some odd reason and they were playing one of these weekend countdown shows (which I usually don't listen to because really, who in their right mind wants to listen to Chris August's already mediocre Starry Night for the 4,786,978,492nd time since you decided you hated it with every bone in your body?).
But the song sounded different, unlike anything I'd ever heard before on a Christian station. Try as I might, I couldn't pick out the words (my usual method of locating songs -- Google the lyrics and hopefully be led to the title and artist). But it sounded like a fun song so I kept listening.
And then it happened. A miracle to end all miracles (well, almost). It will never happen again to anyone.
They gave the song title and band name.
I know. It shocked me too. But I somehow had the presence of mind to repeat the information to myself over and over as I rushed for a notepad and wrote it down.
And I'm glad I did. I have never heard this song anywhere else ever again and, in fact, I haven't heard anything of this band anywhere before or since.
Title: Music
Artist: Manic Drive
Album: Blue
Year: 2009
Label: Whiplash Records
It's on iTunes here and YouTube here.
And as I'm looking it up on YouTube I just totally found out they're Canadian! Finally a potentially decent Canadian band!
16 March 2011
Why Canadians Tend To Think The Americans Are Out To Get Them
Last Music Day, I was quite excited about the discovery of a suitcase full of old cassette tapes in my father's workshop. I spent several hours Friday evening importing songs from the PFR tape featured in the Music Day post. Over the course of five or six hours, I had imported exactly two songs.
Yes, two.
It appeared that several years of storage in a cold and not-very-well ventilated (not to mention dusty) building had begun to take its toll on the tape. There were muffled patches and places were it droned a bit. Still, the first two tracks were listenable (not nearly CD quality, but listenable) and I added them to my iTunes library. Then I went to bed.
The next morning I awakened giddy at the prospect of spending the day adding old rock songs to my music collection. I showered, ate breakfast, sat down at the computer, and began importing from where I'd left off the previous night.
Two minutes and forty-five seconds later, I began to have my doubts about how well the day was going to turn out. The tape, which had played all right for the first half of the song, started to drag horribly. Driving guitars and the crashing of drums take on a nightmarish sound when slowed to a quarter of their normal speed.
I let it record until the end of the song, but I knew there was no way I would be able to fix the drag using the software. It was too severe.
My father heard it from the next room as it was recording and came to listen.
"It's dragging that badly?" he asked.
I nodded.
"It wasn't that bad when we listened to it yesterday, was it?"
"No."
He took the tape out of the player and put it in another player we had in the house -- one that had been known to work (but, of course, couldn't connect to the computer or we would have used that one in the first place). We found the exact place in the music where it had been dragging and listened. It came through completely clear and at the proper tempo.
"It must be that player then," my father said. "I have another one in the workshop you can try."
He went out and found two. I connected one of them and re-imported the song. Nearly perfect.
I continued to import that side of the tape, intending to get all the songs and then go back and re-import the first two (to see if I could get better quality copies). It was all going very well. I finished the first side, flipped the tape over, pressed Play, and waited.
And waited... and waited... and waited.
I checked the little window. The spools were turning; all seemed to be normal. Still, this was quite a long wait. I stopped the player and took out the cassette. The tape around the take-up spool was a bit loose and out of habit I gave it a few manual turns with my finger to tighten it. It didn't appear to tighten. I tried turning the other direction although I was certain I had turned it the proper direction the first time. No effect. So I gave it a good half-dozen turns in what I knew to be the proper direction. It still didn't tighten.
How could this be? It had just been in a properly working player. The tension had been fine until now.
Perhaps the tape had caught on something. I looked at the bottom of the cassette.
There was nothing.
No tape, either clear or magnetic.
Oh no...
I rushed out and showed my father. He examined it, but declared the damage permanent. The cassette had no screws that could have been removed to open it; and thanks to my patience letting the broken end wrap around the spool over and over again, the ends of the tape were far inside the cassette -- irretrievable.
I checked my old friend, the iTunes Store. Believe it or not, I had finally found an album that the iTunes Store does not yet carry. I submitted a request, but I was bordering desperate. I had been on a roll; I couldn't just stop.
What more could I do? Where else could I get a copy of the album without having to wait an indefinite amount of time?
Then an idea came to me. Actually, two ideas -- eBay and Amazon.
I went to Amazon.com and quickly found a few copies, the least expensive being a 'used' (but still packaged) CD for $3.98 US. Not bad, I thought. I proceeded to buy it.
Unfortunately, I live in a very rural area. This means I do not have a house number or a P.O. box. The only way our mail carrier can tell our mail from the neighbours' is by the name written above the address. This is perfectly acceptable to any other shipping company you can find. They may think it a bit odd, but they'll still send the material. Lo and behold it always gets here.
But not Amazon.com. You must, must, MUST have a P.O. box to get something shipped to you. Oh, and an actual town -- not the little pinprick thirteen kilometres away that is home to several thousand people, thank you very much. Oh, does that postal code have letters in it?
On any other site you order something from, you select 'Canada' in the list of countries, and everything else adjusts itself accordingly. On Amazon.com, you select 'Canada' in the list of countries, and it's like sirens go off. Their servers overheat and go into error loops. Smoke fills the building. The safe housing billions of dollars is about to explode.
The Canadians are coming! Arm yourselves! Man the cannons! Women and children first!
Frustrated with Amazon.com's stubbornness, I decided to see if there was an Amazon.ca. There was, but there the cheapest copy available was twenty-two dollars. Twenty-two dollars! I could go to the ridiculously overpriced local Christian bookstore and buy the exact same album for fifteen, tops (and I would have except said bookstore only sells albums released in the past two months and even then you're delving into ancient history. Don't even ask about an obscure band's farewell album from 1997).
Unfortunately, my desperation had clouded my sense (yes I have some, stop laughing). I bought it. Once the shipping cost was added to it (because of course it was coming from Oregon or something like that), I had relieved myself of nearly thirty dollars.
I am the queen of cheapskates. Anything more than fifteen dollars is a major purchase. It isn't that I can't afford to pay thirty dollars, it's just that I could have gotten the exact same item for only a bit more than four dollars if Amazon.com hadn't been so flipping stupid (and if I hadn't fallen to their level and bought it anyway).
If you ask me, it's a conspiracy theory to strip the 'polite' Canadians of every dollar they own. But regardless of whether it's true or not, I will never again use Amazon's 'service.' Whether you try Amazon.com or Amazon.ca, it's a ripoff. Pure and simple.
Yes, two.
It appeared that several years of storage in a cold and not-very-well ventilated (not to mention dusty) building had begun to take its toll on the tape. There were muffled patches and places were it droned a bit. Still, the first two tracks were listenable (not nearly CD quality, but listenable) and I added them to my iTunes library. Then I went to bed.
The next morning I awakened giddy at the prospect of spending the day adding old rock songs to my music collection. I showered, ate breakfast, sat down at the computer, and began importing from where I'd left off the previous night.
Two minutes and forty-five seconds later, I began to have my doubts about how well the day was going to turn out. The tape, which had played all right for the first half of the song, started to drag horribly. Driving guitars and the crashing of drums take on a nightmarish sound when slowed to a quarter of their normal speed.
I let it record until the end of the song, but I knew there was no way I would be able to fix the drag using the software. It was too severe.
My father heard it from the next room as it was recording and came to listen.
"It's dragging that badly?" he asked.
I nodded.
"It wasn't that bad when we listened to it yesterday, was it?"
"No."
He took the tape out of the player and put it in another player we had in the house -- one that had been known to work (but, of course, couldn't connect to the computer or we would have used that one in the first place). We found the exact place in the music where it had been dragging and listened. It came through completely clear and at the proper tempo.
"It must be that player then," my father said. "I have another one in the workshop you can try."
He went out and found two. I connected one of them and re-imported the song. Nearly perfect.
I continued to import that side of the tape, intending to get all the songs and then go back and re-import the first two (to see if I could get better quality copies). It was all going very well. I finished the first side, flipped the tape over, pressed Play, and waited.
And waited... and waited... and waited.
I checked the little window. The spools were turning; all seemed to be normal. Still, this was quite a long wait. I stopped the player and took out the cassette. The tape around the take-up spool was a bit loose and out of habit I gave it a few manual turns with my finger to tighten it. It didn't appear to tighten. I tried turning the other direction although I was certain I had turned it the proper direction the first time. No effect. So I gave it a good half-dozen turns in what I knew to be the proper direction. It still didn't tighten.
How could this be? It had just been in a properly working player. The tension had been fine until now.
Perhaps the tape had caught on something. I looked at the bottom of the cassette.
There was nothing.
No tape, either clear or magnetic.
Oh no...
I rushed out and showed my father. He examined it, but declared the damage permanent. The cassette had no screws that could have been removed to open it; and thanks to my patience letting the broken end wrap around the spool over and over again, the ends of the tape were far inside the cassette -- irretrievable.
I checked my old friend, the iTunes Store. Believe it or not, I had finally found an album that the iTunes Store does not yet carry. I submitted a request, but I was bordering desperate. I had been on a roll; I couldn't just stop.
What more could I do? Where else could I get a copy of the album without having to wait an indefinite amount of time?
Then an idea came to me. Actually, two ideas -- eBay and Amazon.
I went to Amazon.com and quickly found a few copies, the least expensive being a 'used' (but still packaged) CD for $3.98 US. Not bad, I thought. I proceeded to buy it.
Unfortunately, I live in a very rural area. This means I do not have a house number or a P.O. box. The only way our mail carrier can tell our mail from the neighbours' is by the name written above the address. This is perfectly acceptable to any other shipping company you can find. They may think it a bit odd, but they'll still send the material. Lo and behold it always gets here.
But not Amazon.com. You must, must, MUST have a P.O. box to get something shipped to you. Oh, and an actual town -- not the little pinprick thirteen kilometres away that is home to several thousand people, thank you very much. Oh, does that postal code have letters in it?
On any other site you order something from, you select 'Canada' in the list of countries, and everything else adjusts itself accordingly. On Amazon.com, you select 'Canada' in the list of countries, and it's like sirens go off. Their servers overheat and go into error loops. Smoke fills the building. The safe housing billions of dollars is about to explode.
The Canadians are coming! Arm yourselves! Man the cannons! Women and children first!
Frustrated with Amazon.com's stubbornness, I decided to see if there was an Amazon.ca. There was, but there the cheapest copy available was twenty-two dollars. Twenty-two dollars! I could go to the ridiculously overpriced local Christian bookstore and buy the exact same album for fifteen, tops (and I would have except said bookstore only sells albums released in the past two months and even then you're delving into ancient history. Don't even ask about an obscure band's farewell album from 1997).
Unfortunately, my desperation had clouded my sense (yes I have some, stop laughing). I bought it. Once the shipping cost was added to it (because of course it was coming from Oregon or something like that), I had relieved myself of nearly thirty dollars.
I am the queen of cheapskates. Anything more than fifteen dollars is a major purchase. It isn't that I can't afford to pay thirty dollars, it's just that I could have gotten the exact same item for only a bit more than four dollars if Amazon.com hadn't been so flipping stupid (and if I hadn't fallen to their level and bought it anyway).
If you ask me, it's a conspiracy theory to strip the 'polite' Canadians of every dollar they own. But regardless of whether it's true or not, I will never again use Amazon's 'service.' Whether you try Amazon.com or Amazon.ca, it's a ripoff. Pure and simple.
24 December 2010
A Gem From Kate's Music Library
Merry Christmas everyone! (Christmas Eve to those of us in the west.)
I've arbitrarily decided that my music recommendation day will be Friday. Don't ask why.
Well okay, it might perhaps possibly be so I can post two Christmas songs before December ends and the 'legal' period for Christmas music is over.
Today's song is 'One Small Child' by Connie Scott. Unfortunately doesn't appear to be on YouTube (gasp!), but you can buy it from the iTunes Store here.
Seriously, go buy it. It'll be the best dollar of your Christmas money you will ever spend. (Until next week anyway.)
I'm not too familiar with a lot of Connie Scott's work (I've heard some, years ago), but the Christmas album is beautiful. Sure it has some eighties overtones, but we can all use a little eighties music in our lives, right? (Says the child of the nineties...)
Enjoy!
I've arbitrarily decided that my music recommendation day will be Friday. Don't ask why.
Well okay, it might perhaps possibly be so I can post two Christmas songs before December ends and the 'legal' period for Christmas music is over.
Today's song is 'One Small Child' by Connie Scott. Unfortunately doesn't appear to be on YouTube (gasp!), but you can buy it from the iTunes Store here.
Seriously, go buy it. It'll be the best dollar of your Christmas money you will ever spend. (Until next week anyway.)
I'm not too familiar with a lot of Connie Scott's work (I've heard some, years ago), but the Christmas album is beautiful. Sure it has some eighties overtones, but we can all use a little eighties music in our lives, right? (Says the child of the nineties...)
Enjoy!
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