new project part 1

so, i guess i feel like i don't have enough to do; between being a mother, writing my thesis, selling the apartment, moving to a house and all the rest of life's lovely assignments; that i need a new project of some sorts. well, here it is.

i'm going to go through my record collection, record by record, write a few lines about each one and, most importantly, pick one song off of every record to be collected in a sort of record collection mixtape.

what do you think of that?

my record collection is very dear to me but otherwise not particularly impressive; it's just a bunch of records i like. there are no rarities (i think), very few singles even by artists i really like and no complete discographies (except maybe if joy division's heart and soul box counts). if you want to take a look it's here on rateyourmusic.com. but impressive or not, it currently holds 625 titles (not counting the dvds, cos madonna's in bed with madonna isn't really a record now is it) so this project will take some time. if you're somewhat familiar with math you'll realize, as i just did, that even if i write about one record a day - which i, for the record, WON'T - it'll take a bit shy of two years to complete, and it's not like i won't buy more records during the process. so, phew.

Though, i've decided, the few singles i DO have won't be included unless they contain some really good song, cos seriously, what's the point in choosing one song out of two, or worse, three remixes of the same song?

so there are the ground rules. maybe if you're nice, you can get a copy of the mixtapes (on cd) along the way. i'll also probably start a playlist on spotify called my record collection mixtape and share with whoever wants it, but given the big gaps in spotify's selection, it will probably be far from complete.

now, for part 1 of this, the record collection mixtapes, the first title. Bigger, Better, Faster, More! by 4 Non Blondes.

look how pretty they are!

i bought this record used for 15 sek (that about $2 at the current rate), i know this cos it still has the price-tag left, and it's dusty too! mental note; need to clean or change plastic thing. so, i really didn't consider it before buying, more than that i really like their early 90s hit single "What's Up" (which is actually a clearly feminist song, something i didn't realize until years after the fact, but is really cool considering what a big hit it was), which in itself was worth the 15 sek. i really like linda perry too, the awesome singer who at the time wore ridiculously large hats. the 90's was a strange place. (what an awesome timing, too, since perry has co-written a lot of material to hole's coming album that i wrote about the other day.)

it's an okay record, some good songs and some not so good ones. the sound, albeit very early 90s sounding (think metal-grunge, red hot chili peppers funk and radio music like the spin doctors), varies a bit. there's the funky "No place like home", the bluesy "Pleasantly blue", the soundgardeny/alice in chainsy "Calling all the people" and lots of Perry's signature "What's Up?" yells. i can't help but pick the obvious song here, but i am sorry that i never really listened to the album until now. this is already turning out to be a great project. i think i'm gonna have to check out Perry's solo albums soon.

the chosen song, of course, being "What's Up?".

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now i need to tidy this text up a bit and cross-post it on pretending to be japanese, cos the boss wants CAPS!

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EDIT: here's the video.