I think I have a problem (1 Viewer)

[Mike Broadman]

Is there such a thing as CD addiction? Check out this tale of excess, my brothers and sisters:

Opeth's new album came out yesterday. My buddy and I went in search of it, while he wanted to pick up some DVDs and I also had to sell a couple of CDs.

First stop: Newbury Comics
They didn't have it- sold their only copy. So I bought 5 other CDs, some new and some used. Then I noticed they had the Jethro Tull remasters, which was another purchase of 3 CDs.

Then we went to Best Buy, who also didn't have the Opeth (not surprising, really). While there, I picked up 2 SACDs.

I then decided to pick up three CDs that my buddy was selling.

When I got home, I ordered the Opeth and two more CDs.

Today's acquisitions:

Jethro Tull remasters- War Child, Minstrel in the Gallery, Too Old...
Ian Anderson- Secret Language of Birds
Jimmy Smith- Bashin' (DCC Gold, used)
Pharoah Sanders- Karma
Terry Bozzio & Billy Sheehan- Nine Short Films
Counting Crows- August & Everything After and Hard Candy
Journey- Escape, SACD
Janis Joplin- Cheap Thrills, SACD
John Coltrane- A Love Supreme, new 2-disc version
Geoff Tate solo album
Chris Squire- Fish Out of Water

And I also got a Spock's Beard DVD in the mail.

Um, I guess I have a lot of listening to do.
:b


NP: Jethro Tull, Warchild

 

[Greg_Y]

Is there such a thing as CD addiction?

Definitely. You have it. I have it. It's a good thing.
I have a similar story from yesterday and the sad thing is that it's a story that repeats in form just about every week. Went to Best Buy with a friend who wanted to pick up LOTR, Ep. II and Spiderman on DVD. I just 'tagged along.' Ended up leaving with a network cable, Live Phish #13 and Dylan's Blonde on Blonde SACD.
Are you obsessive in your cataloging of your CDs too? I am. I have a system (or systems) that would read like government policy if I could even manage to write it down. Sometimes I start to wonder if the obsession is worth it, then I realize I have 25 CDs worth of SHN files sitting in my trade box and all those nasty thoughts vanish as I scramble to get them organized.

 

[Andrew Chong]

I think we all have this happy problem in one form or another.

Myself, in the space of one week, I picked up:
E.T.: Gift Set
X-Files Season 6
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5
U2: Best of 1990-2000 3-disc set
Fellowship of the Ring: Gift Set

with Ice Age and the Gorillaz DVDs just around the corner. On certain items, particularly mega-disc sets, I have this notion that I've got to pick them up before their prices skyrocket.

 

[Rachael B]

Are you sleeping in headphones yet Mike? That's a sure sign of CD addiction when you start listening 25 hours a day.... If so, you may need to commit yourself to a 13 step program? Talley ho bro!

 

[Evan S]

Mike, can you comment on both the Sheehan/Bozzio collaboration as well as the Tate solo album? How are they? Similar musical styles to their earlier projects or completely different.

Also is the Coltrane SACD?

Thanks. VERY interested in your comments on the above titles.

 

[Phil A]

Mike, get the patches, they come in varying thicknesses. You stick them over your ears and after 6 weeks you will be cured.

 

[Danny Tse]

Is there such a thing as CD addiction?

It's even worse for me. I have the addiction for the English language CDs that was mentioned. On top of that, being someone from Hong Kong, I am completely addicted to 70s and 80s Hong Kong pop. So I have two separate addictions to feed. And forget about cataloging; I am seriously running out of space to physically store everything. I don't even want to mention the SACDs....

Then there are the DVDs, vinyl records, and the cassette tapes (300 albums on tapes alone).

Rachael, funny you mentioned sleeping in headphones....there've been many mornings when I wake up with me still wearing my Grado SR60.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Evan, the Coltrane is not SACD. That hasn't been released yet. This is a "deluxe" CD version, similar to what they did with Coltrane and Ballads. The first disc is the album, but the liner notes say they used a better master. The second disc, which I have not listened to yet, includes the only recorded live performance of the entire suit, which was a European bootleg but never before released officially. It also has one alternate and one breakdown of the second movement. Finally, two versions of the first movement that add Archie Schepp and Art Davis to the band are included. These sextet recordings known of (Coltrane thanks Schepp and Davis in the original liner notes) but never before heard.
I have listened to the Tate solo album once. It's not a heavy album, so don't expect Queensryche. It is surprisingly sophisticated in texture with a strong song sensibility. There are weak moments, but Tate's voice more than makes up for it. It's actually better than I expected, but still of interest to Queensryche fans who want to hear Tate branch out a little.
I have not yet listened to the Bozzio-Sheehan album. I did look at the liner notes and to my dissappointment, there are lyrics. Not that I'm against singing, but I don't know if I want to hear Bozzio sing. But, it's all in the listening...
Sleeping in headphones, eh? Wow, I never did that.
I actually prefer not to use headphones. I know, lots of music lovers feel it's the best way. I prefer the space of the room. Besides, they make my ears sweat.
Oh, and DVD collecting- man, only now have I bitten that worm. I used to have a policy of not buying blind. Now, I'm buying up Criterions like there's no tomorrow. Not to mention the fact that I have three TV box sets recently purchased that I'm watching all at the same time. Yikes.
NP: Counting Crows, August and Everything After

 

[Jason Little]

I'm a former addict. At my peak, I had somewhere around 5000 albums (including LPs, cassettes, singles, etc)... about 2500 of them were CDs. Early this year, I sold off about 70-80% of my collection. I am very happy with my decision to do this. (I went through a similar thing with DVDs, too)
Unless you have unlimited disposable income, you need to address this problem seriously. I cringe when I think of all the money I'd have if I hadn't spent so much on CDs that I only listened to once or twice. Think about the long run. How much enjoyment are you really going to get out of that Ian Anderson CD? I love music, I love it dearly. But the reality of the situation is that there are only so many hours in the day, and only so many days in a lifetime. Limit your collection to your true favorites. You don't have to own everything that you like. Select one or two artists/bands to be obsessive about in order to satisfy your inner completist.
It is a serious problem and should not be taken lightly. Unless you are very rich, you will some day regret blowing your money on Chris Squire solo albums and the like.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I already have one Anderson CD and I happen to enjoy it very much. That's the thing- I actually do listen to all the stuff I have.

This is why I don't buy a lot of DVDs- because most don't have repeat value for me.

In a month or so I'll be moving and won't have access to my HT for a few months, so my buying will be dramatically curtailed, if not halted completely. That'll give me some breathing room.

Funny thing is, I do actually sell CDs I don't listen to.

 

[Peter Mazur]

Hey Mike, you didn't waste your money considering you bought one of the greatest albums of all time, "Fish Out Of Water".
Bottom line is if you enjoy and listen to all of the stuff you buy, then it is not a problem. Just make sure you can still pay your rent.

 

[Seth_S]

Eh, I buy a few hundred CDs a year (a lot of music was written in Europe between 1700 and 1950).

 

[mike_decock]

I've limited myself to listening to 1 new album (LP or CD) a day. I try to keep a buffer of 10-20 albums, Once there's only 10 left in the pile, I order 10 more. There's about 200 items in my Amazon Wish List and I recently wittled it down from over 400.

Right now, I'm making pretty good money so I'm "stocking up". If I make less money in the future, I can slow down my buying and sell off albums I don't listen to anymore.

The obsession right now is cataloging everything I own into a database. Not only do I keep track of artist, title, label and catalog number, I also track when I played it last. That way, when the time comes, I'll know which ones to cull out of my collection first.


-Mike...

 

[KeithH]

Rachael asked:

Mike, get the patches

Where can I buy these?
Mike,
Of course, you are asking the wrong crowd about this if you are in search of a cure. You know I have the same addiction as you. I've been buying CDs over the past few months like nobody's business! With all the CDs I have bought of late, I haven't even put a dent in the wantlist. It's ridiculous. The problem is that new stuff keeps coming out. I was in a Tower Records store the other day, and the Deluxe Edition of Coltrane A Love Supreme was staring at me. I swear, Coltrane looked at me and told me to buy it. I didn't buy it, but now I am having nightmares and am hearing voices!

 

[Mike Broadman]

The bonus disc on that Coltrane album is great, Keith. A complete live version of A Love Supreme, complete with French people booing. It can't get better than that.

Yeah, we ain't exactly the best people to form a support group.

 

[KeithH]

Mike, thanks for the comments on the Deluxe Edition of A Love Supreme. Ironically, I just started a thread about it here.
This is a great support group! What are you talking about? Go out and buy all the CDs you can afford, steal the ones you can't, beg for food, and live in a big cardboard box. What's the problem?

 

[Michael Martin]

I have listened to the Tate solo album once. It's not a heavy album, so don't expect Queensryche. It is surprisingly sophisticated in texture with a strong song sensibility. There are weak moments, but Tate's voice more than makes up for it. It's actually better than I expected, but still of interest to Queensryche fans who want to hear Tate branch out a little.

Mike, can you give some more details? I really like Tate's voice, but felt like QR really went downhill after Empire. I am ok with his album not being heavy - what kind of music is it? What are the songs about? How are the lyrics? Production quality?
You get the idea.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Michael, I actually grew to enjoy the recent Queensryche material. Maybe that means you'd have a different opinion on Tate's solo album than me. I see a strong connection to Q2K, an album that I happen to like now.

The songs are generally very melodic. They're more pop than Queensryche. This doesn't mean it's wussy Michael Bolton stuff at all, but it's definitely a singer making an album. Lyrically it's similar to Empire and Hear in the Now Frontier- some love songs, etc. Nothing surprising, considering he probably wrote most of the lyrics for Queensryche. The production is strong. There is a nice variety- I think I hear a smattering of electronica here and there, but nothing major.

For the 5 bucks it cost me, it's worth it.

 

[rob kilbride]

I too am a total cd nut. Counting each disc in each set I must be over 5000 by now. Funny thing is that I don't really have them cataloged though I do keep cd's by the same, group, soloist, or composer together. I used to want to have every single song recorded by my favorite groups. All singles with unique live B-side, all live albums, and I would sometimes delve into solo albums but nearly as obsessively as I did non-album tracks and live albums. But since then I have been more interested in getting into different genres like classical, jazz, and world music. I simply don't bother with live cd's anymore because purely and simply studio music sounds better to me. And how many different versions of "One" by Metallica do I really need. And I also found that getting into each member of a band's solo material is diminishing returns as opposed to getting into different groups or different genres. And there are only so many Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin quality bands to be found. So I recommend broadening ones horizons rather than looking for that solo album by that band member who played percussion on one album. Though this is dangerous advice for cd addicts because I started buying a lot more cd's when I got into classical and jazz. All this said, I really do need to cut down. I'm curious what some of you other guys cd counts are?

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

I'm feeling you, brother. Newbury Comics is a bad bad place for the CD addict to go. Whenever I visit my brother John in Clinton, I bring a sizable chunk of disposable income to Newbury.

I go through these buying jags where a week will go by and I buy a ton of stuff. Usually it's a bunch of used CDs from Plan 9 or budget CDs from Family Christian Store. The last week and a half, though, it's been DVDs:

ET
Spider-Man
Kansas Live: Device Video Drum
Baz Luhrman's Red Curtain Trilogy Box
The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition
Attack of the Clones
and Laurie Anderson's Home of the Brave on LD

I think my bank account needs a break.