Wasting time with Jet

What is it about music that can trigger the memory process so well?

People probably remember what song was interrupted on the radio when they announced Kennedy getting shot. Or the song that was playing when they first saw that special someone at the club or a party.

So working all weekend with my new "Toy", expermenting and calculating Memory card size to music file bitrate and all that techobabble, I found myself listening to music and remembering...

First thing I wanted to do was cram the BIG THREE favorite artist on ONE 1GB Memory card if it was possible...EVERY DAMN SONG, remix, b-side, all of it at my fingertips (Evil Cackle...). If you don't know me by now, my BIG THREE are...A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, BJORK, and MOBY. In that order

So, tribe is pretty easy, I still don't have their first album on CD (and I guess I'm too lazy to try and download it. I DO have it on Tape and LP, thou!) and aside from a few tracks I won't mind missing, I could do without it. So I started with "The Low End Theory" (CLASSIC MATERIAL) and did the rest of the CD's by the group. I put on some extra B-sides from singles, a few remixes and then added each of Q-Tip and Phife Dawg's SOLO albums in the collection finishing up at around 60 songs from 8 CD's.

Then I moved to BJORK, I didn't add any of her early works with the Sugarcubes or her "Gling Glo" album, just started from her ironically titled cd "Debut" with such classics as "Human Behavior", and "Venus as a Boy" (Which was used in "LEON:The Professional" the movie that first got me into her music...), then moved on to add here songs and b-sides from other movies like "The Young Americans" (Play Dead), "Being John Malkovich" (Amphibian) as well as the soundtrack "Selmasongs" from the only movie she swears to be her first and last "Dancer in the Dark". Finishing the collection with her latest "Medulla" AND the exclusive and rare soundtrack to some independent film that came out in europe last year "Drawing Restraint 9". The total was 40 songs out of 12 CD's (As much as I LOVE her, I'm very picky about the songs I appreciate...you can't dig 'em all, can ya?)

Next, MOBY, heh, heh...

I got more MOBY CD's than BJORK and TRIBE COMBINED! Because he comes out with so much shit! Singles with remixes and B-sides, first individual and a B-Side CD to go with the original album! I got hooked into MOBY by watching "HEAT" of course, with his classic "God moving over the face of the Waters". but the oldest album is one of his most unique works, a quirky lil cd simply called "AMBIENT". You look on the album cover you don't even recognize moby because he has HAIR! When it comes to first getting into him, I always recommend this CD, it always sets the mood for the trip of a lifetime! I've brought and given 6 copies to friends and co-workers in the past to get them into his genius.

I worked my way to his "PLAY" album. If there was anything that brought the world's attention to Moby, it's this. I actually remembered the day I brought it. At a Sam Goody in the South Street Seaport. Upon the first listen, I never made it past track 3, "Porcelain". I played the track over and over again for hours. I never thought that song could be more memorable...till the jaw-dropping remix by ROB DOUGAN. With "The Matrix" coming out, Dougan's "Clubbed to Death" was becoming a classic in the making, mixing it with "Porcelain" the result is...indescribable.

With the sucess of "PLAY" one would wonder where do you go from here? The answer..."18". True, "18" wasn't no "PLAY", but what ya' gonna do? Everyone thought "We are made of Stars" was cool, I almost felt he was trying to redo "Porcelain" with "Signs of Love" (Which didn't stop Jaguar to use it in their car commericals), and as you listen to the CD you can't help to think of 9/11 (Which is actually his Birthday, what a donwner...) with some of the somber ballads. The one that stayed with me the most, "Harbour" with Sinead O'Connor...I FUCKING LOVE that song!

When I opened the CD Case for "18" I saw MOBY's special "AUTOGRAPH" caricature reminding me of the release party I attended in May 2002 at the Virgin Megastore!



It was at midnight and I came all the way out from the Bronx IN THE RAIN and waited in line with around 200 people to meet him and get him to sign the CD AND his biography. I remember completely Spacing Out when I came up to him, I did like a Chris Farley/Ralph Wiggum take and mumbled something like "I came out in the rain." completly star struck! He nodded, signed the CD and then the book (Which he kinda looked suprised it existed like it was unauthorized or something...) and then I like, floated away and came to my senses. I got 3 hours of sleep and still went to work the next day...GOD! that was awesome!

He's still coming on strong with last year's "HOTEL" which had the popular single "Beautiful" as well as "Slipping Away" and "Spiders" and once again a "VERY BEST OF MOBY" CD is due out in November this year (If I had a dollar for every Moby Collection released...), I finished the run with 60 songs from like 16 different CD's of albums and singles! (And that's not counting the CD's of stuff I DIDN'T take to well to liking that much!)

SO, 60, 40, 60 leaves us with a 160+ songs so far...and at 128 kbps (Decient CD quality sound at a good storage size...), I found myself at 686MB with is around 2/3's of a GIG (1gb)! ROOM FOR MORE!!!

SO I started thinking...WHO else is UP there for me? Dave Brubeck? Nah, most of his stuff I could fit on a 256 Card at probably 192 kbps...Roots? Them and Tribe really don't mix on the same Platform, I'll do a 512 Card with Them, and Jurassic 5, etc...Then it hit me, THE DAWN!...PM DAWN!

I've been waiting for their damn latest album for like forever! I fished out their 4 Albums and listened to their classics like "Set Adrift of Memory Bliss...", "Die without You", "When it's raining Cats and Dogs", the Al. B. Sure sampled "Sometimes I miss you So Much", and "I had no Right"...that bought back alot of memories.

Around 34 songs later, there was STILL some more room! I just had to see how much I could put on to fill this sucker so I thought of that lucky bastard who's married to Heidi Klum...my man SEAL!

Seal's 2nd album is one of those RARE CD's where EVERY track is a great song. I MEAN EVERY, even the reprise outro at the end. "Kiss by a Rose", "Don't Cry", "Dreaming in Metaphors", if you haven't heard it, BUY it, you can't help to fall in love with this man's voice, but with that grill to rival Shabba Ranks one wonders what does Heidi see in that man!

The 3rd CD "Human Beings" suffers from the same "Where do we go from Here?" syndrome Moby's "18" suffered after "PLAY", the only real big single was used in the Catherine Zeta-Jones movie "Entrapment" (Lost my Faith). Then in 2004 he came back in force with "SEAL IV" (Jeez, can't this guy think of better album titles?) which put him back in foray with smash singles "Get it Together" and "Love's Divine". The majority of the album is also great, so one can only wonder if more hits are in store.

So, 24 songs and 3 CD's Later I find myself almost done with around 70mb's still remaining. Which would be almost 1 CD and a half. There's only one other group I could think of to complete this "set" A Tribe Called Quest, Bjork, Moby, PM Dawn, Seal...and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT! With their two albums, I had just enough to fill the Memory card with an outstanding total of 240 songs! Even WMA files at 96kbps, I'd never get that many of a 512kb Card on my old player!

If you do the math, though 240 songs at 128kbps in this *.sa1 format equals a GIG (1gb), imagine at 96kbps...or even as low as 48 or 32kbps (Although with that low bitrate, sound quality DOES get compromised)...in the words of Doc Brown...

"The Possibilities...are ENDLESS."

I think this entry has gone far too long for anyone to read it...we'll just have to see. In the meantime look for some very big changes on the Track List Column on the left, aside from a few singles I just may put ENTIRE ALBUMS on memory cards and weed out the songs later! (MUHAAAAAAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!!)