It is a very interesting point of view this comparison with the early Stones accessibility to the myth of American blues music and blues musicians, as well as to mythic (back then)country of United States.They were encountering that music innocent of any information about the men behind it as you've put it. Although they must have created a static, imaginery context. As first-hand experience and information came in, this context must have become an ever-changing, dynamic one:New data are entering the equation which means that every listening HAS to be a different one. At the same time information suppresses the imaginative space around recordings etc and mythic/imaginary worlds undergo a certain kind of disenchantment. But Stones keep on loving the blues and we keep on loving the Stones. It seems to be only a war of media vs message vs information. Your thoughts lead to me to think that again and again we are actually creating a new imaginative world, one that stimulates us to reconfirm/reinforce our appreciation, using the same shiny, electronically driven culture trends as you said, which washed out the shadow/myth from the thing at the first place. We build collectivities out of private experiences dimming the blinding lights of "too much information" so that we can stay in touch with each other and the Stones as well.

it gets a bit sick from time to time-you download something that you didn't even know is recorded but you don't stop and admire-you just want to get more and more!
althrough you hear 'bout some song by some artist-and within minutes you have it-i remember times when i really had to hang around record stores for that!
a curse or a blessing?

llaushin Wrote:
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> althrough you hear 'bout some song by some
> artist-and within minutes you have it-i remember
> times when i really had to hang around record
> stores for that!
> a curse or a blessing?


good question llaushin.....is instant gratification a good thing?....i don't think so (kills the 'ol imagination, wonder & hunger and just makes me more of an "addict").....but since life really is short maybe it is good for some

Well, for my own part, I know that I have to make a deliberate decision to "put on the brakes" and try and focus on things that I already own and know and love and yet am not able to find time to appreciate.

"The Rolling Stones, Now!" is an ideal example. A classic disc by my favorite band and I'm still developing a real relationship to it...there just isn't enough time to give all the attention to all the great recordings out there.

In the past, I've been so busy finding new music that I've neglected even things like "King of the Delta Blues Singers." That's something I've been trying to remedy.

Meanwhile, when I bought "Let It Bleed" and "Beggar's," I had to walk from my boarding school to the adjacent village in Western Massachusetts. It was a whole ritual to go to the store, talk to "Record Ron," (full of weird opinions and rumors--see above post) finally pick out a great Stones or Dead or Hendrix album (this was in the late 80's, so they were firmly established as classics) make the purchase, go flirt with the girls at the diner next door, read "Rolling Stone" over coffee and then walk back through the snow to school.

My friends and I had a rule: no breaking the sealed plastic around the album until you got home and sat down to listen. No idea why that was the case, but that's the way we did things. Tapping into one of those great records was a whole event. Not as ritualized as what the Stones had done twenty-five years before, but an event nonetheless.

Not long ago, I was talking to a friend's daughter as she fiddled with the iTunes store. She's a very cool kid with a keen ear and she was asking me about Neil Young. I told her that "Rust Never Sleeps" is, to my mind, his masterpiece. Literally before I realized what was going on, she had clicked on the whole album and purchased it. The whole thing happened in an instant.

Now, I happened to overhear her listening to "Thrasher" a few weeks later and was impressed by that. I hope that our conversation and having an electronic version of that album is somehow special and memorable to her, but I'm not so sure...

I know that kids are finding new and exciting ways to enjoy music and to create connections online, but I guess I just can't see how it's the same. Boy, do I want to be contradicted on this...

what about the feel of opening the album/cd...the sound of the tearing plastic...hoping for added goodies inside (posters, etc.)...the Who's "Live at Leeds" lp comes to mind with all of those great inserts...adds to the experience....and like Rev.Robert W mentioned, the interaction with the record shop keeper...pluses and minuses

I remember buying "Tattoo You" in 1981. I went, intentionally, through the same ritualistic proceedure the time I bought "A Bigger Bang" in 2005: I didn't have a clue what it's all about except "Streets of Love" on the radio,didn't read any comment,revue etc about it, didn't have a clue about the cover-art,didn't download anything, took the bus to the record store, went back home and put it on the player. Blew me out of my head right away!! I do not mean that I don't like the info surrounding me. I appreciate it a lot.I just wanted to experiment. It worked! I said: Let the Stones ALONE do the trick! They did it! I was there! I'm totally satisfied!

KYRIAKOS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember buying "Tattoo You" in 1981. I went,
> intentionally, through the same ritualistic
> proceedure the time I bought "A Bigger Bang" in
> 2005: I didn't have a clue what it's all about
> except "Streets of Love" on the radio,didn't read
> any comment,revue etc about it, didn't have a clue
> about the cover-art,didn't download anything, took
> the bus to the record store, went back home and
> put it on the player. Blew me out of my head right
> away!! I do not mean that I don't like the info
> surrounding me. I appreciate it a lot.I just
> wanted to experiment. It worked! I said: Let the
> Stones ALONE do the trick! They did it! I was
> there! I'm totally satisfied!


good man Kyriakos...you've retained your imagination and sense of wonder

Yeah! This somehow included a '16th century Reformation' ethic. A religious one. Like wanting to have an immediate contact. No intermediaries!

Leonard K:

"Live At Leeds" is such a great record. Believe it or not, the former manager of The Who is a friend of mine. He told me the story of how they came up with the packaging for that album as a tribute to bootlegs. He also told me about his own visits to Alexis Koerner's flat to hear American blues records...

And Kyriakos:

Great call on staying focused on just the album itself and on savoring the excitement of a new Stones release. For a host of different reasons, these records are important to us--they mark moments in our lives. That sense of ritual that you described is as vital as it would be sitting down to a holiday meal with family and friends. I'm serious about that, too. If there is anything wrong with contemporary society, it is that we do not take the time to lock ourselves into the things that mean something to us. Rituals are what allow us to tap into our connections with people and things outside ourselves.

Rev. Robert W. I totally agree! Rituals remind us that we do not simply exist. We CO-exist. Rituals are communication. A way to filter and hopefully avoid conflict.

Vre patrioti sti Grava meno ki ego!! Sti Skiathou... Tha ta poume sintoma, tha lipso merikes imeres. Mikros pou ine o kosmos..

A translation...please?

Well Rev.Robert W. stickydion is Greek like me. We just found out that we live really close in the same town and all this happened along the lines of this thread. He's actually saying that this is a small world. Indeed. It has to do with this topic from some point of view as well!!

For stickydion: It's better to write in English here in order for everyone to understand what we are saying.

Didn't mean to sound testy, fellas.

I was just hoping that this thread wasn't going to lose steam.