"And you may ask yourself, Well, how did I get here?"

Things change.

I’ll say it again, things change. That's my warning up front.

People change,the weather changes, taste buds change, and hair color changes. Does your taste in music change? Sure everyone goes through phases, at least I do, where you find a new artist and get stuck on one certain style of music, one certain group, or hooked on that one CD that you can’t take out of your car stereo for a while. But through the years does your taste in music actually change? This question bugs me and I want to get to the bottom of it. I’m torn both ways. On one hand I say that, yes your musical tastes do change as you grow older, explore new options, become educated on all of the different music genres and find your own ‘sound’. On the other hand, what happened to all of that music you used to listen to back in the day that you don’t listen to anymore? Phrases like, “Remember that song?” or, “That was my jam!” come to mind and quickly take you back to when those songs or jams where readily available in your musical rotation. At least they do for me.

Now some that have known me for years would sometimes classify me as a ‘music snob’ and I wouldn’t whole-heartedly disagree. Music has driven me on so many levels throughout my life thus far and I have dipped and delved into many different styles, genres, artists etc. To call me a snob might be a little harsh and I’d prefer to just be known as musically educated. Not educated in the sense of knowing how to read music, because I can’t, but educated from the fact of musical exposure.

My first memories of music came from my parents listening to country music in the car on 92.3 WLWI in Montgomery, AL. It probably comes as no surprise that folks from Alabama would be listening to country music. What’s funny is that during these years there wasn’t a stereo in our house so what was in the car was all that I got. It wasn’t until around ’84 when I got my first Walkman and sunk my teeth into my first cassettes: Beastie Boy’s Licensed to Ill, and RUN-DMC’s Raising Hell. Nothing like some rap music to give some musical whiplash to country music! Anyway, cassettes came and cassettes went. Then in the 8^th grade the first stereo system came into our house; it went in my room. At this stage I had already begun my CD collection via the likes of Columbia House & BMG. Remember the 1 penny CD deals? Good times. Somewhere in this period I also hopped music styles quite a bit; even taking a stab at a country music phase complete with a cowboy hat. What was I thinking? I have no idea, so I digress. As the years rolled on into high school, my CD collecting turned into more of a habit I suppose. Having worked for Blockbuster Music for a short period also opened up my horizons to all different styles of tunes. Exploration took a hold of me as I dug into the classics; Hendrix, Zeppelin, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Zappa, etc. The record store platform also introduced me to Phish but that’s another blog all together.

It was also around this period where the guitar became more and more a part of my everyday routine. Learning new music made me want to pursue how to play it and in turn learn more about different music genres. The first song I learned to play was "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce. An excellent song to begin learning the complexities of rhythms and notes all wrapped up into a love ballad. This along with a handful of other guitar tunes were the catalyst to push me to explore more of what the musical world had to offer through high school and well on into college.

College. I don't know who said it originally but there's a time and a place for everything and it's called 'college'. My alma matter, the University of Alabama (Roll Tide!), not only gave me the chance to get an education in the field of Communication, but also allowed me to really beef up my CD collection. Our college radio station introduced me to the promo CD. For those that may not know, these are early release copies of new music that record companies send out to radio stations, music stores, etc to get a sneak peak of tunes soon to be released to the public. Our New Rock station built up a reputation of blasting the best tunes first before the general public radio stations caught onto the hype. Now that I think about it, don't all college radio stations operate the same way? Anyway in the midst of my college radio career I got tons of free CD promos. As a member of the music staff, I took new CDs that would come in, preview them, and track them out. So I got my ears into new things that I would otherwise pass by in my local record store. Also as a DJ my senses opened up to more and more on a daily basis. I got hooked on so many different styles that I would, funny enough, bring my work home with me.

My roommate T.J. was a great influence on me musically. Living with him for a little over two years while I was in school were two of the greatest years of my life and if I could have done it all over again I would. T.J. and I shared a brain, especially when it came to food and music. He and I would have music battles so to speak, but not in the sense of fighting, just in music collections. I would purchase a handful of new CDs or bring home a stack from the radio station and he would follow up the next day with a handful of new CDs as if to say, "Boom! Beat that!" This became a jolly game of who could have the biggest music collection but in the middle of it all we both fell in love with music from each others arsenal. T.J. took me deeper into hip-hop and I took him deeper into alt-rock and jambands. However at the end of the day we both became jazz heads. Jazz was and will always be my genre of choice. The expressionism, exploration, and instrumental improvisation is the truest genre; in my opinion. I won't go on about the importance of jazz or what it has done for music and my life in general, but I will say that jazz is real. There's no smoke and mirrors, no auto-tuned voices, and no phony over production in the studio. Those cats can just play their instruments. Right T.J.?

So after college I worked for another record store back home before moving on to pursue a career as a recording engineer in Atlanta. I did an apprenticeship for a recording studio and also co-created a new type of online radio show called The Indie Music Hour. Much like my college radio days I was responsible for listening to promos and demos from acts of all genres; which obviously meant more free stuff. This was all done on my own free time so to pay the bills I worked for Wherehouse Music. I was the Assistant Manager for a couple of years and continued to explore new music as it came in, amassed a ton of free promos, and learned a lot from our store manager Allan. My CD collection was bulging at this point in the game. I can't count back that far, but I could easily guess thousands. Thank you Wherehouse, good times.

My record label reps from Wherehouse led me to manage an independent record store called MurMur music which was closer to my house at the time and the recording studio. What?! Another record store? Yes but unfortunately the owner couldn't afford me. His store was a small outfit and could honestly only afford to pay high school kids to help organize discs and listen to new tunes. However I did manage to build my collection during my time there. After that things began to slow down as far as CD buying goes. Don't get me wrong, it didn't come to a standstill. I still had the addiction and still do. I just didn't live within arms reach of any disc I wanted. I still collect CDs from time to time but it has to be a really good release.

As we move into a more digital age, so does my music collection. Even as I write this I am listening to Charles Mingus through iTunes versus pulling out a disc, putting it in the stereo and hitting play. It probably comes as no shocker that CD sales are declining. In 2007 CD sales accounted for about 90% of all music sales. Now that number has shrunk to about 70% and is dying more and more everyday. I guess it's just natural progression. Music began selling on cylinders, then shellac 78's, then vinyl, then the 8 track, cassette, and you know the rest. All of these have died for the most part. However I personally I feel that vinyl records and CDs will remain for a good good while. I still collect vinyl to this day as well. It's a niche market. It's also a better product sonically. Many might not care but a well trained ear can hear the difference between vinyl, compact disc, and mp3. Analog recordings are warmer and have so much more to offer. Now with CDs you loose some of that and furthermore mp3s compress music so much that the good stuff gets pushed away.

This is part of the reason why I will forever keep vinyl and CDs in my collection. The other reason stems from me wanting to pass down my collection to my kids in hopes that they will appreciate the history of music as much as I do. I am prepared for the fact however that they will look at me like I'm crazy. The line from Back to the Future Part II comes to mind when a young Elijah 'Frodo' Woods turns to Michael J. Fox playing the Wild Gunman video game and says, "You mean you have to use your hands?! It's like a baby's toy". That scene takes place in 2015 so I guess we better get on those mass produced cars really quick. All in all, I say CDs are here to stay for a while.

So why am I writing all of this? Well as I was organizing my CD collection the other day, which by the way has shrunk incredibly, I began to realize what I haven't listened to in years. Some discs have not come out of their cases in 5+ years. So I asked myself, Why do I have this? Is this one of the examples I want to show to my kids? Is this one worth sacrificing the warmth for by plugging it into iTunes and compressing it all to hell into mp3s? Why not give it a spin for old times sake and review the disc for myself and other readers? Sounds like a cool idea! It would give me a chance to figure out why I still have the disc and take me back. Thus began this blog.

My mission is to go through my entire CD collection one by one and weed out the pieces of plastic that should be transformed into a digital version. Now I mentioned that my collection has shrunken quite a bit and this is due to the fact that over the years I have traded in many of those discs to buy something else or even my first ipod. I mean does anyone really need C&C Music Factory on disc? So in a sense my digital mutation has already begun. In fact many of the selections I have on CD I may or may not have in iTunes, and vice versa. My guess-timation is that I still have about 800-900 CDs still floating about. So this could take some time. In order to accomplish this though and have fun while doing so, I must set some ground rules for myself and those that read this blog:

1. All selections will be chosen randomly with my eyes closed.
2. No re-picks. Meaning whatever I grab the first time I'm stuck with it.
3. Keep an open mind and don't judge. If you don't like my music collection, get your own blog. I may uncover some horrible, embarrassing, weird, or offensive selections. Remember my warning statement? Things change. I may not even like what I find.
4. Listen to all tracks.
5. Give an honest review of the CD.
6. Explain how I came upon the CD and the last time I listened to it.
7. Determine whether to keep or compress to mp3.

I think that sounds pretty good for now. Of course the rules could change as I get into this, but who cares right? I've been writing this for some time now in my head and I'm ready to get started on my first review. At this point I have already listened to 3 discs so I will start at the beginning, naturally. So I will begin a new post shortly to review my first selection from 1/31/11.

Cheers.

"Don't play what's there, play what's not there."
Miles Davis