...a different drummer's playing a different kind of beat

Thanks again to all of you who leave comments. Guys like scotsraindog, smacky, boz and barbelith, to name a few, who keep coming back and keep leaving favourable comments, make this all the more worth while.

I look at this as a sort of therapy session with an invisible shrink, where I get to rant about all sorts of crazy shite while sharing some of the music I've found over the years.

I've never really considered the fact that anybody did anything other than skip to the music nor did I expect anyone to leave comments.

I have to admit I was a bit concerned if people did leave comments having seen some fairly vicious stuff left on other blogs. One such comment I came across about a year ago was, to me anyway, so beyond belief that I actually felt compelled, for the first time, to leave a comment myself. It may actually have been one of the catalysts for starting off this blog.

The subject was a Dylan bootleg, put up in mp3 format.
The exchange of comments shocked me.

Alongside a number of complaints about the poor quality, the most significant, was the one branding the blogger as an idiot for diluting the seed.
For posting in a lossy format.

Now, I know that the Dylan bootleg mafiosi are a bit of close knit bunch with all their CD-R and tape sharing, and I know they are very protective of their muse but come on guys, this was a bootleg from 1963! One on which we only have Dylan, his moothie and an acoustic guitar (plus a hat and a 'necklace'). The recording is interspered with interviews and dates from a time prior to digital technology. It was probably recorded onto a tape reel that then sat around in Cynthia Gooding's broom cupboard for years. Granted, it is a great recording and I have heard much, much worse but, having downloaded an mp3 version and a FLAC version, I have to say I found the difference insignificant.

The whole FLAC, OGG thing is a bit beyond me anyway. Why encode to a file that can't be played? Is there some sort of conspiracy going on here between the bootleggers and the software geeks?
I don't really care because if I want something badly enough I'll settle for any format but it is a pain to have to decode from FLAC to WAV to MP3.

If, like me you listen to your music in the car, on an iPod, on a PC or on a docking station, then you're going to get some pretty average quality anyway. Fine, if you have the time and the money to share your 5 grand hi-fi with total peace and quiet as your only friend, go ahead and burn your bootleg onto the crappy, inferior quality CDs that are commercially available. Me, I have to contend with all sorts of background noise, none more significant than an airport less than a mile away.
The recording could be punched by a blind cobbler onto the bottom of a hob nail boot and picked up by one of Dylan's fingernail clippings and I'd barely notice the difference. For me, MP3 on a hard drive will suffice.

The whole torrent business which, I admit, is good to a point, still bemuses me a bit. Why the hell do we have this repeated nonsense where a torrent completes to 98 or 99% then stops. Is this a deliberate ploy to keep people seeding for longer? I guess so, but come on, I once left my computer running for a week and half in an attempt to complete a download (unsuccessfully I may add).
On top of that are all the ads for porn, gambling, shock vids and the like that the torrent hosts support.

That sort of thing doesn't offend me in any way but it ceases to be funny when the face of a twelve year old child appears at my shoulder
In reality though, I'm getting something for free so why should I complain.


Same applies to the guys who complained to my fellow blogger about the poor quality of the recording he put up for free download.

I know its been up at T.U.B.E., which I still think is the best source for boots either directly or by link, but here it is again for you to decide....

Bob Dylan - Cynthia Gooding Radio Show
http://rapidshare.com/files/94007663/Folksinger_s_Choice_1962-03-11_FM_Pt_1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/93999497/Folksinger_s_Choice_1962-03-11_FM.rar

Gun - The River Sessions - sorry about the missing track but the torrent didn't complete
http://rapidshare.com/files/89729932/The_River_Sessions_1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/89661202/The_River_Sessions_2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/89693385/The_River_Sessions_3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/89716928/The_River_Sessions__CD1_.rar

Danny Wilson - Sweet Danny Wilson
http://rapidshare.com/files/93509924/Sweet_Danny_Wilson.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/93502860/Sweet_Danny_Wilson_2.rar

Roddy Frame - Western Skies
http://rapidshare.com/files/96926325/Western_Skies.rar

Mike Scott - The Lion Of Love
http://rapidshare.com/files/96919101/The_Lion_of_Love.rar

Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
http://rapidshare.com/files/96930738/You_Cant_Hide_Your_Love_Forever.rar

The Blue Nile - A Walk Across The Rooftops
http://rapidshare.com/files/96938551/A_Walk_Across_The_Rooftops.rar

The Liberties - Distracted (no not the Libertines)
http://rapidshare.com/files/96970655/Distracted.rar

Ron Sexsmith - Other Songs
http://rapidshare.com/files/96911728/Other_Songs.rar

Jackie Leven - Control
http://rapidshare.com/files/93529168/Control.rar

APB - Radio 1 Sessions
http://rapidshare.com/files/96744407/The_Radio_1_Sessions.rar

Roddy Frame - Live in the Round
http://rapidshare.com/files/99576707/Live_In_The_Round.rar

Enjoy

Hooli